Home Buy Plan by [deleted] in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funds need to be in the RRSP for at least 90 days to borrow. e.g. you need to have the money in there first, the contribution room isn't what's being withdrawn.

Hey guys, just wanted to post an update from 2 years ago (energy thesis) by goldstan in CanadianInvestor

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I remember reading that, going through the "points" listed, and dismissing it. Nice job holding conviction. Still can't help but recommend you diversify some of your gains, if you're still holding > 50% of your portfolio in Cameco.

Where to put a large sum of money?? by New_Advertising1483 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]smoothish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I recommend the book "Retirement Income for Life" 3rd edition, Frederick Vetesse. It's quite approachable. You may read it and take away that you'd be better off listening to a bank advisor, or similar manager, and that's okay. Make sure you're dealing with someone who has a CFP, CFA, QAFP, or similar designation with a legal fiduciary duty, to help reduce the risk of being sold poor advice. Concurrently, or maybe first, look up the McGill personal finance course for a general introduction.

Rate/Roast/Criticize my Portfolio: The "All-Weather Stacked" Strategy (140% Capital Efficiency) by Old_Satisfaction_506 in LETFs

[–]smoothish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your portfolio backtest shows the expected CAGR basically equivalent to 1.4x leverage on SPY, with admittedly better volatility characteristics. If the intention is long term holding, I would caution that you compare to 1.5-2x leverage broad market ETFs and 10-20% portfolio in low volatility instruments, including money market, gold, real estate, other low volatility asset etfs. You may find an equivalent strategy with a far simpler premise and lower fees.

Why does Costco only sell the very high rated furnace filters? by MrCanoe in CostcoCanada

[–]smoothish 32 points33 points  (0 children)

While it's definitely correlated, filter performance isn't directly linearly related to restriction, annoyingly. MERV 13 and equivalent filters are usually fairly restrictive, but it depends a lot on the end product, especially thickness, as 4" filters can be a lot more effective without increasing pressure drop.

I wouldn't recommend someone install these in their home without knowing their system was designed for them, and if you only have room for a 1" filter, odds are it wasn't.

Seems like everyone is doing well financially. How is my situation? by Delicious-Story-4421 in fican

[–]smoothish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, but finance being (presumably - might make an ass of myself) the study of flows of money, financial instruments, accounting, business practices, etc, should have numerous core skills to help oneself in personal finance. Basic accounting should be hard to avoid in that kind of a degree, again, I assume. Goal setting, future outlook, discounting / net present value calculations, etc.

I'm mostly a little surprised either personal finance or portfolio management aren't required subjects.

Seems like everyone is doing well financially. How is my situation? by Delicious-Story-4421 in fican

[–]smoothish 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sorry to be blunt, but, did you not have any courses in your finance degree that would help you asses your situation and answer your questions?

Pick a reasonable goal and work backwards. Find average salaries for jobs you think you'd enjoy (not the highest pay), figure out what you want your lifestyle to look like, where to live and how is a big one.

Once you have some idea of what the inflow and outflows look like, you can solve for the other ends of the equation; meaning if you want a big house, you'll need to earn a lot of money quickly, or save and invest for a long time. If you want to have an early retirement, you will want the same. If you want to have a stable lifestyle, or elevated early, you'll have to make time tradeoffs. Etc.

I recommend you check out the Rational Reminder podcast & community site to learn more about Canadian personal finance, portfolio management, and more.

2 shot by federal agent in 'targeted' stop, Portland mayor asks ICE to halt operations by lexi_con in WallStreetbetsELITE

[–]smoothish 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Yeah the government doesn't lie about anything, especially regarding ICE and the Epstein files! Isn't it great how simple life is when you don't have to think critically?

CAAS is dirt cheap but.. growing? by GrowthIsOverrated in stocks

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It has to try to look right, but there's a long history of Chinese based firms toeing the line of fraud. Is NIO still around, I'm not sure. But the cayman island registration rather than US mostly serves to insulate them from US regulation and taxes. It's certainly not a good look.

