This week I posted the following articles:
I reconsidered my bond allocation and then I shared some presentation highlights from the 2013 Canadian Personal Finance Conference in Toronto. In the next day or so, I’ll also contact the winner of my book giveaway.
Leading off this Weekend Reading, a high school student showed the opportunity cost associated with a doctor paying higher (and longer) tuition costs over a plumber who started their career earlier (and thus invested sooner) on Andrew Hallam’s site.
Check out these other articles when you can…enjoy your weekend.
Larry Swedroe offers a short summary of investing themes courtesy of a Vanguard paper. This is a principle I focus on: “While you can’t control the markets or returns, you can control costs and tax efficiency. You should also pay attention to “asset location” with the objective being to hold relatively tax-efficient investments, such as broad-market stock index funds or ETFs, in taxable accounts while keeping tax-inefficient investments, such as taxable bonds and REITs, in retirement accounts.”
I enjoyed Steadyhand’s article this week: investing rules to remember.
I read about a 77-year-old former Vice President of Marketing now with two jobs for working minimum wage in retirement, because he has to.
Canadian Capitalist told us why ETF distributions fluctuate. Even if distributions from the holdings do not change, this can still happen because the ETF experiences significant inflows or outflows of cash. A flood of money in will result in a lower distribution per unit.
The Blunt Bean Counter offered a detailed explanation about TFSA contribution (and over-contribution) rules.
Robb Engen was a guest on My University Money, discussing credit cards.
Retire Happy reminded people RRSPs are not short term savings accounts, but you can’t blame people for not knowing that because “Savings” appears in the title. I prefer to label this account: Tax-Deferred Retirement Account (TDRA). I should write a post about that.
Michael James answered a question about picking winning mutual funds. Over time, most funds fail to beat their benchmark and Michael said as much.
SPF wondered what you’d do with a financial windfall. I’d kill our mortgage and be debt-free and focus on dividend investing for retirement in my 40s. Not that I’ve thought that through already or anything…
Dan Bortolotti reminded us this time, it is not different. If you fear a bear bond market (rising interest rates), Dan writes: “…the prudent strategy is to reduce the duration of your bond portfolio.” So, if you really want (and need) fixed-income security then use a short-term bond ETF or maybe create a GIC ladder. After you own that, you can largely sit back and let the markets do whenever they wish.
Image courtesy: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk
