Building Wealth

For the first 30 or so years of working, saving and investing, you’ll be first in the mode of getting out of the hole (paying down debt), and then building your net worth (that’s wealth accumulation.). But don’t forget, wealth accumulation isn’t the ultimate goal. Decumulation is! (a separate category here at the Hub).

Should investors buy individual stocks?

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By Steve Lowrie, CFA

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

In most walks of life, rugged individualism is a virtue.  No wonder so many investors still seem so determined to beat the odds by trying to pick the very best individual stocks (and avoid the stinkers). Unfortunately, the odds are stacked so high against these sorts of financial heroics, you might as well be buying lottery tickets versus trying to consistently outperform the long-term returns everyone can expect by embracing an evidence-based investment strategy.

I’ve posted on this subject before, in “How understanding statistics can make you a better investor.”  Today, I want to take a closer look at why individuals should still avoid picking individual stocks – and, briefly, what you can do instead to come out ahead.

A Grumpy Advisor 

There are numerous real-life illustrations that have crossed my path over the years … generally on opposite ends of the spectrum.   On one extreme, there is using some mad money to buy shares (usually penny stocks) in an emerging technology or fad.  The other extreme is cashing out a well-diversified portfolio and putting everything into one illiquid investment, promising high yields, but with significant hidden risks (mostly private real estate recently).

Often, these individuals would like me to help them with the transaction. I won’t do that.  While I can’t stop them from proceeding without me, I can vehemently advise against it. If they’re a client and they still insist on getting in on the deal, they can do so directly, through a discount brokerage account.

Why am I so grumpy about it?

It’s my job

I couldn’t claim to be offering anything remotely akin to best-interest financial advice if I weren’t highly skeptical of investment “opportunities” that conflict with everything I know about how capital markets work.  I can assure you, every bit of evidence I’m aware of (based on more than six decades of peer-reviewed, academically grounded research) informs me that dumping your entire nest egg into a single, risk-laden venture flies in the face of good advice.

It’s not even investing

Alright, so maybe you’re already with me on not staking your entire life’s savings on a single bet. But what about that modest stake in a penny stock? Is there any harm done in throwing a bit of fun money at a venture that, at worst, won’t ruin you; and, at best, just may pay off?

The problem is, most investors don’t realize that stock-picking isn’t actually investing.  It’s speculating.  In practice and expected outcome, it’s no different than gambling in a casino or buying a lottery ticket. As I covered in that past post of mine, the odds are stacked anywhere from mildly to steeply against you, making it far more a matter of luck than skill whether you “win” or “lose.”

This is where I see people running aground, even with seemingly “harmless” penny stock ventures. In my experience, if they happen to lose their stake, they tend to justify it as a “nothing ventured, nothing gained” adventure, especially if they weren’t hurt too badly.

Worse, if someone happens to come out ahead now and then by picking individual stocks, a bevy of behavioral biases (including, but not limited to: confirmation, framing, outcome, overconfidence and pattern recognition biases) tricks them into believing it was NOT random luck. For better or worse, we humans love to conclude we’re somehow smarter than the rest of the crowd. It’s so common, there’s even a name for it: “The Lake Wobegon Effect.”

It’s usually not only incorrect, it’s dangerous to mistakenly assume a successful stock pick happened because you or your stock-picking guru outwitted the entire market. Why is it dangerous? Because it increases the likelihood you’ll try your luck again, potentially with bigger bets. Eventually, you may convince yourself that stock-picking is a great way to invest in general, not realizing how much it’s probably costing you over time. This is especially so if you have no financial advisor to turn to: one who is committed to serving your best interests by showing you how your actual, long-term portfolio performance numbers stack up to a more sensible investment strategy. Which leads me to my final point today …

This rarely ends well

Based on my 25 years of experience, the vast majority of individual stock-pickers not only underperform the general market, they typically lose capital in the long-run. Recalling the casino analogy, even if you win a “hand” or two, the system (capitalism) is essentially set up so the house (the market) comes out ahead in the end, regardless of which players (investors) win or lose along the way. Continue Reading…

Why you need a Financial Planner

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By David Miller, CFP, RFP

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

When you start to look for help with your finances, whom do you ask first? Your best friend, parents, or a banker? By asking for a financial planner first, you are more likely to keep more of your money, save your time, and reduce your financial risks to help you reach your goals.

Here are my three favorite reasons you should look for and hire a financial planner:

  • Increased Financial Confidence
  • Accountability of Actions
  • Advancing Your Financial Literacy

Before I dive into these three reasons, I need to acknowledge that there seems to be some serious confusion for most of the Canadian public about who is advising them and what a financial planner is. Most people either don’t understand or don’t have enough information about who is advising them on their financial matters. This is an especially difficult task as everyone will have a slightly different experience with an advisor, given the advisor’s level of experience, education, skill, registration requirements, ethical requirements, personal biases, employment requirements and specialisation within the industry.

