Cutting Through the Noise
January 13, 2014
From our Quarterly Report: When I think about risk management for clients and the firm, one item is increasingly showing up on my sheet - client expectations. I’m confident that stocks will deliver solid long-term returns and Steadyhand will be a good steward ...
Read MoreDecember 16, 2013
It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. “It”, of course, is the Steadyhand Holiday Letter. 2013 has been a memorable year in the markets: Stocks have pushed forward without a flinch. Indeed, there’s been no sign of a stock market Grinch. Bonds were weaker, which is no surprising ...
Read MoreDecember 10, 2013
It’s one thing to explain to investors that capital markets move in unpredictable ways and diversification can dampen a portfolio’s volatility in the short term, but it’s quite another to actually show them. Which is why we’ve built a Volatility Meter for our website...
Read MoreDecember 9, 2013
We had a meeting last week to kick start preparations for our winter client tour, ‘Where to from here’. The discussion came around to performance reporting. When we start the tour in Winnipeg on January 27th, the 5-year returns will no longer include 2008 and...
Read MoreDecember 5, 2013
We are currently seeking candidates for a temporary, full-time administrative support assistant in Vancouver. As part of this diverse role, the team member will do whatever it takes to make our team efficient, and our clients feel welcome. The role begins...
Read MoreNovember 28, 2013
At the annual Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards last night in Toronto, Serena Ryder was the star of the show (although it was tragic she only did one song), but Steadyhand did OK too. Our Income Fund was recognized as the Best Canadian...
Read MoreNovember 27, 2013
The year-end distributions for all our funds (with the exception of the Savings Fund) will be declared on December 13th and paid on December 16th. The Savings Fund will pay its regularly-scheduled monthly distribution on December 31st. As a reminder...
Read MoreOctober 31, 2013
It’s been a dramatic year in the capital markets. Interest rates moved up meaningfully in the spring and stocks have been on a roll all year. Indeed, U.S. and international stocks have been going up steadily for two years. Enough has happened that it’s time...
Read MoreOctober 10, 2013
From our Quarterly Report: Five years ago we were right in the middle of it. Lehman Brothers had gone down and the financial crisis was taking hold. It was a period that will be forever fused in my memory, as I suspect it will for our clients. But even with
Read MoreOctober 8, 2013
We've added a number of new features to our statements over the past months, notably the Account (or Portfolio) Activity table and Account (or Portfolio) History chart. While they are generally straightforward, I want to spend a bit of time reviewing some...
Read MoreSeptember 26, 2013
We think it’s important to check in periodically with our clients to ensure we are on the right track. Recently, we surveyed about half of them to get their feedback. We thank everyone who took a few minutes to participate. The results are overwhelmingly...
Read MoreSeptember 16, 2013
I’m pleased to introduce our newest member of the team, Cheryl Shkurhan. Cheryl is taking on the role of Investor Specialist and will work closely with Chris, Scott, David, Sher and me in helping our clients build and manage portfolios. Cheryl holds Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) designations and brings a diverse background and skill-set to the firm. She spent the past...
Read MoreSeptember 12, 2013
As we do every year at this time, we’ve updated our figures on co-investment (the practice of investing alongside our clients). We feel there’s no better way to illustrate our commitment to our investment philosophy, approach, and ultimately our clients...
Read MoreSeptember 9, 2013
One of the things I love about our office is our neighbours. Situated in the diverse Armoury District, we’re surrounded by art galleries, architects & builders, chocolatiers, the best cheese shop and Belgian waffle makers in the city and numerous European luxury car dealerships. The other day a shiny bright-orange Lamborghini was being unloaded off a flatbed truck in front of our office. I couldn’t resist the opportunity...
Read MoreJuly 11, 2013
From our Quarterly Report: 2013 has been a year of environmental disasters in Canada, but from an investment point of view, it’s been pretty good so far. You might be surprised to hear me say that because interest rates have moved up and June was a...
Read MoreJune 25, 2013
Google Reader, the popular RSS application that allows you to subscribe to and read blogs, is calling it quits. The service will be shut down on July 1st. Google cited “declining usage” as the main reason why it’s being turfed. If you’re like me and are a fan of...
Read MoreApril 30, 2013
We are currently seeking candidates for a permanent, full-time Investor Specialist. As part of this diverse role, the team member will work directly with clients to help them achieve their investment objectives. Direct industry experience is a requirement...
Read MoreApril 26, 2013
I’m pleased to introduce our newest member of the Steadyhand team, Jennifer Lacuesta. Jennifer is taking on the role of Client Service Administrator. She has close to 10 years of industry experience, having worked at Deutsche Bank (in the Philippines), GrowthWorks, and Haywood Securities. Jennifer will be playing an important role in many of our client service and trading functions, from processing...
Read MoreApril 19, 2013
We held our annual strategy session on Wednesday afternoon. Every year we lock ourselves in a room for 4-5 hours (or more), tune out the outside world, review the current state of our business and hash around ideas, thoughts and strategies on the...
Read MoreApril 17, 2013
It’s a sunny, spring day. The cherry blossoms are at their peak on West 3rd Avenue. Bob Hager’s daffodils are bursting out of our garden. David (in from Toronto for our annual strategy session) greets prospective clients with an enthusiastic, “Welcome to Steadyhand World Headquarters.” And the gentleman says, “Isn’t it a wonderful...
Read MoreApril 11, 2013
From our Quarterly Report: “The Dow hit a new high. How much further can the market go? … Alcoa is the first major corporation to report quarterly earnings and will set the tone for what’s to come … the technical indicators are telling us … time for a pullback ...
Read MoreApril 2, 2013
What came off as a well-crafted April Fools prank (it was Scott’s genius) has inadvertently served as a reminder of what our clients care about. In the Monthly Newsletter we sent out yesterday, we announced that Steadyhand had been sold to the Canadian...
Read MoreFebruary 26, 2013
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are now a fixture on the investment landscape and are among the fastest growing investment products. There’s good reason for their rise in popularity: they’re simple, low cost, transparent and provide market-like returns. But ... they’re not for everyone. In a newly updated paper, we compare the experience of an ETF investor (Jake) to that of a Steadyhand client (Julie). There are notable...
Read MoreFebruary 20, 2013
As we’ve worked to build our firm over the last six years, one of the frustrations we’ve had is that people don’t know we can manage ‘their’ money. They are aware of us, may follow our writing and even buy into our philosophy, but they think we only work with...
Read MoreFebruary 15, 2013
We wrapped up our cross-country client presentations this month after visiting five cities. If you weren’t able to attend one of our sessions, or are looking to revisit some of the themes we touched on, we’ve produced a summary of the event that hits on the...
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