Short Takes: High-Interest Savings Accounts, Bogus Investor Surveys, and more

Some late-breaking news:  Rob Carrick's latest round-up included a mention of my post this week on Handling RRSPs and RRIFs for Low-Income Seniors.

Money Smarts does a thorough review of high-interest savings accounts now that Ally is dropping off the map.

Tom Bradley at Steadyhand explains the problems with surveys of investor attitudes toward their financial advisors.

Canadian Couch Potato looks at the research on estimating future stock returns. I’m content to just use long-term historical real stock returns and their volatility as estimates for the future.

The Blunt Bean Counter says you should be careful not to burn the goodwill of someone willing to give you a job reference by having too many employers call the reference.

 Canadian Couch Potato explains that while Real-Return Bonds offer inflation protection, they can be volatile in the face of changing interest rates.

Tim Cestnick explains the tax rules for lottery prizes and other types of prizes.

Preet Banerjee interviews an investor who left his advisor and went the DIY route.

 My Own Advisor explains that an important part of the RRSP vs. TFSA debate is what you do with income tax refunds.

 Big Cajun Man takes aim at over-priced balanced mutual funds.

Boomer and Echo tell us about 3 credit card products you should avoid.

Comments

  1. Big Cajun ManMarch 1, 2013 at 6:40 AM

    Thanks for including me, enjoy heaving the "heart attack" snow

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike HolmanMarch 1, 2013 at 9:40 AM

    Thanks for the mention Michael! Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Blunt Bean CounterMarch 1, 2013 at 11:00 AM

    Thx for mention. Great job on low income seniors and RRSP/RRIF withdrawal. Way more complicated decision than for my high income clients

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael JamesMarch 1, 2013 at 11:06 AM

      @Mark: Thanks. You're right that once your income gets to the level of full OAS clawback, decisions become simpler.

      Delete
  4. My Own AdvisorMarch 1, 2013 at 9:29 PM

    Thanks for the mention Michael, enjoy the weekend. Every day is one day closer to spring :)

    Mark

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

My Asset Allocation

I’ve resisted discussing my asset allocation for some time, but now is finally the time to describe it and the reasons behind it. I’m not holding it out as a model portfolio; I believe it’s suitable for me and not necessarily anyone else. With that warning, enjoy the discussion and feel free to ask questions or take some pot-shots. The main reason why I haven’t discussed my asset allocation in detail before now is that I don’t want readers to treat it like a model portfolio and follow it blindly. Everyone’s situation is different. The need for variation in asset allocation from one investor to the next usually isn’t huge, but there is no one-size-fits-all portfolio. A secondary reason for keeping my asset allocation to myself is that I can’t be sure I’ll never change it. For example, I recently made the minor change of switching from an ETF of small-cap stocks to an ETF of small-cap value stocks . I don’t have any plans to change my current allocation, but I may think differe...
Read more

Updated Currency Exchange Method at BMO InvestorLine

There is now a more recent update of the method I use for exchanging currency at BMO OnvestorLine . I recently changed the procedure I use to convert large sums between Canadian and U.S. dollars at BMO InvestorLine. The method I use saves a lot of money compared to using the InvestorLine foreign exchange system. The latest change I made eliminated an annoying interest charge that I had to ask to be reversed. Most people don’t realize how expensive it can be to exchange currency. The extra charge banks and brokerages add gets hidden in the exchange rate. To see this extra charge, start by taking a sum in Canadian dollars, say C$10,000, and finding out how many U.S. dollars you can get. Then see what this U.S. amount would get going back to Canadian dollars. Many people might guess they’d get their original C$10,000 back, but they’d be wrong. In a recent test I did at BMO InvestorLine, I’d get back C$9754, for a loss of C$246 in two currency exchanges. That’s $123 per excha...
Read more

Archive

Show more