Buyer Beware: Leveraged ETFs

Gold was up roughly 1.5% in 2008 (as measured by the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index) - a good year relative to most other investments. If you used a slick new breed of leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs), you could have doubled your exposure...

Podcast: Tom & Wil Discuss the Small-Cap Fund

In this podcast, Tom chats with Wil Wutherich, the manager of the Small-Cap Fund, about the fund's performance in 2008, the current opportunities in the market, and some of the fund's larger holdings...

A Mountain of Cash in the Waiting

We've mentioned in recent blogs and podcasts that there's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines as tired investors have been pulling out of the market. With the year-end numbers now rolling in, here are some figures worth noting: ...

Podcast: Fourth Quarter Review

2008 was an ugly year in the capital markets.  In particular, heavy losses were experienced in the fourth quarter, as widespread de-leveraging and indiscriminate selling took place.  Yet, every major market decline presents opportunities and investors should ensure their portfolios are well positioned for the 'other side of the valley'.

In this podcast we review the fourth quarter and provide our thoughts on the markets going forward.

Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs)

Starting this year, a new savings vehicle will be available to all eligible Canadians who are at least 18 years old.  Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) will enable individuals to invest money in a tax-free structure throughout their lifetimes. Contributions to TFSAs ...

Readers' Choice - Top Steadyhand Blog Postings of 2008

As 2008 comes to an end (thank god!), we’d like to thank all of the loyal readers of our blog.  We hope you’ve enjoyed our thoughts, opinions, commentaries, criticisms, musings and satires on investing and the industry that we call ...

They Say That Laughter is the Best Medicine

A little Saturday humour to perk you up in these troubling times. The market seems to keep dropping and dropping Because those damn Yankees couldn’t stop shopping Through their homes they’ve borrowed a ton of dough Now they’ve got no ...

Corporate Bonds Assuming Worse than the Worst

This posting is for the bond geeks in the crowd. The manager of our Income Fund, Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management, recently did the following analysis on corporate bonds.  If you passively buy a portfolio of 5-yr U.S. investment ...

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 ...

A Lousy Destination

The latest take on principal protected products comes in the form of life cycle funds with capital guarantees.  For those unfamiliar with life cycle funds, they are simply packaged products that have a target end date and shift the asset ...

Weak Markets Needn't be all That Taxing

We all love to hate taxes.  Especially when it comes to our investments.  This explains why some investors are now busy harvesting losses to offset any prior capital gains.  It also explains the growing number of investment products on the ...

Fund Updates

Suffice to say, we’ve been watching our funds quite closely these days.  We want to make sure that our managers are doing what they do best and are sticking to their investment disciplines.  Following recent calls with the managers of ...

A Bigg Opportunity?

Aside from having one of the great names in the business, Barton Biggs is a renowned hedge fund manager and author of the popular book Hedgehogging .  Biggs is a great thinker and investor, and in the words of David ...

Is Your Fund Company Betraying Trust?

I recently finished reading Louis Lowenstein’s latest critique of the mutual fund industry, The Investor’s Dilemma: How Mutual Funds are Betraying your Trust and What to do About it .  The book is a great read for investors seeking an ...

What's Going on Warren?

Warren Buffett was recently interviewed by Charlie Rose. For investors looking for some clarification and insight into what’s currently going on in the United States, the exclusive conversation is an hour well spent. Some advice from the sage: “You want ...

Podcast: Third Quarter Review

The third quarter of 2008 was an extraordinarily volatile period in the equity markets. In this podcast, we review the quarter and touch on some highlights from our Quarterly Report, which we will be publishing next week.

Dusting Off Unconventional Success

Canadian Capitalist, a prominent financial blogger, recently posted a glowing book review of David Swensen’s Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment .  CC followed up the review with another posting today ( How to Pick a Winning Mutual ...

Steadyhand Funds Now Available Through TD Waterhouse

Our five funds can now be purchased in TD Waterhouse discount brokerage accounts.  Trades must be placed over the phone with a representative from TD, and their transaction fee varies based on the size of your purchase. ...

The Most Interesting Man in the Mutual Fund Business

Inspired by a recent Dos Equis commercial , I'm toiling with the idea of a new Steadyhand advertising campaign - The Most Interesting Man in the Mutual Fund Business . It would go something like this: Tom is out of ...

Olympic Innovation

Many great things come out of the Olympics.  For two and a half weeks, the world turns its attention to stories of athletic passion, determination, and raw emotion.  Billions of people will watch a man dive off a springboard, a ...

Podcast: Income Fund Update - Challenges and Opportunities in the Bond Market

In this podcast, we sit down with Jay Menning, a senior member of the fixed income team at Connor, Clark & Lunn, to discuss the bond market and the Income Fund.

Podcast: Second Quarter Review

In this podcast, we review the second quarter of 2008 and touch on some highlights from our recently published Quarterly Report (available on the Forms & Documents page).

Fees Don't Matter...Wanna Bet?

Will a collection of hedge funds beat the S&P 500 over the next 10 years?  Warren Buffett doesn’t think so.  And he’s willing to bet on it, to the tune of a million bucks. Buffett put his own cash on ...

Hanging with Christine...Again

Christine Montgomery and Cathy Alsop from Edinburgh Partners Limited (EPL) were in Vancouver this week to meet with our clients and other interested investors.  Christine manages our Global Equity Fund.  With Canadian dollar returns from foreign funds being poor for ...

Podcast: Global Equity Fund Update

Edinburgh Partners' Christine Montgomery was in town last week to present on the Global Equity Fund. Tom also had a chance to sit down with her to discuss the fund's performance and some of the investment strategies that our Scottish partners are pursuing.