Blog

Cutting Through the Noise


April 6, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Small Talk with Wil Wutherich

Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Fund, was in town last week on a research trip. We snagged a morning of his time to review the fund and get some further insights on some of the stocks in the portfolio. Listen now, or subscribe to our podcasts via...

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March 29, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Behind the Scenes - Quarterly Manager Calls

Toward the end of every quarter, we get on the phone with each of our fund managers and review their portfolios (our funds). This is a formal process that we go through with CC&L (the manager of our Savings Fund and Income Fund), CGOV (Equity Fund), Edinburgh Partners (Global Equity Fund) and Wutherich & Company (Small...

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March 10, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Nalco

The Steadyhand Equity Fund consists of no more than 25 stocks. This is one of the manager’s (CGOV Asset Management) disciplines that we love. It ensures that we’re only getting their best ideas. Nalco is one of these ideas. The Nalco story is a...

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February 24, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Active Share

The notion of “active share” is in the news again. Coined by a pair of Yale professors in 2007, active share is a measure that indicates just how actively managed a fund really is. In other words, it is a gauge of how much a fund looks like, or overlaps, a certain...

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February 16, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Olympic Observations

It’s Day 5 of the Games. As we’re lucky enough to be in the heart of the action here in Vancouver (or unlucky enough depending on your viewpoint), it’s time for a few observations: Canadians are bursting with pride and patriotism. Which is a good thing, no matter how you look at it. There have been a few early disappointments for the home team (Manny Osborne-Paradis...

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February 10, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Hunters or Farmers?

Seth Godin is a renowned author, marketer and blogger. He has great insights and observations on human behavior and the business world. In a recent blog, Hunters and Farmers, he examines the differences between the two types of individuals. In Seth's...

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February 8, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Tom on BNN

Tom was on BNN this morning (Feb 8) with Marty Cej and Frances Horodelski. Topics of discussion included: What to do at this stage in the market; How to reflect caution in your portfolio; and ETFs. The seven minute piece brings together some key messages from Tom’s...

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February 4, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Undexing

In his latest Wealthy Boomer video segment, National Post columnist Jonathan Chevreau sat down with Tom Bradley to discuss the concept of “undexing”. The term, creatively coined by our brash marketing team, refers to an investment philosophy...

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February 3, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Tom Talks with Don Cranston (CGOV)

Don Cranston, one of the founding partners of CGOV Asset Management (the manager of our Equity Fund) was in town last week enjoying some of our rain. We put Don in front of the microphone and asked him a few of the questions that are at the top of investors’ minds these days: How and why does CGOV incorporate foreign holdings into the fund? What were some of the...

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January 28, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Going Full Circle on Yield

If you’re an income investor, T-Bills and GICs aren’t helping you much these days. And the prospects for government bonds are nothing to get excited about. In order to achieve a more desirable return, you may find yourself reaching for yield, or moving up the...

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January 21, 2010

By Scott Ronalds

Changes Morningstar Would Like to See in The Fund Industry

Morningstar’s Manager of Fund Analysis, David O’Leary, recently published an article titled Six Changes We Would Like to See in the Canadian Mutual Fund Industry. O’Leary acknowledges that by and large, Canada has an investor-friendly fund industry. Yet...

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December 17, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Steadyhand Holiday Letter

Dear clients, friends, and those who came across our company searching for a camcorder that doesn't shake: It was a memorable year for Steadyhand and Canadian investors. Following a disastrous 2008 in the equity markets, it looked as though the...

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December 11, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Year-end Distributions

A quick reminder that with the exception of the Savings Fund, the year-end distributions of all our funds will be calculated on December 15th and paid on December 16th. The distribution for the Savings Fund will be calculated on December 31st. Distributions...

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November 26, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Tom on BNN

Tom will be on Business News Network (BNN) tomorrow morning (November 27th) from 9-10 AM eastern time. He’ll be sitting in with Marty Cej and Frances Horodelski on Market Morning. Black Friday just got a whole lot brighter...

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November 23, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Riding the Pine

Recent data out of the U.S. suggests that American retail (individual) investors have been watching the stock market rally from the sidelines. According to a report by Morningstar USA, investors have pulled an estimated $4.4 billion out of U.S. equity funds so far this...

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November 16, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

This Year's Meal Ticket

From: jsmith@mega-bank.com. To: NewProductCommittee@mega-bank.com. Date: Mon 11/16/2009 1:08 AM Subject: This Year’s Meal Ticket. Just woke up with a brilliant idea!! I’m putting it in an email while the juices are flowing. Still working on the name...

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November 4, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Housing Stocks Make me Squeamish; I'm Glad We've Got a New One

Housing stocks make me squeamish. It was painful to watch them fall like a rock over the last couple of years as the U.S. real estate market imploded. A number of companies faced bankruptcy or saw their share prices slashed due to stretched balance sheets...

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October 30, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

The Scariest Investments of 2009

We could’ve had some fun with a list of the scariest Halloween costumes this year. Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford and Jon & Kate come to mind. But we thought it would be more educational, and just as fun, to highlight some of this year’s scariest investments...

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October 29, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

A Latter-Day Charles Dickens?

In a recent article written about Steadyhand titled "Mischievous Strangers and a Steadyhand", Karin Mizgala draws a connection between Tom Bradley and Charles Dickens. Very flattering. Especially when compared to some of the other comparisons...

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October 20, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Tom Talks with Larry Lunn

Tom recently sat down with Larry Lunn, the Chairman and founder of Connor, Clark & Lunn (CC&L), to talk shop. At the front end of the podcast, Larry discusses where we are in the economic recovery and his view on [the hot topic of] inflation. He then addresses...

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October 18, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

BNN Interview - Canada vs Foreign

Tom was on Business News Network (BNN) on Friday talking about finding a balance between domestic and foreign investments (his Saturday Globe column focuses on the same topic). Canadian investors have an emphasis on Canadian securities...

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October 9, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Third Quarter Review

In this podcast, Tom and I review the third quarter of 2009. It was another strong period for equities. U.S. stocks posted their best quarter in a decade, while the TSX and many overseas markets posted double-digit returns. A rising loonie negatively impacted...

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September 15, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Nokia - The Next Episode

Nokia is an interesting story. To many North Americans, the company is viewed as a has-been. While its cell phones may have been all the rage a decade ago, its star has fallen considerably as Apple and RIM have taken over as the market leaders thanks to...

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September 8, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Correction: Steadyhand Savings Fund Performance

The Globe and Mail ran an article yesterday on how money market funds are holding up given the historically low interest rate environment (The Best and Worst Places to Park Your Cash). The article highlighted our Savings Fund as the top performing fund...

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August 24, 2009

By Scott Ronalds

Podcast: Wrong for the Right Reasons

In this podcast, Tom expands on his latest Globe and Mail column, which focuses on the traits that he looks for in a money manager. More specifically, he highlights two things that he watches for and studies very intently: 1) the temperament of the...

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