Having a few decisions such as index insurance puts and precious metals go positive, when everything else is going negative, helps reduce the panic emotion.
Navigating investments amid current market volatility
Investing for Fun and Profit: The main thing during these volatile periods is to avoid panic
The economic trouble with Canada
Investing for Fun and Profit: It’s unwise to strictly shop Canadian, when shopping for stocks
It’s important to understand the Canadian market is largely financials, energy and mining, with a smattering of smaller tech companies and industrials. It’s impossible to build a diversified portfolio exclusively on Canadian stocks.
Let’s revisit the basics of investing in stocks
Investing for Fun and Profit: Three ways to invest, three culprits for poor performance — and three antidotes
This week we’re looking at the advantages and disadvantages of the three main ways to invest in stocks, as a path to achieve higher returns compared to cash, GICs or bonds. As investment vehicles go, pension funds are out of control of their individual investors, so let’s quickly move the discussion to areas where we have control.
The ‘Rule of 72’: Why don’t they teach this in school?
Investing for Fun & Profit: A couple of important but simple math exercises for those new to investing
Invited by a former ag retailer and farmer to conduct an investing workshop, I was once again surprised by how few had heard of the “Rule of 72.” While working through this simple formula someone asked, “Why don’t they teach this in school?”
A spectacular 2024 defied predictions, again
Investing for Fun and Profit: Also, my amateur investor market outlook for 2025
The stock market was a happy place in 2024, with the U.S. S&P 500 delivering a 25 per cent total return, including dividends. Even the laggardly Canadian TSX joined the party with a total return of 21.6 per cent. How did my 2024 predictions turn out compared to the pros, and what do I see […] Read more
Wish not for a weak Canadian dollar
Investing for Fun and Profit: Weak currency is symptomatic of weak investing confidence in a country
There exists what I believe is a very common misconception that a weak currency is good for the economy. Statements by news media and politicians often parrot this theme because on a short-term basis, exports become cheaper for foreign buyers and imports more expensive for domestic purchasers, theoretically enhancing domestic production. However, what’s missing in […] Read more
Analysts’ target prices again miss the mark
Investing for Fun and Profit: I plan to continue to ignore those target prices when making decisions
Approximately a year ago a column titled “The value of target prices” studied analyst price targets on every TSX index stock with how the stock actually performed over the next year. Analyst target prices had been conveniently amalgamated in a Globe and Mail article. While I had never used target prices to make purchase or […] Read more
The cycles within economic cycles
Investing for Fun and Profit: The economic cycle, presidential cycle and stock market cycle are separate entities that interact
The S&P 500 — the market I’ll be referencing throughout this article — has been on a tear the past couple of years, leading many to wonder if the hot bull market can continue. It was up 26.3 per cent in 2023 and at time of writing is up about 23 per cent year-to-date. Let’s […] Read more
Is it best, when investing, to stay politically agnostic?
Investing for Fun and Profit: Besides, how much influence do governments really have on the markets?
I began this column the day after the great Harris/Trump debate. Based on the publishing schedule, you might be reading it just before the U.S. election. A lot can happen in both politics and the markets over a six-week period, but I thought it would be an appropriate time to review how politics may or […] Read more
Even in a weak economy, strong performers exist
Investing for Fun and Profit: We limit our exposure in some sectors, but ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat’
The saying “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” probably dates back to medieval times when both domestic and wild cats were skinned for their fur. A literal interpretation would be rather repugnant in modern times, yet the saying persists to represent multiple ways to achieve a goal. Two issues ago, I bemoaned […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
