Welcome to the first Weekend Reading of fall my friends. Hard to believe but October is next week. Next month we have a “famous couples” Halloween party to attend which should be fun. We’ve got plans for our costume but my question to you is – who would you go as? I look forward to the comments!
Thanks to Rob Carrick from The Globe and Mail this week who highlighting this review on my site about how to generate retirement income and what personal finance issues should be election issues this fall.
Enjoy some of my favourite articles from the week that was and see you here again next week!
Some good advice from Million Dollar Journey, his mortgage is paid off, now what? “I think that paying off debt first is a smart thing to do, even in a low interest rate environment. Sure your mortgage rate may only be 3% or less, but it’s still an after-tax return. Not only that, paying off a large debt, like a mortgage, will add a lot of cash flow to your finances on a monthly basis and give you a big psychological boost.”
Tawcan shared his monthly dividend income update.
Fans of this site, LowestRates.ca shared some back to school money savings tips for students.
Rob Carrick told investors to basically wake the heck up when it comes to learning about your money management fees.
Michael James on Money reviewed another book I still want to read.
Big Cajun Man wrote about the financial Hawthorne Effect.
BrighterLife informed us about home inspections.
Avrex Money is close to retirement and he’ll be writing more about his “finish line” soon.
Mark
My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.
Don’t forget the monopoly money hanging out of your pockets!
Hi Mark, I appreciate the mention and the support. I always look forward to your Weekend Reading posts.
Thanks
No sweat Andrew, good on you to be near your finish line. I hope I’ll get there as well!
Mark, crippling indeed.
Maybe your costume can be the Wealthy Barber. Drive the Mazda over, put a smock on, bring a few combs and scissors, clipper and mirror!!
Good luck with the final course.
That’s a good idea! 🙂
Nice summary at Avrex Money “Financial Independence – Are We There Yet?”
Too bad he sees having to Draw Down on his portfolio. I’m much happier having my portfolio generate sufficient income to meet our costs and grow even though we are not adding funds. We’ll only draw capital if we wish to Gift some of it to the family.
Andrew has done very well for himself. I’m not sure what his capital is, but I don’t want to draw it down either. Hence, I gotta work for another 10 years or so. Which sucks.
Congrats to Andrew – he’s doing it his way. I wish him all the best 🙂
Henry, I agree investment firms would not sell ETF’s if they could not make money on them. Most all firms I know of do this by selling the ETF and charging the normal relatively low cost (on broad market ETF’s), but are also charging customer a fee for service (overall management fee) such as .75-2% on their total portfolio. Buying securities only would eliminate the ETF MER but still cost the customer the overall portfolio management fee, and most any discretionary manager will offer this.
Perhaps more important than worrying about broad ETF equity fees (relatively small for diversity), is the impact of having fixed income with such low potential yields when a person is paying the portfolio fee on everything. If a person were using more specialized equity ETFs costs of course should be a bigger consideration and looking at individual securities might make more sense.
Great point: “Perhaps more important than worrying about broad ETF equity fees (relatively small for diversity), is the impact of having fixed income with such low potential yields when a person is paying the portfolio fee on everything.”
That could be crippling to a person relying on eating their capital in this environment.
Rob has a good article and hopefully the new regulations will assist investors with knowing exactly what fees are being assessed.
Investors should not forget ETF’s. Investment firms would not sell etf products if they could not make a profit and not just a small one.
You are correct Henry…businesses including the big ETF firms are in business to make money and they are making a pile of it off investors who are buying ETFs and funds over 0.25+% MER. Like mutual funds, if you’re going to buy high-priced ETFs, you are defeating the purpose. I’d rather own my basket of stocks churning out cash. Another monthly dividend income update to come in another week or so!
Appreciate another lineup of reading ideas Mark. I’ve checked out some things so far.
I liked the Real Retirement too but found myself questioning a number of things similar to what Henry mentioned.
I did enjoy reading Bogles Little book of common sense. I also wish I had been able to read it 30 years ago.
I look forward to reading Bogle’s book. I have it on my to-do list this fall. I have to finish my final course for my degree though – I hope to have that done in another 2 months. Thanks for the comments Deane.
Thanks a bunch for the mention, and the Autumn will be beautiful, unfortunately it is always followed by the Winter, and I keep hearing Winter is Coming….
Unfortunately it is….all the best.
Thanks for the mention Mark. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a great book to read.
I’m looking forward to reading it.
Bogle’s book was one that I’ve intended to read for some time. I wish it was available back when I first started stock-picking. I might have saved myself some money. Thanks for the mention.
I’ve definitely appreciated the leveling effect indexing provides in my portfolio, with oil and gas stocks tanking. I’m looking forward to the read. Thanks for the healthy debate this week! See you soon.