I don’t think many know about them because they are quality reads yet they don’t appear in many blogrolls. That will probably change, I’m willing to wager, as they get better known.  

McGugan played a big role in kick starting the passive indexing movement in Canada with his articles on Couch Potato Portfolios. Rob G. joined MoneySense last year, I believe, and produces well-researched, thought-provoking articles.

They are a welcome addition to the Canadian financial blogosphere. Both are immersed in personal finance topics full time, so they know a thing or two about the field. And both write for a living, so they express themselves well.

While we are at it, another financial writer that deserves to be followed is David West. He once did a column for the MoneySense website but it now appears on the website of Canadian Business. David W. writes about investing for several other publications and provides investment courses to major financial institutions.

You won’t find hot stock tips and 12-month price targets in his Canadian Business pieces. What you will find is good solid advice on the essentials of managing a portfolio, e.g. asset allocation, risk control, rebalancing and so forth.

Blogger Canadian Capitalist took Mr. Mandelman to task on this point in his July 22 post; what CC said also seems applicable to Mr. West’s thesis. And as the creators of MoneySense’s Couch Potato Portfolio have said all along, buying and holding broadly based index funds and/or exchange-traded funds takes “only 15 minutes a year” and “will beat “about 80% of the money managed by professionals.”

How so? Markets are efficient. So financial managers and advisors are able to deliver no better than the market average over time. But after deducting their fees, they will underperform the market by 1.5% to 2.5% a year. Simply holding an index fund will yield the market average at a lower cost, between 0.3% and 0.6% a year. Over the long run, keeping fees low adds up big time.

Some of the best index funds in terms of cost, as CC has noted, are the TD eFund family. Blogger wheredoesallmymoneygo.com also recommends the DFA family of index funds. Providers of exchange-traded funds in Canada include iShares and Claymore Investments.