Have you ever received hate mail or negative comments on your social media posts? We're here to tell you you're not alone. On today's show we are talking at length about your interactions online with people commenting on YouTube videos as well as a Globe and Mail article which is quite incredible. It's kind of a theme for this week. We dive into online trolls, those people whose sole purpose in life is to get you down. It's super interesting to read and obviously very entertaining for some to se...
May 02, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 44
On the show today we welcome Dave Butler, who is now the co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors. We have a great conversation about a wide range of topics from the beginnings of the firm, to his earliest involvement, how he was nearly in the NBA and the importance of trust and family. Dave takes us on a personal and professional journey in science-based investing, who his biggest influences and mentors are and how he found the path of fiducial advice after a few different careers early on. We discu...
Apr 25, 2019•53 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Welcome to this episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast! We've decided to tweak the format of the show slightly, so you can look forward to a more focused conversation around current and portfolio topics and much less talk about factors! In our talk today, we uncover the recent popularity of IPOs, giving you a balanced perspective so that you can decided for yourself whether the hype holds enough merit for you to get involved. We also get into the various arguments against indexing, pulling apa...
Apr 18, 2019•39 min•Season 2Ep. 42
On the show today we welcome Randy Cass, owner and founder of Nest Wealth, who were the first financial firm to employ the use of robo-advisors in Canada. Their unique business model and forward looking systems and practices are at the forefront of the industry in the country and hearing Randy's recollections from their processes as well as thoughts going forward will be of great interest to anyone interested in the future of their money. In our conversation we cover the basic history of Nest We...
Apr 11, 2019•34 min•Season 2Ep. 41
On today's episode, Benjamin Felix and Cameron Passmore discuss a paper that Benjamin recently wrote called Factor Investing with ETF's, which unpacks what factors are and why they are a useful tool in explaining performance. Before discussing Benjamin's paper, they take some interesting detours, discussing annuities and the newly launched ALDA, why annuities are underutilized and what makes them different from portfolios. Along with this, they also cover some questions that can be asked to meas...
Apr 04, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Today on the show we are joined by Rob Carrick from The Globe and Mail! Rob has been writing about money and investing for almost 30 years and has a wealth of expertise and insight to share on everything from mutual funds to ETFs. In our discussion we cover common questions that Rob encounters, how his views have changed over the years, the parts of his job he has most enjoyed and his thoughts on where we are at right now. Rob comments on the feelings of worry and dissatisfaction that seems to c...
Mar 28, 2019•36 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Factor Investing with ETFs White Paper Today on the show we are taking about the influence of feelings in the decision making process. As investors and as humans in general, we tend towards making decisions based on feelings over rational and well-balanced data collection, that is just part of how we are wired. Here at the Rational Reminder Podcast we want to remind everyone of the importance of balancing these feelings with rationality. This does not mean that we should be making decisions with...
Mar 21, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Welcome to Episode 37 of the Rational Reminder Podcast. On today's show we are joined by Lindsay Plumb, Chief Coach-ess of MOOLA Financial Coaches and Advisors. We're discussing spending and budgeting, because that's kind of the opposite end of the spectrum of what we always talk about. We usually assume people already have wealth, but that's not always the case. Even if you do, both spending and budgeting are super important. Just getting in line with your values and what you spend money on, th...
Mar 14, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Welcome to Episode 36 of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Today we are going to roll out our new ETF model portfolios. This includes only two new ETF's compared to a couch potato type portfolio that many of you might be familiar with. Nothing too revolutionary, but it certainly makes a meaningful difference. In this episode we also talk about asset location and review a couple of great podcasts that we've been listening to that provide interesting tidbits for investors, and some great information ...
Mar 07, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Welcome to Episode 35 of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Today on the show we are joined by Jonathan Chevreau who is the founder of Independence Hub. He has authored and co-authored many books and has contributed to The Globe and Mail, The Financial Mail, and Money Sense. Jonathan is here today to talk about financial independence and having that "findependence" while still being extremely engaged in things that you enjoy doing. He also shares with us why your aim shouldn't be retirement and what...
