Jonathan Chevreau began with mutual funds in the 1980s but now uses ETFs and discount brokers to keep costs low. He consults with a fee-for-service financial planner to get second opinions on taxes, estate planning, insurance and registered plans.
Jonathan Chevreau
Occupation
Financial journalist/blogger/author/speaker
The portfolio
Includes exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and shares in Canadian banks, BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., and Google Inc.
The investor
After many years writing personal finance columns for major Canadian publications, Jonathan Chevreau became a freelancer in 2014 and set up his own personal-finance website. He is the author of Findependence Day.
How he invests
Mr. Chevreau began with mutual funds in the 1980s but now uses ETFs and discount brokers to keep costs low. He consults with a fee-for-service financial planner (fee not based on a percentage of assets) to get second opinions on taxes, estate planning, insurance and registered plans.
In his portfolio, a good number of ETFs and "high-conviction" stocks have been selected to effectively create "a giant global index fund." The asset allocation is 70 per cent in stocks and 30 per cent in bonds.
Although 62 years old, Mr. Chevreau prefers a high allocation to equities because with "extended longevity," persons in their 60s still have fairly long investment horizons. Moreover, he feels income and growth stocks provide the best hedge against inflation.
An ETF was recently transferred into his tax-free savings account to bring his annual contribution up to the new $10,000 limit. Since in-kind transfers are deemed dispositions, an ETF with negligible accrued capital gains was used.
Also, regular monthly purchases were recently set up to accumulate an ETF tracking European dividend stocks, which he sees as a better value than their U.S. counterparts.
Best move
Buying Apple stock in 2000, "just before the iPod took off …"
Worst move
"Selling the Apple position a year after buying it …"
Advice
"Keep costs down … but be willing to pay for good advice to validate your investment decisions, ideally with a true fee-for-service financial planner who does not charge a levy based on a percentage of assets."
Want to be in Me and My Money? Contact Larry MacDonald at mccolumn@yahoo.com or his Website.