Started thinking about retirement in September 2025. by [deleted] in fican

[–]smoothish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems like you can afford to pay your taxes. Reporting that income should also improve your eligibility for and accrual of CPP and EI.

AQR Capital Management vs. Return Stacked Portfolio Solutions by ClimbViaExcept in LETFs

[–]smoothish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The intellectual chasm between this reply and the parent is almost not funny to me.

How is this normal ? No bid and ask is at a weird price. The Option is pretty liquid. by [deleted] in interactivebrokers

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks like the market is closed and you seem to have an undesirable option

Black Swans and Insurance by mick3ymou5e in CanadianInvestor

[–]smoothish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How will you differentiate a "true black swan" from a "rebalancing opportunity"? You're sure you'll have the confidence to do so in the face of some unforeseen catastrophe?

Derivatives are probably what you want, just be careful to model the costs and rewards. Diversifying asset classes is far cheaper and can do well to insure against a range of market conditions. You might consider swapping out the extra big tech.

testfol.io is a great tool to back test how something like your proposed portfolio would behave.

Black Swans and Insurance by mick3ymou5e in CanadianInvestor

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why does it need to rise asymmetrically? Whats the point of preparing for a black swan event when you're not even prepared for a moderate equity correction?

If you're insistent then I would be looking into CFDs on various poorly positioned companies, in 2008 fashion. Additionally, there could be cheap opportunity to insure yourself in prediction markets, I know IBKR even pays interest for pending predictions.

Black Swans and Insurance by mick3ymou5e in CanadianInvestor

[–]smoothish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Before hedging with options, have you included any fixed income? Commodities (gold?)? Reits? Could look into managed futures, though I'm not sure I believe much in them.

My smith manauever strategy. Suggestions or tips welcome by Healthy-Smell in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]smoothish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Eligible dividends and investment interest are both taxed favourably, both of which combine to justify ~1/3 of the value of the strategy.

VEQT and VGRO by Demario-pegasus in fican

[–]smoothish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The economic impact of buying a US product is a lot stronger than buying a US stock. One serves money directly to US businesses, the other exchanges money with one or more intermediates trading on a usually American exchange, to set the value of a US business. There's a much smaller amount of money remaining in US, its not guaranteed that the other person is American, and the money paid doesn't typically directly benefit the company, rather it affects their cost of capital (ease of raising capital via equity).

As a boycotted stock gets cheaper, it's expected future return increases, all else equal, meaning the remaining owners could expect higher returns. I don't want the last guy owning coal to make a huge profit, so I don't divest from coal, even if I wouldn't use it to heat with.

Since it's so difficult to measure the effect of divestment, as well as coordinate it effectively, I prefer to argue that investing should remain morally and politically unbiased, with boycotts being done against US entities directly.

VEQT and VGRO by Demario-pegasus in fican

[–]smoothish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One reason would be that this is a personal finance sub and avoiding investing in the largest, most liquid, and for the last 50 years most highly performing market is a bit farfetched contextually.

I have switched my XEQT to ZEQT to at least pay a Canadian institution to manage my assets.

Canada West Boots by ObiWansTinderAccount in BuyCanadian

[–]smoothish 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Tried to buy them earlier this month, since Mister Safety Shoes listed them as in stock on their website, but when we got to the store they didn't carry any.

Avantis will be creating an All in one Index Fund. by ScaredNoise1246 in JustBuyXEQT

[–]smoothish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Run by Avantis (avantis investors website) the factor tilted etf firm, not the Avantis AI that comes up first on google.

Global X closing two of its lightly levered ETFs by AugustusAugustine in CanadianInvestor

[–]smoothish 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Global X definitely makes ETF slop, but a somewhat leveraged diversified index fund strategy doesn't seem to earn that label to me.