Cutting Through the Noise
September 19, 2009
Individual investors (and their advisers) are far too patient when it comes to dealing with changes in their mutual funds. They're quick to make moves based on short-term trends and performance, but slow to recognize the impact of fundamental shifts in personnel...
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2009
I feel like I'm really up to speed right now. With the lousy weather in Ontario and Manitoba cottage country, there's been more time for reading. And while I still can't tell you what “quantitative easing” is, I've firmed up my view on all kinds of other topics...
Read MoreAugust 24, 2009
Being an analyst or portfolio manager means you are destined to make lots of mistakes. They say the great ones are right 60 per cent of the time, which means they're wrong 40 per cent of the time. There aren't too many professions where you're allowed...
Read MoreAugust 9, 2009
It may not be politically correct to admit it, but I have mixed feelings on the billions of dollars worth of bonuses being paid out on Wall Street. I'm always wary of hysterical, highly politicized issues that have only one side to them. But in this case, I've...
Read MoreJuly 27, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published July 25, 2009. Knowing the right questions to ask is an important and difficult part of any decision-making process. For the last two weeks I've been parked on the edge of Crystal Lake, Ont., where the right...
Read MoreJuly 13, 2009
A lot of thought has been going into the lessons learned from the recession. That's prompted me to think about what has come out of the turmoil in the capital markets. It didn't take long to come up with a list. Here are my top five lessons learned, or should...
Read MoreJune 27, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published June 27, 2009. Over the past nine months, I've talked often in this space about risk being cheap. Investors can't let past losses blind them to the opportunities that have emerged from the banking crisis and...
Read MoreJune 14, 2009
I'm not a hedge fund manager, but I find their place in the industry to be forever fascinating. Indeed, this week I went so far as to publicly debate the proposition “Hedge funds are dead” with Toreigh Stuart of Man Investments, a hedge fund conglomerate...
Read MoreMay 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...
Read MoreMay 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...
Read MoreMay 3, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published May 2, 2009. Last week I was at the Richard Ivey School of Business speaking to an investing class. It is part of the Benjamin Graham Centre for Value Investing, which has grown in international...
Read MoreApril 18, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published April 18, 2009. Let me set the scene. A generic portfolio manager enters a psychiatrist's office and starts talking. Let's be a fly on the wall. Thank you for seeing me, doctor. Sure, I can lie down on the couch...
Read MoreApril 6, 2009
As the wealth management industry works through this bear market, investment products that promise certainty and limited downside risk are going to be popular. With guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) offering minuscule yields, stock-market...
Read MoreMarch 23, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published March 21, 2009. It is hard to find an individual investor who thinks that now is the right time to buy into the stock market. People that are holding cash are happy and have no intention of parting with their...
Read MoreMarch 9, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business. Published March 7, 2009. The news media have been remarkably quiet about the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. newsletter this year. And yet, as we go through this historic time, we need its calm, common sense and...
Read MoreFebruary 21, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published February 21, 2009 As regular readers know, some of my best columns are written for the sole purpose of keeping peace at home. If Lori wants me to write about something, the ...
Read MoreFebruary 8, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published February 7, 2009 I've been having trouble sleeping, so I dusted off a research report written by my friend, J.J. Woolverton, who is the chairman of Guardian Capital LP (he makes me ...
Read MoreJanuary 25, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published January 24, 2009 Readers are quick to point out when they think I am naive, dismissive, misinformed or just plain wrong. No doubt there has been some loose analysis in this column ...
Read MoreJanuary 10, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published January 10, 2009 When trying to explain what's going on in the stock market, we often draw comparisons to the housing market. It helps to put the mysteries of Wall Street into ...
Read MoreDecember 29, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published December 27, 2008 The year 2008 was a tough one for prognosticators. Certainly my previously impeccable record was severely tarnished. Last year's Christmas column had a few things right - Bill Holland ...
Read MoreDecember 15, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published December 13, 2008 “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In a recent series of client presentations, we used these words from Iron Mike Tyson to segue from ...
Read MoreDecember 1, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 29, 2008 I've been getting more "hate" mail lately. The e-mails from readers who disagree with me have become more pointed; I need oven mitts to handle some of them. It ...
Read MoreNovember 17, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 15, 2008 It's always hard to pick someone to manage your money. You want people with experience and an investment philosophy you're comfortable with. You want to be sure they have ...
Read MoreNovember 3, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 1, 2008 I've called them the worst of both worlds - bad for equity investors and inappropriate for those seeking a predictable flow of income. And professional money managers would never ...
Read MoreOctober 20, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 18, 2008 This earnings season is going to be more interesting than most. There will be some good news, but the bad will dominate the headlines. If I were a chief ...
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