Cutting Through the Noise
April 7, 2014
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve met with two prospective clients who were dealing with unpleasant situations related to investment loans. In one case, the loan proceeds were used to purchase mutual funds with deferred sales charges. (I haven’t quite ...
Read MoreApril 2, 2014
Set up a long-term investment plan and stick to it. It’s easy to say and difficult to do. What makes it so hard are the inevitable market extremes, which range from “I can retire today” euphoria to “I hate the stock market” depression. At both ends of the spectrum, it’s ...
Read MoreMarch 31, 2014
BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China. It was created by Jim O’Neil, the Global Economist at Goldman Sachs (who became a celebrity in the business press as a result). BRIC was meant to symbolize the shift in economic clout from the developed ...
Read MoreMarch 27, 2014
“The potential growth rate has fallen to 7-8 per cent, partly because of a shrinking labour force; excess capacity has become massive even by Chinese standards; financial risks have risen, driven by excessive local authority borrowing, housing bubbles and growth ...
Read MoreMarch 24, 2014
I generally don’t go through prospectuses of new issues. Scott put one in front of me last week, however, and it made me wonder if I’ve been missing out. The document, which was related to the PIMCO Global Income Opportunities Fund, had all kinds of ...
Read MoreMarch 13, 2014
In the Report on Business on Monday, there was an article on a case playing out in the U.S. courts that involved RBC. It reinforces my previous comments with regard to the sliding standards of conduct that exist in the investment banking arena ...
Read MoreMarch 12, 2014
“Your investment philosophy is very interesting. What you’re saying about investing, does that apply to how you live your life?” I was asked this question at the end of a media interview. My response: “Hell no. They’re very different. If I lived my life the way ...
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 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 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 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 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 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 ...
Read MoreJanuary 3, 2014
Bill Gross doesn’t need my help. The PIMCO Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer is the undisputed bond king. He oversees a $2 trillion company and has been right many more times than he’s been wrong. But an article in today’s Financial Times on the ...
Read MoreDecember 23, 2013
We hear it all the time in conversation with our partners and friends: “They say the market is going higher … they say Regina house prices are going down next year … or they say the Canucks have a shot at the Cup.” When you hear “they say”, it’s a signal that ...
Read MoreDecember 13, 2013
A long stock market run goes through many phases. There’s a healthy debate going on right now as to where this one is at – does it have further to go, or is it over? In assessing where we are, it’s useful to look back at how things unfolded over the last four and a ...
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