Short Takes: Trailing Commissions, Spooking Index Investors, and more

I’m losing track of the days while on vacation, so I’m a day late with my short takes. Here are my posts for the past two weeks:

Possible Ban on Trailing Commissions

No Fear: Tales of a Change Agent

Home-Buying Dreams

Here are some short takes and some weekend reading:

Tom Bradley clearly explains the issues at stake in the battle over banning mutual fund trailing commissions.

Dan Bortolotti offers a cynic’s guide to spooking index investors. He gets important messages across and he’s funny.

The Reformed Broker has a story about fund companies whose employees sue to not have to eat their own cooking in their retirement plans. It’s funny and sad at the same time.

Preet Banerjee’s video explains why 0% financing on a car might actually be more expensive than paying interest on a car loan from another lender.

Canadian Couch Potato and Justin Bender have updated their excellent paper on foreign withholding taxes to take into account recent ETF changes. Fortunately for me, holding U.S.-listed ETFs for foreign stocks in an RRSP still gets their thumbs up.

Mr. Money Mustache has some practical ideas for making big changes in your life to free up time and money.

Million Dollar Journey answers some questions about the Smith Manoeuvre. This is a risky strategy only suitable for a minority of investors. You need to have high risk tolerance and the ability to handle the details correctly to maintain tax deductibility.

Boomer and Echo wrote an open letter to air miles to complain about some nasty tricks that devalue the miles. I have a tough time getting too excited because I expect all such programs to devalue their points or miles once there is a large outstanding balance.

Big Cajun Man discusses his four best investments. It may not be what you’re expecting.

My Own Advisor says your net worth is misleading if you include assets you have no plan of selling or fail to take into account taxes.