Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Postings

Now That's Ironic

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 24, 2011

With the holidays around the corner, shopping is in the spotlight. It got me thinking … We’re used to high price tags on the wet coast. We’ve got the most expensive housing market in Canada (if not the world, based on some measures). A bottle of...

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Another Lump in the Rug

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 21, 2011

A dirty little secret in this business: when a fund has an ugly performance record, it can be buried by merging it into another fund. Fund mergers occur all the time (see Fund Company Calls the Cleaner). The latest track records to be swept under the rug belong to a handful of under-performing Investors Group funds. Given...

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Morningstar Stewardship Grades 2011

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 16, 2011

Morningstar Canada published its updated Stewardship Grades for 26 fund companies yesterday. The grades are designed to help investors further research, identify, and compare fund companies that do a good job – or a poor job – of aligning their...

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Generation Riskless

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 9, 2011

I feel for the twentysomething generation. Good jobs are tough to come by, home ownership is out of reach for many (in Vancouver and Toronto, at least), skinny jeans are deemed fashionable for men, and a weekend camping now means pitching a tent...

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Steadyhand vs. ETFs

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on November 7, 2011

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing in popularity and with good reason. They’re simple, low cost, transparent and provide market-like returns. But … they’re not for everyone. In a newly published paper, we compare the experience of an ETF investor (Jake) to that of a Steadyhand client (Julie). We focus on four areas...

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Job Opportunity: Mutual Funds Administrator (Part-time)

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on October 21, 2011

We are currently seeking a Mutual Funds Administrator to work with us through the 2012 RRSP season. This is a temporary, part-time position that will last from November to March. Work hours will be roughly 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with some flexibility. For...

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It Was an Ugly One

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on October 12, 2011

In preparing our Quarterly Report, I compiled some numbers that speak for themselves: Global stock markets had their worst quarter since Q4 2008; Greece was down 42%. Italy, France and Germany were all down 25%. Canada was down 12%. Japan was...

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Podcast: Third Quarter Review

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on October 11, 2011

It was an ugly quarter for stocks, with most major markets suffering double-digit declines. The bond market, on the other hand, had its strongest showing in 15 years (government bond yields now stand at levels not seen since the 1940s). Our funds declined, but held up better than the market. Their focus on high-quality, non...

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Indexing can be Good. So can Active Management

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on September 19, 2011

The passive (indexing) vs. active management question is a polarizing debate, but it shouldn’t be. The bottom line is that both strategies have merit when they’re done right. As Morningstar USA’s President of Fund Research (Don Phillips) notes, credible...

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Podcast: Talking Stocks with Wil Wutherich

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on September 15, 2011

Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Equity Fund, is in town this week on a research trip. We booked an afternoon of his time to discuss the fund. Since we've covered his investment process in previous sessions and his philosophy is well documented on our site, Tom sat down with him to talk stocks...

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Reminiscing

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on September 12, 2011

As a kid, my family and I used to go on a summer holiday every year to Savary Island (a small island about 200 km north of Vancouver). It’s a bit of a hidden treasure, with white sand beaches, warm waters and an abundance of shellfish. There was no electricity, few cars and fewer rules (don’t bury your sister and be home for dinner). We loved it. I was back on the Island this summer and few things have...

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