Blog: Cutting Through the Noise
Postings
Introducing the Founders Fund
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 21, 2012
Yes, we’re introducing a new addition to our lineup - the Founders Fund. The fund is a balanced mix of our income and equity funds (it is a fund of funds) that best reflects my views on market fundamentals, valuation and ultimately asset mix. The fund’s...Read More
Presentation Summary: Where to From Here?
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 20, 2012
We wrapped up our cross-country client presentations this month after visiting five cities and braving mother nature in all her winter glory. If you weren’t able to attend one of our sessions, we’ve produced a transcript of the event that hits on the key themes and...Read More
Lose Those RRSP Blues: The Benefits of Saving are Certain
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 18, 2012
The RRSP season ain’t what it used to be. In the 1980s and ’90s when investing was fun, it was a focal point on the investment calendar. You couldn’t open the newspaper or walk a block without seeing an advertisement. Banks stayed open late to...Read More
Video: Gord O'Reilly Discusses the Equity Fund
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 15, 2012
We recently stopped by CGOV's office to talk with Gord O'Reilly (the lead manager) about the Equity Fund. We discussed a number of topics, including CGOV's definition of core vs. opportunistic holdings, their strategy with respect to dividends, and what...Read More
Invest Like a Champion Today
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 9, 2012
Warren Buffett’s perspectives on investing are worth their weight in gold (or better yet, stocks). Invest in things you understand. Wait for the right pitch. Don’t follow the herd. Buy things you’d be comfortable holding forever. In a recent article in Fortune...Read More
For Money Managers, Small Can be Beautiful
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 4, 2012
Boyd Erman wrote an article before Christmas titled “Squeeze Is On For Smaller Investment Firms.” When I saw the headline, I shuddered a little. Was he going to talk about firms that don’t have billions of dollars under management? Was he going...Read More
Bruce: RRSP & TFSA Contributions
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 1, 2012
We last spoke with Bruce in September, when he acted on our counsel to trim his weighting in bonds and add to equities. Bruce and Courtney’s portfolio rose roughly 2% in 2011 (its aggregate value at year-end was approx. 346,500). While Bruce isn’t popping any champagne, he realizes that their portfolio fared quite well considering its bias towards equities (which had a weak year). At the end of December, their asset mix was...
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Balanced Income Portfolio: A Performance Assessment
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on January 26, 2012
Last week we published a report on how to assess your portfolio’s performance (How is My Portfolio Doing?). Today we’re releasing a supplementary report that uses the framework to assess the performance of the Steadyhand Balanced Income Portfolio...Read More
Here's to the Geeks
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on January 25, 2012
I’ve read a few interesting books lately on some of the top technology visionaries of our time. They include Paul Allen (Microsoft), Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Google) and Steve Jobs (Apple). The books were all good reads (Idea Man, In the Plex, and Steve Jobs)...Read More
Your Portfolio Performance Needs a Regular Check-up
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on January 21, 2012
A meeting I had with a prospective client a few years ago has always stuck with me. She told me her adviser had done well for her in the previous five years, but had been letting her down more recently. After reviewing the data, we discovered the...Read More
How is Your Portfolio Doing? Version 2.0
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on January 18, 2012
Early last year we published a report on how to assess your portfolio’s performance. The paper laid out a framework for evaluating your investments, focusing on five areas: gathering the facts, reviewing the market environment, analyzing the numbers...Read More
ETF Sales - Underwhelming and Disappointing
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on January 17, 2012
This week the 2011 sales numbers came out for Canadian ETFs (exchange traded funds). For the year, $7.6 billion flowed into ETFs (net of outflows) and total assets in the 200 plus funds finished at $43 billion. While the number of funds exploded in 2011...Read More
