Short Takes: Too Many Accounts, the Advice Gap, and more

I prefer to have as few bank accounts and investment accounts as possible.  However, there are RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts, and Canadian and U.S. dollars that drive me to open ever more accounts.  The latest reason I had to open a new account seems the silliest to me.  I have a U.S. dollar chequing account as part of an InvestorLine account.  It behaves like any other BMO U.S. dollar chequing account except that I can’t do a global money transfer from it.  So, I had to open a “normal” U.S. chequing account at a BMO branch.  So, now when I want to send money to the U.S., I have to move money from InvestorLine to my new “regular” U.S. dollar chequing account, and then from there to the U.S.  When I opened this new account, the bank employee asked what name I’d like to give it.  I was tempted to say “stupid,” but I settled on “USD.”

Here are some short takes and some weekend reading:

Jason Pereira has a strong take on the supposed financial “advice gap” in Canada.

Justin Bender tries to talk us out of ditching all-equity ETFs VEQT and XEQT to invest directly in their underlying holdings.  He makes a compelling case.

Robb Engen at Boomer and Echo discusses the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing things you don’t want to do for yourself, such as house cleaning.  Some call it lazy, but I think it can make sense to pay someone else to do something you don’t like doing.  The key is to consider all relevant factors.  If you hire a housekeeper, the obvious advantage is not having to clean your own house, and the obvious disadvantage is the cost.  The less obvious disadvantages are having to manage the housekeeper, possibly having to tidy up clutter to allow the housekeeper to work, and having to hide anything sensitive you wouldn’t want your housekeeper to see.  If all relevant considerations net out to a positive, then go for it.