Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Re-balancing When Needed

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

Last week Chris and I met with Scott Robertson, a financial planner from Ottawa. Scott is a veteran and has a straight-forward, no-nonsense approach to his craft. That was clear when we asked him when and how often his clients re-balance their portfolios...

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Is It Justified?

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 4, 2009

People are having trouble with this rally. Indeed, I admitted to being uneasy about the speed and magnitude of the market’s move in a recent post. What’s spooking people is that it’s happening at a time when the economy is in the dumper and it's not clear...

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The State of the Canadian Investor

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 30, 2009

As our firm passes the two-year mark, we aren't able to generalize about where our clients are coming from or why they chose us, but we can make some observations about what their previous portfolios looked like, and more broadly, the state of the...

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You Go Girl!

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

“Fess up, fellows: The masters of the universe have turned out to be masters of disaster. No matter which aspect of the financial crisis you consider, there is a man behind it.” This was the opening paragraph of an article recently posted in the Wall Street Journal that reinforces our view that women are great investors, and even better...

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Teachers Expel BCE

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 26, 2009

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (Teachers) came within a hair of buying BCE at $42.75. Clearly the powers that be at Teachers thought enough of the BCE franchise that they were willing to pay up for it and use substantial amounts of leverage...

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Trading Range

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 23, 2009

In 26 years of doing this, one of the phrases I find least useful is, the market “is range bound” or “will stay in a narrow trading range over the next X months”. I don’t have conclusive data on it, but I believe that these types of predictions are almost...

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A Tip of the Hat to the 'Capitalist'

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 21, 2009

Blogger Canadian Capitalist published a complimentary posting on Steadyhand the other day. He highlighted four aspects of our firm that we emphasize on our website and in our conversations with investors: Low cost, Concentration, Co-investment...

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Podcast: Uneasy About the Market Bounce?

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 19, 2009

Stock markets have rebounded 25-35% since the lows reached in March. Feeling uneasy about the recent bounce? In this podcast, Tom expands on his recent Globe and Mail column and provides some advice to investors who are unsure what to do...

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Uneasy About the Market Bounce? Just Stick to Your Plan

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

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published May 16, 2009. What do we do now? Has the market gone too far too fast? Is it projecting too robust an economic recovery? Is it going to give back its gains as corporate earnings continue to disappoint? Or is...

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Everyone is an Economist II

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

As I pointed out in a recent post, we all have a tendency to become economists at extreme times like this. Everyone has a view on the economy, the dollar, Ben Bernanke, U.S. consumer debt and Wall Street’s demise. And with our increased focus comes...

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Morningstar Study: The Investor Experience

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 13, 2009

Morningstar recently published a comprehensive report on the ‘investment climate’ for mutual fund investors titled Global Fund Investor Experience. The report analyzes the fund marketplace in a number of countries around the world, highlighting the strengths...

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"I Don't Know"

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

That’s my answer when asked where the dollar is going. As regular readers know, I’m not short on opinions, nor is it the case that I’m not well informed on the economic and political forces at work. I just think predicting currency movements is impossible...

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