The Rational Reminder Podcast Episode 10 - Keep the deferred sales charge, more for us

In Episode 10 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Grass fed beef

• The benefits of independence

• The Ontario government wants to keep the deferred sales charge (DSC)

• DSC back in the day

• The old financial advice model

• DIY investors are responsible for their decisions

• 1/3 of people say money is their biggest stressor

• Locus of control

• A better way to invest responsibly

The stories that we talked about:

• Investment industry stunned as Ontario opposes proposed ban on mutual fund early-withdrawal fees

• Ontario’s Ford government is shamefully backing the investment industry over investors

• Advocis Welcomes Statement from Minister Fedeli

• Controversial commissions: DIY investors fight back against trailer fees

• How We Really Feel About Money, in a Few Simple Graphs

• Busting the RI performance myth

• Responsible/ESG investing

The Rational Reminder Podcast Episode 9 - Dimensional’s Big Flaw

In Episode 9 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Being a poor grad student

• Budgeting

• Stuff does not make you happy

• Mental overhead is a real cost

• The Globe’s Financial Facelift disaster

• Rob Arnott’s slam of Dimensional

• Are people afraid of stocks?

• The 10-year anniversary of Lehman’s fall

• Stories from the financial crisis

• Volatility in dollars vs. percentage points

• Automated rebalancing

• My uncle told me to buy weed stocks

• What does a rational investor worry about?

The stories we talked about:

• Great savers, not so great at investing

• Psychic Trauma

• How the Financial Crisis Still Affects Investors

The chart we talked about:

The Rational Reminder Podcast Episode 8 - Sell Everything!

In Episode 8 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Fidelity’s 0% MER index funds are already at $1 billion
• When costs are 0%, how do you pick a fund?
• Indexing is not a passive investment strategy
• Index construction and product implementation > low fees
• A three factor regression on the Manulife Multifactor ETFs
• Indexing is still a tiny part of the market
• Not all factors belong in a portfolio
• Dividend investing shouldn’t be so controversial
• Dividends are not a spending rule
• Financial experts don’t sound like experts to non-experts
• Sell everything!

The stories we talked about:

• Fidelity Zero-Fee Funds Lure About $1 Billion in First Month
• Infographic: Three myths related to indexing
• What Does it Mean to be a Financial Expert?

The charts we talked about:

Image Source: Vanguard

The Rational Reminder Podcast Episode 7 - Buying WEED

In Episode 7 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Ottawa home prices
• The longest bull market in history
• What goes up does not have to come down
• All time highs are normal and should be expected
• Is the market overvalued?
• Even the CAPE only explains 40% of future return differences
• Should you dollar cost average or invest in a lump sum?
• Your better off in the market than trying to time the market
• Was WEED an obvious buy at $2.00?
• There are still plenty of public companies to invest in
• Small cap returns need to be taken in context
• Bad behaviour is not always easy to spot

The stories we talked about:

• The longest bull run in history comes with a jumbo-sized asterisk
• All time highs are normal
• What if investing right before a market crash isn’t that bad?
• Is Now the Best Time to Invest?
• With Constellation Deal, Canopy Has the Chance to Be Google of Pot
• The Stock Market Is Shrinking. That’s a Problem for Everyone.

The charts we talked about:

Image source: Dimensional Fund Advisors

Image source: Ben Felix, PWL Capital

The Rational Reminder Podcast Episode 6 - Asset Location

In Episode 6 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
• Wealthsimple’s new no-commission trading platform
• Do individual stocks ever play a role in a financial plan?
• Can behavioural coaching be scaled?
• Being aware of conflicts of interest
• Wealth and happiness are not always connected
• If you buy an R8, you’ll want a McLaren next
• Retiring does not mean doing nothing
• How do you retire without a financial plan?
• The 4% rule is false! If you want to retire early
• Asset location is hard to do, and might not add value

 The stories we talked about:

• Wealthsimple CEO Katchen says he would ‘certainly’ consider IPO
• The best of Carrick on Money: Who wants to retire really early, anyway?
• Asset Location
• Asset Location Gets REALLY Complex
• “Optimal” Asset Location, Applied

The Rational Reminder Episode 5 - Rethinking Mortgage Debt

In Episode 5 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Checking your credit
• Optimizing your credit score
• Investing vs. paying off your mortgage
• Asset allocation
• Reframing mortgage debt
• Are we in a tech bubble?
• The rise in the US market is backed by fundamentals
• How the largest Canadian pension funds invest
• Skewness in VC returns
• It’s still really hard to beat index funds

 The stories we talked about:

• Mortgage debt and asset allocation
• Fed Up
• Andrew Coyne: Canada Pension Plan's active management strategy is a crock
• Tiny Wisconsin College Using Index Funds Trounces Endowment Rivals

The charts we talked about:

