Eight years ago, I bought 15 U.S. dividend growth stocks as a real-life portfolio demonstration. More than a demonstration, it was the total value of our U.S. holdings in our retirement accounts. The strategy was to create a more defensive and retirement-ready portfolio. The portfolio slants to quality, profitability and business moats. The 15 stocks […]
Building the Canadian stock portfolio on the Sunday Reads.
It is so easy to build a simple but very effective Canadian stock portfolio. Canadian self-directed investors will often hold a few financials, telcos, utilities and pipelines. At times they will also (wisely) add some of the lower yielding stocks, including the railways and grocers. Other favourite picks are Alimentation Couche-Tard, Canadian Tire, Restaurants International […]
Big U.S. tech earnings to the rescue on the Sunday Reads.
I was back at MoneySense for another week – making sense of the markets. So I had to pay attention to what the heck was going on. Big tech came up big in the U.S., moving the markets higher. And the more times you mentioned AI (artificial intelligence) in your earnings conference call, the greater […]
Making sense of it all, on the Sunday Reads.
It was quite the week, and I was back at MoneySense (filling in for Kyle Prevost) – Making Sense of the Markets. For MoneySense readers I reiterated my take (somewhat borrowed from my favourite economists and market analysts) that economic forces are in play, but we are moving in slow motion. Central bankers weigh killing […]
The rate hike hiatus continues in Canada, on the Sunday Reads.
It was an easy call, that The Bank of Canada would hold rates (again) and the rate hike hiatus was still in play in the Great White North. Though we did have a wonderful heatwave this week. Not so white, not so cold. We are in wait and see mode on the inflation-fighting front. The […]
The superiority of Canadian “Robo Advisors” over Canadian mutual funds.
This is a battle between lower-fee Canadian Robo Advisor portfolios vs high-fee Canadian mutual funds. As you are likely aware Canadians pay some of the highest investment fees in the world. Larry Bates, the author of Beat The Bank, calls those fees wealth destroyers. Lowering fees is one of the most predictable ways to increase […]






