Herman Ye

Every investor daydreams about going back in time and getting in on the ground floor of a super successful company. Amazon went public at $18 and now trades above $3000 . That's a whopping return of 17,000%! Being an early investor would've made you filthy rich - if you were able to hold on. Staying invested is much easier said than done. Hindsight is 20/20. We have the privilege of knowing things worked out for Amazon, but it was a bumpy ride. While there were many years of amazing returns, there were also tense moments where all seemed lost. To endure these drawdowns you would've needed an iron stomach.  Year Annual Return 1998 966.39% 1999 42.18% 2000 -79.56% 2001 -30.47% 2002 74.58% 2003 178.56% 2004 -15.83% 2005 6.46% 2006 -16.31% 2007 134.77% 2008 -44.65% 2009 162.32% 2010 33.81% 2011 -3.83% 2012 44.93% 2013 58.96% 2014 -22.18% 2015 117.78% 2016 10.95% 2017 55.96% 2018 28.43% 2019 23.03% Would you've been able to hol...

The way we invest is ever-evolving. First it was private shares, then we had public stocks, followed by mutual funds and ETFs. Taking it to the next level, we're now seeing the growth of direct indexing .  

With countless industries unable to operate and millions unemployed, governments around the world are forced to step in. To weather the storm, trillions of dollars have been "printed" and infused into the economy. With all this stimulus going on, people are naturally concerned, what about inflation?? Money, like anything else, abides by the law of supply and demand. All else equal, the greater the money supply, the lower its value. However, supply is only one factor. Money's value stems from what it can buy, "goods" are a big part of the equation too. The US dollar for example has value because of the US goods and services you can buy with it. If the supply of goods become scarce or if demand rises beyond supply, the value of money decreases (you'll need more dollars) and vice versa. A Supreme t-shirt requires more dollars, a H&M t-shirt requires less. Monetary stimulus has people concerned about hyperinflation. This occurs when the money ...

On March 23, the stock market bottomed. Down a whopping 30% for the year in one of the most dramatic declines in history. Interesting enough, take a look at the market today and you'd think everything was fine. What happened?

Lemonade, a fast growing insurtech company recently took its stock public. Listed on July 2, it sprinted out the gates. In only a few days, the price soared 200%. Rocketing from $29 to $90. Lemonade is a breath of fresh air in the insurance industry. An old-school, high-margin industry ripe for disruption. This is a compelling story, one that made me pay attention pre-IPO. When the IPO happened, I couldn't help but to regret not investing.  I could have tripled my money! IPOs are naturally tempting. The potential leaves investors salivating. The chance to get in on the ground floor of a future Amazon? Sign me up. As exciting as they seem, their historical performance leaves a lot to be desired. IPOs are just stocks, and like most individual stocks, they underperform the market. Even if we just look at first year performance, where interest is highest, underperformance is prevalent. A DFA  study  analyzed the first year performance of over 6000 IPOs from...

Walk into any bank branch. Ask for investment advice and you'll be directed to one of their "advisors". Advisors is in quotes because most don't actually give much advice.

Investing can be a wild ride. Endless ups and downs. Bulls and bears. Both thrilling and crushing. As investors, we tend to focus on the crushing part. And there's nothing more crushing than permanent loss, the inability to get back what we once had. The math makes recovering from investment loss much more difficult than most think. A common misconception is that a 10% loss can be recovered with a 10% gain. This is not the case. Let's demonstrate with an example. Sarah's Comeback Sarah is a big fan of XYZ company. They have an earnings call coming up and Sarah thinks the company's going to announce a big pop in sales. To participate in the prosperity, she buys $100 in shares.  The call happens and it turns out XYZ had a bad quarter. Sales were lower than expected and the stock takes a hit, dropping 10%. Sarah's shares are now worth $90.  Some time passes and XYZ's sales are starting to catch up to expectations. Investors begin buying and X...

Buy low, sell high. The oldest mantra in investing. Simple enough, right? Not quite. 

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are exploding in popularity. Driven by the rise of passive investing, the industry is not only getting bigger but more innovative. ETFs used to simply hold a basket of stocks, now we have ETFs that hold other ETFs! How Do They Work? Classic ETFs hold securities to replicate an index. ETFs of ETFs takes it up a notch. Instead of holding stocks or bonds directly, they hold other ETFs. A fund of funds. Take for example  XEQT , iShares' Core Equity ETF. It doesn't own any stocks directly. Instead it holds 4 ETFs that between them own thousands of stocks. What's The Point? Diversification and convenience. XEQT allows you to own a global portfolio within a single fund. It holds a Canadian (XIC), US (ITOT), International (XEF) and Emerging Markets (IEMG) ETF, all wrapped up in a neat package. Previously to get this level of exposure, you would have to combine and juggle multiple ETFs yourself. What you gain in connivence, you pay fo...

It's important to diversify globally. This is especially true for us up north. Canada only has a handful of public companies and these companies span very few sectors (finance and natural resources). Investing overseas does comes a cost. Taxes . Today we discuss foreign withholding tax and how we can properly manage it. What is Foreign Withholding Tax?  These are taxes for dividends paid by foreign companies to Canadians. The tax is withheld from your dividends behind the scenes so are often overlooked. A major oversight as they can put a heavy drag on performance if not managed. How Much Are These Taxes? The amount varies by country, typically ranging between 15% and 25%. Are These Taxes Recoverable? If the tax occurs in your non-registered account then you'll receive a tax credit that you can apply against your income. For dividends paid to your registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP, etc.), the tax is unrecoverable. How Can I Reduce My Taxes? Tax consequences ...