Efficient Markets

Asking a close loved one or a friend to be your executor may seem like a nice thing to do.  Even an honor, that you would trust that person to handle your affairs once you've passed away.  Many people agree to be the executor for a family member or friend without thinking twice about it.  But, the job of being an executor is a challenging one.  On today's episode we talk about the job of the executor, the time it takes to do the job, and the risks that the executor takes on. Then, we introduce the role of the corporate executor, costs, and reasons why you might consider hiring a corporate executor despite the additional costs. Links and notes can be found on my blog at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

On today's episode, we talk about digital estate planning. More and more of our lives are online.  Increasingly, our assets are in digital form.  Think of your social media accounts, subscriptions, rewards points, and cloud storage services. Traditional estate plans cover things like bank and investment accounts, physical assets, and real estate.  But, your digital assets need to be taken care of in your estate as well. On today's episode I talk about what assets need to be considered in your digital estate plan.  I talk about what some platforms are doing to help people do some estate planning themselves within the platform.  I explain how to get your estate attorney to help you write language into your estate documents to deal with digital assets.  And I talk about some solutions that can help you with efficiency in your planning. Links and show notes will be on my blog shortly. Thanks for listening, Mark

Welcome back to Efficient Markets! Today, we talk about a question that I have gotten from a number of clients over the past few weeks.  When do I no longer need life insurance? We talk about the role of life insurance, the different types of life insurance, what insurance is meant to do, how much it costs, and how to think about whether or not you need it anymore. Links and show notes will be available on my blog at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

Welcome back to Efficient Markets! On today's episode we look at stock returns in Canada by Prime Minister going back to 1957.   From there, we talk about intra-year declines and what they mean for full year stock returns. We finish with a discussion about the behaviour gap - which is the difference between stock market returns and the actual returns realized by the investors in the market. Charts and links can be found at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

Welcome back to Efficient Markets. On today's episode, we talk about home country bias. According to Statista.com - Canadian stocks make up 2.4% of the total global equity market capitalization.  According to Vanguard, Canadians, on average, allocate about 56% of their equity portfolios to Canadian stocks. This is what is called a home country bias. We talk about the issues with allocating so much of your portfolio to Canadian stocks and some of the reasons that you may want to diversify away from Canada in your portfolios. Detailed show notes and links can be found on my blog this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca.  Thank you for listening. Mark

On today's show, we talk about tapping into home equity to fund retirement spending. I talk about some of the benefits and the potential drawbacks and pitfalls of tapping home equity to fund retirement.  I finish off with some recommendations for retirees considering using home equity to fund retirement Notes, links, and charts used in this episode can be found on my blog at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast this week. Thanks for listening, Mark

Welcome back to Efficient Markets Nick Murray's writing has had a big impact on me and how I advise clients.  Today I go through the 6 keys to the upper reaches of investing that Nick lays out in his book "Behavioural Investment Counselling".   I believe that if an investor can get these 6 steps right, their long term returns will beat the majority of their friends, neighbors, and family members...and probably most professional investment managers as well. Links and notes will be posted on my website this week.  Thanks for listening! Mark

Thank you for tuning in. On today's episode I talk about the resent resurgence of the value factor.  Being a value investor has been difficult over the past 10 years, especially in the US.  But, the dramatic rebound in the value factor has given investors a nice "shot in the arm" and a reminder that factors can show up quickly and forcefully. I also talk about Larry Swedroe's research on the reason that we own factors.  We own unique risk factors for diversification purposes.  Any factor, including market beta, can go through long periods of underperformance. Detailed charts, links, and notes can be found on my blog at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podacst Thanks for listening. Mark

Welcome back to Efficient Markets. Today we talk about high flying growth stocks being added to the S&P 500.  We compare them to the stocks that are removed from the index to make room for them. Which stocks do you think outperform going forward?  The answer might surprise you. Blog post and show notes can be found on my blog this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

On today's show we talk about the good and the bad of retirement saving rules of thumb. Detailed blog and links can be found on my website at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

Hello, On today's episode, I talk about concentrated stock portfolios.  This past year has been the year of the "meme" stock and investors have been piling into the market.  You might wonder, should I pick individual stocks to get wealthy in the stock market? I explore some data from DFA that looks at the cost of missing out on the biggest winners in the global stock market.  Yes, owning a concentrated portfolio is a good way to out-perform, but you stand the same chance to dramatically under-perform a simple, broadly diversified portfolio of index funds. Detailed notes, charts, and links can be found on my blog at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark 

In today's episode I talk about some key takeaways from the SPIVA Scorecard for the year ending December 31, 2020. The SPIVA report looks at the performance of actively managed funds vs. their benchmarks.  The results continue to demonstrate that investing in low-cost, transparent index funds/ETF's are a smart long-term move for investors. Links, Charts, and Show notes will be available on my blog this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podacast Thanks for listening! Mark

Fingers crossed, universities and colleges will be opening their doors to students starting this fall.  As parents and students are getting their planning underway, I have received some questions about RESP withdrawals.  Specifically, what is the best way to tax-efficiently withdraw funds from an RESP account? In this episode I explain the different components of an RESP, how each of them are taxed, and a strategy for using up your student's low income tax brackets to make withdrawals from an RESP. Detailed blog and links will be available this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening, Mark

On today's episode we talk about options for short term savers right now.  Interest rates are low right now.  This is great for borrowers and people who own assets.  But, for the person who is looking to save short term money, it's very challenging. I talk about 3 options for people who have short term money that they want to put to work and give my recommendations. Show notes and links will be on my website this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening! Mark

Today we talk about inflation, including: 1) What is inflation? 2) Is Inflation Good or Bad? 3) What is "Good Inflation"? 4) Why are people worried about inflation? 5) What does the market expect inflation to be? 6) What can you do about inflation? 7) What about Hyper-Inflation? 8) Action Items Links will be posted on my blog this week at www.walhoutfinancial.ca/podcast Thanks for listening, Mark