Cutting Through the Noise
August 27, 2007
The following blog was written by Tom just before his surgery, from which he is recovering well. Dan Richards is a name you may be familiar with. He has been in the wealth management industry for years and currently operates ...
Read MoreAugust 27, 2007
Every time I venture down to California or Vegas (not as often as I’d like), a stop at In-N-Out Burger is a must. Health food it’s not, but if you’re looking for a fresh, good old fashioned burger, this is ...
Read MoreAugust 22, 2007
In the wake of the subprime fallout in the United States, shares of Countywide Financial have fallen considerably. Countrywide is America’s #1 home loan lender and the country’s third largest federal savings bank. The Steadyhand Global Equity Fund holds shares ...
Read MoreAugust 21, 2007
Third party asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) has been the subject of attention in the investment press recently, as some issuers have experienced problems finding funding for their maturing debt. The Steadyhand Savings Fund does not hold any of this ...
Read MoreAugust 20, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published August 18, 2007 Shouldn't I be doing something? In historical terms, volatile markets like we're experiencing now are not unusual, so I don't want to overplay it. I'll admit, however, that I ...
Read MoreAugust 15, 2007
As you may have heard, Tom has a long-standing liver condition known as PSC. It goes back to his youth and has been monitored for over 25 years. While not normal, it has always been stable and hasn’t held him ...
Read MoreAugust 13, 2007
I’m picking on Claymore Investments again. I don’t have a thing about them, but they’re hard to ignore because they advertise a lot and are releasing a steady stream of new products. They are also an interesting firm in that ...
Read MoreAugust 9, 2007
Here's a real beauty that made the rounds at Steadyhand: The Shareholder Letter You Should, But Won't, Be Reading Next Spring . If you want to see the circus, there's no need to go to the big tent...there's plenty of ...
Read MoreAugust 8, 2007
I wrote a piece in March about the TD Bank double ending an investment banking transaction ( TD Securities Does a Double Ender ). The theme of the posting was how free the investment banks are to operate with huge ...
Read MoreAugust 7, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published August 4, 2007 At some point in the next year or two, it is going to get much harder to be an investment professional. A significant market decline and/or bursting of the ...
Read MoreJuly 31, 2007
I’ve admitted before that I am a Jeremy Grantham junky. He’s not ahead of Steve Nash or Lucinda Williams, but he’s in the running. He’s often accused of being perpetually bearish, as am I, but both of us are able ...
Read MoreJuly 25, 2007
In this podcast, Dr. Sandy Nairn, the chief executive of Edinburgh Partners, discusses his firm's history, investment philosophy, approach to global equity investing, and why "this time it's different" are the four most expensive words in the investing language.
Read MoreJuly 24, 2007
Shares of the world’s largest specialty retailer were recently added to the Steadyhand Equity Fund. Why? Because Starbucks is now a “franchise” company – that is to say, a great business , run by great people , trading at a ...
Read MoreJuly 23, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published July 21, 2007 My first gig in the investment industry in the early eighties was as a conglomerate analyst at Richardson Greenshields. It was while doing that job I first became sensitive ...
Read MoreJuly 19, 2007
Chris, Scott and I have had ample opportunity to see what’s going on out there in investor land as we’ve each had a chance to work with a number of our new clients. We have done enough portfolio reviews and ...
Read MoreJuly 16, 2007
Posted by Scott Ronalds I must admit that before I started working at Steadyhand last year, the term blog was pretty much a foreign concept to me. ‘Blogging’ sounded more like a slang term or a new extreme sport from ...
Read MoreJuly 12, 2007
We're proud of our first version of client statements, in particular the portfolio summary page at the beginning of every statement. The first attached image is for a fictitious client, Jim Smith, who has three accounts: an Investment account, RSP ...
Read MoreJuly 12, 2007
[update: As of November 2009, our performance calculation methodology changed. Individual account performance is still calculated using the time weighted rate of return (daily valuation); however, it is now calculated in our wealth management platform, rather than the recordkeeping system. ...
Read MoreJuly 9, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published July 7, 2007 Avner Mandelman's column in this space last Saturday featured the investment philosophy of Warren Buffett. If you've been reading this column or my blog, it's obvious that I also ...
Read MoreJuly 3, 2007
We're pleased to present the inaugural Steadyhand Top Ten List. We've faced a lot of great - and not so great - questions in our first few months of business. Here are our top picks: 10. Is this the place ...
Read MoreJune 28, 2007
We read in Larry MacDonald’s blog ( Avalanche of New Exchange Traded Funds ) on the Canadian Business site that there have been 18 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) created this year in Canada. Horizons BetaPro has been the most active ...
Read MoreJune 27, 2007
We’ve written about fund manager changes a couple of times this year ( When a Manager Moves, Be Prepared and Knowing When to Sell is Key to Smart Investing ). Needless to say, we think that the person pulling the ...
Read MoreJune 25, 2007
There has been lots written about the impact that hedge funds and private equity firms are having on the stewardship of public companies. There is a concern, which I share, that with these deep-pocketed players hovering, it is more difficult ...
Read MoreJune 25, 2007
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published June 23, 2007 When it comes to distribution, the investment management business is remarkably similar to the media industry. The number of distribution channels is growing rapidly and change is the only ...
Read MoreJune 21, 2007
My wife tells me I can be a real downer at parties. There are lots of reasons why she says that, but one is that I just can’t help myself when people start telling me how well they’ve done on ...
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