How much do you know about financial independence?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/wire-transfer-fraud-peter-squire-winnipeg-1.7116347

zoinks.  Be aware, then hang up.

Squire made two wire transfers in November 2022 from his Access Credit Union account in Winnipeg, thinking the money would go into an RBC bank account in Ontario, in the name of a company called B21 Trade (Canada) Ltd.

The first transfer was $175,000 and the second one a few days later was $473,290.08, for a total of more than $648,000.

Squire, who said he'd never done a wire transfer before, thinks the money went from his Access Credit Union account in Winnipeg to the RBC business account in Toronto, and then to a Citibank account in Hong Kong.

It was an RBC employee who informed him he'd likely been defrauded.

Posted by: heckler

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/wire-transfer-fraud-peter-squire-winnipeg-1.7116347

zoinks.  Be aware, then hang up.

Squire made two wire transfers in November 2022 from his Access Credit Union account in Winnipeg, thinking the money would go into an RBC bank account in Ontario, in the name of a company called B21 Trade (Canada) Ltd.

The first transfer was $175,000 and the second one a few days later was $473,290.08, for a total of more than $648,000.

Squire, who said he'd never done a wire transfer before, thinks the money went from his Access Credit Union account in Winnipeg to the RBC business account in Toronto, and then to a Citibank account in Hong Kong.

It was an RBC employee who informed him he'd likely been defrauded.

That's a sad story.

I don't understand moving that kind of money by wire without going physically to the branch, and without sending a trial amount first.  If I set up a new credit card, I send a 5 dollar payment over just to double check my own work in setting up the providers.  Let alone moving 700K.

So he got an unexpected call from someone identifying themselves as a BMO investment advisor who asked him to wire $600K to an RBC account in the name of a company called B21 Trade. No red flags at all.

Still, sad story indeed. I hope he gets his money back but I'm afraid the chance is very small.

When my mom died I got 20K out of a bank I don't bank at with no ID cuz i forgot it, but in a small town so she new who I was

I got it!  Dude, I got it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL_I6_0FcTg

Posted by: KenN

In either case, I would say that managing (and by which I mean eliminating) debt is key. With no debt to pay down monthly or accumulating interest payments, one's costs to live can be very small.

For my own situation, I have a small outstanding car loan that will be paid out before end of this year, and just over 10 years remaining on the mortgage. So if I retire in 2-3 years with no debt other than the mortgage, and my investment income can sustain living and support the mortgage payments, then I'm set. Even if there is a small drawdown over the next 10 years, I'll have a very sudden and significant reduction in monthly costs at that time.

As to work, I've been in this business for over 25 years, at the same company for 15. The company is changing in ways that don't suit me and I'm finding the work environment increasingly frustrating. So yeah, the timing for exit stage left is about right, and no need to find another job to sustain myself. Maybe take on a job as a greeter at Wally Mart for shits and grins.

Are you working at Wally Mart yet?

Posted by: heckler

I got it!  Dude, I got it...

I grew up with a lot of people in the same situation.  It's amazing how many people either don't get this or just don't care.

Posted by: KenN

CPP was, and is very well funded, and the managers have made some very good investments, so investment returns are better than benchmarks.

Not anymore:

Eighteen years and $46-billion later, the CPP admits it could have earned more just by buying index funds

The news is that it is now trailing it, on average, over the entire 18-year period since the fund, until then a small, low-cost outfit that mostly just bought the indexes, went all in on active management.

[...]

The fund acknowledges as much, though not until page 39 of the report, where it confesses to having earned “negative 0.1% annualized or negative $42.7-billion since inception of active management in 2006,” relative to the reference portfolio. Indeed: while the fund has earned 7.7 per cent annually since then, the reference portfolio has earned 7.8 per cent. (All figures here are based on CPPIB annual reports, 1999 to 2024.)

[...]

Over all, combining management fees, operating expenses and transaction costs, the fund’s expenses now exceed $5.5-billion annually – more than $46-billion in total since 2006. 

[...]

All that has been achieved in the course of that 18-year, $46-billion spending orgy has been to lose $42.7-billion for the nation’s pensioners.

whoa.

but without CPP's (and many other funds/traders) active management, there would be no index movement.

T+1 is coming next week. Are you informed?

https://www.rbcits.com/en/how-we-help/t1-faq.page#:~:text=Canada%20(and%20soon%2Dto%2D,Wednesday%2C%20May%2029%2C%202024.

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2024/05/move-t1-settlement-government-canada-securities-auctions/

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/new-t1-settlement-cycle-what-investors-need-know-investor

https://ccma-acmc.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/CDS-Bulletin-Canadas-Transition-to-T1-June-1-2021.pdf

Is it possible to quantify what percentage of funds (worldwide?) are held in index trackers vs actively managed? 

Assuming index trackers are getting more popular*, is the logical conclusion that many more funds just follow the actions of a much smaller number of active managers, and everything then becomes more volatile?

*I have no insight as to whether this is actually true....

Google is full of answers, even more with AI.   Might take some digging to answer the specific question though.

https://www.darden.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/indexing-world-2015-publication.pdf

https://www.fool.co.uk/investing-basics/isas-and-investment-funds/index-trackers-vs-managed-funds/

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Is it possible to quantify what percentage of funds (worldwide?) are held in index trackers vs actively managed? 

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Is it possible to quantify what percentage of funds (worldwide?) are held in index trackers vs actively managed?

Assuming index trackers are getting more popular*, is the logical conclusion that many more funds just follow the actions of a much smaller number of active managers, and everything then becomes more volatile?

*I have no insight as to whether this is actually true....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltuqXTwWsZ8

Summary: don't worry about it.