Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Personal Investing

Knowing When to Sell is Key to Smart Investing

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 11, 2007

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published June 9, 2007 One of the reasons I’ve recently focused my career on the individual investor, after years of working with pension clients, is because there is a huge disconnect between their ...

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What 'Unconstrained' Means

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 6, 2007

Steadyhand has a very definite investment philosophy. We believe our funds should be (1) absolute-return oriented; (2) concentrated on the managers’ best ideas; (3) unconstrained; and (4) have low turnover (i.e. tax efficient). The least understood of these four tenets ...

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Structured Products - Warning Flags

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 23, 2007

Over the last few weeks, a couple of warning flags have popped up that reminded me that with closed-end funds and structured products, it’s ‘ buyer beware ’. The first flag was an announcement that Sceptre Investment Counsel was merging ...

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As Wealth Blooms Around You, Don't Forget About the Concept of Risk

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 4, 2007

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published May 4, 2007 Feeling richer?  But are you better off? When Lori and I left Toronto to move west in 1991, we kept our summer cottage in the Haliburton.  Back then, we ...

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A Beautiful Day - Part II

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 13, 2007

In our self-congratulatory posting about our official opening, we noted what a beautiful day it was in Vancouver on Tuesday. That nice spring weather is also symbolic of what is going on in the pension world these days. Thursday’s papers ...

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Mutual Fund Wraps - Right Product; Wrong Fee Structure

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on April 2, 2007

There is plenty of ink devoted to mutual fund wraps these days. Wraps are investment products that package a number of mutual funds together to provide individuals with one simple solution to their investment needs. Firms that sell these products ...

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When a Trend Reverses, the Slide Won't be Painless or Short

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on March 23, 2007

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published March 23, 2007 In the investment industry, I’m what people call a “bottom-up” guy. That means I get my jollies from finding undervalued businesses to invest in, rather than predicting what the ...

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29 Funds and Counting (Part II)

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on March 2, 2007

I couldn’t resist. Here’s another response to my Globe column the other week ( RRSP Nightmare: Too Many Funds in Your Basket ) on the couple that owned 29 mutual funds. Tony Evans wrote: Sitting here in Tokyo on a ...

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Appetite for Risk may Lead to a Bad Case of Cramps

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 26, 2007

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published February 23, 2007 I’ve always encouraged investing enthusiasts to read more than just the newspaper for ideas and education ( User’s Guide to the Business Media ). If you discover a professional ...

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This Merger is a Sirius Copout

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 23, 2007

What happened to the ‘winner take all’ attitude? Where’s the competitive spirit? Doesn’t an intense rivalry mean anything anymore? Is the corporate world turning into milk toast? What has sparked all these questions is the proposed merger between Sirius Satellite ...

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Assessing Performance – Don’t be Sloppy!

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 21, 2007

It’s that time in the market cycle when we’re all vulnerable to hearing how great someone else has done with their investments. Invariably, this kind of chatter leads back to comparisons with the mutual funds owned by the speaker or ...

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29 Funds and Counting

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on February 16, 2007

I’ve had some fun and interesting responses to my Globe column last Friday on the Canmore couple that owned 29 mutual funds ( RRSP Nightmare: Too Many Funds in Your Basket ). Adrian Mastracci of KCM Wealth Management in Vancouver ...

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