Blog: Cutting Through the Noise
Postings
It Will Never be the Same
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on July 2, 2009
“Things will never be quite the same again. Western businesses in particular will be well served by moderating future expectations. That goes for investors too.” - Tim Price, PFP Wealth Management, June 22nd, 2009. I read Tim Price regularly and always...Read More
Fixed Income Gems Can Still Be Had if You Add a Bit of Risk
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 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 More
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 24, 2009
We need your help Aretha! It seems that the little Canadian technology company that could, Research in Motion, has trouble getting respect. This is hardly a statistically robust analysis, but it has been evident to me for years that RIM and its hugely...Read More
Hedge Fund Costs Add up to Bad Math
Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 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 More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
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...Read More