Source: Raymond Kerzhéro, PWL Capital

Source: Raymond Kerzhéro, PWL Capital

Source: Raymond Kerzhéro, PWL Capital

Source: Correlation Ventures

The Rational Reminder Episode 4 - The Race to 0%

In Episode 4 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• After a successful launch, the podcast will live on! Thanks for the support and feedback
• The longest bull market in history?
• Are we repeating the tech bubble?
• Why it still makes sense to hold bonds
• Rebalancing isn’t always easy
• The Lost Decade, sort of
• Is tax-loss selling worth it?
• Horizons’ marketing mistake
• One decision funds
• Index fund fees are finally at 0%
• Sec lending is the future of index fund revenue
• Charley Ellis on the history of active management
• There are less willing losers today than there were in the past
• The paradox of skill
• Active managers underperform consistently
• Daniel Kahneman does not believe active management works
• If you think you have intuition about stocks, you’re wrong
• Corporate DB pension plans are not risk-free

The stories we talked about:

• This bull market could become the longest in history this month
• Tax-Loss Harvesting: Should Investors Believe the Hype?
• Horizons ETFs Launching 0% Management Fee ETF Portfolio Solutions
• Free Fidelity Funds Stoke Price War in Bid to Catch Index Giants
• ETFs still gathering assets, but inflows slow as investors favor lower-cost funds
• CHARLEY ELLIS – INDEXING AND ITS ALTERNATIVES (EP.62)
• Then, and now
• Kahneman's Insights: Beyond Thinking Fast and Slow
• 'It's going to be hard': Sears pension payments cut by 30% this week

The charts we talked about:

Source: PWL Capital

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices

The Rational Reminder Episode 3 - Amazon Eating the Stock Market

In Episode 3 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• Should you lease or buy your vehicle?
• How are the new mortgage stress tests affecting Canadian real estate?
• Home ownership is not required to build wealth, with a little discipline
• Amazon’s size is not unprecedented
• Successfully investing in growth stocks is really hard
• Consolidation in the Canadian asset management industry
• Independence benefits wealth management clients
• Are backend loads on mutual funds still a thing?
• Fund companies pushing anti-evidence
• Financial advice is about more than just the portfolio
• We are still waiting for lower stock valuations, high inflation, and high interest rates
• If you’re not worried, you don’t have a high expected return
• Are we living in exceptionally uncertain times?
• Small cap and value returns comes from rebalancing

The stories we talked about:

• Report on the Housing and Mortgage Market in Canada
• Federal policies suppressing housing activity, creating a negative shift in sentiment for homebuyers, according to latest consumer report
• Amazon’s eating the world – and the stock market
• Is Amazon Changing the World, and the Stock Market?
• The Most Valuable Companies of All-Time
• TD Bank becomes Canada's biggest money manager with $792-million deal to buy Greystone Managed Investments
• Banning Embedded Commissions Would Not Have Fixed Financial Advice in Canada
• Transforming Practices in the Wealth Business: A preliminary assessment of the June 2018 CSA reforms to the client-advisor relationship
• Not So Predictable
• In these uncertain times

The charts we talked about:

Source: Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today, CFA Institute

Source: Visual Capitalist

The Rational Reminder Episode 2 - Indexing is Here to Stay

In Episode 2 of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• The underperformance of value stocks
• Are we in a Winner Take All market?
• Facebook’s crash
• Global value performance
• Canadian value premium at ~+5.5%
• Rebalancing into the pain
• Factor diversification
• Having a philosophy and sticking with it
• Index fund flows are slowing down in the US
• Canadian active funds are still dominating passive ETFs
• Markets are still efficient
• Deciding to be an index investor takes work
• Fewer highly skilled active managers make markets more efficient
• Canadians might need to buy real estate to retire
• Doctors were sold out by MD Management
• Should you listen to the yield curve?
• Michael Batnick’s chart crimes
• DFA’s weights vs. the S&P 500 weights

The stories we talked about:

• Don’t cry over underperforming US value stocks
• O’Shaughnessy Quarterly Investor Letter Q2 2018
• Index Funds Are Going to Be Just Fine
• The growth of index investing has not made markets less efficient
• People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard.
• Many doctors feel “betrayed” by sale of MD Financial Management
• Earth to investment advisers: You’re blowing it with millennials
• Arguing With the Yield Curve

The charts we talked about:

The Rational Reminder Episode 1 - The Cheapest Advice Probably isn't the Best

In our first ever episode of the Rational Reminder podcast we discussed the following:

• The purpose of the podcast
• How we invest
• DFA
• Factor investing
• Our worst investment ever
• Tripling our money in JDS
• Hedge funds still can’t beat the market
• CSA won’t deploy a statutory best interest standard
• The cheapest financial advice may not be the best
• Is a financial advisor worth it?
• Cost vs. complexity

The stories we talked about:

• Dave Butler Discusses Finance and Basketball
• Hedge Funds Should Be Thriving Right Now. They Aren’t.
• 2017 NACUBO-COMMONFUND STUDY OF ENDOWMENTS
• It just became clear we’ll never see an investment industry where clients must come first
• Why hiring an adviser who’s offering low fees could be a terrible move for your finances
• Podcast 18: Boots on the Ground with Rob Carrick
• Millennial looking to start investing asks: Should I go with Wealthsimple?