Cutting Through the Noise
December 10, 2011
It’s a remarkable time to be an investor and investment professional. After decades of overspending, we’re watching Europe melt down and the American empire decline faster than anyone expected. The debt burden has accelerated the power...
Read MoreDecember 2, 2011
As readers will know, Steadyhand has ranked highly on Morningstar's annual Stewardship Grades. That status was reinforced last night when we won the Best Stewardship Initiative Award at the Canadian Investment Awards.
Read MoreNovember 30, 2011
While Scott finds it ironic that the low-fee fund firms come out of high-cost Vancouver, I find it equally ironic that two of the highest fee firms in the industry come out of my home town. Winnipeg, which is known as the wholesale capital of Canada...
Read MoreNovember 26, 2011
A year ago, I wrote a column inspired by a holiday in Arizona (my in-laws have that effect on me). The piece attempted to level a rather tilted picture of the United States, one that was firmly focused on dismal economic and political news. I suggested that from...
Read MoreNovember 14, 2011
November 12, 2011
I recently watched a promotional video that outlined the reasons for owning dividend-paying stocks – tax-efficient income, lower volatility and you get paid to wait for markets to recover. I agreed with all the fund manager's points, but he failed...
Read MoreNovember 4, 2011
Few icons of the investment industry are celebrated outside the confines of Bay Street, but Bob Hager is one. Bob, who died on Oct. 7, was a driving force in building one of Canada’s most successful asset managers. In 1965, he and partners Art Phillips and Rudy North, started a fledgling firm called Phillips, Hager & North. By...
Read MoreNovember 3, 2011
As a follow-up to my ‘Creep’ column last week (The Dangerous Rise of an Obsession with Safety), we’ve come up with a few more items for the list. As a reminder, we defined creep as a ‘slow and stealthy movement’. One you don’t notice while it’s happening...
Read MoreNovember 1, 2011
In his letter this month, Bill Gross of Pimco talks about the cure to all our ills – growth. As he says, “No country has enough of it.” In discussing the prospects for economic growth, Mr. Gross does a good job of capturing the challenges we face. “The lack of...
Read MoreOctober 31, 2011
We painfully announced last week that we’re raising the fee on four of our funds. [LINK to press release] This post provides some background. As our clients know, we have a unique and attractive fee structure. Our ‘One Simple Fee’ captures everything that we...
Read MoreOctober 29, 2011
“Creep.” The dictionary defines it as a "slow and stealthy movement." To me, it’s something you don’t notice while it’s happening, but later when you do, you go "Wow!" If you think about our lifestyle, we've slowly moved to a place where jeans are...
Read MoreOctober 28, 2011
Oracle, which is a holding in the Equity Fund, announced a takeover bid for RightNow Technologies this week. In the past, Oracle has proven to be an effective and disciplined acquirer, but there is talk on this one that they paid too much – over 5 times sales...
Read MoreOctober 24, 2011
I came across a talk by China-based professor Michael Pettis on Paul Kedrosky’s ‘Infectious Greed’ blog. For those who are interested in China and where it’s headed, I highly recommend these 38 minutes. It’s heavy duty economics, but the points are...
Read MoreOctober 21, 2011
In the economic discourse of today, the camp that says we’re going into the tank has lots of ammunition. You don’t have to go past the front page of the newspaper to know we’ve got issues. For those arguing that we’ll be OK, or at least not have a severe...
Read MoreOctober 18, 2011
China, India and the other emerging economies will grow considerably faster than the developed world over the next ten years. That statement appears to be as close to an economic certainty as anything we can say today. Does it follow then that any...
Read MoreOctober 15, 2011
I’ve written in the past about the tension between the investment profession and the investment business. As asset managers, we need to find a balance between managing portfolios to achieve the best return for our clients, and making a profit for...
Read MoreOctober 7, 2011
We write a lot in this space about investor sentiment. Art Phillips, the founder of Phillips, Hager & North, taught me to pay attention to the mood of other investors. Like every tool, sentiment is not a failsafe indicator, nor is it a precise timing tool. It is, however...
Read MoreOctober 3, 2011
Dan Hallett published a piece today about mutual fund fees and how they compare to the U.S. It puts some meat on a topic that so far has been laden with hyperbole. Management expense ratios (MERs) are a lot higher in Canada, but as Dan points...
Read MoreOctober 1, 2011
“In calmer moments, investors recognize their inability to know what the future holds. In moments of extreme panic or enthusiasm, however, they become remarkably bold in their predictions: They act as though uncertainty has vanished and the...
Read MoreSeptember 28, 2011
Below is an internal email from Chris Stephenson today. It wasn’t meant for public consumption (it’s an email, not a blog), but Chris is OK with me doing this. With David’s experience with the [un-named fund company] rip-off, the Globe article about $1,305...
Read MoreSeptember 26, 2011
"The risks are the usual: what you don’t know; what you’re not thinking about; probably the biggest risk is what you are 100% sure about.” Bruce Berkowitz, Fairholme Capital Management, in a speech at Columbia University earlier this year...
Read MoreSeptember 22, 2011
The CBC woke me up this morning with rain warnings (Is summer really over?), big stock market declines and the voice of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The rain and markets didn’t get me too worked up, but I found the minister’s attempt at optimism...
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2011
I was talking with a client last week about portfolio re-balancing and the challenges of volatile markets. I often tell the story of Bob Hager’s shaking hand to illustrate how hard it is to do the right thing when markets are down, but his story is just as good at bringing the...
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2011
“Isn’t it funny when you walk into an investment firm and see the financial advisers watching CNBC. It gives me the same feeling of confidence I would have if I walked into the Mayo Clinic and the doctors were watching General Hospital.” This little...
Read MoreSeptember 13, 2011
‘skin in the game’ … ‘eating our own cooking’ … ‘co-investment’ … ‘manager-client alignment’ … These are all phrases we use to describe our commitment to clients and the desire to have our interests closely aligned to theirs. This alignment takes many...
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