Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Enough Blame to go Around

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 3, 2011

Dan Hallett published a piece today about mutual fund fees and how they compare to the U.S. It puts some meat on a topic that so far has been laden with hyperbole. Management expense ratios (MERs) are a lot higher in Canada, but as Dan points...

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Investing Certainties in an Era of Economic Doubt

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 1, 2011

“In calmer moments, investors recognize their inability to know what the future holds. In moments of extreme panic or enthusiasm, however, they become remarkably bold in their predictions: They act as though uncertainty has vanished and the...

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Black Hole Rip-off Zone

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 28, 2011

Below is an internal email from Chris Stephenson today. It wasn’t meant for public consumption (it’s an email, not a blog), but Chris is OK with me doing this. With David’s experience with the [un-named fund company] rip-off, the Globe article about $1,305...

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The Usual Suspects

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 26, 2011

"The risks are the usual: what you don’t know; what you’re not thinking about; probably the biggest risk is what you are 100% sure about.” Bruce Berkowitz, Fairholme Capital Management, in a speech at Columbia University earlier this year...

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Hollow Reassurance

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 22, 2011

The CBC woke me up this morning with rain warnings (Is summer really over?), big stock market declines and the voice of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The rain and markets didn’t get me too worked up, but I found the minister’s attempt at optimism...

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Stuck Like Glue

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 21, 2011

I was talking with a client last week about portfolio re-balancing and the challenges of volatile markets. I often tell the story of Bob Hager’s shaking hand to illustrate how hard it is to do the right thing when markets are down, but his story is just as good at bringing the...

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Where to Find Sanity Among the Sound Bites

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 17, 2011

“Isn’t it funny when you walk into an investment firm and see the financial advisers watching CNBC. It gives me the same feeling of confidence I would have if I walked into the Mayo Clinic and the doctors were watching General Hospital.” This little...

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Perfect Alignment

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 13, 2011

‘skin in the game’ … ‘eating our own cooking’ … ‘co-investment’ … ‘manager-client alignment’ … These are all phrases we use to describe our commitment to clients and the desire to have our interests closely aligned to theirs. This alignment takes many...

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Beyond the Paper Chase: Getting Your Big Break in Finance

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 3, 2011

I got turned on to finance while stumbling through my MBA at the University of Western Ontario. I suddenly found myself reading Report on Business right after the Sports section (go figure). When it came to finding a job, I got lucky. There weren't many...

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To Hedge Or Not To Hedge

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on August 26, 2011

It was announced this week that Vanguard will start in Canada with 6 ETFs. In response to the news, blogger Michael James expressed disappointment that the 2 foreign equity funds would be hedged back into Canadian dollars. I wholeheartedly agree with his view.

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When Fear Rules the Market, it's Time to Say 'Buy'

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on August 21, 2011

In light of the recent weakness and volatility in the stock market, both statements are particularly poignant. It’s easy to agree with the logic and simplicity of Warren Buffett, but not so easy to behave like him. My former partner's shaking hand reinforces...

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Why Standard & Poor's was Wrong

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on August 15, 2011

I came across a commentary in the Financial Times this week on the downgrade of U.S. government debt by the rating agency Standard and Poor’s. I highlight it because there’s a hate-on for the U.S. and we know all its warts. In arguing that S&P got it wrong...

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