Short Takes: Robo-Conflicts of Interest, Home-Country Bias, and more

Here are my posts for the past two weeks:

 New Bank Fee Strategy

The New RRIF Minimum Withdrawals are Designed for 3% Returns

Here are some short takes and some weekend reading:

 David Pett explains how robo-advisors are drifting away from low costs and away from serving their clients’ interests.

Dan Bortolotti explains why having some (but not too much) home-country bias in your stock allocation makes sense.

The Blunt Bean Counter takes on the interesting question of whether shareholders can be independent contractors for their own companies.

Boomer and Echo explain how your financial decisions amount to a battle between your present and future self.

My Own Advisor is giving away a copy of the book The One-Page Financial Plan.

 Big Cajun Man suggests some financial questions to ask on a first date to decide whether you should run for the hills.

 Million Dollar Journey explains the basics of TFSAs.

Comments

  1. Big Cajun Man (AW)May 22, 2015 at 6:41 AM

    Run to the hills... wasn't that an Iron Maiden song? Thanks for the inclusion this week, enjoy the weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robb EngenMay 22, 2015 at 9:01 AM

    The worst outcome for investors is if the big banks and investment firms start to influence the upstart robo-advisor model, either through acquisition or by nudging them to offer their own products. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, and these new entrants can survive on their own.

    Thanks for the mention!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael JamesMay 25, 2015 at 9:51 AM

      @Robb: It's bad enough if some robo-advisors start favouring slightly higher fee ETFs, but you're right that it would be much worse to have robo-advisors steering people to bloated big bank mutual funds.

      Delete
  3. geneMay 22, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    Hi Michael, I read that RBC has backed down on mortgage payments/investment contributions within RBC being considered fee-incurring transactions. That's a real awkward sentence, hope it makes sense. Rob Carrick shared it: https://twitter.com/rcarrick/status/601484489743802368

    Just finished reading your analysis on RRIF returns. Very interesting, and sort of confusing. I think I have it figured out, but it took some noodling. :-) Enjoy your weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael JamesMay 25, 2015 at 9:53 AM

      @Gene: That sounds like a good small (temporary?) victory for bank customers.

      If you let me know what part of the RRIF return post wasn't too clear, I'll try to improve it. Thanks for the feedback.

      Delete
  4. My Own AdvisorMay 22, 2015 at 10:07 PM

    Thanks for the mention Michael, I always appreciate your support.

    Hope you have a great weekend,
    Mark

    ReplyDelete

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