In the now-iconic scene set in Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City, a woman of some years mischievously asks her waiter to bring her the rye and pastrami sandwich she assumes was responsible for Meg Ryan’s character Sally’s head-turning display of euphoria. Portfolio envy is a lesser-known form of a similar syndrome.
Too much success can be a bad thing.
Twenty-one years ago the Toronto Stock Exchange launched the world’s first exchange-traded fund, the Toronto 35 Index Participation Units (TIPS). The advantages that ETFs offer have since been well chronicled. Support for low-cost, passive investing is broad and includes big names such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Charles Schwab.
I met a broker from Rochester at breakfast on the second day of an ETF conference in Albany, New York. I was a speaker on the first day and a moderator on the second, and was curious about the audience’s knowledge level and how the message was getting through. “Do you use ETFs in your […]
My colleague is always on the lookout for deals and bargains. Growing up in Saint Petersburg during a transitioning Russian economy made everyone resourceful. She and her family have used coupons to clean out stores, with the clerk paying her at checkout! She applies the same frugal approach to constructing core-and-satellite structures for taxable portfolios, and saves money by systematically harvesting tax losses using ETFs.
Reader Alert: This is the final installment of a three-part series on how ETFs can help control costs when constructing core portfolios. After the past couple of years, investors not only know about volatility, they likely have the scars to prove it! Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are well known for their low cost, tax efficiency and […]
Reader Alert: This is the second of a three-part series on how ETFs can help control costs when constructing core portfolios. The alarm rings reliably every morning just before daybreak. If it doesn’t sound, does that mean the sun will not rise? Maybe, if you live in the shadow of Iceland’s volcano, but otherwise get […]
Fundamental analysis is the stuff of cocktail parties, water-cooler gossip, and 24-hour financial news networks. Based on business facts, the main allure of fundamental analysis is the intellectual satisfaction it provides: it is logical. Most professional money managers use fundamental analysis in some form of top-down or bottom-up analysis. Regardless of portfolio size, controlling costs […]
Reader Alert: This is the first of a three-part series on how ETFs can help control costs when constructing core portfolios. Fundamental analysis is the stuff of cocktail parties, water-cooler gossip, and 24-hour financial news networks. Based on business facts, the main allure of fundamental analysis is the intellectual satisfaction it provides: it is logical. […]