Cutting Through the Noise
September 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
June 13, 2011
Our Global Equity Fund has had a poor stretch of performance since early 2010. The fund’s manager, Edinburgh Partners Limited (EPL), is the first to admit this. While they don’t manage the fund with a close eye on what the index is doing, any sustained period of under-performance...
Read MoreMay 31, 2011
I learned last week that the HealthShares Dermatology and Wound Care ETF has been shut down. A shame, really. Seemed like a solid backbone for a portfolio. Investors who like their ETFs sharp and narrow need not fret, however, as the Direxion Daily Daily Agribusiness Bear 3X Shares ETF is still around (for the time...
Read MoreMay 19, 2011
In Connor, Clark & Lunn’s latest outlook, they assess the recent pullback in commodity prices. After a sharp run-up that began in early 2009, many commodities have been in retreat recently. Silver has grabbed the headlines, falling over 30% since late April, but...
Read MoreMay 10, 2011
“If I’m curt, then I apologize. But as I understand it, we have a situation here and time is of the essence.” - Newman. I’m a Seinfeld junkie. One of my favorite episodes was “The Muffin Tops”, in which Elaine’s former boss (Mr. Lippman) decides to open...
Read MoreApril 18, 2011
The following is a recap of Edinburgh Partners Limited’s (EPL) investment in Carlsberg. It’s an example of a turnaround opportunity, which is a common theme in our Global Equity Fund. To re-state the obvious, the recession and credit crisis of 2008/09...
Read MoreApril 12, 2011
Stock markets pushed forward in the first quarter despite some strong headwinds, including revolutions in North Africa, a powerful earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and lingering sovereign debt issues in Europe. It goes to prove that the linkage between headlines and market returns is anything but precise. In this podcast, we...
Read MoreApril 8, 2011
Tom was on BNN earlier today discussing how Steadyhand’s funds are positioned to tap into the global recovery and growth in the emerging markets. Unlike some managers, our approach isn’t focused on loading up on mining stocks and direct...
Read MoreMarch 30, 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 review the fund and get some further insights on some of the stocks in the portfolio. Topics of discussion include: performance, valuations, and the resource sector, among others. Listen now...
Read MoreMarch 23, 2011
If you drive by 3rd & Burrard in Vancouver, you’ll sometimes hear a loud reverberating sound coming from a stand-alone building nestled between the car dealerships and art galleries. Don’t be alarmed. It’s just us screaming our investment philosophy and industry observations from the rooftop. Some of our neighbours (and competitors) find it annoying, while other observers find it refreshing...
Read MoreMarch 11, 2011
As we watch the horrific destruction in Japan, we are well aware that our Global Equity Fund owns a number of businesses in that country. Roughly 20% of the fund is invested in Japanese stocks. At this time, we don’t have any information or insight to pass...
Read MoreMarch 1, 2011
Tom discussed Longleaf Partners’ annual letter to shareholders in a blog posting yesterday. Today, the grand-daddy of all shareholder letters is in the news – Warren Buffett’s. I’m beating Tom to the punch for a synopsis, as his posts in previous years...
Read MoreFebruary 24, 2011
At our recent client presentations, there was a subtle shuffling of feet and an air of unease when the topic of Japan came up. Japanese stocks have been an area of increasing interest for our global manager (Edinburgh Partners) and we laid out the reasons why: Japanese stocks are cheap on several measures; the proverbial...
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