Cutting Through the Noise
February 24, 2012
Morningstar published an article today on Brian Eby, the head of fixed income at Connor, Clark & Lunn. CC&L is the manager of our Income Fund and Savings Fund. Along with highlighting Brian’s background and experience, the piece sheds some light on...
Read MoreFebruary 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 MoreFebruary 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 MoreFebruary 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...
Read MoreJanuary 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 MoreJanuary 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 MoreJanuary 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 MoreJanuary 12, 2012
2011 was a great year for bonds and a not-so-great year for stocks. Interest rates declined further (10-year government bond yields ended the year below 2% for the first time in a century) leading to strong price gains in government bonds, and to a lesser extent corporate bonds. Debt concerns in Europe and political lollygagging weighed on investor confidence and most stock markets...
Read MoreJanuary 11, 2012
From our Quarterly Report: It’s a remarkable time to be an investor. After decades of overspending in the Western world, we’re watching Europe melt down and the American empire decline faster than expected. The debt burden is slowing the world economy...
Read MoreJanuary 5, 2012
As we start a fresh new year, there’s no shortage of Top 10 Lists (we’re guilty, too). They can get annoying and repetitive, even for a David Letterman fan. But some are worthy of passing on, even posting on the fridge. Here’s one you should staple to the front...
Read MoreJanuary 4, 2012
Another year, another 120 blog postings. We had some thoughtful, informative, helpful, useless, controversial and scathing posts last year, based on the emails and comments we received. Below is a list of our most popular posts in 2011, as...
Read MoreDecember 29, 2011
Michael Nairne, president of Tacita Capital, wrote a good piece in the Financial Post last weekend, titled A Gift From Risky Markets, which looks at historical stock market returns and valuations (dating back to 1825) and provides some perspective on the...
Read MoreDecember 22, 2011
From today’s Globe and Mail: “Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says Canada will not move ahead with its proposed Securities Act in light of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to declare it unconstitutional ... The Supreme Court unanimously declared the...
Read MoreDecember 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...
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