Cutting Through the Noise
December 18, 2006
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published December 15, 2006 I've been in the investment business since 1983 and I find that with each passing year simplicity becomes more and more appealing. And I don't think I'm alone; it's ...
Read MoreDecember 16, 2006
There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this week (December 13, 2006) which suggested that first-time buyers were starting to look at homes again. The reasoning was that prices had come down a little and affordability was better. ...
Read MoreDecember 7, 2006
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a great product. They provide exposure to the equity market for a reasonable price. If you buy the iShares XICs, you can be assured of getting the return of the S&P/TSX 60 for only 0.17%. That's ...
Read MoreNovember 17, 2006
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 17, 2006 "It's like a spotlight in the darkness... it focuses on what's moving and everything else is blotted in the darkness." Those words came from Eric Sevareid in a PBS ...
Read MoreNovember 8, 2006
My colleague, Scott Ronalds (last seen on the beach in Hawaii), has written some comments on the tax changes of last week. Here they are: Finance Minister Flaherty's Halloween announcement that income trusts will lose their tax advantaged status by ...
Read MoreNovember 2, 2006
The attention will be focused on the government's tax announcement for a while to come, but we shouldn't forget that there are other things to think about with regard to the income trust market. The tax changes have certainly shaken ...
Read MoreNovember 1, 2006
Last week I praised Finance Minister Flaherty with regard to his comments on the fiscal surplus. There aren't many people praising him today. The changes to the taxation of income trusts have, and will continue to, generate lots of commentary ...
Read MoreOctober 26, 2006
The lead story in yesterday's paper was "Ottawa Awash with Surplus Cash." Five months into this fiscal year, the Federal government is $6.7 billion into the black and they only forecast a surplus for the year of $3.6 billion. The ...
Read MoreOctober 21, 2006
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 21st, 2006 There are plenty of sports analogies that are appropriate to investing, but I find golf provides the most fertile ground. With both golf and investing, it takes only a ...
Read MoreOctober 18, 2006
Every few weeks there is news of a takeover in the Canadian market. Increasingly, the buyers are private equity firms rather than other industry players. Of course, this is just part of a worldwide phenomenon. Private equity firms are hungry ...
Read MoreOctober 9, 2006
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 6, 2006 This column represents an anniversary of sorts. It's the tenth column of my burgeoning writing career with the Report on Business. Of the previous nine, the best reaction I've ...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2006
I promised myself that I wouldn't do any more postings on structured products for at least a few weeks, but I can't resist this one. The Financial Post had a small item on Monday about CIBC coming out with a ...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2006
I thought that Rob Carrick's article in the Saturday Report on Business was excellent. It did a side by side comparison of the Saxon Balanced Fund and the BMO Saxon Balanced Protected Deposit Notes (another new PPN with a brutal ...
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2006
I woke up way too early this morning (against my will). I decided not to fight it and instead used it as a chance to catch up on the reading that has been piling up. Part of the pile was ...
Read MoreAugust 23, 2006
Jonathan Chevreau of the National Post is known for continually pounding away on the fee issue. He had lots of ammunition this week when he got his hands on a U.S. academic study called "Mutual Fund Fees Around the World". ...
Read MoreAugust 17, 2006
I was golfing with a friend of mine a couple of Friday's ago. At the 19th hole, we got talking investments, which led us to the PH&N Bond Fund. He's owned the fund for years and has been very happy ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: October, 2004 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report). Context of the article: There's more investment information on the Internet and in the press than ever before. It's overwhelming. This article tries to help the individual investor ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: January, 2005 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: In 2005, Principal Protected Notes (PPN's) were again big sellers during RRSP season and were garnering a lot of attention amongst individual investors. The ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: April, 2004 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: Being successful at investing is hard. It takes discipline, patience and courage. If investors don't possess those traits, they should consider other alternatives. The ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: July, 2004 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: In the spring of 2004, the Globe & Mail did a series of articles on the mutual fund industry. The tone was pretty damning. ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: October, 2003 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: There are rules of thumb in the investment industry that get established despite the fact that they aren't necessarily correct. This article discusses four ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: July, 2003 ( Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: In 2003, there was a lot of press on the conflicts of interest that are inherent in the investment industry. At that time, ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: April, 2003 ( Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: The stock market had been going down for three years. Three year returns for the Canadian and U.S. markets (Cdn $) were -11% ...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2006
Originally published: July, 2002 (Phillips, Hager & North Investment Funds Quarterly Report) Context of the article: In the summer of 2002, we were well into a bear market for equities. This article is build around the fact that when everyone ...
Read MoreAugust 11, 2006
With all the performance data from the June 30th quarter-end piled up on my desk and getting staler by the minute, I thought I'd better get at it. I was going through the SEI Pooled Fund survey (which reviews the ...
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