Cutting Through the Noise
February 5, 2014
Every NFL football team is allowed to field 11 players. The Seattle Seahawks are an exception. They play with 12. The “12th Man”, however, isn’t a player per se. He’s 67,000 fans. He’s the raucous group that packs CenturyLink Field to cheer on his beloved Hawks. The 12th Man is a passionate, energetic fan, well-versed in football. He knows when to be silent (when the home team has the ball) and when to ...
Read MoreFebruary 4, 2014
I’ve been remiss in doing a follow-up to an article I wrote for the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago (clients come first). In it I made the point that ETF sales in Canada have been disappointing, despite all the hype and favourable press. As it turns out, the piece ...
Read MoreJanuary 30, 2014
Tom was on BNN yesterday morning discussing some of the chapters from his new book, It’s Still Not Rocket Science. Some of the topics reviewed included: the four most dangerous words in investing (it’s different this time), China, getting back into the ...
Read MoreJanuary 29, 2014
We encourage investors to undertake a thorough performance review once a year, every year. And we walk the talk. We’ve updated our annual assessment of our funds’ performance that uses the framework laid out in our paper How is Your Portfolio Doing? ...
Read MoreJanuary 24, 2014
There are times throughout the investment cycle when people want more precision. They want to know what the market is going to do this year, or even this month. These moments most often come in January when year-end investment reports and media coverage are full of predictions for the next year. The need to know also arises after ...
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2014
The improvement in the financial position of our defined benefit pension plans was the biggest economic highlight of last year. As we pointed out in a post two weeks ago, the change has been dramatic. Higher bond yields, healthy stock returns and increased ...
Read MoreJanuary 22, 2014
Don Tapscott, the highly-regarded business thinker and writer wrote an article for Monday’s Report on Business (Note: David is taking me to hear him speak at University of Toronto next week). In it he previewed the annual mixer for the world’s business ...
Read MoreJanuary 20, 2014
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are the most talked about product trend in the wealth management industry. I’m not sure what comes second, but it’s not even close. An overwhelming majority of commentators and bloggers recommend indexing with ETFs ...
Read MoreJanuary 15, 2014
What a year 2013 was. Everybody’s portfolio was up (or almost everybody), and most were up a lot. It was an unusual year, but not only because of strong returns. For Canadian investors, a barbell shape may best describe the 2013 results. On one ...
Read MoreJanuary 14, 2014
JP Morgan Chase reported its earnings yesterday. The company had a good quarter (US$5.3 billion), although it was down a little from last year due to charges related to legal and regulatory settlements. The Financial Times reported that JPM, "took another ...
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2014
From our Quarterly Report: When I think about risk management for clients and the firm, one item is increasingly showing up on my sheet - client expectations. I’m confident that stocks will deliver solid long-term returns and Steadyhand will be a good steward ...
Read MoreJanuary 10, 2014
The Canadian economy is a real conundrum to me. Clink - Real estate sales have returned to previously robust levels and prices have recovered nicely from the lull in 2012 (if you can call it that). Clink - Canadians bought 1.7 million new cars last year, which ...
Read MoreJanuary 9, 2014
If 2013 was a great year for the markets, it was a stupendous year for pensions. Aon Hewitt published a report last week that shows the progress pension funds made in 2013 in resolving their funding issues. “The latest quarterly survey of more than 275 Aon Hewitt administered pension plans from the public, semi-public and private sectors ...
Read MoreJanuary 7, 2014
Another sketch for the archives from Carl Richards. Richards is an American fee-based financial planner and author. His sketches appear in the New York Times Bucks Blog ...
Read MoreJanuary 3, 2014
Bill Gross doesn’t need my help. The PIMCO Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer is the undisputed bond king. He oversees a $2 trillion company and has been right many more times than he’s been wrong. But an article in today’s Financial Times on the ...
Read MoreJanuary 1, 2014
From stocks to interest rates to real estate to resources, there was a lot to write about in 2013. There was also a lot of noise to cut through, and we were busy doing our part. Below is a list of our most popular blog posts last year, as judged by you, the readers ...
Read MoreDecember 23, 2013
We hear it all the time in conversation with our partners and friends: “They say the market is going higher … they say Regina house prices are going down next year … or they say the Canucks have a shot at the Cup.” When you hear “they say”, it’s a signal that ...
Read MoreDecember 18, 2013
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has recently mandated that performance reporting on client statements use dollar-weighted returns, to be implemented by 2016. Most firms, including Steadyhand, currently report client account performance using ...
Read MoreDecember 16, 2013
It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. “It”, of course, is the Steadyhand Holiday Letter. 2013 has been a memorable year in the markets: Stocks have pushed forward without a flinch. Indeed, there’s been no sign of a stock market Grinch. Bonds were weaker, which is no surprising ...
Read MoreDecember 13, 2013
A long stock market run goes through many phases. There’s a healthy debate going on right now as to where this one is at – does it have further to go, or is it over? In assessing where we are, it’s useful to look back at how things unfolded over the last four and a ...
Read MoreDecember 12, 2013
With the release of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath, there’s been lots of talk about big versus small. In the Money Managers edition of Benefits and Pensions Monitor, Jeff Brown wrote an article pointing out that in the asset management business ...
Read MoreDecember 10, 2013
It’s one thing to explain to investors that capital markets move in unpredictable ways and diversification can dampen a portfolio’s volatility in the short term, but it’s quite another to actually show them. Which is why we’ve built a Volatility Meter for our website...
Read MoreDecember 9, 2013
We had a meeting last week to kick start preparations for our winter client tour, ‘Where to from here’. The discussion came around to performance reporting. When we start the tour in Winnipeg on January 27th, the 5-year returns will no longer include 2008 and...
Read MoreDecember 5, 2013
We are currently seeking candidates for a temporary, full-time administrative support assistant in Vancouver. As part of this diverse role, the team member will do whatever it takes to make our team efficient, and our clients feel welcome. The role begins...
Read MoreDecember 4, 2013
It’s been a great four years, but let’s not get carried away with this market. It’s time to be patient. This was one of the messages Tom emphasized on BNN this morning. With the strong run in the markets, stock valuations are now at the upper end of a normal range...
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