Exchange-Traded Funds For Canadians For Dummies

Chapter 18

Exceptions to the Rule (Ain’t There Always)

In This Chapter

Rebalancing your ETF portfolio once a year

Practicing tactical asset allocation

Harvesting tax losses

Revamping your portfolio as life changes

Playing (or not playing) the ETF options game

Investing in the ’90s was a snap. You’d buy a few mutual funds, or if you were a bit savvier than the average investor, you’d create your own basket of stocks. Then you’d hang on. For much of that decade, the market went up, up, and up and everyone made a lot of money on their investments. It was the days of buy-and-hold investing — buy a security, and hold on forever. Making money was easy.

Of course, buying and holding works only if the market doesn’t crash, and it did, twice, last decade. Although it’s still reasonable to think that over the long term the market will continue to rise, the economic crisis taught us that you have to be a little more active when it comes to your portfolio. That doesn’t mean you need to be a ...