Identify the many Myths in the financial system, including the dream of “beating the market” through individual stock selection.
Identify the key factors to becoming better do-it-yourself investors AND identify those which are under your control, such as an optimum allocation of your investments across appropriate asset categories.
Accompany you each step of the way in the saving and investment process- see our User Guide.
Help self-investors to better control their costs, what Warren Buffett calls the financial system’s friction costs.
Help you better use your tax-exempt (RRSP) account.
Show you how to minimize your tax-related investment costs.
Give you access to information to help you better manage a portfolio intended to constitute an important source of retirement income.
Identify areas where the financial system does not adequately take into account the interests of independent investors.
Encourage reforms to the regulatory system.
HELP-US
Help us to help you become a better independent investor. Your comments are appreciated and welcomed on our commentaries or on any other aspect of the site- not only what you find but also how it is presented. In addition, we specifically ask for your input at various points throughout our site.
Technorati Profile
Stock Quotes
For more details on the choice and meaning of the symbols click here.
S&P/TSX
11280.64
Dow Jones
1312.43
S&P500
0.00
XIU.TO
16.12
IVV
131.76
EFA
48.85
EEM
37.905
XBB.TO
31.38
AGG
111.0391
XSB.TO
28.96
XRE.TO
16.61
RWR
69.36
RWX
34.82
Syndicate
WELCOME to our site for the independent investor which was officially launched March 18, 2008. Become a member (it’s free) and enjoy full access to the site + receive on a preferred basis our weekly newsletters. Our site has been described as one of the few educational websites that offer the unbiased, clearly written material that busy investors need (The Globe & Mail 30 05 2008) and as a site dedicated to providing individual investors with independent, objective, free advice and information (The Gazette, Montreal 31 03 2008).We are also on Twitter under DIYInvestor .
NEW: On JANUARY 1ST WE LAUNCHED OUR NEW SITE: INFOINVESTDUJOUR.COM . The site contains an electronic calendar called All about Investing. It provides, on every day of the year, information selected from the best texts from our existing site, plus additional, never published, information. It will notify you when North American markets are closed for the day, key Canadian tax dates, anniversaries of people who historically have played important roles in the world of finance, and much more. WE ENCOURAGE ALL MEMBERS TO CONSIDER SIGNING UP TO INFOINVESTDUJOUR.COM, for only $2.19 plus applicable taxes for each period of 30 days.The revenue from the new site should allow us to continue to offer FREE membership to our existing site.
How Long Is a Long-Term Investment? The 1 in 9 rule
Page 1 of 3
Many investors have been shocked to realize that the last ten years have produced little cumulative overall gains in the equities portion of their portfolio. Don’t equities produce positive returns over the long term? But what exactly is the long term? An article by the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City written before the 2008 market crash sheds some light on the question, and for many investors the answer may not be what they want to hear.
Introduction
Our site has cautioned investors that it is foolhardy to invest in equities money you know you will need in the next 5 years; for us, this would be closer to gambling then to investing. We also caution that, although in the very long run equities outperform bonds, there is no certainty in life and all investors should have an appropriate portion of their portfolio in bonds; for more, see Asset Allocation on our site, and Arnott Why bonds?
doc.1417N.
The up’s and downs of the past 10 years have been a wake-up call for many investors, who want to know just how patient they need to be to realize their expected equity reward.
We thought it was timely to bring to our readers’ attention a US paper written in 2005 which in effect anticipated the possibility of a dramatic market decline, such as the one which occurred in 2008, offsetting gains realized over many previous years.
Pu Shen is a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Jonathan Corning, an associate economist at the bank, helped prepare the article. Shen published in 2005 an article entitled How Long Is a Long-Term Investment doc.1416.
The article can also be found on the bank’s website at www.kansascityfed.org.
Here are some key quotes from the paper; see also PrefBlog.com
doc.1418 for its comments on the paper. Although it was written for a US audience and looks at the US stock market and US government bond returns during the period 1926 to 2002, the message is relevant to investors everywhere.
Your efforts have paid off. You have ended up on a site which is focused on delivering investment information, not selling you financial services or products.
Our site is not associated with, and accepts no financing, advertising or other financial assistance from:
Banks
Insurance companies
Investment dealers or
Financial advisors.
OUR MISSION
Help you become a better independent self investor.
Be a source of free, objective, independent and unbiased investment information for self-investors.
Build on our past to earn the trust of Canadian and non-Canadian do-it-yourself investors. Our founder has several years experience with a securities regulatory agency and over a quarter century of experience with two blue chip Canadian securities issuers.
To assess the credibility of our site. It’s the best investment decision you will make today.
The information on self investing is divided into 44 sections (and counting) which are organized under eleven main headings or topics. Click on Themes at the top of this page for a short summary of the information covered under all of the topics.
For a list of the sections under any particular theme, click on the name of that theme at the top of this page.
Who should visit our site?
You are an independent investor looking for investment information focused on the needs of do-it-yourself investors.
You are a novice in investment matters, but are considering becoming more independent in your investing.
You trade in reliance on a financial advisor, but wish to better use his services, or perhaps understand the other alternative trading methods.
Perhaps you see self investing as a retirement project, or are merely curious about the world of investing.
Perhaps as a result of your professional activities (institutional investor, broker, professor or journalist), you seek access to a non-industry source of objective investment information.
We intend to regularly circulate by email newsletters to our members. To access our newsletter, click here. We are also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DIYinvestor. Our Newsletters typically contain an in-depth commentary on a timely subject. The most recent commentaries are on our home page. Older commentaries can be found in our Archives, where they can be found by scrolling through the headings or by using the Search function.
RRSP
Many investors have been shocked to realize that the last ten years have produced little cumulative overall gains in the equities portion of their portfolio. Don’t equities produce positive returns over the long term? But what exactly is the long term? An article by the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City written before the 2008 market crash sheds some light on the question, and for many investors the answer may not be what they want to hear.
