Blog: Cutting Through the Noise
Industry News + Views
ETF Sales - Underwhelming and Disappointing
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on January 17, 2012
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...Read More
First Rant of 2012: RRSP Transfers
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on January 10, 2012
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...Read More
A Gift From Risky Markets
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on December 29, 2011
Michael Nairne, president of Tacita Capital, wrote a good piece in the Financial Post last weekend, titled A Gift From Risky Markets, which looks at historical stock market returns and valuations (dating back to 1825) and provides some perspective on the...Read More
National Regulator? Bah, Humbug!
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on December 22, 2011
From today’s Globe and Mail: “Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says Canada will not move ahead with its proposed Securities Act in light of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to declare it unconstitutional ... The Supreme Court unanimously declared the...Read More
Different This Time?
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 19, 2011
“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...Read More
Taking Stewardship Initiative
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 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 More
Now That's Ironic – Part II
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 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 More
Now That's Ironic
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 24, 2011
With the holidays around the corner, shopping is in the spotlight. It got me thinking … We’re used to high price tags on the wet coast. We’ve got the most expensive housing market in Canada (if not the world, based on some measures). A bottle of...Read More
Another Lump in the Rug
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 21, 2011
A dirty little secret in this business: when a fund has an ugly performance record, it can be buried by merging it into another fund. Fund mergers occur all the time (see Fund Company Calls the Cleaner). The latest track records to be swept under the rug belong to a handful of under-performing Investors Group funds. Given...
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Morningstar Stewardship Grades 2011
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 16, 2011
Morningstar Canada published its updated Stewardship Grades for 26 fund companies yesterday. The grades are designed to help investors further research, identify, and compare fund companies that do a good job – or a poor job – of aligning their...Read More
Generation Riskless
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 9, 2011
I feel for the twentysomething generation. Good jobs are tough to come by, home ownership is out of reach for many (in Vancouver and Toronto, at least), skinny jeans are deemed fashionable for men, and a weekend camping now means pitching a tent...Read More
Robert Hager, 1937-2011
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 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...
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