Cutting Through the Noise
July 11, 2014
From our Quarterly Report: “It’s not the time to chase yield or return, but rather, it’s about managing risk and making sure the odds are in your favour ... I don’t think a 10-20% cash cushion is excessive at a time when we’re going through a grand economic ...
Read MoreJuly 10, 2014
It was announced yesterday that Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have joined Ontario and British Columbia in committing to a Federal securities regulator, currently (and hopefully temporarily) named the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System. Why do ...
Read MoreJuly 7, 2014
In presentations over the last year, I’ve often referred to Ontario as the Italy of Canada. In other words, its finances are abysmal. At a time when the province’s key economic drivers, housing and autos, are booming, the fiscal deficits are large and show signs of ...
Read MoreJuly 3, 2014
I opened the Financial Times website this morning to see that the unemployment rate in the U.S. had dropped to 6.1%. Beside that headline was a story about the Dow Jones hitting 17,000. Just minutes before, I saw in the Globe and Mail that Canada and the U.S. are ...
Read MoreJune 30, 2014
1). Make ‘Snowball’ your holiday read. 2). Go to summer school with Professor Buffett. 3). Read ‘The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America’. 4). Grab a beer and popcorn and watch a few Buffett videos on YouTube. 5). Head to Dairy Queen for ...
Read MoreJune 26, 2014
I saw a note that 150,000 people worldwide wrote CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exams on June 7th. It’s a reminder of how tough it is to get into the investment business. For some reason, lots of young people want a piece of the great gig that we have ...
Read MoreJune 24, 2014
When I was in Toronto a few weeks ago, I was walking north on Bay Street toward King and was struck by how quiet it was. It was probably just a lull in the day, but I couldn’t help but feel it was analogous to where we are in the capital markets. Things are calm ...
Read MoreJune 23, 2014
We’ve decided to reduce the amount of the Income Fund’s quarterly distribution to $0.07/unit, from $0.10/unit, effective June 30th. The fund pays a fixed distribution for the first three quarters of the year (end of March, June and September), and a variable ...
Read MoreJune 19, 2014
June 17, 2014
There’s a terrific article in the Globe and Mail today. It’s based on an interview with the new CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Evan Siddall. It’s terrific because Mr. Siddall and his team are taking CMHC back to where it should be ...
Read MoreJune 16, 2014
I recently got back from a holiday in Europe. My wife and I crammed a lot into three weeks: Rome, the Amalfi coast, Tuscany, the Adriatic coast, Verona, Venice and Paris. #Yolo, as my niece says. It was our first time to Italy and France, and we took away many great memories, impressions, and carbs. One thing that stuck out was the ...
Read MoreJune 12, 2014
In a Globe and Mail column on May 8th, I talked about how investors have been moving from defense to offense in their fixed income portfolios. Indeed, many of the new income funds and structured products are aggressive enough, and/or complex enough ...
Read MoreJune 10, 2014
We make most of the advancements to our business platform during the slower summer and early fall months. To that end, we have off-site sessions each spring in which we look at our business and prioritize the projects we want to work on. We like to organize ...
Read MoreJune 9, 2014
The attached chart came courtesy of Tim Price of PFP Wealth Management in London ...
Read MoreJune 6, 2014
Last week, the yields on Spanish 10-year bonds hit 2.82%. According to the Financial Times, this is the lowest since the early 1990’s. Also last week, an auction of 10-year Italian bonds came at a yield of 3.01%, which is the lowest since the introduction of the ...
Read MoreJune 4, 2014
“Should Ed Clark, a 50-goal scorer, be paid the same as a good two-way winger on a deep team, a dependable defenseman, a second-line center and a penalty-killing specialist?” With the NHL finals about to start, it seems like a good time to update ...
Read MoreJune 3, 2014
"Bradley says nobody can call the market in the short term, but here he is with 15% of the fund sitting in cash. Isn’t that market timing?” With cash earning next to nothing and stock markets going up, we’ve been getting a few comments like this about the Founders ...
Read MoreMay 27, 2014
The following chart is a screen shot of our Volatility Meter. The tool gives you the ability to toggle across different time frames and see how different asset mixes performed. The chart below shows the annual returns (1961 – 2013) for an indexed portfolio made up of ...
Read MoreMay 22, 2014
dol∙lar cost ave∙rag∙ing (noun). A strategy of buying a fixed amount of an investment (such as a mutual fund) on a regular, pre-determined schedule. The investment is purchased regardless of price, which helps take emotion out of the process. Dollar cost averaging can help smooth out the path of returns of an investment, as more shares, or fund units, are purchased when the investment’s price is falling and less are ...
Read MoreMay 20, 2014
I read a lot in this job, out of both necessity and interest. I often find it refreshing to take a break from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the Report on Business, etc., to read something lighter, inspirational, controversial, or just offbeat ...
Read MoreMay 14, 2014
In a post last month, I gave my not-so-subtle view about borrowing money to invest – it’s possibly appropriate for a miniscule number of investors, and totally inappropriate for the rest. Last week I heard Cliff Asness speak. He is one of the founders of ...
Read MoreMay 12, 2014
You may have heard the phrase "Sell in May and go away". It’s an investment strategy that involves selling your stocks in May and repurchasing them in the fall. It’s based on the premise that stocks have historically performed better during the months of ...
Read MoreMay 8, 2014
When I headed west to join Phillips, Hager & North in 1991, I had to learn about bonds, and fast. My background as an equity analyst wasn’t going to cut it with the balanced pension clients I’d be working with. Fortunately, PH&N was already one of Canada’s ...
Read MoreMay 5, 2014
Investment fees reduce returns. This much is obvious. What isn’t so clear, however, is what constitutes reasonable fees. A number of variables play a role, such as whether you work with a full-service advisor, follow an active or passive (indexing) investing ...
Read MoreApril 24, 2014
An investor’s long-term mix of stocks, bonds, cash and other investments that will provide her with the best opportunity to achieve her objectives. It should take into consideration an investor’s goals, risk tolerance, and investment time horizon. An investor should not alter her Strategic Asset Mix unless she experiences a change in her personal circumstances such that her investment objectives, risk ...
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