Blog: Cutting Through the Noise
Postings
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
Old News
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 14, 2011
“I think the future of equities will be roughly the same as their past; in particular, common-stock purchases will prove satisfactory when made at appropriated price levels. It may be objected that it is far too cursory and superficial a conclusion; that it...Read More
When Dividend Investing Doesn't Pay Dividends
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on 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 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
Steadyhand vs. ETFs
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 7, 2011
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing in popularity and with good reason. They’re simple, low cost, transparent and provide market-like returns. But … they’re not for everyone. In a newly published paper, we compare the experience of an ETF investor (Jake) to that of a Steadyhand client (Julie). We focus on four areas...
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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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Further Creeping
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 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 More
Growth Please
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 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 More
Background on the Fee Increase
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 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 More
The Dangerous Rise of an Obsession with Safety
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 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 More
Crystal Clear
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 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 More
