Cutting Through the Noise
November 8, 2010
Last week a friend asked me what his daughter should do with her mortgage. The bank was giving her the option of going with a variable rate mortgage at 2.85% or a 5-year fixed at 3.5%. Investment professionals get asked this question all the time by friends...
Read MoreNovember 4, 2010
As I outlined in an earlier post, we feel that our fee reduction program is unique in rewarding clients who entrust more of their money with us, and who keep it with us for an extended time. In this posting, I’ll delve in to some of the gory details of how we...
Read MoreNovember 4, 2010
At the risk of alienating some of our clients and my Bay Street friends, I admit to being happy that the BHP takeover of Potash Corp was turned down. I keep wondering if it’s just my prairie roots (I want desperately for Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have...
Read MoreNovember 3, 2010
Account statements from most Canadian mutual fund companies are so bad that splashing a little colour on the document can propel you to the top of the list. Never mind features that clients are really interested in like performance and fees, just add a little...
Read MoreNovember 2, 2010
In recent years I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Danny Bubis, President and Chief Investment Officer of Winnipeg-based Tetrem Capital Management (anyone from my home town is a great person). Tetrem manages private and institutional...
Read MoreOctober 29, 2010
Whenever one investment theme, strategy or person is in the spotlight, it’s important to look in the shadows for a different perspective. That’s because as voices get louder and more confident, a consensus emerges that makes it harder to find the...
Read MoreOctober 22, 2010
David Rosenberg, the economist, is bearish on the economy and he’s very persuasive. His view is that we’re heading into a period of subdued growth at best, and another recession at worst. His 2011 earnings estimate for the S&P 500 is $75, well below...
Read MoreOctober 21, 2010
We sent our Director of Business Development, David Toyne, to the Money Show in Toronto yesterday to get a reading on what the competition is pushing and the sentiment among investors right now. With his iPhone in hand, he covertly captured...
Read MoreOctober 20, 2010
In the Canadian House of Commons, “everybody’s trying to get on the National” according to former opposition party leader Preston Manning. Not surprisingly, this creates a temptation to stretch the truth to garner attention. During his address to...
Read MoreOctober 18, 2010
“I’ve been shaking all night long, but my hands are steady” - from ‘Three Pistols’ by the Tragically Hip. David and I have been doing presentations over the last few weeks and we’ve talked about the notion of a ‘steady hand’. The company name came...
Read MoreOctober 15, 2010
When investors open their quarterly statements this month, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. Despite all the doom and gloom, the last three months have brought a year’s worth of returns. But despite the fact that the most recent quarter will bring...
Read MoreOctober 12, 2010
Michael Nairne of Tacita Capital recently published an interesting piece on inflation. He pointed out that the bond market has been a lousy predictor of where inflation is going. He showed that the holders of both long and medium-term bonds failed to...
Read MoreOctober 1, 2010
“Maybe you might have, some advice to give, on how to be insensitive.” The chorus from this great Jann Arden song speaks to where the investment industry has gone over the last 20 years. I’m not referring to touchy-feely, relationship stuff, but rather a hard...
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2010
As part of the Globe & Mail redesign, my Buy Side column will appear in the Friday paper (as of October 1st). It's published every second week. As always, the columns will be posted on the Blog later the same the day.
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2010
It’s not very often that we get to say we’re #1 at anything, whether it be on a personal level or as an organization. In this regard, we’re having an unusual year. In June, Steadyhand was at the top of the list on Morningstar’s Stewardship Grades. In...
Read MoreSeptember 29, 2010
Last week, David and I attended the eighth annual Institute of Advance Financial Planners (IAFP) Symposium in Banff. The Symposium was appropriately titled “View from the Summit” as the sights of the Rockies were jaw dropping. Preston Manning...
Read MoreSeptember 28, 2010
Through the market’s ups and downs over the last few years, one area of stability has been dividends (for investors in Canadian stocks at least). With few exceptions, companies have maintained or increased their dividend payouts, providing...
Read MoreSeptember 24, 2010
Writing about the unfairness of closed-end funds has been a lonely vigil. Despite the fact that the last year has been a robust period for new issues of these funds, there have only been a few other commentators taking on this egregious industry practice. In...
Read MoreSeptember 23, 2010
ING has a TV ad running right now on their Streetwise mutual funds. I don’t have any issue with ING or the funds (quite the opposite), but I do think the messaging is misleading. Before I go there, I should provide a little background. Since...
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2010
I admit it. I occasionally read Vanity Fair. This month’s edition is worth picking up. Not because Lindsay Lohan is on the cover, but because there’s an interesting piece by Michael Lewis on Greece. For those who aren’t familiar with Lewis...
Read MoreSeptember 20, 2010
To me, the media coverage on the new banking regulations laid out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision misses the point (Basel was established in 1974 to improve the quality of banking supervision worldwide). The commentary has focused...
Read MoreSeptember 18, 2010
Every summer Lori and I make a pilgrimage to the famous Highland Cinema in Kinmount, Ont. This summer’s movie was Inception. While I had mixed feelings about the film (movie – 2 stars; conversation after – 4 stars), I found the...
Read MoreSeptember 16, 2010
We continue to be barraged with negative news. Even the most positive economists are projecting slow growth for the next few years, and the bearish ones, whose names all seem to start with ‘R’, send chills down my spine. One sentence in Connor...
Read MoreSeptember 13, 2010
At Steadyhand, we’re big on client-manager alignment. We think it’s important that investors work with professionals who share their interests. As clients and regular readers know, we walk the walk in this regard. Each year we publish the...
Read MoreSeptember 7, 2010
It was revealed last week that regulators are looking into potential conflicts of interest between the banks and their clients. According to the Globe and Mail, the enforcement division of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada...
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