Short Takes: InvestorLine’s HISAs, 24-Hour Trading, and more
I recently moved some cash into BMO InvestorLine’s high-interest savings accounts (HISAs) that are structured as mutual funds. Their designations are BMT104, BMT109, and BMT114, and they purportedly pay 4.35% annual interest (which they can change whenever they like). However, the way they report the monthly interest payments is so baffling that I wasn’t able to sort it out in my first 15 minutes of trying. A further complication is the following text in the HISA description: “The Bank may pay, monthly or quarterly, compensation to your Dealer at an annual rate of up to 0.25% of the daily closing balance in the BMO HISA.” I couldn’t find any evidence of such a charge, but I haven’t been invested for a full quarter, and I can’t yet say that such a charge isn’t buried somehow in the confusing reporting. I have more digging to do before I can recommend these HISAs. Here are some short takes and some weekend reading: Preet Banerjee explains the dangers of Robi...
This series of pics should be the next cover of The Journal of Behavioural Finance. Love it!
ReplyDeletePerfect! It kills me to see posts that say "I've had enough -- I'm selling all my stocks" right at the end of one of the worst months in market history.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Preet. This was one of the rare times that I was inspired to do something mildly artistic. It was fun!
ReplyDeletePatrick: I agree. I've seen too many comments like this as well. Even bloggers who say all the right things like "stay the course" often then go on to advise shifting out of riskier assets, etc. Of course, this just means selling some stocks rather than selling all stocks. Even people who should know better seem unable to stop themselves from selling low and buying high.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, picture # 2 is how most people seem to invest.
ReplyDeleteCC: I assume you mean that most people try to invest based on the "Fantasy" picture. Sadly, some end up with the reverse of the "Fantasy" picture where they buy at the top and sell at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteOops. I meant to say the reverse of picture # 2 is how people seem to invest, at least, judging from studies that show actual stock returns are much less than market returns.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. I was going to post earlier in the week, but I couldn't think of anything insightful to say... still haven't.
ReplyDelete