Cutting Through the Noise
March 6, 2014
Timing the market is a mug’s game. You might get it right once or twice, but over the long term, switching in and out of funds based on recent returns and ‘expert’ forecasts will likely do your portfolio more harm than good. The proof? Look no further than Morningstar's ...
Read MoreFebruary 26, 2014
Ballast /bal•last (noun)/ Any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship. Also: weight, bulk, stabilizer, balance, counterweight, counterbalance. In a recent post I suggested that one reason clients are resistant to re-balancing their portfolios is that our ...
Read MoreFebruary 25, 2014
Fortune magazine got a scoop on Warren Buffett’s annual letter. In an exclusive excerpt, Mr. Buffett writes about the basics of investing in a way nobody else can do, including real life examples (purchases of a farm and commercial building). For those of you ...
Read MoreFebruary 24, 2014
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become a popular investment option in Canada, as they offer simplicity, low fees and market-like returns. Yet, there are important tradeoffs with these products that investors should be aware of. In an updated paper, we ...
Read MoreFebruary 20, 2014
The benefits of diversification - no explanation required. The table was inspired by a blog from Canadian Couch Potato.
Read MoreFebruary 19, 2014
I see it all the time – people unwilling to invest in stocks because of the debt situation in the United States, Europe, China or Canada, the economy’s dependence on central bank stimulation or China’s slowdown. Their hesitation may pay off one day, but ...
Read MoreFebruary 18, 2014
Morningstar recently updated our Stewardship Grade for 2013. Once again, we scored an ‘A’, and were one of only three firms to receive the top grade. Morningstar is a leading provider of independent investment research. They first introduced Stewardship ...
Read MoreFebruary 17, 2014
We wrapped up our cross-country client presentations this month after visiting five (very cold) 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 presentation ...
Read MoreFebruary 14, 2014
I just came out of a team meeting in which the question was asked - How are client conversations going with regard to re-balancing? For clients who have not touched their portfolio in a year or more (and aren’t in the Founders Fund), it’s likely that their ...
Read MoreFebruary 13, 2014
From a post I did in October: Whenever I go through a government budget document, I’m always struck by how similar governments are to low (profit) margin, debt burdened companies. Small changes to the inputs into the budget calculations can have ...
Read MoreFebruary 12, 2014
It’s a great time to be a homer. Who isn’t pulling for Canada to do well in Sochi – Alex and Mik, the sisters, 3-2 over the Americans this morning ... Canadians have lots of experience being homers, because they’ve done it for a decade now in their investment portfolios. Even though Canada accounts for only 4-5% of the value of the world’s stock markets, it makes up the vast majority of individuals’ portfolios ...
Read MoreFebruary 11, 2014
The banks are running lots of cute, reassuring ads these days. To Bruce, they’re as painful to watch as his sinking Canucks. But they’re a reminder to him that it’s RRSP season. Bruce contributed $6,500 to his account back in June and plans to add another $10,000 this week. His wife Courtney also intends to contribute $10,000. With the strong run in the markets last year, they’re not sure where to invest the money, so they stopped by the office for some advice. We reviewed their ...
Read MoreFebruary 5, 2014
Every NFL football team is allowed to field 11 players. The Seattle Seahawks are an exception. They play with 12. The “12th Man”, however, isn’t a player per se. He’s 67,000 fans. He’s the raucous group that packs CenturyLink Field to cheer on his beloved Hawks. The 12th Man is a passionate, energetic fan, well-versed in football. He knows when to be silent (when the home team has the ball) and when to ...
Read MoreFebruary 4, 2014
I’ve been remiss in doing a follow-up to an article I wrote for the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago (clients come first). In it I made the point that ETF sales in Canada have been disappointing, despite all the hype and favourable press. As it turns out, the piece ...
Read MoreJanuary 30, 2014
Tom was on BNN yesterday morning discussing some of the chapters from his new book, It’s Still Not Rocket Science. Some of the topics reviewed included: the four most dangerous words in investing (it’s different this time), China, getting back into the ...
Read MoreJanuary 29, 2014
We encourage investors to undertake a thorough performance review once a year, every year. And we walk the talk. We’ve updated our annual assessment of our funds’ performance that uses the framework laid out in our paper How is Your Portfolio Doing? ...
Read MoreJanuary 24, 2014
There are times throughout the investment cycle when people want more precision. They want to know what the market is going to do this year, or even this month. These moments most often come in January when year-end investment reports and media coverage are full of predictions for the next year. The need to know also arises after ...
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2014
The improvement in the financial position of our defined benefit pension plans was the biggest economic highlight of last year. As we pointed out in a post two weeks ago, the change has been dramatic. Higher bond yields, healthy stock returns and increased ...
Read MoreJanuary 22, 2014
Don Tapscott, the highly-regarded business thinker and writer wrote an article for Monday’s Report on Business (Note: David is taking me to hear him speak at University of Toronto next week). In it he previewed the annual mixer for the world’s business ...
Read MoreJanuary 20, 2014
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are the most talked about product trend in the wealth management industry. I’m not sure what comes second, but it’s not even close. An overwhelming majority of commentators and bloggers recommend indexing with ETFs ...
Read MoreJanuary 15, 2014
What a year 2013 was. Everybody’s portfolio was up (or almost everybody), and most were up a lot. It was an unusual year, but not only because of strong returns. For Canadian investors, a barbell shape may best describe the 2013 results. On one ...
Read MoreJanuary 14, 2014
JP Morgan Chase reported its earnings yesterday. The company had a good quarter (US$5.3 billion), although it was down a little from last year due to charges related to legal and regulatory settlements. The Financial Times reported that JPM, "took another ...
Read MoreJanuary 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 MoreJanuary 10, 2014
The Canadian economy is a real conundrum to me. Clink - Real estate sales have returned to previously robust levels and prices have recovered nicely from the lull in 2012 (if you can call it that). Clink - Canadians bought 1.7 million new cars last year, which ...
Read MoreJanuary 9, 2014
If 2013 was a great year for the markets, it was a stupendous year for pensions. Aon Hewitt published a report last week that shows the progress pension funds made in 2013 in resolving their funding issues. “The latest quarterly survey of more than 275 Aon Hewitt administered pension plans from the public, semi-public and private sectors ...
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