Feb 28, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Welcome to Episode 34 of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Today we are discussing how our new ETF model portfolios will be employed to better accommodate our non-client listeners to whom Dimensional Fund Advisors are not as relevant. We talk about how BlackRock and Vanguard are dominating the market, why the US is leading in passive investment and why traditional financial planning needs to be re-evaluated. In addressing our main topic—safe savings rates—we explore the need for moving away from a ...
Feb 22, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Today on the show we are joined by Rick Ferri. Anyone who follows or is interested in index investing will probably have read something of Rick's. He's written seven books, working on the eighth, and he's written a ton online as well. Rick opened Portfolio Solutions, the first low fee index fund based wealth management shop and built it up to over a billion dollar company. Rick created the model of low cost fiduciary advice, using index funds and putting the client first, so today we're chatting...
Feb 14, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 33
We have a special, short bonus episode for you today! We are very glad to welcome the mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, to the podcast and although we are not strictly talking about investing and our usual topics, we do think it is a great and insightful conversation that you will enjoy, no matter where you are from. Mayor Watson tells us about his vision for the city, how he characterizes it, and the importance of the tech scene to its growth and success. We also talk about talent attraction and ret...
Feb 11, 2019•16 min
Welcome back to another episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Our goal this year is to find our podcasting rhythm, creating a schedule that alternates between guests and these conversational episodes where it's just us. On today's episode we want to pull the focus of the podcast back to answering a handful of client questions that have come up in the past little while. So on today's episode we are jumping right in to answer those listener questions, getting back on the factor train, and tryi...
Feb 07, 2019•34 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Today on the show we are joined by Steven Leong who is the Head of Canada iShares Product at BlackRock. Steven is here to talk about single decision ETFs, the new XGROs and XBALs from BlackRock and whole lot more. We start off the episode with a bit of an introduction on BlackRock and iShares before Steven informs us on the new relationship between BlackRock and RBC Global Asset Management. From there we get into the meat of the episode looking at the portfolios in question and Canada's current ...
Jan 30, 2019•29 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Today we are joined by a friend, hero, and a legend in the field fact based investing. Larry Swedroe is here to discuss his latest book, some of the timeless concepts he has been espousing for many years, and to give out a few golden nuggets of advice for your finances and retirement. Larry is so generous with his time and wisdom and we chat about a ton of chapters from his book, Y our Complete Guide to a Successful and Secure Retirement, and he picks out a few ideas to focus on here in this qui...
Jan 23, 2019•45 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Welcome back to The Rational Reminder Podcast! Today we are riding solo with no guests and just going over some recent developments, in-house news, and gearing up for some more great shows in the pipeline. We have had so many amazing guests recently, talking on a number of specific topics, so we thought we would take this opportunity to clean the mailbox, as it were, and set the table for the next few weeks. During the episode we cover the new partnership between RBC and iShares and what this me...
Jan 17, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Today on the podcast we are very excited to welcome Brad Steiman who is the Canadian Head of Financial Advisor Services for Dimensional! This is an episode we literally cannot wait to share with our listeners as it is jam packed with really useful information, history, and inside scoops on Dimensional and what has helped them get to where they are today. As huge fans and associates of DFA this is the type of conversation we have been hoping to have for quite some time and hope you are as excited...
Jan 09, 2019•43 min•Season 2Ep. 28
In this episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast we welcome Robin Powell. Robin is a journalist and content creator who has dedicated the more recent part of his career to helping spread the word on research backed investing and turning the tide on the history of investment advice. For Robin, this all came about from an assignment he was working on and the feeling of shock he experienced when he discovered the wealth of information that is available to investors but how it is shielded by the maj...
Jan 02, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Welcome to this holiday edition of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Today on the show we have a special treat for you. A little while back, Cameron made an incredible connection with our guest, David Goetsch. David is a writer and the Co-Executive Producer of the Big Bang Theory. David himself subscribes to our investment philosophy and he is passionate enough about it that he speaks about it at conferences every now and then. He is truly a fascinating guy and the impact that this investment philo...
