Blog

Cutting Through the Noise


May 10, 2007

By Scott Ronalds

Coming to Toronto on May 16-17

The manager of our Equity Fund, Cranston, Gaskin, O’Reilly & Vernon (CGOV), is holding an Investor Conference Day in Toronto next week that I’ll be attending. Finally, an excuse to head east and get out of this terrible spring weather ...

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May 10, 2007

By Tom Bradley

For 'New Paradigm' Read 'Decoupling'

We’ve got an excellent piece from Edinburgh Partners for our Fund Manager’s Corner. As part of his quarterly report, Dr. Sandy Nairn, the founder and President of the firm, provides some excellent background on economic and market cycles. The piece ...

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May 7, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Bubbles, Animal Spirits and Other Depressing Stuff

One of my favourite investment writers is Jeremy Grantham, who is one of the founders and still a driving force behind GMO, a very successful investment manager. In addition to regularly reading his quarterly piece, I’ve met Jeremy and seen ...

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May 4, 2007

By Tom Bradley

As Wealth Blooms Around You, Don't Forget About the Concept of Risk

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published May 4, 2007 Feeling richer?  But are you better off? When Lori and I left Toronto to move west in 1991, we kept our summer cottage in the Haliburton.  Back then, we ...

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May 3, 2007

By Tom Bradley

An Appeal to the Provinces: Come Talk to Us About Securities Regulation

This week Premier Ed Stelmach said that Alberta is not interested in moving towards a national securities regulator. His government supports the current regime and the improvements that are being made to coordinate efforts amongst Canada’s 13 regulators (Yes, 13). At ...

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May 1, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Closed-end Funds: Should Small Investors Pay Startup Costs?

The Glove and Mail, Report on Business Published April 28, 2007 I get grouchy when I see products being offered that are just plain bad for investors.  I've been grouchy a lot lately, particularly with all the high-fee, principal-protected products ...

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April 30, 2007

By Neil Jensen

Steadyhand Context Diagram

Early on in our business design, we decided to outsource many of the business functions necessary in a mutual fund company. One of the tools we used to visualize how the functions would fit together was a (very loose) variation ...

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April 23, 2007

By Chris Stephenson

I'm Buying Earplugs

I am the newbie. I joined Steadyhand a couple of weeks ago and work as an Investor Specialist. My role is to talk with investors about Steadyhand. What I’ve found out so far is that Steadyhand is a great place ...

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April 23, 2007

By Tom Bradley

The Flip-side of the Foreign Takeover Binge

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published April 20, 2007 Like everyone else, I don’t like seeing corporate Canada get gutted by foreign buyers. I’ve thought for years that we were getting hollowed out, even if study after study ...

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April 17, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Podcast: The Steadyhand Income Fund (mp3)

In this podcast, we sit down with Jay Menning, a member of Connor, Clark & Lunn's fixed income team, to talk about the Steadyhand Income Fund. Jay discusses the Income Fund's strategy and sheds some light on why it isn't a conventional bond fund. Who said bonds are boring?

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April 13, 2007

By Tom Bradley

A Beautiful Day - Part II

In our self-congratulatory posting about our official opening, we noted what a beautiful day it was in Vancouver on Tuesday. That nice spring weather is also symbolic of what is going on in the pension world these days. Thursday’s papers ...

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April 12, 2007

By Scott Ronalds

Good Fix to a Variable Problem

RBC Asset Management announced on Tuesday that they plan on changing the way they calculate the MERs of their funds. As a refresher, an MER – the expense that we all love to hate – consists of a fund’s management ...

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April 10, 2007

By Tom Bradley

A Beautiful Day

Bono once said, "It's a beautiful day; don't let it get away." So we captured it in digital film. After months of preparation and hard work, it was truly a beautiful day in Vancouver as we opened our doors to ...

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April 9, 2007

By Tom Bradley

The Argument Against Canada-only Equity Funds

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published April 6, 2007 As we take Steadyhand on the road over the next few weeks, we anticipate that one of the most frequently asked questions we’ll face will be: Why don’t you ...

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April 2, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Mutual Fund Wraps - Right Product; Wrong Fee Structure

There is plenty of ink devoted to mutual fund wraps these days. Wraps are investment products that package a number of mutual funds together to provide individuals with one simple solution to their investment needs. Firms that sell these products ...

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March 23, 2007

By Tom Bradley

When a Trend Reverses, the Slide Won't be Painless or Short

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published March 23, 2007 In the investment industry, I’m what people call a “bottom-up” guy. That means I get my jollies from finding undervalued businesses to invest in, rather than predicting what the ...

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March 20, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Must-Reads on Investing

There are thousands of books written on investing. Some will make you think, some will keep you grounded, and some will put you to sleep. Here are some of my favorites. We'll add to this list as time goes by. ...

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March 15, 2007

By Scott Ronalds

Steadyhand Hits the Slopes

Steadyhand hit the slopes last weekend in Whistler. Unfortunately, with limited visibility, high winds and wet snow, conditions were almost unbearable. ...

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March 13, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Got Money to Invest? Buck Stops with You

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published March 12, 2007 It sounds corny to say that investing is a team sport. Of course it is. But sometimes there is too much focus on the individual player and as a ...

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March 9, 2007

By Tom Bradley

Podcast: Why Steadyhand?

We're pleased to present Steadyhand's inaugural podcast, " Why Steadyhand ". Seeing as it's our first broadcast, we thought we'd talk about Steadyhand and why we're starting a new fund company. Tom Bradley tackles the topic at hand. Click on ...

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March 7, 2007

By Scott Ronalds

Pass the Remote

My future has never looked so bright. I’ve been watching a lot of the big banks’ commercials on T.V. lately, and I’m really excited about my financial future. Apparently, I can send my daughter to med school and buy the ...

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March 5, 2007

By Tom Bradley

TD Securities Does a Double Ender

There was a small item in the paper last Wednesday entitled “TD gets a double-dip from Fortis transaction.” The transaction involved repatriating the old B.C. Gas distribution business back into Canadian hands (Yeh!). U.S.-based Kinder Morgan sold Fortis the assets ...

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March 3, 2007

By Neil Jensen

Fee Reduction Program, Part 1

One of our differentiators is our fee reduction program. In this and subsequent postings, I'll outline the design and implementation of the program. Philosophy and Objectives Our costs for managing a $10,000 account and a $150,000 account are not that ...

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March 2, 2007

By Tom Bradley

29 Funds and Counting (Part II)

I couldn’t resist. Here’s another response to my Globe column the other week ( RRSP Nightmare: Too Many Funds in Your Basket ) on the couple that owned 29 mutual funds. Tony Evans wrote: Sitting here in Tokyo on a ...

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February 28, 2007

By Scott Ronalds

That Was Ugly

Biggest one day loss since 2001. Historic sell-off. Downright brutal. I’m referring of course to the actions of the Florida Panthers yesterday. The Panthers traded Todd Bertuzzi to the Red Wings for two conditional draft picks and a forward I’ve ...

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