Blog: Cutting Through the Noise
Industry News + Views
Summer Reruns VIII - Foreign Takeovers
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on August 26, 2010
This week’s rerun comes from April 2007. Foreign buyers were on the hunt for Canadian assets, which was stirring emotions and politics at home. Tom weighed in with some unique perspective on the issue. With Potash Corp. now in play, it's...Read More
Summer Reruns IV - The U.S. Housing Market
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on July 27, 2010
This week we look back to the summer of 2006. The U.S. housing market was at a turning point. The consensus view was that it would be a soft landing. Tom disagreed. Four years later, prices are still down 40-50% from their peaks in some markets...Read More
Something Stincs
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on July 26, 2010
The latest acronym in the investment world smells a little funny. The STINC countries (Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia and Chile) are meant to represent export-oriented nations that have shown good fiscal restraint and infrastructure investment...Read More
Management Fee Deductibility - Clearing the Air
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on July 8, 2010
In our discussions with investors, we’ve found there are a few misconceptions surrounding the deductibility of investment management fees. The most common misunderstanding is that mutual fund investors are at a disadvantage (from a tax...Read More
The Back Hand - Shaking it Up
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 25, 2010
Below are some observations and musings on the week that was – a new feature that we’ve aptly coined The Back Hand. The world’s eyes are on Toronto this week as the G20 Summit nears. While the thought of a weekend of politics and bureaucracy...Read More
Stewardship Soap Opera?
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 22, 2010
Financial Post journalist Jonathan Chevreau wrote an interesting piece yesterday on Morningstar Canada’s new Stewardship Grades. The article highlights an attempt by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) to discourage Morningstar from...Read More
Morningstar Stewardship Grades
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 17, 2010
Morningstar Canada, a mutual fund research firm, recently introduced Stewardship Grades for over 25 fund companies. In their words, the Stewardship Grade “goes beyond the usual analysis of strategy, risk and return. It is intended to assess...Read More
TFSA Over-contribution Nightmares
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 16, 2010
The Globe and Mail recently reported on an issue that all investors who own a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) should be aware of – over-contribution penalties. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has informed 70,000 investors that they may have to...Read More
Small is the New Beautiful
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 14, 2010
Small funds produce better returns. This is the conclusion of a recent study, titled Pension Fund Performance and Costs: Small is Beautiful, which looked at the performance of U.S. pension funds from 1990-2006. Published by a trio of...Read More
Know Your Advisor
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on June 2, 2010
Preet Banerjee is an industry insider who runs a blog titled Where Does All My Money Go? (his blog was ranked Canada’s #1 investing blog by the Globe and Mail last month). Preet recently developed a resource for investors called the Know Your...Read More
ETFs Gone Wild
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 31, 2010
It was announced last week that BMO is adding 8 new ETFs to its lineup. It now offers 30 ETFs, up from zero a year ago. With every new offering, BMO is getting narrower in its focus. The current batch gives the investor specific exposure to junior oil stocks, junior...Read More
Submission to the Task Force on Financial Literacy
Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 17, 2010
The Task Force on Financial Literacy is a federal government initiative aimed at strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians. The Task Force, which is comprised of 13 members, was appointed in June 2009 (as part of the federal budget), and will...Read More
