Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Getting out of the Market Almost Certainly a Losing Long-term Proposition

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 13, 2013

"Should I get out of the market?" I'm finding this question is coming up again, prompted either by the Dow hitting all-time highs or the central bankers' perilous high wire act (performed without a net). It depends on the week. But, while we know all...

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The Dividend Dance

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 6, 2013

In Saturday’s Report on Business, there was a remarkable table embedded in Rob Carrick’s article (How to Shelter Your Portfolio from a Housing Decline). It showed the top 10 Canadian equity funds (by assets) and the top 10 Canadian dividend income...

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A Report from the Front Lines

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 3, 2013

I thought a recent report from Mawer Investment Management captured well the opportunity, challenges and complexity of investing in the Asian markets. A paragraph from the conclusion summarizes their balanced optimism. Overall, we find ourselves...

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Lessons From a Legend

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 29, 2013

Lori and I attended a Celebration of Life for Art Phillips last Friday. (There was a wonderful obituary in the Globe and Mail last week.) Art founded Phillips, Hager & North in 1965 with the help of Bob Hager and Rudy North. It was Art’s reputation and wallet that got...

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Meet Jennifer

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 26, 2013

I’m pleased to introduce our newest member of the Steadyhand team, Jennifer Lacuesta. Jennifer is taking on the role of Client Service Administrator. She has close to 10 years of industry experience, having worked at Deutsche Bank (in the Philippines), GrowthWorks, and Haywood Securities. Jennifer will be playing an important role in many of our client service and trading functions, from processing...

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Fixed Income = Broken Sentiment?

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 25, 2013

My last post on gold spoke to the impact of investor sentiment on security prices. In the case of the shiny metal, sentiment is everything. As for other securities, such as bonds and stocks, it’s a secondary factor - economic fundamentals (profits)...

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Gold - A Dizzying Change in Sentiment

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 22, 2013

I’ll never forget an interview I did with Michael Hainsworth on BNN. It was almost exactly two years ago. Michael started the interview very directly, “Tell me, why no gold?” After I explained why our managers didn’t own any gold stocks, he then asked, “And no interest in base metals?” When I said we had no mining stocks in our funds, Michael was beside himself. “Do you at least own some energy stocks?” ...

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First Day of the Future

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 17, 2013

It’s a sunny, spring day. The cherry blossoms are at their peak on West 3rd Avenue. Bob Hager’s daffodils are bursting out of our garden. David (in from Toronto for our annual strategy session) greets prospective clients with an enthusiastic, “Welcome to Steadyhand World Headquarters.” And the gentleman says, “Isn’t it a wonderful...

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Mutual Fund Fees - Desperate Need for Change

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 15, 2013

Last week, we filed a submission to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) on their Discussion Paper on mutual fund fees. If you have an interest in this topic, we’d encourage you to give it a read. If you’re a Steadyhand client and don’t have...

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April Foolin'

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 2, 2013

What came off as a well-crafted April Fools prank (it was Scott’s genius) has inadvertently served as a reminder of what our clients care about. In the Monthly Newsletter we sent out yesterday, we announced that Steadyhand had been sold to the Canadian...

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A Strong Consensus on Interest Rates

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on March 18, 2013

I recently attended a pension seminar. As part of the program, the organizers used a cool interactive polling system to gauge where the audience stood on certain issues. While there was plenty of good information provided throughout the morning, what stood out...

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What About Stocks?

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on March 13, 2013

I’ve been a bit of a downer lately, writing negatively about bonds and real estate, and pointing out that risk premiums (the opportunity to generate returns in excess of government bond yields) have narrowed for many other investment strategies. (Note...

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