Before we kick off, I want to take a moment and wish all our readers a very happy Thanksgiving! Now, onto this week’s interesting stories…
Institute for Financial Learning Ponzi Scheme: Last weekend, CTV’s W5 asked some tough questions as to why authorities allowed an alleged Ponzi scheme run by the Institute for Financial Learning to go for years despite many red flags. Investors in IFFL believed that they were investing in “gold mines” but the money is alleged to have been siphoned off to shell companies abroad.
The Trouble with Experts: CBC ran a documentary last week on why most of the predictions we hear in the media turn out to be dead wrong. It is also surprising to hear how easy it is to become an “expert” on something.
Why bother saving money?: In a story featured in Maclean’s magazine, ants, stung by prolonged low interest rates and envious of seeing grasshoppers living it up, are starting to doubt whether their thrifty habits are worth it. Ants should stop fretting because “everyone’s doing it” is usually a very poor rationale for piling on debt.
Bogle rails against ETFs: In this interview, John Bogle stridently criticizes ETFs, which he believes encourages excessive trading that in turn, reduces returns. It seems to me that the criticism should be directed at investor behaviour, not the product itself.
Lump sum investing beats DCA: Larry Swedroe posted on some interesting research that showed that lump sum investing beats dollar cost averaging about 70% of the time. The trouble with DCA is that one can be never sure whether there will be a market crash just as the last installment is invested.
Around the blogs
Tom Bradley of Steadyhand funds says that despite the market uncertainty he is confident about some things.
The Blunt Bean Counter argues that capital gains tax should not influence the decision of when to sell a stock.
Million Dollar Journey featured a guest post on socially responsible investing.
Today’s Economy Blog’s Kevin Press who now has a new home at brighterlife.ca says that Canadian investors should diversify their portfolio into foreign equities.
Market timing remains a very tough game. Larry MacDonald reported that housing prices are still marching upward with gains in most cities across Canada.
Preet Banerjee featured an guest insightful post on how professional stock traders view stock analysts.
Retire Happy Blog’s Jim Yih finds out the secrets to becoming a millionaire by 35.
Michael James on Money pans a “no interest with minimum payments” Sears Financials offer.
