Cutting Through the Noise
June 9, 2008
Edinburgh Partners' Christine Montgomery was in town last week to present on the Global Equity Fund. Tom also had a chance to sit down with her to discuss the fund's performance and some of the investment strategies that our Scottish partners are pursuing.
Read MoreMay 22, 2008
The price of a barrel of oil recently topped $135. Get out the balaclava. It’s time to steal us some crude. At least that’s the thinking of the opportunistic criminal in Texas. An article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday ...
Read MoreMay 20, 2008
The summer edition of Globe Investor Magazine comes out this Thursday (May 22) as a supplement in the Globe and Mail. Watch for The Steadyhand Diaries , a piece written by Tom Bradley that takes readers through the company's first year ...
Read MoreMay 8, 2008
The Globe and Mail published a report on investment blogs in Tuesday’s paper, where a number of their columnists identified some of their favorite blogs. If you’re a fan of our blog, you may want to check out a few ...
Read MoreApril 25, 2008
Jonathan Chevreau’s article in Wednesday’s Financial Post highlights the latest book that bashes the mutual fund industry, The Investor’s Dilemma: How Mutual Funds are Betraying Your Trust and What to do About it , written by Louis Lowenstein. It’s books ...
Read MoreApril 15, 2008
In this podcast, we review the first quarter of 2008 and touch on some highlights from our Quarterly Report.
Read MoreMarch 16, 2008
A pool in the spring could only mean one thing – March Madness. For basketball junkies there’s no better time of year. Sixty-four college teams vying for supremacy. The upsets, the Cinderella stories, the raw emotion. Who could ask for ...
Read MoreMarch 13, 2008
There’s an interesting firm out of London by the name of Bedlam Asset Management. I read their literature every now and then and although we often don’t share the same views, I’m always impressed by their transparency. There’s no beating ...
Read MoreMarch 7, 2008
In his Streetwise blog yesterday, Globe and Mail journalist Andrew Willis highlighted an $8 million fine that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently imposed on Fidelity Investments. The penalty was imposed to settle charges that Fidelity’s in-house traders ...
Read MoreMarch 6, 2008
In our first video blog, Tom discusses why investors should steer clear of principal-protected products. He notes that professional investors would never touch these products because the odds are clearly stacked against them. Watch the video to learn more.
Read MoreFebruary 28, 2008
In Tuesday's budget, the Conservatives introduced a new savings vehicle that will allow Canadians to shelter investments from tax. Known as the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), investors over the age of 18 will be able to contribute $5,000/year to a tax ...
Read MoreFebruary 27, 2008
We just wrapped up a series of conference calls with our equity managers. The key message from all three is that they’ve been sitting tight. None of them have made any material changes to the funds but they all have ...
Read MoreFebruary 14, 2008
I stumbled across a large ad in the Vancouver Sun last week that caught my attention. The headline: Retire 12.2% Faster. How could I not read on! The ad was from the Bank of Montreal and it was referring ...
Read MoreFebruary 12, 2008
Derek DeCloet wrote an article in today’s Globe and Mail that most fund companies probably don’t want you to read. He cites strong net redemptions in January from some of the industry’s "lumbering giants", and concludes that poor markets are ...
Read MoreJanuary 31, 2008
Generally speaking, the financial services industry isn’t known for punchy, let alone creative advertising. Most of the big firms tend to stick to conservative, feel-good campaigns. I came across an ad in a magazine the other day from E*Trade that ...
Read MoreJanuary 22, 2008
It’s times like these that test our patience as investors. As of yesterday’s close, the TSX had dropped more than 12% since the beginning of the year. Last year’s gains were gone in a mere three weeks. The S&P 500 ...
Read MoreJanuary 17, 2008
In this podcast, we review the fourth quarter, touch on some of the highlights of our Quarterly Report, and take a closer look at how our funds are positioned for 2008 and beyond. The session was fuelled by Nibs (Steadyhand's licorice of choice) for those wondering about the obscure reference toward the end.
Read MoreJanuary 2, 2008
Bell-bottom jeans, the Chia Pet, and the $5 latte. What do they have in common? All were seemingly ridiculous ideas that were brushed over and laughed at in the conceptual phase. But who’s laughing now? We were inspired by a ...
Read MoreNovember 22, 2007
This was just too good to pass up... ...
Read MoreNovember 21, 2007
In this podcast, Christine Montgomery, an insurance analyst and portfolio manager at Edinburgh Partners (EP), reviews her firm's investment philosophy, gives an update on the Global Equity Fund and provides some insight into what investors can expect going forward. On a personal note, we discover that EP's insurance analyst is a fan of Led Zeppelin, bypasses Burberry, and prefers St. Andrews over Carnoustie.
Read MoreNovember 14, 2007
Some mutual fund executives must be getting pretty fed up with the academic world. First there was the study Mutual Fund Fees Around the World published last year by three professors from Harvard Business School, the London Business School and ...
Read MoreNovember 5, 2007
Ever wonder why your broker or mutual fund company doesn’t show performance on your account statement? The reason is pretty simple – they don’t have to. There’s a group of financial advisors who are trying to change that. The Investor ...
Read MoreNovember 1, 2007
With the camera rolling, the manager of the Steadyhand Small-Cap Equity Fund (Wil Wutherich) recently sat down with Tom to talk shop. Watch the video to learn more about Wil's background, investing style, and the Small-Cap Fund (note: high speed internet required...
Read MoreOctober 17, 2007
We're pleased to announce that Tom's recovery from surgery is going extremely well and he returned to work this week and will once again be a permanent fixture around the office. While the rest of the team will likely have ...
Read MoreOctober 15, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 13, 2007 The first column I wrote for The Globe and Mail was on hedge funds. As a guest columnist, I innocently poked my head up and declared that their fees ...
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