Cutting Through the Noise
December 1, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 29, 2008 I've been getting more "hate" mail lately. The e-mails from readers who disagree with me have become more pointed; I need oven mitts to handle some of them. It ...
Read MoreNovember 29, 2008
Over the last few months, I’d been avoiding the horrific tales of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage market. I’d read and heard enough. It was ‘so last year’. But this week a friend alerted me to a treatise by Michael Lewis on ...
Read MoreNovember 21, 2008
I have been vocal about our high cost wealth management industry and cynical about pronouncements of fees coming down. There have been some fee reductions, but for the most part the adjustments have been on small, unpopular funds and/or funds ...
Read MoreNovember 17, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 15, 2008 It's always hard to pick someone to manage your money. You want people with experience and an investment philosophy you're comfortable with. You want to be sure they have ...
Read MoreNovember 4, 2008
Few of our clients own PPNs (principal-protected notes), so the recent posting on the topic may not be of much interest, but my rant has lessons that apply more generally. Here are the takeaways. The investment bankers and marketing executives ...
Read MoreNovember 3, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 1, 2008 I've called them the worst of both worlds - bad for equity investors and inappropriate for those seeking a predictable flow of income. And professional money managers would never ...
Read MoreOctober 29, 2008
CAC 40 (France) - down 50.5%. FTSE 100 (UK) - down 51.9%. S&P 500 (U.S.) - down 40.3%. Hang Seng (HK) - down 54.0%. MSCI Emerging Markets - down 62.0%. S&P/TSX Composite Index - down 32.8%. These are year-to-date market returns up ...
Read MoreOctober 24, 2008
There has been a constant theme in this space over the last month or so – hang in there, long-term assets are cheap now, start thinking about the other side of the valley. A friend and fellow entrepreneur, Thane Stenner, ...
Read MoreOctober 20, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 18, 2008 This earnings season is going to be more interesting than most. There will be some good news, but the bad will dominate the headlines. If I were a chief ...
Read MoreOctober 17, 2008
I often reference Jeremy Grantham, the chairman of GMO in Boston, on the blog and in my columns. The following clip is from his interview with Barron’s last week . Do you think we will learn anything from all of ...
Read MoreOctober 15, 2008
I don't watch the U.S. news networks very often, but being on the road during these interesting times, I've tuned in more than usual. What amazes me is the 'more is better' approach that they are all taking. When I ...
Read MoreOctober 9, 2008
A friend and client called me yesterday and floated the idea of selling everything and waiting out the storm. Like everyone, his portfolio is down, although he has been relatively well positioned with a large cash/GIC/money market position. Previously in ...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 4, 2008 “Finding the right answers is easy; it's asking the right questions that's difficult.” Tim Price, the director of investment at PFP Wealth Management in London, started a recent blog ...
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2008
We will publish our quarterly report next week, but in light of the turmoil in the markets, we wanted to provide a brief update on the third quarter today. As well, we are planning to do a podcast later this ...
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published September 20, 2008 I love writing this column, except on weeks like this. I don't generally do time-sensitive stuff (this isn't my day job), but when the markets are melting down, writing ...
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2008
Today was another tough day in the markets. The declines were broad based, although financial stocks of all stripes pulled down the indexes the most. The U.S. market was the worst (-4.7%), while Europe and Asia were down 2.5% and ...
Read MoreSeptember 15, 2008
In markets like this, almost everyone is unhappy. Some conservative investors might have done OK if they owned lots of government bonds, but most are down more than they expected and they didn’t expect to be down at all. No ...
Read MoreSeptember 11, 2008
I recently received some thoughtful comments and questions from a client who is weighing the benefits of both the active and passive (indexing) investment approaches. I felt my responses may be helpful to others with the same thoughts/questions. Investor: ...
Read MoreSeptember 8, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published September 6, 2008 I recently had the occasion to hear marketing pitches from two leading investment firms: Burgundy Asset Management and Sprott Asset Management. Both have built wealth for their clients and ...
Read MoreSeptember 4, 2008
I came across a great quote today and it is totally applicable to the market environment we find ourselves in. It comes from Tim McElvaine’s newsletter ( www.mcelvaine.com ). He in turn got it from an interview with Chris Davis ...
Read MoreAugust 29, 2008
I’m not much of a tape watcher or television junkie, but I’ve had the Business News Network (BNN) and Bloomberg News turned on more than usual this week. I don’t know why really, because it has been an incredibly slow ...
Read MoreAugust 28, 2008
I understand “location, location, location” in the real estate business.” What I don’t get is “scale, scale, scale” in the investment business. But “scale” is the word of the week in our industry. Both Rick Waugh, the CEO of Bank ...
Read MoreAugust 25, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published August 23, 2008 For a while now I have been trying to buy my neighbour's property. He hasn't lived there for 15 years, but keeps it as an investment. When I broach ...
Read MoreAugust 21, 2008
Dan Lewin, a friend and former colleague, sent me an interesting piece last week. It is a letter to clients from Howard Marks, the Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, a U.S. asset manager. It is all good, but I particularly ...
Read MoreAugust 11, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published August 9, 2008 This week, we saw another independent asset manager bite the dust. It was announced that IGM Financial, through its Mackenzie division, has made an offer to buy Saxon Financial. ...
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