Search found 2153 matches

by DanH
21 Mar 2024 14:50
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Aspiring Boglehead looking for advice on which funds and where to place
Replies: 7
Views: 417

Re: Aspiring Boglehead looking for advice on which funds and where to place

I'm hardly the poster boy for Bogleheads, but if you want the lowest maintenance at the lowest cost, low-cost balanced ETFs are a no-brainer. They are available from Vanguard (the preferred choice of Bogleheads :wink:), BMO, iShares, Horizons (soon to be rebranded as GlobalX), and perhaps others. A departure from the Bogleheads philosophy - but otherwise aligned with what you've requested - you could also consider the balanced funds from Mawer Investment Management. They're actively managed and carry a higher cost (just under 1% vs ~0.25%) but as a mutual fund, it is even easier and simpler to transact, avoid cash slippage (i.e., you can invest ever penny), and set distributions to auto-reinvest. But if you end up with your accounts stuffed...
by DanH
21 Mar 2024 14:43
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)
Replies: 22
Views: 1855

Re: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)

OnlyMyOpinion wrote: 20 Mar 2024 10:46You'll also have noticed that Morningstar's performance of CYB is understated compared to that reported on Cymbria's website. I'm not sure what the explanation for the difference is. Perhaps the website is providing returns before expenses? You'd think if Morningstar's numbers were inaccurate, Cymbria would have brought it to their attention. In any event, it doesn't change the nature of needles & haystacks.
I haven't looked into this but suspect the difference is attributed to returns based on closing market prices (Morningstar) vs those computed using NAVPU (Cymbria's site). Just a guess, but CYB is a closed end fund so likely Mstar shows price-based returns.
by DanH
21 Mar 2024 14:32
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)
Replies: 22
Views: 1855

Re: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)

Mr. Hallett, it's really nice to see that you are a contributor in this forum and weighing in on this topic. In the short time I've joined this forum, I see much knowledge and experience and have much respect for the quality of members but now that I see you on board, I feel like I just made it to the big leagues. Thanks mom! :D Joking aside, thank you for your kind comments robgizz. While there is much more financial information and discussion online compared to when FWF started, it remains the most helpful place to ask questions and seek meaningful input. Elsewhere, the UI looks fancier but there is a lot of noise and trash. This remains a great resource for so many. And these days, I'm really adding only the occasional post. The true re...
by DanH
20 Mar 2024 23:52
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)
Replies: 22
Views: 1855

Re: Cymbria (Symbol-CYB)

Some active strategies are very difficult to benchmark well. But I agree with - I think it was AltaRed who raised - the idea of a global equities benchmark. With CYB's flexible policy, a total world index fund (e.g., XAW) could be better in theory. But with CYB's largest holding, at 16%, a private company, no benchmark will be perfect. That said, CYB's stake in EdgePoint gives it an edge, pardon the pun, from a long-term performance perspective. The original ~$500k stake was only about 0.5% or something of the original capital raise for CYB. That holding alone accounts for a significant part of their performance given that the $500k grew to ~$275M (not including a bundle of dividends paid in cash). We can use EdgePoint Global Portfolio as a...
by DanH
15 Mar 2024 15:55
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: [Capital Direct Lending]
Replies: 15
Views: 2735

Re: [Capital Direct Lending]

Thanks AltaRed. I'm not sure I want to wade into the subreddits to get info but if I really want to find people that might be my only choice.
by DanH
15 Mar 2024 12:09
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: [Capital Direct Lending]
Replies: 15
Views: 2735

Re: [Capital Direct Lending]

I figured as much but also thought it wouldn't hurt to put it out there.
by DanH
15 Mar 2024 10:24
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: [Capital Direct Lending]
Replies: 15
Views: 2735

Re: [Capital Direct Lending]

I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who has borrowed from them - on the off chance they are lurking here.
by DanH
14 Mar 2024 20:25
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: [Capital Direct Lending]
Replies: 15
Views: 2735

Re: [Capital Direct Lending]

