Welcome to some new Weekend Reading friends! Earlier this week I contacted the winners of my TurboTax Canada giveaway but unfortunately only a couple of folks got back to me on time so I might need to draw a few new names. Congratulations to readers Andrea and Jason, and thanks for reading. Stay tuned for new names and hopefully I call your name!
This post got a number of comments this week: Asset allocation in retirement. I also started a new giveaway on my site: The Essential Retirement Guide. Make sure you check out that post and enter!
I actually have more giveaways planned for my site in the coming weeks so share the love (this blog) with friends and family.
Have a great weekend,
Mark
A Wealth of Common Sense updated his favourite asset quilt.
Dividend Earner had some solid monthly income.
Boomers in Vancouver are making a killing on real estate. Here’s a story about one couple that sold their five-bedroom home for $3 million in December, a 100-fold gain from their purchase in 1970. Crazy.
Here’s a link to my friend Preet Banerjee on CBC’s Bottom Line Panel about the upcoming federal budget. (Just wait to hear them after the requisite commercial.) Some interesting predictions and takes – are we going to see an enhanced Canada Pension Plan (CPP)? Nice race car analogy.
I liked this article about the best retirement withdrawal strategies. Rather technical stuff but interesting.
Our Big Fat Wallet wrote about switching to cash spending.
Michael James on Money told a tale about CPP forgiveness rules.
Dividend Growth Investor shared some thoughts about slowing dividend growth.
Mr. Money Mustache had a chat with Mother Earth. We’re trying to do our part here MMM.
Stephen Weyman updated his post on free internet TV. Thanks to my Rogers internet package, I’ll be watching the NHL online tonight.
This blogger is well on his way to earning $25,000 per year in dividend income. That’s impressive.
Big Cajun Man provided some commentary on Canada’s debt-to-income ratio. We continue to kill our mortgage over here!
The Liberals are reversing the Conservatives decision to delay Old Age Security payments in the coming years. Eligibility for OAS will be restored to age 65.
Thanks for the mention Mark. That story about the Vancouver couple earning a 100-fold return on their home is pretty amazing. Isn’t that a sign of a bubble ( sale price going over listing price, flipping houses etc). Or perhaps I don’t get the “new economy” 😉
DGI
100-fold increase is nuts. Thanks for reading and the support DGI.
Thanks a lot for the free TurboTax code, winning this contest made me save $45! 🙂
Enjoy 🙂 Thanks for being a fan Jason.
Here are some more Canadian indexes. These are the various sub-indexes of the TSX; TMX Indices. This is a site to bookmark.
http://web.tmxmoney.com/indices.php?section=tsx&index=%5E15NT
Thanks Helen!
Here is the Canadian market quilt.
http://www.ndir.com/cgi-bin/PeriodicTableofAnnualReturns.cgi
Great link. Thanks. I don’t own bonds or gold so that rules of most of the table for me Helen!
Interesting to note that 2000-2015 real returns: gold 5.5%, S&P 2.5%.
Sometimes — for 15 years — fear is a better investment than production.
In the WoCS quilt, the equal weight portfolio returns 5% (ex-commodities, 38% more than a commodity inclusion portfolio). This is a great example of investing in drivers. Most commodities are production inputs and not investments. But gold, even though classified as a commodity, is rarely a production input — it’s driver is fear, not production; gold really sucked during the greed of the 1980-1999 bull market.
(Full disclosure: I hold a tiny bit of gold and trade silver.)
Just a different way of looking at things.
Agreed. Most commodities are production inputs so with commodities, you’re basically hedging your bets on a growing (not slowing) economy. I have learned by lesson on some O&G stocks!
Hi Mark: Thanks for that RBC version of the quilt. Yes, I did mean the TSX sectors. However, it’s good to see the RBC quilt as it at least shows Canada versus the other markets.
I like that one for the reasons you mentioned. Good for comparative purposes.
Ref: A Wealth of Common Sense updated his favorite asset quilt.
I love and collect those quilts. Does anyone know if one exists for the Canadian stock market (TSX)?
Thanks,
Just the TSX and sectors within it you mean Helen? Not that I know of but this one by RBC has more CDN content:
http://media.rbcgam.com/enterprise-tools/diversification/
Awesome – you’re watching hockey online. Didn’t know Rogers offered that to their internet subscribers. That’s fantastic!
Yes, via NHL GameCentre 🙂
https://gamecentrelive.rogers.com/en/
I would like to cut the cable cord due to high cost and relatively low TV usage. The trouble for me is I do not have a masters degree in computer science and have very low interest in learning this new technology with the breadth of choices and variables. We want a SIMPLE cheap alternative that gives us basic channels for news, business, maybe documentaries and access to some movies for 2 TV’s. The free internet guide was interesting and tries to take something complicated and make it understandable. Unfortunately it still assumes you have a good level of technical knowledge and interest.
I am in process of making a homemade TV antenna for the attic where I may be able to get 2-3 channels from our rural location. If it works I guess we’ll start there and try to figure out some of this other stuff.
It seems the technology hurdle may be the reason why there are still so many people like me still subscribing to cable.
I guess free copies of tax software isn’t as exciting as it used to be. Thanks for the mention.
Nice set of reads, Mark. Thanks for sharing.
R2R
Thanks! Enjoy!
Disposable income can only grow when debt is lowered, but you can’t do that without more disposable income? It gets confusing. Have a great weekend, and thanks for the mention.
Get more disposable income by cutting expenses.
re: Asset quilt — 10-yr return of an equal weight portfolio: 3.8%.
Not all diversification is equal.
re: OBFW switching to cash — music to my ears! 😉
Absolutely not…diversification does not mean equal – it just means spreading around some risk.
Yes, OBFW is avoiding his credit card but likely only temporary! You still anti-credit card? I just earned a free flight using mine. Chat soon!
OBFW…baby steps, Mark…baby steps. 😉
Have to go mow the lawn now.
Working towards lots of disposable income and no debt over here. Does that work? 🙂 Enjoy the weekend.
Thanks for the mention, Mark. Those real estate prices are insane – I wish I could get that type of return in my TFSA 🙂
Crazy. I mean, Vancouver is nice and all but geez…I would sell, move and retire somewhere else with $3M.