Investment Workshop 40: Still at Chautauqua

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This is going to be a short post today, as we are tragically sequestered away in what appears to be an 18th century manor nestled away in the British countryside at the first-ever UK Chautauqua!

UK Chautauqua

Anyway yeah, tough life. We’ll tell you all about it once we get back.

But in the meantime, being somewhat secluded this week has cut off my normally steady diet of news, so opening up CNN for the first time in about a week was a bit of a shock.

Just…Jesus Christ. That is a LOT of stuff going on. It’s not often we see Nazis, Communists, AND the threat of nuclear war all showing up in one week, but…just…Jesus Christ. I think I’m going to shut my laptop off now and go jump back into the pool.

And here’s where I would do an extended spiel about why news like this should be ignored, but because this is Chautauqua week I’ll have to summarize thusly.

Always invest assuming the world will not end. Because if you’re wrong and the market keeps going up as it always does long-term, you’ll have missed out on the gains by huddling in cash. But if you’re right and the world does end…well, who cares about your portfolio at that point?

So because this is a buy day, nuclear war or no nuclear war, Chautauqua or no Chautauqua, we shall do our regularly scheduled buys as always.

Canadian Portfolio

We begin as always by adding in our cash and taking a snapshot of the portfolio…

AssetTickerUnit PriceUnitsMarket ValueAllocationTarget Allocation
Canadian BondsVAB$25.30136$3,440.8037.90%40%
Canadian IndexVCN$30.6055$1,683.0018.54%20%
US IndexVUN$43.6040$1,744.0019.21%20%
EAFE IndexXEF$29.1947$1,371.9315.11%16%
Emerging MarketsXEC$26.0313$338.393.73%4%
Cash$1.00500.59$500.595.51%0%

We calculate what we have to do to bring our portfolio back onto target…

AssetTickerTarget AllocationUnit PriceCurrent Market ValueTarget Market ValueCurrent UnitsTarget UnitsDifference
Canadian BondsVAB40%$25.30$3,440.80$3,631.48136143.57.5
Canadian IndexVCN20%$30.60$1,683.00$1,815.745559.34.3
US IndexVUN20%$43.60$1,744.00$1,815.744041.61.6
EAFE IndexXEF16%$29.19$1,371.93$1,452.594749.82.8
Emerging MarketsXEC4%$26.03$338.39$363.151314.01.0
Cash0%$1.00$500.59$0.00500.590.0-500.6

And finally we put in our orders being careful not to go into margin…

AssetTickerUnit PriceActionFractional UnitsUnitsProceeds
Canadian BondsVAB$25.30BUY7.57$177.10
Canadian IndexVCN$30.60BUY4.34$122.40
US IndexVUN$43.60BUY1.62$87.20
EAFE IndexXEF$29.19BUY2.83$87.57
Emerging MarketsXEC$26.03BUY1.01$26.03
Total$500.30

American Portfolio

And now to do the same on the American side. We start by adding in our cash and taking a snapshot of the portfolio…

AssetTickerUnit PriceUnitsMarket ValueAllocationTarget Allocation
BondsBND$82.0644$3,610.6438.40%40%
US IndexVTI$126.4421$2,655.2428.24%30%
International IndexVEU$51.5551$2,629.0527.96%30%
Cash$1.00507.75$507.755.40%0%

We then calculate what we need to do to bring our portfolio back under balance…

AssetTickerTarget AllocationUnit PriceCurrent Market ValueTarget Market ValueCurrent UnitsTarget UnitsDifference
BondsBND40%$82.06$3,610.64$3,761.074445.81.8
US IndexVTI30%$126.44$2,655.24$2,820.802122.31.3
International IndexVEU30%$51.55$2,629.05$2,820.805154.73.7
Cash0%$1.00$507.75$0.00507.750.0-507.8

And finally, we enter in our orders being careful not to go into margin…

AssetTickerUnit PriceActionFractional UnitsUnitsProceeds
BondsBND$82.06BUY1.82$164.12
US IndexVTI$126.44BUY1.31$126.44
International IndexVEU$51.55BUY3.74$206.20
Total$496.76

And with that we are done. Thanks everyone, and see you next week!

Continue onto the next article!


WORKSHOP TOOLS

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For Canadians:

1) Questrade

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1) Vanguard

2) Personal Capital


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Disclaimer: The views expressed is provided as a general source of information only and should not be considered to be personal investment advice or solicitation to buy or sell securities. Investors considering any investment should consult with their investment advisor to ensure that it is suitable for the investor’s circumstances and risk tolerance before making any investment decisions. The information contained in this blog was obtained from sources believe to be reliable, however, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete.


11 thoughts on “Investment Workshop 40: Still at Chautauqua”

  1. Jesus Christ…how can you put money w/ all that going on? aren’t you scared after all you’re retired.
    I’m placing Trailing Stop Loss on all my positions just in case it stops going up for a while

      1. Or in the words of Buffet: “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” Easier said than done but right on the money.

  2. What do you mean when you say careful not to go into margin? Do you mean going Into borrowed funds like margin investing?

      1. Where do you factor in your trading fee from your institution? For example, BMO Investorline charges $9.95 per trade. Are you paying 8x $9.95 every month for trades?

  3. What do you think about investing in stocks that give you back dividend and using DRIP? Do you think it is worth it?

    1. 1) Not a fan of individual stocks. We advocate for index investing using low cost ETFs.

      2) Generally, I like to choose ETFs that pay me dividends as cash so I can choose how to allocate it. But DRIP isn’t a bad thing.

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