What’s the difference between VFV and VOO? The answer is simple. VFV is the Canadian version of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF offered by Vanguard U.S. Although they both track the S&P 500, one of the major differences between investing in VFV versus VOO is that dividends paid out by VFV are subject to a 15% foreign withholding tax...
Life insurance is an essential step in protecting your loved ones if the unthinkable happens, but you may have also heard it can double as an investment strategy. When you’re trying to set your family up for financial success, the idea of an investment component can seem inviting..
Brand new and set to launch in 2023, the First Home Savings Account (FHSA) is going to provide another tax-free opportunity for Canadians to save and grow their money to be used on the purchase of their first home. Learn more about how the FHSA is going to work here...
At all times, my outlook on the market is short-term agnostic and long-term bullish. Investing with a bullish long-term outlook is logical: the test of time has proven its viability. Market corrections, such as the one we have been experiencing, are often looked back upon as incredible buying opportunities...
If you had invested $10,000 at the beginning of 1981, it would have been worth about $780,000 by the end of 2020. However, this statistic doesn't really tell the full story. This is why it's important to understand sequence...
In our last article, we compared two of Canada’s leading low-cost investment platforms: Wealthsimple Trade and Questrade. In this article, we are going to consider another low-cost option that is lesser known north of the border: Interactive Brokers Canada.
National Bank Direct Brokerage has announced zero-commission and fees on online trading of Canadian and U.S. stocks and ETFs...
Over the forthcoming years, target date funds (used as a passive investment strategy) will force investors to sell their stocks to purchase bonds with near all-time low interest rates, drastically hampering the portfolio's future performance. As interest rates fell, bond prices have increased, meaning investors will be paying a premium price for bonds purchased while the interest rates designed to fund a retirement income stream will not deliver the same type of income they once did...
Buybacks are a tool for returning value to shareholders. When companies post a profit at the end of the year, they have some options for what to do with the cash...
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. ESG Investing refers to understanding these non-financial elements to better assess potential risks and make more informed investment decisions...
Speculation is mounting that capital gains inclusion rates could increase significantly, perhaps including 100% of capital gains as income. The question is, how would this change impact investors?
Speculation is mounting that capital gains inclusion rates could increase significantly, perhaps including 100% of capital gains as income. The question is, how would this change impact investors?
Cathie Wood is the latest in a long list of investment managers to be put on a pedestal on the strength of recent performance or one fantastic call...
For the first time in years, Blackberry, Nokia, and AMC are in the news. Trading activity has brought a number of once-great monoliths back from the grave, none more so than GameStop – the brick and mortar video game retailer, which traded as low as $3.94 in late July 2020, hit an all-time high of $483 on January 28, 2021 amidst a frenzy of retail trading...
Rebalancing is the act of periodically reviewing the asset allocation in your portfolio and, if the balance is “off” from your original intention, then investments are reallocated to ensure your portfolio is restored to your original goal...
For many people – especially beginners – the world of investments can seem like a daunting place. Financial jargon is notoriously difficult to understand, and the myriad of choices available in products, strategies, and brokerages can be overwhelming. For most, however, investing doesn’t have to be so complicated...
Wondering what the 2021 TFSA contribution limit will be? Well, the wait is finally over as it has officially been announced. The 2021 limit is $6,000, matching the amount set in 2019 and 2020...
When it comes to succeeding in long-term investing, winning pretty much boils down to not losing. If there’s one thing history has taught us, it’s that the stock market’s long-run projection is inevitably upward...
Exploring investing options outside traditional investment advisors – like robo-advisors or DIY investing – saves you a lot of money in fees while producing the same (or sometimes better) results. While the difference in fees between these options seems small, the compounding effects can actually help you retire years earlier...
The differences between these two investment vehicles are often overestimated. Ultimately, they are vehicles through which financial companies can deliver portfolios to interested investors...
In many ways, stock picking is a lot more like betting on sports and displays a lot of the same psychological biases...
Home-bias investing is the practice of investing a disproportionate amount of your portfolio in domestic companies, often at the expense of diversification, and capital efficiency...
The primary reason companies split their stock is to increase the liquidity of their shares. Take Apple for example. As of market close on August 4, Apple’s stock is trading at $438.66 US (about $584 CAD). For a beginner’s investment portfolio, a single share of Apple stock may prevent adequate diversification...
Dividends are derived from a company’s excess cash flow (i.e. the money left over after a company has met all of its obligations, including administrative expenses and debt payments). After obligations are met, a company is left with the option to either retain that excess cash for future investment or pay it out to shareholders...
The appeal behind timing the market is tied to the age-old adage of buy low, sell high. History has proven that investing for a sufficiently long time frame, no matter the start and end points, will accomplish this goal...
Ever wonder why publicly traded companies split their stock? Use this slide deck to understand their rationale for doing so alongside a recent example of Apple’s stock split that most recently occurred on August 31, 2020...
Use this quick slide series guide to learn the basics of how to invest in a TFSA...
Fixed income is comprised of the debt of corporations, governments, and individuals (in the form of mortgage-backed securities). Given that debt holds a senior position to equity and is therefore safer, the returns on fixed income are lower (and less volatile) than the returns on equities...
When it comes to investing, knowing a little bit is much more dangerous than knowing nothing. When I first started learning about trading, I thought that I could learn everything I needed to know to make profitable trades in a matter of weeks. I didn’t realize the extent of my own ignorance, as I somehow believed that every piece of information I consumed was available only to me and I could simply outsmart all other market participants...
Given the high stakes involved with stock market participation, countless investment strategies have been developed to try to outperform the market. These range from fundamental analysis of financial metrics to tracking the patterns that are produced when a stock’s price is plotted on a line graph...
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to expand their financial literacy. There are no get-rich-quick proclamations or vague anecdotes presented as “proof” of successful investment strategies. Instead, Bogle’s presents a clear message: the vast majority of investors should target the market return and ignore the cost-laden, inconsistent strategies preached by active fund managers...
Making wise decisions results from good process. Develop your process, follow it, and let everyone else worry about the noise. Use these 4 investing tips when the market drops...
An RRSP is a tax-advantaged account. This means that it allows you to contribute to it and the amount that you do contribute will be exempt from your total taxable income for the year that you make the contribution. This usually results in you paying less tax...
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