Blog

March 26, 2019 - Stock market timing strategies have been around since the dawn of markets. They are utilized to forecast trends, from bear markets to bull markets, and everything in between. The goal in using stock market indicators is to be fully invested in…

March 19, 2019 - Pension funds are some of the most sophisticated investors in the market. These funds represent enormous pools of capital, some larger than $100 billion, so their resources are near limitless and they are typically run by the best and brightest. Pension…

March 12, 2019 - Growing up on the Canadian prairies, like most kids, I played hockey. I was a left-winger and had a penchant for scoring goals (what kid doesn’t?). For what I lacked in size and skill, I tried to make up in cherry-picking…

March 6, 2019 - I spent a recent Sunday afternoon reading “Merger Masters: Tales of Arbitrage” by Kate Welling and Mario Gabelli. The book explores how top merger arbitrage practitioners execute this storied investment strategy. A Primer on Merger Arbitrage Merger arbitrage, commonly known as…

February 26, 2019 - The 2018 NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments was recently released. This study looks at the asset allocation of 802 U.S. college and university endowments and foundations, representing approximately $617 billion in professionally managed financial assets. NACUBO’s study looks at each endowment’s asset…

February 19, 2019 - Warren Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger became billionaires through stock market investing. The long-time business partners heading up the investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway have generated market-beating returns for many decades utilizing their value + quality investing mantra to invest…

February 11, 2019 -Throughout the history of the markets, large institutional investors have had a significant advantage over the little guy. This advantage has allowed some large investors to outperform by a substantial margin: “For the 20-year period ending June 30, Yale's endowment earned a…

February 5, 2019 - The S&P 500 was up 7.9% for the month of January, marking its best start to the year since 1987. Canada’s TSX was up 8.5% for the month, its best monthly performance since April 2009. These broad-based, euphoria-inducing investment returns stand in…

January 28, 2019 - There was a popular, speculative asset that was down -74.3% in 2018 and the schadenfreude was off the charts. Over any reasonable timeframe to judge the merits of an investment (>5 years), this asset has provided investors with exceptional returns.  In fact,…

January 22, 2019 - Private equity firms are known to charge some of the highest fees in the investment management business. Accounting for management fees and performance fees (also known as carry), the management expense ratio of the average private equity fund can be above 5%…