Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Postings

The Hard Questions - Part III: Getting Back In

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 16, 2009

Maybe the hardest conversations we have today are with prospective investors who got out of equities in 2008 or early this year and did not get back in. What do they do now? There is really just one answer to the question and then a bunch of execution issues...

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How to Reap Opportunity in Investment Excess

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 14, 2009

John Bogle starts his latest book, Enough, with a great story. Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller were at a party hosted by a hedge fund manager. Mr. Vonnegut muses that their host makes more money in a day than Mr. Heller earned from his wildly successful novel...

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Year-end Distributions

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on December 11, 2009

A quick reminder that with the exception of the Savings Fund, the year-end distributions of all our funds will be calculated on December 15th and paid on December 16th. The distribution for the Savings Fund will be calculated on December 31st. Distributions...

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The Hard Questions - Part II: Inflation and Rising Rates

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 10, 2009

Interest rates have a profound effect on portfolio returns. The level of rates sets a base for on-going income and changes in rates affects security prices. As rates drop, bond prices rise and vice versa. The 25-year bull market for bonds and stocks that...

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Conflicts of Interests? What Conflicts?

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 8, 2009

When I was working at Richardson Greenshields in the 80’s, my partners and I watched as all of our big competitors got bought up by the banks – Gundy went to CIBC, DS to Royal, McLeod to Scotia and Nesbitt to BMO. As one of the largest independents left...

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The Hard Questions - Part I: The U.S. Dollar

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 3, 2009

Chris, Sher and I were out meeting prospective clients last week and there were a few questions/concerns that came up over and over again. For the most part we have discussed them in the blog, but it struck me that we could be more direct in...

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Reading Month

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on December 2, 2009

If this month is like previous years, the content in the business publications and industry research will get less and less relevant as we move towards the New Year. Around Christmas the papers and on-line sources will be peppered with fluffy year-end pieces...

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HST Will Hurt Investors and Their Nest Eggs

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 28, 2009

Note to reader: I have an axe to grind. I own and operate a low-cost mutual fund company – and I'm hopping mad about the HST. The impact of Ontario and British Columbia's harmonized sales tax will be negative for investors. No matter who you...

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Tom on BNN

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 26, 2009

Tom will be on Business News Network (BNN) tomorrow morning (November 27th) from 9-10 AM eastern time. He’ll be sitting in with Marty Cej and Frances Horodelski on Market Morning. Black Friday just got a whole lot brighter...

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Riding the Pine

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 23, 2009

Recent data out of the U.S. suggests that American retail (individual) investors have been watching the stock market rally from the sidelines. According to a report by Morningstar USA, investors have pulled an estimated $4.4 billion out of U.S. equity funds so far this...

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Caution Clarified

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 19, 2009

In my recent article, The Party is Rolling Again, so be Cautious, I throw a little cold water on the market rally we’re enjoying. I think it’s important to reiterate how a view like this relates to an investor’s asset mix. The key line in the article is near the end – “I've...

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Want an ETF? Stick with Vanilla

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 18, 2009

Invesco Trimark announced this week that it is offering a new series of mutual funds based on existing exchange traded funds (ETFs) offered by an affiliated company, U.S.-based PowerShares (both companies are owned by the asset management...

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