The complexity in the industry, with slight differences between advisor titles, is staggering. You may be meeting with a financial adviser, financial advisor, investment advisor, portfolio manager, investment counsellor, financial consultant and wealth coach among others. They may each do different things, target different niches, and/or specialize in different areas but may not actually provide financial planning services. Adding to the complexity is the lack of legislation for the term financial planner in all provinces except for Quebec.

“There is no legislated standard in place for financial planners or for those who offer financial planning services. In fact, in every Canadian province except Quebec, people may call themselves financial planners without having any credentials or qualifications whatsoever” – Financial Planning Standards Council.

I bring this up because I want to be clear that people looking for financial advice should look to hire and pay for the right type of financial advice. This is in the form of Certified Financial Planning professionals (CFP®) registered with the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC, now called FP Canada) and/or Registered Financial Planners (R.F.P.) from the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners (IAFP). These are the people I call financial planners with a nod to the IAFP for placing a higher level of ethical and planning experience requirements upon registrants.

I understand how valuable it can be when you meet the right advisor and get the right advice. Yet the value of financial planning has been described as incredibly difficult to quantify and you may see it as a secondary benefit and a waste of money or time. After all, there is great information on the internet, and your parents, best friend, banker etc. must know how best to help you, right?

Without further ado, here are my top reasons you should look to hire a financial planner instead:

  • Increased Confidence – Know your WHOLE picture

The statistics speak loudly:

Utilizing the FPSC’s most recent survey is maybe the best way to quantify how financial planning can increase levels of confidence. People feel much more on track with their financial affairs than compared to those without a financial plan.

Let’s look at an example of someone looking to plan their retirement. In preparation, a person must understand not only that they have enough money to last through their retirement but go through a laundry list of to-do items and complex decisions to make. Just to list a few: Continue Reading…

Women, Wealth and Retirement

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One of my very first financial planning clients was a single woman in her late 40s named Rachel who lived in Toronto and worked as a self-employed consultant to the not-for-profit sector. She made good money but lacked the confidence to manage her day-to-day finances and save for the long term.

Moreover, Rachel provided care for her aging parents and was under a tremendous amount of stress: enough for her to worry about her own health and whether she could maintain her current workload.

We worked together to establish a budget and cash flow projections for the next 12 months. During that time, we checked in monthly to ensure her income and expenses were on track and updated her plan accordingly.

Having always come from a place of fear about her financial future, Rachel quickly realized the path was not as bad as she once made it out to be. Most importantly, I never made her feel bad for things she didn’t understand: I just offered support and encouragement, along with tools that were easy to understand and implement.

After just one year she felt empowered about her finances and confident about her financial future. This new-found confidence also shone through her consulting business as she managed three straight years of record revenue growth to help further strengthen her financial position.

Meanwhile, her parents’ health continued to decline, so Rachel decided to scale back her workload and spend more time with her mom and dad. Now she only works on enough projects throughout the year to reach a specific annual income target that meets her monthly spending and savings goals. She has enough confidence in her financial plan to turn away other business opportunities to focus on her well-being and spend more time with her parents.

Rachel now joins a growing list of financially well-prepared Canadian women. Earlier this year, RBC Insurance conducted a survey of Canadian women over the age of 45 with household income of $60K+. The survey found that women are relatively well-prepared financially, but still express varying degrees of confidence when it comes to their financial future.

Highlights include:

  • The majority of women over 45 have a very clear idea of what they would do with a sudden lump sum of money, with only a quarter worry about being able to manage the money properly.
  • Canadian women have also mastered the household money matters. More than nine in 10 (92 per cent) agree they have a strong understanding of their finances.
  • Yet despite this, 24 per cent say they won’t be able to maintain their household’s financial situation if their spouse or partner were to pass away and one-third are not confident that they will be able to afford the lifestyle they want to live through retirement.
  • Interestingly, single women were only slightly more likely than married women (36 vs. 34 per cent) to cite a lack of confidence in their ability to afford their lifestyle in retirement.

Retirement planning is a challenge in any household, let alone one in which a spouse dies early. If that spouse happens to be the household’s chief financial officer, what’s the surviving partner to do?

Even though I manage our day-to-day finances and retirement savings I do want my wife to have an understanding of our financial position:  both current and future. I want to set up our finances in a way that’s easy for her to manage in the event of my untimely demise. I also want to ensure that she can maintain a comfortable lifestyle in retirement.

