Thanks for the info guys, that explains a lot.
For me :
- VTI (US in USD) is up 2.82% vs. compared to 9% YTD is explained because I only began in February when almost 1/2 of the YTD gains have been made between beginning of January and end of Feb. (when I bought)
- VCN (CAN) is generally down + I bought a lot in Feb. (highest value YTD).
- VUN (US un CAD) is highly correlated with CAN $ relative value despite US market doing good.
- XAW (RoW + US) also highly correlated with CAN $ relative value to other currencies
Overall, I just generally bought in a relatively ''high'' market (very short time span here so not significant) + the effect of CAN $ rise explain my results.
Again, I'm not trying to time anything or change my strategy, just wanted to understand what is going on with my money.
If you are Canadian you have to just keep in mind the units you are accounting for your investment total have become more valuable relative to the currencies of your foreign investments. You are not having a shitty year - you are just dealing with a change in value that's not obvious.
I get the impact of relative value between currencies being closely tied to net dollar result. Still, I should read more on the impact of having most of my investments outside of Canada (50% US + 20% RoW). This obviously keeps me closely tied to the CAN $.
If I understand well, when the relative CAN $ to other currencies goes up, the net result in CAD$ goes down. It's the same as if I sold VTI tomorrow, even if the market is doing good and the USD gains are appreciable, I'd loose a good part of it to USD to CAD conversion.
So, in order to reduce this exposure to the currency relative values, I guess buying more and buying more often would help... Also having more CAN investments in CAD would help...
But are you guys doing anything to protect yourself for high CAD rise (ex: 1CAD = 1 USD)?
Could anyone point me to a good discussion on high currency exposure and effect on AA / investments?