Blog
What I learned about investing from baby monitors
Benjamin relates how the baby monitor for his 11-month-old son, which provides a plethora of information on his sleep habits, compares to the almost infinite amount of information available to investors to allow them to treat their portfolios as restless babies, in need of constant monitoring, and yet this does not always lead to the best outcome.
Rule #1 for Bonds: Don’t Lose Money
The world has changed a lot in just the past seven months. In this article, Barry explains that, despite this, our long-standing perspective on the appropriate portion of fixed income investments in your portfolios has not changed but actually been reinforced.
You can’t control COVID but you can control yourself
At the time of writing, most investors’ stock portfolios have recovered significantly from the precipitous drop in late February through March, 2020 and with the worst of it over – hopefully – Benjamin outlines 3 lessons can we learn from the COVID-19 crisis that can guide us through the next one.
An Ernest Opinion
The e-commerce grocery wars
Ernest paints a picture of the Canadian grocery sector and how each of the main competitors are approaching e-commerce and which one, he thinks, will be the winner.
Will COVID upend the buoyant Toronto housing market?
Most everyone thinks that housing prices in Toronto are a bubble, waiting to burst. That makes the housing market’s resilience during COVID even more surprising: the MLS Home Price Index was up 7.7% in June with sales volumes back at prior year levels.
Stores and malls are here to stay – at least in Canada
While e-commerce holds a number of advantages over traditional retail, Ernest argues that the Canadian market presents some key challenges to online retail and as a result, stores and malls are here to stay.
Media Appearances
David Baskin on BNN – Stock Comments
David discusses a number of stocks.
David Baskin on BNN – Market Outlook
David provides his outlook for the markets.
Barry Schwartz on BNN – Stock Comments
Barry discusses a number of stocks.
Outlook
Monthly Newsletter – August 2020
While we will never have all the answers needed for investing, the answers to three key questions will have a significant impact on the investing world. In this monthly update, David outlines these questions, the impact each will have, when he expects to have answers, and what investors should be doing as we await the outcomes.
Monthly Newsletter – July 2020
Understandably, people are concerned that the market is going to go down. The impact of the pandemic has created a high level of uncertainty and we do not know what will happen with this horrible and persistent disease in the remainder of 2020 and beyond. However, what we do know is that trying to time the market is not the answer. In this monthly update, David outlines the steps we are taking to protect your portfolios.
Monthly Newsletter – June 2020
David starts his monthly update with the aphorism “hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror” as an apt description of the markets so far this year. He includes some interesting charts to illustrate the extremes vis a vis prior periods and reiterates that our approach, as it has been in the past, was to not sell into a falling market. David also introduces 4 recent videos recorded by he and Barry which you can find below. Given that we have not been able to meet with you face to face, we thought that some short videos explaining our views on current circumstances may be of interest.
Wealth Management
How valuable is the dividend tax credit really?
Tax minimization is one of the most important pillars of wealth management. The more you pay in taxes, the less money you have to spend and save. As a result much ink is spilled and many dollars spent in the effort to pay less tax. But when trying to optimize one part of the equation, it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees.
This is where your plan shines
Major market corrections are scary. If you are close to retirement – or already retired – seismic shifts in the market can feel like the world is ending and your ability to meet your financial objectives is evaporating. If you have a financial plan, now is the time to review it, consider the impacts it has had on your portfolio, and assess in a non-emotional way whether your goals have been affected.
RRIFing on an idea: Relief for RRIF withdrawals
Ben outlines the benefits of a new measure introduced by the Federal government in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to ease the economic burden on retirees by reducing minimum annual RRIF withdrawals.