- Derek DeCloet writes about a mechanical strategy of investing in the banks that could be called the dogs of the banks. The strategy, which involves investing in the big five bank that has the worst return in the past two years, would have returned 20.5% over the past twenty years. The current dog would be Bank of Montreal.
- Globe and Mail‘s Rob Carrick highlights the ways in which bank fees contribute to record profits earned by the big banks. We have the same Signature Plus account with Royal Bank and most months we don’t pay a dime in bank fees. The reason: we use a PC Financial checking account for all Interac purchases, bill payments and cash withdrawals and limit the transactions in the Royal Bank account to a bare minimum.
- Jonathan Chevreau reiterates the “Go Global” theme in the National Post. Canadian markets have outperformed other developed markets for a long time now that many are wondering how long the good times can last.
- Tom Bradley writes in the SteadyHand blog that ETFs are getting some of the worst attributes of mutual funds. I think investors should just ignore the new ETFs that are coming to market and concentrate on a handful of broad market ETFs and keep things simple.
- Tax expert Tim Cestnik notes that spousal RRSPs are still valuable for income-splitting for early retirees despite the plan to allow seniors to split eligible pension income with their spouse.