I posted a thread on Twitter today about the investment vehicle associated with this lending business - Capital Direct Income Trust (a mortgage fund). In short, I'm looking to get some insight into the investor experience - i.e., performance, reporting/transparency, other communications/updates, ease of redemptions, etc. While they seemingly have a lot of information available on their website - a good thing - there are some signs that I'd consider less than ideal or concerning. For example, their advertising is misleading both subtly and explicitly - which I touch on in my Twitter thread (with ad screenshots). Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like. I'm not writing anything - unless I find something worth writing about. It has piqued m...
by DanH
02 Feb 2024 16:16
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Welcome to Justin Bender
Replies: 87
Views: 58035

Re: Welcome to Justin Bender

OnlyMyOpinion wrote: 27 Jan 2024 18:11 I note that Bender, Bender & Bortolotti of PWL Capital have recently updated their hypothetical historical performance of asset allocation etfs on their Canadian Portfolio Manager website.
They are to be commended to creating such a well thought out guide and tutorial for DIY investors. It really seems to cover all of the bases - except for sitting by investors' sides to guide them in person (which, of course, they can't do). I have spoken to them a number of times and referred a few clients to them. They're a team of real professionals that generate a lot of great, useful content for investors.
by DanH
29 Jan 2024 23:41
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Canadians are bananas for not embracing index funds
Replies: 26
Views: 2221

Re: Canadians are bananas for not embracing index funds

I'd read about this in a FT article by Katie Martin, Grumblers about passive investing may have a point . The paper mentioned in the article, by Randall Morck & M. Deniz Yavuz, Indexing and the Incorporation of Exogenous Information Shocks to Stock Prices (pdf link) in abstract: Savings increasingly flow to low-cost index funds, which simply buy and hold the stocks in a major index, such as the S&P 500. Increased indexing impedes incorporation of idiosyncratic information into stock prices. We limit endogeneity bias by showing that exogenous idiosyncratic currency shocks induce smaller idiosyncratic moves in the stock prices of currency-sensitive firms in proximate time windows when in the index than when not in it. Increased index...
by DanH
29 Jan 2024 18:47
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Canadians are bananas for not embracing index funds
Replies: 26
Views: 2221

Re: Canadians are bananas for not embracing index funds

Folks, I would not get overly excited about the Morningstar report that prompted the weekend Globe column. Sure, it's likely that U.S. fund/ETF assets have more in passive product (notably products tracking the S&P 500) compared to Canadian fund/ETF investors. But all of this hinges on how one defines "passive". My analysis of this issue in the past suggests that both countries' fund/ETF assets represent some form of active bet - not the big passive shift suggested recently (at least not to the same extent). Let's start with Morningstar's definition of "passive". I asked a Mstar analyst on Twitter more than a year ago, and his answer was not surprising - and about as precise as the Canadian definition. In short, pass...
by DanH
23 Jan 2024 11:40
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Canadians responsible for NR withholding tax on rent paid to NR
Replies: 1
Views: 329

Canadians responsible for NR withholding tax on rent paid to NR

Saw mention of this on Twitter but contained few details. So I went and found the Tax Court of Canada case - 3792391 Canada Inc. v. The King . In short, it is the responsibility of the Canadian resident renter to hold back a % of total rent (25% in this case) and remit it to CRA as NR withholding tax - paying the net amount to the NR landlord. The payer in this case, a Montreal-based owner of a gym and personal training business, rented a unit that was owned by a resident of Italy (a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes). If I'm reading this correctly, part of the gym owner's problem is that he made no effort to verify the landlord's status. It seems the landlord's Italian phone number and email should have prompted some questions - desp...
by DanH
19 Jan 2024 16:12
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Outstanding Financial Pornography
Replies: 1024
Views: 259136

Re: Outstanding Financial Pornography

It's a lot like stealing since the initial loans were quite material and they grew constantly - never a dime repaid as far as i can tell. And the loan had a fixed rate of 2.5%/yr (too low even in 2019 when the loans began). Every aspect of this debacle was awful. It's more about the act - and the blatant disregard for investor rights and fiduciary duty - than the financial damage.
by DanH
18 Jan 2024 23:26
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Outstanding Financial Pornography
Replies: 1024
Views: 259136

