Cutting Through the Noise
September 24, 2013
It’s the 20th anniversary of REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) in Canada. In the Report on Business today, Tara Perkins goes through their history, from being a accidental solution to a “disaster” to a thriving part of our capital markets today. It’s...
Read MoreSeptember 23, 2013
Bob Farrell is a legendary Wall Street figure. He was Chief Market Strategist at Merrill Lynch for 25 years. One of the things he is well known for is his '10 Market Rules to Remember'. They’re well worth remembering.
Read MoreSeptember 18, 2013
Last week, Vanguard published an article on active management entitled, 'Success factors for actively managed funds'. While this giant U.S. mutual fund and ETF company is known for being the birth place of indexing, it also has a large portion of its assets in actively...
Read MoreAugust 29, 2013
Confusing. Frustrating. Ugly. These were the words we used in our Quarterly Report to describe global stock markets in the summer of 2011. It was a challenging time for investors, as the World Index declined 16% in Q3/2011 and the U.S. market dropped...
Read MoreAugust 7, 2013
Catching up on my reading, I came across Warren Buffett's classic analysis of "Mr. Market" in the Berkshire Hathaway's 1987 Annual Report (it was referenced in Michael Price's weekly letter). Here it is (with the emphasis being mine...
Read MoreJuly 25, 2013
An essential element to being a better investor is being realistic about the predictability of markets. As taken from our latest paper, ‘Five Essential Elements to Being a Better Investor’: You not only need to be realistic about your own forecasting...
Read MoreJuly 17, 2013
I recently got a new Blackberry Z10. I’m having a lot of fun with it, although it’s been a steep learning curve given that my previous phone was a three year old antique. A combination of the phone and the constant barrage of articles about Twitter...
Read MoreJune 11, 2013
We’ve had a cautious view on government bonds for several quarters, as yields are unsustainably low. Our current thinking hasn’t changed. We feel bonds are expensive and have been advising clients to keep them to a minimum in relation to their long-term asset mix. The yield on 10-year Government of Canada bonds has risen over the last six weeks, from under 1.7% in early May to 2.2% yesterday. This is a sharp...
Read MoreMay 27, 2013
Lately I’ve been part of too many conversations that go like this. What brings you to Steadyhand? “I haven’t been happy with my existing advisor. The returns have been lousy and the service has fallen off to the point where I never hear from him." Do you...
Read MoreMay 23, 2013
Prepare for extremes. This is an essential element to being a better investor, and is particularly topical on a day when the Japanese market is down 7%. Tom expanded on the five essential elements to being a better investor on BNN this morning. You can...
Read MoreMay 21, 2013
March 13, 2013
I’ve been a bit of a downer lately, writing negatively about bonds and real estate, and pointing out that risk premiums (the opportunity to generate returns in excess of government bond yields) have narrowed for many other investment strategies. (Note...
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 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 31, 2013
Investors have had a real love for income and dividends over the past several years. And for good reason – bonds and high dividend-paying stocks have been stalwart performers. But the quest for yield may be leading to imbalanced portfolios. Investors who...
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 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 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 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 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 MoreAugust 3, 2012
As a young analyst at Richardson Greenshields, I worked with a big guy with an unusual name, Pentti Karkkainen. After years as a highly regarded oil analyst, Pentti now plies his trade in Calgary at KERN Partners, a private equity firm he co-founded. I introduce...
Read MoreJune 13, 2012
In our conversations with clients recently, many are shocked to hear the extent to which the Canadian market has trailed the U.S. and even global markets over the past few years. For much of the 2000’s, our market was the place to be. Resource stocks were...
Read MoreMay 10, 2012
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...
Read MoreMarch 5, 2012
Tom’s Globe article on the weekend focused on Income Gone Wild (Dividends Obsession Distracts Investors From Big Picture). He opines that investors’ intense focus on dividends and income is distracting them from what really matters...
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