Cutting Through the Noise
December 15, 2011
Is it over yet? It was a rough year for the stock markets, as ugly economic headlines, debt problems, and political gridlock instilled fear in many investors. Bonds were once again the asset class of choice, despite their scrooge-like yields. Here at Steadyhand, we’re feeling a little merrier than the average investor – and it’s not just...
Read MoreNovember 28, 2011
The year-end distributions for all our funds (with the exception of the Savings Fund) will be declared on December 15th and paid on December 16th. The Savings Fund will pay its regularly-scheduled monthly distribution on December 31st. As a reminder...
Read MoreNovember 24, 2011
With the holidays around the corner, shopping is in the spotlight. It got me thinking … We’re used to high price tags on the wet coast. We’ve got the most expensive housing market in Canada (if not the world, based on some measures). A bottle of...
Read MoreNovember 21, 2011
A dirty little secret in this business: when a fund has an ugly performance record, it can be buried by merging it into another fund. Fund mergers occur all the time (see Fund Company Calls the Cleaner). The latest track records to be swept under the rug belong to a handful of under-performing Investors Group funds. Given...
Read MoreNovember 16, 2011
Morningstar Canada published its updated Stewardship Grades for 26 fund companies yesterday. The grades are designed to help investors further research, identify, and compare fund companies that do a good job – or a poor job – of aligning their...
Read MoreNovember 9, 2011
I feel for the twentysomething generation. Good jobs are tough to come by, home ownership is out of reach for many (in Vancouver and Toronto, at least), skinny jeans are deemed fashionable for men, and a weekend camping now means pitching a tent...
Read MoreNovember 7, 2011
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing in popularity and with good reason. They’re simple, low cost, transparent and provide market-like returns. But … they’re not for everyone. In a newly published paper, we compare the experience of an ETF investor (Jake) to that of a Steadyhand client (Julie). We focus on four areas...
Read MoreOctober 21, 2011
We are currently seeking a Mutual Funds Administrator to work with us through the 2012 RRSP season. This is a temporary, part-time position that will last from November to March. Work hours will be roughly 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with some flexibility. For...
Read MoreOctober 12, 2011
In preparing our Quarterly Report, I compiled some numbers that speak for themselves: Global stock markets had their worst quarter since Q4 2008; Greece was down 42%. Italy, France and Germany were all down 25%. Canada was down 12%. Japan was...
Read MoreOctober 11, 2011
It was an ugly quarter for stocks, with most major markets suffering double-digit declines. The bond market, on the other hand, had its strongest showing in 15 years (government bond yields now stand at levels not seen since the 1940s). Our funds declined, but held up better than the market. Their focus on high-quality, non...
Read MoreSeptember 19, 2011
The passive (indexing) vs. active management question is a polarizing debate, but it shouldn’t be. The bottom line is that both strategies have merit when they’re done right. As Morningstar USA’s President of Fund Research (Don Phillips) notes, credible...
Read MoreSeptember 15, 2011
Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Equity Fund, is in town this week on a research trip. We booked an afternoon of his time to discuss the fund. Since we've covered his investment process in previous sessions and his philosophy is well documented on our site, Tom sat down with him to talk stocks...
Read MoreSeptember 12, 2011
As a kid, my family and I used to go on a summer holiday every year to Savary Island (a small island about 200 km north of Vancouver). It’s a bit of a hidden treasure, with white sand beaches, warm waters and an abundance of shellfish. There was no electricity, few cars and fewer rules (don’t bury your sister and be home for dinner). We loved it. I was back on the Island this summer and few things have...
Read MoreSeptember 9, 2011
"The stock market has forecast nine of the last five recessions" - Paul Samuelson (Nobel Economist)
Read MoreSeptember 7, 2011
We often remind our clients that they don’t need to do much once their portfolios are set up, as our managers do most of the heavy lifting. While it may sound like lip service, it’s a phrase that carries weight. In times of heightened volatility, such as the past two...
Read MoreSeptember 1, 2011
Last month we introduced Bruce, a forty-something investor with a balanced portfolio (tilted towards equities). Bruce spent the last three weeks of August on vacation and tuned out the noise in the markets as best he could. The single malt helped. While catching up on his reading this week, however, he came across two pieces by Tom which encouraged him to make an adjustment to his portfolio (What Now? Part II and When Fear Rules the Market, it's Time to...
Read MoreAugust 25, 2011
Tom was on BNN this morning discussing how we think about asset allocation and portfolio positioning in volatile markets. It’s all about being ‘approximately right’ rather than exactly wrong. In other words, you’re never going to pick the top or bottom of...
Read MoreAugust 24, 2011
Nalco, the world’s leading water treatment company, recently entered into a merger agreement with Ecolab (a provider of cleaning, food safety and infection prevention products and services). CGOV, the manager of our Equity Fund, sold the stock...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2011
One of the richest men in the world wishes he was taxed more. Warren Buffett paid $7 million in federal taxes last year, which equated to 17% of his taxable income. Surprisingly, this was the lowest rate of any of the 20 employees in his office. In a...
Read MoreAugust 4, 2011
Meet Bruce. He shares several traits of investors who we deal with every day. In many ways, he is representative of a typical Steadyhand client. In this blog series, we’ll follow his investing journey and provide periodic updates on the decisions and challenges he faces. Bruce is a married forty-something software engineer with two pre-teen kids. His wife, Courtney, works part-time in marketing and the couple makes a combined annual income of approx. $180,000. They own a house in North Vancouver worth roughly $750,000 ...
Read MoreJuly 27, 2011
I was reviewing a new client’s portfolio last week and I stumbled across the Manulife Simplicity Balanced Portfolio. It’s a fund-of-funds product, meaning it holds a basket of mutual funds. In this case, the Portfolio holds 18 funds (as of December 31, 2010)...
Read MoreJuly 20, 2011
At Steadyhand, we think we’ve got the best business model and investment philosophy around. We offer investors access to talented and experienced investment managers (who are typically only available to the ultra-wealthy) and straight advice. We invest alongside our clients, charge low fees and provide timely &...
Read MoreJuly 12, 2011
It was a skittish quarter for stocks. The Canadian market had a rough spring, as commodity-related stocks gave back some of their gains from earlier in the year. The U.S. and Japanese markets were largely unchanged, while Europe was mixed. Bonds, on the other hand, had a strong quarter, as investors embraced safety and yields...
Read MoreJune 22, 2011
Fund (as in mutual) has become a dirty word. I was reminded of this the other day when Tom was lamenting over all the negative connotations associated with mutual funds. What was once a beautiful concept – investors pooling their money in a shared vision...
Read MoreJune 16, 2011