Re: Outstanding Financial Pornography

For ETFs, I was under the impression that the investments were held in a separate trust on behalf of the unit holders, to separate them from the business activity of the ETF provider. Is this actually true? If so, how do the creditors of the ETF provider pierce this trust? I see you mentioning that the borrowing was against the funds themselves, so maybe they just structured it in a clever way to shift the liability to the unit holders. Is that normal? Sorry, just seeing this now. The structure of Emerge's ETFs was no different than any other. The unusual part was the arrangement with Ark Invest. Ark was not a sub-adviser (which is when the manager directly runs the assets of the ETF...they do all of the trading, modeling, etc...and trades...
by DanH
18 Jan 2024 23:04
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Free eBook "The Wealthy Barber Returns"
Replies: 19
Views: 30174

Re: Free eBook "The Wealthy Barber Returns"

Dave Chilton recently said that he is writing an updated Wealthy Barber book. Same story format but with updated characters and topics. Unsure of publication date. I'm sure we'll hear about it as it nears completion.
by DanH
18 Dec 2023 15:20
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Seeking Financial Planner (fee only)
Replies: 11
Views: 15829

Re: Seeking Financial Planner (fee only)

For some reason DanH has excluded the company/person I have previously personally recommended. I live in Victoria and several years ago I was unable to find an advice only financial planner I was comfortable working with. Maybe he knows something I don't, but I will say that the person (Brenda Hiscock, Financial Planner at Objective Financial Partners) is someone I have recommended several times on this forum. Brenda is located in the greater Toronto area. Zoom meetings work really well! No particular reason for excluding them - and I did not consciously exclude them. Just didn't think of them. That list and previous incarnations I've posted are not the result of any attempt at constructing a comprehensive list. I know that I'm missing som...
by DanH
18 Dec 2023 15:13
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: New Kid/Old Kid on the Block (Tom Bradley / Steadyhand)
Replies: 115
Views: 42081

Re: New Kid/Old Kid on the Block (Tom Bradley / Steadyhand)

Missing from Tom Bradley's list: Costs Matter! So true! But then he would have to advocate index funds versus Steadyhand. The rules of thumb he gives at the end are with respect to one-year market forecasts. While his firm is an advocate of active management, he's walking the walk on costs. Steadyhand offers fee discounts in a way that encourages healthy investor behaviour. By investing more (i.e. not spreading things too thinly across different investments) and with longer holding periods Steadyhand offers very material feel discounts. I have referred friends and family to Steadyhand and they have been extremely happy. Indexing isn't the only way to cut costs. And judging by the ETF product universe, indexing is a small part of what most ...
by DanH
17 Nov 2023 15:50
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Private equity anyone?
Replies: 9
Views: 721

Re: Private equity anyone?

A few thoughts on the topic and products noted in this thread. Traynor Ridge is/was a hedge fund attempting to find arbitrage opportunities (mostly event driven). The only private equity component is, potentially, SPAC arbitrage. ( While SPACs have seen more than their share of bad press, that's mostly for the returns of end investor buying these hoping for massive returns post-acquisition. The most conservative hedge fund strategy wrt SPACs has them participate in the IPO funding stage or buying in the secondary market before deal announcement at a discount to the value of cash in trust. Hedge funds have done very well in SPACs. ) As for private real estate funds, there is some merit in wanting exposure to properties outside of buying shar...
by DanH
08 Nov 2023 16:02
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs
Replies: 64
Views: 7574

Re: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs

Agreed. The more spaghetti you throw at the wall, the more likely you'll get some of it to stick.
by DanH
08 Nov 2023 10:51
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: High interest savings, GICs and MMFs (2023)
Replies: 1056
Views: 87816

Re: High interest savings, GICs and MMFs (2023)

