Blog

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%…

January 15, 2019 - Risk management is an important aspect of investment portfolio construction. However, this much-needed protection against adversity is rarely implemented before it’s too late. Unfortunately, instead of a well-thought-out and implemented risk management plan, many investors are stuck panicking after a large…

January 9, 2019 - The typical Canadian investor has an equity portfolio of 50% Canadian stocks, 33% US stocks and the remaining international stocks. For Canadians investing internationally, one factor to consider is whether to hedge the foreign currency exposure that comes with investing outside of…

December 31, 2018 - The S&P 500 hit a high of 2,940.91 on September 21, 2018, and a low of 2,346.58 on December 26, 2018, for a peak-to-trough decline of -20.2%, confirming an official bear market and the end of one of the greatest bull…