Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Postings

The ETF Diaries - Part III

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 28, 2007

We read in Larry MacDonald’s blog ( Avalanche of New Exchange Traded Funds ) on the Canadian Business site that there have been 18 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) created this year in Canada. Horizons BetaPro has been the most active ...

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Star Managers on the Move II - A Race for the Door

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 27, 2007

We’ve written about fund manager changes a couple of times this year ( When a Manager Moves, Be Prepared and Knowing When to Sell is Key to Smart Investing ). Needless to say, we think that the person pulling the ...

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Flashback - What Could Have Happened to Telus?

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 25, 2007

There has been lots written about the impact that hedge funds and private equity firms are having on the stewardship of public companies. There is a concern, which I share, that with these deep-pocketed players hovering, it is more difficult ...

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Investment Management Joins Multi-channel Universe

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 25, 2007

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published June 23, 2007 When it comes to distribution, the investment management business is remarkably similar to the media industry. The number of distribution channels is growing rapidly and change is the only ...

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Become Your Own Hedge Fund Manager. Buy a Home.

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

My wife tells me I can be a real downer at parties. There are lots of reasons why she says that, but one is that I just can’t help myself when people start telling me how well they’ve done on ...

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A Recipe for Poor Performance

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 18, 2007

Early on in his book Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment , David Swensen talks about market timing and asset allocation. His words reinforce how we feel about the topic. After writing about how market timing has had ...

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PPNs IV: The Lunacy Continues

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on June 12, 2007

I’ve shown great restraint. It’s been seven months since I wrote specifically about principal-protected notes (PPNs). But I came across two things last week which reinforced that the structured product lunacy (including PPNs) continues unabated in the Canadian wealth management ...

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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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How Will History Treat Carly?

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

Hewlett Packard’s quarterly earnings came out recently and the firm continues to do well. Profits are rising based on cost reductions and modest revenue growth. Mark Hurd, the President and CEO, is receiving all the credit for HP’s turnaround and ...

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A Personal Note – No Pinot Noir For Me Thanks

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 30, 2007

There is a personal situation that I want to apprise our clients of, as well as investors that are following the progress of Steadyhand. I’ve had a long-standing liver condition called primary schlorosing colengitis (PSC). It goes back to my ...

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Bad Liver; Good Money Managers

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on May 30, 2007

Because of my liver condition , we’ve had to assess how Steadyhand’s business plan will change. The reality of the situation is that (1) I can’t travel outside the province until I get the transplant and (2) after my beeper ...

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