I’ve made sure to include my wife as the beneficiary on my RRSP. That way, if I died, she could have my RRSP assets transferred to her RRSP through a tax-deferred rollover.

I have a term life insurance policy in place that will be enough to pay off our existing mortgage and provide another $300,000 or so to live on.

I also have a defined benefit pension through my current employer. If I died, she would receive 2/3 of the pension I was receiving for the rest of her life.

Annuities: A Missing Piece of the Retirement Puzzle?

The idea of guaranteed income for life is appealing to me as a way to simplify our finances in retirement. Continue Reading…

Why I don’t invest in Canadian Dividend ETFs

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By Mark Seed

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Fans of the My Own Advisor site, including many long-time readers and investors who enjoy this site, continue to tout the benefits of low-cost investing to others.

And you know what? They are right and they should!

That’s because when it comes to investing you often get what you don’t pay for: better returns usually come from a lower-fee fund structure.

That means when it comes to money management fees matter.

One way to reduce your investment fees is to own lower-cost dividend ETFs.

Here are some of the great benefits that come from investing in dividend ETFs beyond just distribution income:

Transparency: Within a few clicks of a mouse or few swipes on my tablet, I can see what every single holding is in these funds. I can also read up on the fund’s prospectus to learn how fund turnover is managed and how often.  Portfolio turnover within the fund costs money: someone needs to get paid!  That brings me to my next point below.

Modest fees: You might recall active fund management costs more because money managers are paid to perform. A pay-for-performance mandate encourages the mutual fund money manager to buy and sell stocks frequently in an attempt to beat the market or the index they are tracking.  Buying and selling frequently incurs costs, and those portfolio costs are passed on to you. Instead of all this trading, I think investors should strive to invest in a low-cost ETF that follows a reputable, established, broad market index such as the S&P/TSX Composite Total Return Index or for dividend investors in Canada, an established dividend-oriented index such as:

• S&P/TSX 60 Index, or

• S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index, or

• FTSE Canada High Dividend Yield Index

Lower effort: If you’re going to invest in some individual stocks, you need to spend some time understanding these companies and understanding what you own, why you own it. I read annual reports every year and follow metrics like yield, payout ratio, earnings per share, cash flow to name a few.  Dividend ETFs don’t have this complexity: they bundle all these companies together for you.

There are certainly many benefits to owning Canadian dividend ETFs … but I still don’t invest in any of these Canadian funds.  Here are my reasons why:

1.) I thought about building my own Canadian Dividend ETF: and so I did, and I’ll continue to do so!

Many years ago, I learned there is merit to owning the same Canadian stocks the big funds own: so I started that process.  I’ve never looked back.

I went so far as to say Canadian dividend stock selection could still be made easy.

Here is one quick example: Look at this RBC Canadian Dividend Fund in 2011:

RBC Fund 2011

And now the same fund’s top fund holdings as of April 2017:

RBC Fund 2017

Lots of differences eh?  (Images courtesy of RBC’s site.)

Let’s look at another example and pick on BlackRock – XIU.

Now, again, if you don’t want to buy and hold certain stocks, nor try and create your own Canadian Dividend ETF like I have, then no problem.  This fund is arguably one of the best ETFs to own in Canada!!  (I recall iShares XIU was one of the world’s first ETFs.) Continue Reading…

How a Small Business can maximize Invoice Approval and Accounts Payable

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By Darren Wilson

(Sponsored Content)

Accounts payable. Don’t run away yet! Most people don’t like accounts payable or handling invoices. However, they are a necessary evil of any business no matter the industry.

Bills have to be paid after all.

One of the biggest issues companies face with accounts payable is their invoicing process. A slow invoice approval rate can lead to late payments, duplicate invoices, and lost or missing invoices.

Taking time to evaluate and maximize your invoice processing and approval workflow can save not only time but money as well.

Automate wherever possible

One of the best things that a business can do for the accounts payable department is to automate. The benefits of an automated invoicing process seemingly grow by the day.

An automated system reduces the risk of duplicate, lost or missing invoices, as well as providing fraud detection. Where invoices can become misplaced due to trading so many hands, or mistakes could be made during comparisons of shipment orders and invoices because of human error, automation mitigates all of that.

If it’s possible to look to outsource entirely, however, as that may not always be the case, it helps to find similar benefits to automation elsewhere.

Evaluate

Evaluate the current invoice approval and processing workflow for any problem areas. The more transaction and invoice history available the better chance there is of noticing things like invoices that are always late, or get duplicated.

Once the more common and prominent trouble areas have been identified a root cause analysis can be done to determine the cause of the problem. And a solution can begin to develop from there. Continue Reading…

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