Skip to main content

Strategy Lab experts started with a hypothetical $50,000 portfolio on Sept. 13, 2012. They could each hold five to 12 Canadian or U.S. securities and trade as often or as little as they wished.

This is index investor Andrew Hallam's model portfolio. Read more about how he chose his investments in his first column.

For best results, view this table on desktop.

Click here for a printable spreadsheet.

CompanyTickerNo. of
shrs
Shr
price
US$**
Purchase
Price
US$
Market
Value
$***
Book
Value
$***
Gain/
Loss
%
Yield
%
Comment
Vanguard MSCI Canada (sold 9/19/16)VCE-T889C$30.21C$26.32$26,856.69 $23,396.20 14.79%2.78%A low cost way to invest in Canadian stocks
Vanguard Canadian Short-term Bond *VSB-T821C$23.81C$24.91$19,548.01 $20,448.34 -4.40%2.56%Short-term Canadian bonds: a useful buffer for your portfolio
Vanguard ST Bond (partial sale) *VSB-T50C$24.84C$24.91$1,242.00 $1,245.50 -0.28%
Vanguard U.S. Total Stock Market * (sold 9/19/16)VTI-N80$109.77 $75.10 $11,517.95 $5,827.76 97.64%1.71%A cheap way to gain exposure to the broad range of U.S. stocks, from small capitalization firms to mega caps
Vanguard U.S. (partial sale 7/19/13)VTI-N30$87.53 $75.10 $2,722.27 $2,185.41 24.57%
Vanguard U.S. (partial sale 8/13/14)VTI-N27$100.82 $75.10 $2,971.76 $1,966.87 51.09%
Vanguard MSCI EAFE * (sold 9/19/16)VEA-N73$36.57 $34.59 $3,501.46 $2,449.32 42.96%5.27%A well diversified portfolio needs exposure to Europe, Asia and Australia, which is what this fund delivers
Vanguard MSCI EAFE (partial sale 7/19/13)VEA-N30$37.68 $34.59 $1,171.89 $1,006.57 16.42%
Vanguard MSCI EAFE (partial sale 8/13/14)VEA-N44$41.19 $34.59 $1,978.55 $1,476.30 34.02%
Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (sold 9/19/16)VWO-N102$37.11 $41.40 $4,964.69 $4,207.20 18.00%2.40%Emerging markets can be highly volatile but it's difficult to ignore the potential of these high growth areas
Vanguard FTSE Canadian All CapVCN-T838C$31.18C$29.20$26,128.84 $24,469.60 6.78%2.50%Providing broad exposure to 216 stocks, this ETF tracks large cap,mid cap and small cap stocks.
Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap ex CanadaVXC-T810C$33.09C$30.01$26,802.90 $24,308.10 10.26%1.93%Half the stocks held by this ETF are American, the rest are from developed international and emerging markets. By using it, I can replace my U.S. stock index and my two international stock market indexes with just one fund.
Cash$1,423.77 ($55,106.52)
Andrew Hallam's Total$73,903.52 $50,000.00 47.81%
John Heinzl’s total$87,446.73$50,000.00 74.89%
Norman Rothery’s total$97,411.05$50,000.00 94.82%
Chris Umiastowski’s total$253,738.11$50,000.00 407.48%

* Also in personal portfolio
**As of close of Sep. 21, 2017
***In Canadian dollars
Dividends received since last update: none.
Gain/loss is calculated by comparing market value (Sep. 21) with book value (which varies according to purchase date).
For U.S. companies, figures are converted to Canadian dollars at exchange rates that vary according to the date of purchase.
As a result, the gain/loss percentage is a calculation that factors in foreign-exchange fluctuations as well as movement in the share price.