Global stocks were down a lot in 2018. The MSCI All Country World Index (net div.) dropped nearly 10% in USD terms between January and December. A 10% drop is nowhere near the worst that we have seen, but it is still not an easy pill to swallow.

The good news is that so far in 2019, the majority of last year's losses have been recovered. $1 invested in January 2018 would have been worth $0.91 in December. By the end of January 2019 our dollar would be worth $0.98.

This speaks to the importance of "staying in our seats" through rough market conditions. The recovery is typically swift, unpredictable, and concentrated in only a handful of trading days. We have had some great podcast guests so far in 2019; we hope that the information is useful to you.

+ The Momentum Factor Is Real. Too Bad It Doesn't Work.[Institutional Investor]

+ Episode 31: Single Decision ETFs: Unpacking XGRO and XBAL from BlackRock

Steven Leong, Head of Canada iShares Product at BlackRock, is here to talk about single decision ETFs, the new XGROs and XBALs from BlackRock and whole lot more. We start off the episode with a bit of an introduction on BlackRock and iShares before Steven informs us on the new relationship between BlackRock and RBC Global Asset Management.

From there we get into the meat of the episode looking at the portfolios in question and Canada’s current positioning in the global trends.

More Recent Rational Reminder Episodes

+ Episode 30: A Complete Guide to Investing and Retirement with Larry Swedroe [45:26]

+ Episode 29: Clearing Up the Holiday Back-Up: Podcast Housekeeping and Round Up [29:56]

+ Episode 28: Staying Ahead of the Curve: The History of Dimensional Fund Advisors[42:42]

+ Episode 27: Changing the Minds of Advisors and Investors with Robin Powell [27:39]

+ Dividend Growth Investing

I think that one of the single biggest challenges for investors is understanding that dividends do not matter. Dividends...do not...matter.

+ The Problem With Small Cap Stocks [CSI Video 11:44]

We hope that you found our newsletter useful and informative.

Cameron & Ben