Will some products reach for yield? I would not be surprised. Look for GICs from smaller institutions (e.g., credit unions) and perhaps securities with higher yield and potentially more credit risk. So I will also watch the holdings, not only the net yield, of CASH. Or maybe avoid the undertainty entirely and go back to Tangerine immediately while we see what happens with cash ETFs in the next few months. Personally, I'm all but done with Tangerine. I was about to move all of my cash out of there when they came up with the 5.5% promo rate on the savings accounts. But once that's done after this month, the money is gone because the rate will revert back to 0.8% :!: Tangerine is a long way from its 1990s roots when ING Direct was an innovati...
by DanH
08 Nov 2023 10:44
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs
Replies: 64
Views: 7574

Re: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs

Executives at ETF sponsors are simply trying to grow. And while products are often framed as one vs the other (ETF vs Mutual Fund), practically speaking they're the same. Mutual Fund cos showed us that the surest way to grow AUM is to launch more products. Most ETF sponsors are also MF sponsors - they're all in the business of launching and managing investment funds. And the 'lessons' from the 1990s and 2000s are simply being repeated in this younger product class. So all Purpose, Horizons, BMO, iShares, etc are doing is playing from this old songbook. Get people excited by new products and the sales will flow. I asked one exec ~15 years ago if (at the time) he saw his firm launching many more products (i.e., is there anything missing that ...
by DanH
01 Nov 2023 23:21
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: ETF with zero distributions
Replies: 111
Views: 39555

Re: ETF with zero distributions

That said, Loonie Doctor's analysis shows there is a real tax risk even if the Feds leave this structure alone. ...for non-registered accounts Agreed. A non issue for non-taxable accounts/investors. sure, but why would one use it for a registered account? None whatsoever except it eliminates the need to deal with pesky distributions at least during accumulation. +1 In addition, HXT remains the best way to track the TSX S&P60 irrespective of distributions. Also agree. The use of swaps took an institutional strategy and brought it to a retail product. Main benefit is eliminating all of the tracking error gross of fees - and transferring that TE risk to the swap counterparty. There is no swap fee because there are benefits to the counterp...
by DanH
01 Nov 2023 23:06
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs
Replies: 64
Views: 7574

Re: HISA ETFs / Cash ETFs

Folks, you will want to keep a close watch on how the various product sponsors respond to this news. They still may be the more competitive product available to retail investors and advisors. So I'm not sure this will significantly curb their popularity. And some providers anticipated this; launching Tbill/MM ETFs ahead of the OSFI decision (e.g., BMO, Horizons). Will we see more fee competition? Probably not since I think the bulk of the assets are sourced from full service and discount brokers. If advisory firms like ours were the main sources of capital, there would be more fee pressure because we have access to money market securities directly with institutional pricing. Will some products reach for yield? I would not be surprised. Look...
by DanH
30 Oct 2023 18:45
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: ETF with zero distributions
Replies: 111
Views: 39555

Re: ETF with zero distributions

Ottawa has been playing whack-a-mole with Horizon. I’m surprised that they took a multiple-year break. They've had a few other high priority fires to hose down :wink: The problem with a strategy relying on financially-engineered capital gain for most of us is that the longer you apply the strategy, the worst the impact will be if it’s stopped for any reason. You wouldn’t want to rely on that strategy in your 30s or 40s, and then get penalized with 1/3, 1/3, or 3/4 of your holding being taxed out of the blue a few decades later. As years elapse, your risk probability and your risk impact both expand exponentially. Nobody that understands basic risk management could potentially chance this. Fair comment. Nice to avoid the hassle factor (of m...
by DanH
30 Oct 2023 18:38
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Outstanding Financial Pornography
Replies: 1024
Views: 259136

Re: Outstanding Financial Pornography

Back to the point of the thread title, articles like this one drive me a little cookoo for cocoa puffs. Good comments from the one expert quoted, but the rest is a train wreck IMO. The myth that bond funds qualify as fixed income in an investment portfolio should finally be put to rest. Yields on bonds and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) have skyrocketed on the back of a nearly five per cent increase in interest rates in less than two years, but the average Canadian “fixed income” fund has actually lost money – down 1.7 per cent so far this year and a jaw-dropping 11.5 per cent in 2022. ... Bonds and GICs are considered fixed income because they have a set yield and a set maturity date. Investors know the exact amount they will re...