Cutting Through the Noise
February 22, 2013
Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO and Co-chief Investment Officer of PIMCO, is a regular contributor to the Financial Times. In his piece today, he opines that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not seek an early end to quantitative easing (QE). For me, the most...
Read MoreFebruary 20, 2013
As we’ve worked to build our firm over the last six years, one of the frustrations we’ve had is that people don’t know we can manage ‘their’ money. They are aware of us, may follow our writing and even buy into our philosophy, but they think we only work with...
Read MoreFebruary 19, 2013
The team has been working hard to keep client expectations in check. Markets have been good and the Steadyhand funds have performed well, so it’s natural that clients start to expect more from their portfolio. We’re being a particular downer in the area of...
Read MoreFebruary 14, 2013
Sher took a call yesterday from a woman who wondered where I’d gone. She was a regular reader of my biweekly column in the Saturday Globe and Mail and noticed it wasn’t there anymore. Indeed, the Globe has been freshening up the Investor section...
Read MoreFebruary 8, 2013
In the current edition of MoneySense magazine, there’s an article on RRSPs entitled, ‘Surprising Truths about Your RRSP’. There is a ton written about RRSPs at this time of year, but I thought this piece did a good job addressing some key issues. In the...
Read MoreFebruary 5, 2013
In the Report on Business last week, John Heinzl, fondly known as the ‘Yield Hog’, dedicated his column (How a Focus on Dividends Can Transform Your Investing Approach) to a dividend-oriented portfolio managed by a real investor, Rob. It looks...
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2013
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill. It was a strong year in the capital markets and your portfolio was most assuredly up. Good news, right? Well, probably, but maybe not. A proper assessment of...
Read MoreJanuary 19, 2013
A young client phoned this week to ask if she was invested in mutual funds. She’d heard they were high cost and not the place to be. While the call was a little disconcerting given that we only use our own funds to build client portfolios, it was not surprising. Her...
Read MoreJanuary 11, 2013
I guess I’m more optimistic than executives at the major banks. When we lose a client (we’ve been lucky so far, our clients have been very loyal), I fully expect she/he will come back one day when circumstances change. As a result, when a client takes money...
Read MoreJanuary 10, 2013
Having been early and loud with my concerns about Canadian housing prices, I’m following with interest the daily coverage of the residential real estate market. I have a few thoughts on what I’ve read so far. Despite all the front page coverage, the...
Read MoreJanuary 5, 2013
I’m constantly hearing that it’s been a tough few years for money managers. It’s true that the macro-economic situation has brought uncertainty and volatility, and there’s been no such thing as “safe” income. But in one respect, the past couple of years...
Read MoreDecember 28, 2012
Am I bothered because the budget negotiations in Washington are dragging on and the market is bouncing around more than usual at year-end? No. Am I worried that tax increases and spending cuts will slow the U.S. economy? They will, but no, I'm...
Read MoreDecember 23, 2012
We’re in the midst of the holiday season, but there’s something about reflecting on the financial markets in 2012 that makes me want to say “bah humbug.” To me, the year was lots of talk – Spain, Facebook, BCE, fiscal cliff, Nexen/CNOOC, Mark Carney...
Read MoreDecember 14, 2012
So far in 2012, $10 billion has flowed into Canadian ETFs (net of sales). It's a big number, especially considering it's been a tough market for most wealth management providers. But as I said earlier this year, the growth doesn't blow me away in the context of a...
Read MoreDecember 12, 2012
In a recent Globe column, I highlighted a consensus among money managers that interest rates are unsustainably low - short and mid-term Government of Canada bonds are trading at negative ‘real’ yields (after inflation). The argument goes that at some...
Read MoreDecember 11, 2012
I've just returned from a few days in the U.S. (Denver – clean, friendly, no snow, great music, the Brown Palace Hotel in all its Christmas glory and a Van Gogh exhibit) and have heard and read waaaaaayyyyyy too much about the fiscal cliff. Fortunately, I've come...
Read MoreDecember 8, 2012
My editors want me to at least occasionally write about something topical. At first glance, a column about getting back into the market doesn't appear to fit the bill, but it does. That’s because now is the time to do the groundwork for what is often the most difficult...
Read MoreDecember 4, 2012
There have been a number of articles recently on U.S. homebuilders. There are increasing signs that housing activity is picking up (albeit from near-dormant levels) and the indexes that track stocks related to the industry have doubled over the last year. This sector is a great illustration of how the stock market is always looking forward. When this latest run started last fall, the news on housing (resales, starts...
Read MoreNovember 24, 2012
Until a couple of days ago, there was a leaning tower of paper hovering over my desk. It was a stack of articles, charts, cartoons, quotes and sport stats that I was sure would be important one day, but in the meantime, was threatening my safety. It had...
Read MoreNovember 20, 2012
With a decline of more than 200 points Wednesday, Canada's benchmark stock index erased its gain for 2012 and cemented its position as the worst-performing major stock index in North America. Even France's CAC 40 and Italy's Mibtel index are...
Read MoreNovember 13, 2012
For keen investors and/or students of the investment industry, I recommend reading a speech (Surviving Success) given this past summer by Richard Rooney, the Chief Investment Officer of Burgundy Asset Management. Richard was speaking to an...
Read MoreNovember 10, 2012
In my last column, I suggested that the stock picker’s lot in life is not as bad as it’s made out to be. I argued that many of the portfolio managers competing in this zero sum game (for every winner, there’s a loser) are destined to underperform for structural reasons...
Read MoreOctober 27, 2012
"Be it resolved that security selection is dead. Macro forces drive portfolio returns.” This was the resolution for the Alternative Investment Management Association’s (AIMA) annual debate. It reflects what I’m increasingly hearing – it’s a tough environment for active...
Read MoreOctober 24, 2012
The Report on Business today published excerpts from an interview with John Bogle, the father of indexing and founder of Vanguard. We found one of his answers on the wealth management industry particularly poignant. “Today, that profession with elements of...
Read MoreOctober 23, 2012
Our Global Equity Fund has had a rough three years. Nonetheless, it’s our view that foreign stocks will be an important contributor to client returns and portfolio diversification in the coming years. In this post, I’ll provide some background on the fund...
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