Blog

Cutting Through the Noise


May 12, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Covered Call ETFs: Are They for You?

A long-standing investment strategy is back in vogue. “Covered call writing” is designed to generate income from a stock by selling a call option against it (the right to buy the stock at a set price in the future). While the strategy has been around forever...

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May 10, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Finding a Better Balance

In recent presentations, we’ve been discussing a slide that shows the industry diversification of the Founders Fund versus the S&P/TSX Composite Index. We’ve been doing this admittedly ‘apples to oranges’ comparison because it highlights what the portfolios...

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April 30, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Industry Changes - The Next 5 Years

The wealth management industry has changed a lot since we started Steadyhand five years ago. The banks have strengthened their hold on asset management, low-cost ETFs and high-cost structured products have become more prominent (and numerous) and lower-volatility income products are now the big seller. Some of the changes have been good for client returns, while others were more attuned to company profits...

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April 28, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Why the Smart Money is Cutting Back on Bonds

As your buy side correspondent, I make a point of reading a whole stack of investment manager reports each quarter. I particularly focus on managers who think long term (no frequent traders), are prone to non-consensus views and aren't afraid...

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April 25, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Canadian Real Estate - More Reasons for Caution

Last Sunday, while flying to the hottest housing market in Canada (Toronto), my airplane reading surfaced a couple more statistics about Canadian housing, both of which point towards caution. In their quarterly report, Mawer Investment Management noted...

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April 14, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Lessons Learned in the Wealth Management Trenches

We’re celebrating our firm’s fifth birthday this week, which has brought on lots of reflection. Before we started up, I sought counsel from as many people as possible under the theory that if you want money, ask for advice. As it turned out, I got little money...

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April 10, 2012

By Tom Bradley

My Toughest Five Months

“If the bear leans on you, hold your ground.” Are these words of advice from an investment guru like Buffett, Watsa or Hager? No, they’re instructions from the trainer of Koda, my big furry friend who appeared with me in the video on our original home page. As it turned out, the trainer’s words would quickly become as relevant...

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April 4, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Whose Interests?

The investment banking league tables came out this week and they showed that Scotia Capital was at the top of the equity list. BNS was lead underwriter on $2.4 billion worth of deals in the first quarter. What pushed them to the top was a $1.66 billion stock...

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April 1, 2012

By Tom Bradley

A Contrarian's Radar Says Cheez Whiz Yes, China No

I’m wired to be a contrarian. That means I tend to be early getting on and off trends. I was worried about the U.S. housing cycle in 2004 and thought the Rolling Stones were over the hill two decades ago (was I wrong?). I’m still calling for Cheez Whiz to...

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March 27, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Are Bonds the Safe Haven They Appear?

This was the heading on a slide that Connor, Clark & Lunn showed us this morning during our quarterly review of the Income Fund. The chart (below) shows the path of a Government of Canada 10-year bond yield compared to the commonly-used indicator of inflation in Canada, the Consumer Price Index. After 31 years of declining...

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March 21, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Tie Breaker

In his column in today’s Financial Post ('Doing all of the Right Things'), Jonathan Chevreau reviews Steadyhand. The article is a book end of sorts, because Jonathan was the first one to write about us in the summer of 2006, just as our business model...

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March 17, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Real Estate as an Investment? Look Elsewhere

As an active manager of stocks and bonds, we’ve always considered our biggest competitor to be the market indexes. Over time, our clients expect us to beat them. These days, however, we’re facing another formidable foe. It’s called real estate. Investors...

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March 8, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Can I Join the Club?

Early in my career, the banks all looked and behaved alike. They battled for retail market share (cozily) and pursued copycat strategies – for instance, they all bought brokerage firms and trust companies within a few years of each other. At that time, Canada...

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March 3, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Dividends Obsession Distracts Investors From Big Picture

Would you rather see your portfolio earn 3 per cent per year and provide monthly distributions of 5 per cent, or earn 5 per cent with irregular payments totalling 2 to 3 per cent? It may seem like a ridiculous question, but it’s reflective of the choices being...

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February 29, 2012

By Tom Bradley

U.S. Housing - Risk or Opportunity?

I still see a number of strategists and portfolio managers citing the U.S. housing market as a risk for 2012. I don’t get it. The slump is almost six years old. Housing starts are down to an unsustainably low level of 600,000 per year. The U.S. economy is...

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February 23, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Longleaf versus Fairfax

For years I’ve been reading reports published by Southeastern Asset Management. The firm manages the Longleaf mutual funds and is chaired by legendary value investor, Mason Hawkins. The year-end report is interesting for a couple of reasons, the...

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February 21, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Introducing the Founders Fund

Yes, we’re introducing a new addition to our lineup - the Founders Fund. The fund is a balanced mix of our income and equity funds (it is a fund of funds) that best reflects my views on market fundamentals, valuation and ultimately asset mix. The fund’s...

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February 18, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Lose Those RRSP Blues: The Benefits of Saving are Certain

The RRSP season ain’t what it used to be. In the 1980s and ’90s when investing was fun, it was a focal point on the investment calendar. You couldn’t open the newspaper or walk a block without seeing an advertisement. Banks stayed open late to...

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February 4, 2012

By Tom Bradley

For Money Managers, Small Can be Beautiful

Boyd Erman wrote an article before Christmas titled “Squeeze Is On For Smaller Investment Firms.” When I saw the headline, I shuddered a little. Was he going to talk about firms that don’t have billions of dollars under management? Was he going...

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January 21, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Your Portfolio Performance Needs a Regular Check-up

A meeting I had with a prospective client a few years ago has always stuck with me. She told me her adviser had done well for her in the previous five years, but had been letting her down more recently. After reviewing the data, we discovered the...

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January 17, 2012

By Tom Bradley

ETF Sales - Underwhelming and Disappointing

This week the 2011 sales numbers came out for Canadian ETFs (exchange traded funds). For the year, $7.6 billion flowed into ETFs (net of outflows) and total assets in the 200 plus funds finished at $43 billion. While the number of funds exploded in 2011...

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January 10, 2012

By Tom Bradley

First Rant of 2012: RRSP Transfers

I just finished listening to Chris talk with a client about her RRSP transfer. He told her that the paperwork had been sent to the relinquishing institution and we would be monitoring its progress. Chris tried to set reasonable expectations, “Given our...

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January 7, 2012

By Tom Bradley

Five Keys to Staying on the Long-term Track

My holiday reading included two journal articles that challenge the notion that investing for the long term reduces risk. The message: It’s all well and good to recommend that an investor take the long view and not worry about short-term market dips...

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December 23, 2011

By Tom Bradley

A List to Santa That'll Make the Investing World a Better Place

I came out of the “me” generation (have I told you about my latest injury?), so even though this time of year is about giving, I’m mostly into receiving. In our household, my wife Lori goes for quantity at Christmas, while I’m all about quality. When I wrote...

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December 19, 2011

By Tom Bradley

Different This Time?

“Tom, I agree with your view on stocks, and boy, you’re so right about how negative people are, but ... I can’t help but wonder if it’s different this time.” It’s different this time. I’ve been trained to never utter these words. They’re the most dangerous four...

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