Dec 26, 2018•44 min•Season 1Ep. 26
This week on the podcast we are starting to wrap things up for the year, doing some house keeping and looking back at recent trends in the market. First of all we talk a bit about the podcast going forward and have a few comments on ratings and reviews. We also look at some of the upcoming content you can expect early next year! We chat about the client survey we recently held and what the data from this tells us. From there we move into more general information on the relationship between risk ...
Dec 20, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Welcome back to The Rational Reminder Podcast. Today, Benjamin is getting the factor fill off his chest. We are diving into a range of topics and we are talking about other factors or how far you can push the evidence. This is the first time in a while that we've really dug into factors. We cover other interesting topics like increasing CPP benefits, we talk about our regulatory bodies and the debate going on there, as well as the big news around Vanguard. It's a fun debate and a good conversati...
Dec 13, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Welcome back to The Rational Reminder Podcast. Today we are joined by Glenn Cooke. Glenn is a fixture on the personal finance Canada sub-Reddit and spent many years as the President of Lifeinsurancecanada.com, which is an online platform for insurance information. Today, Glenn is the President of Insurance Squared where he works with market research departments at life insurance companies and shows life insurance agents how to generate leads online and sell non-face to face. Glenn has a very mat...
Dec 06, 2018•33 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In this bonus episode we briefly talk about the yield curve, and why it's probably not going to hurt you. With special guest Robert Little, Wealth Management Analyst at PWL Capital. For more information or to contact Cameron and Ben, visit pwlcapital.com
Dec 06, 2018•12 min
Welcome back to The Rational Reminder Podcast. Today we are joined by Daniel Weinand. Daniel is the cofounder of Shopify, which is a company based in Ottawa that has had enormous success, not just in Ottawa or Canada, but all over the world in the last few years as a public company. Shopify is a great commerce platform that supports over 600,000 different stores worldwide. It is an incredible success story, and the best way that we can describe the conversation was that it was very intense. Ever...
Nov 29, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Welcome back to The Rational Reminder Podcast. Today's episode is focused on the question of investing in real estate. It is still a common conundrum for investors and even those who may not consider themselves active investors, whether to buy or to rent a property. As you may imagine it is not a very simple issue and the answer does require some serious thought and calculation. But our hosts do their best to lay out some of the most important concerns and factors in trying to find the answer. B...
Nov 22, 2018•27 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Welcome to The Rational Reminder Podcast. On today's episode we are going to roll out our new format for the show. We ended off our previous show format with a series of interviews, and today we are ready to jump into something new! Of course, we definitely don't plan on doing that perfectly today because we do have a couple of things that we want to talk about before we make it official. The meat of the episode will be focused on discussing the cost of financial advice. Should you pay for it, h...
Nov 15, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Welcome back to another episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Our guest today is Shane Parrish. Shane runs the Farnam Street Blog , which has to be one of the most valuable collections of information that exists on the Internet. Farnam Street's stated intention is mastering the best of what other people have already figured out and the site gets over a million visitors. The content is unbelievable in terms of improving yourself, thinking better, and learning better. Shane interviewed Ray Dal...
Nov 07, 2018•46 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Welcome back to another episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Our guest today is a great friend and associate, Mark Sutcliffe! Mark is a well know media personality, community worker, philanthropist, business person, and investor. He also happens to be a great speaker and listener, which probably has something to do with him hosting his own radio show. Today we are extremely excited to be able able to interview him and pick his brain on all things rational, financial, and beyond. We chat abo...
Nov 01, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Welcome to the Rational Reminder Podcast everybody! Today on the show we welcome a good friend and someone who has had a massive influence on our lives and work. Bestselling investment author, Dan Solin, joins us on the podcast today. Dan has been a staunch advocate for evidence based investing for a long time now and although this approach is still far from dominant, it has grown immensely in the years he has been active. His focus on smart, client-centered investing has set the standard for a ...
Oct 26, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 17
