Author Archive

I have often criticized the investment industry for pumping out products designed to sell, rather than build, wealth for investors, and have worked to raise investor awareness of how gimmicky products destroy wealth. The battle against such products...

There is a lot to like about dividend-paying stocks. Dividends generally follow earnings, and are cold hard evidence of earnings’ existence. In Canada, this infatuation with dividend-payers is compounded by our love of bank and utility stocks, and...

My HighView partners and I spent quite a bit of time discussing and studying the issue of portfolio rebalancing a decade ago – prior to formally launching the firm and taking on our first client. While it’s not the sexiest of investment topics,...

I can’t recall the last time I discussed investments without “pot stocks” entering the conversation – whether at the gym, at lunch, and at the barber (not sure if he’s wealthy or not). The infatuation doesn’t match the insanity of the...

Ontario’s Minister of Finance Vic Fedeli recently issued a statement stating that his government does not support the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) proposals published on June 21, 2018. The proposals recommend – in a nutshell –...

Securities regulators have recently sanctioned a few mutual fund companies for spending excessively on promotional events and gifts to financial advisors who sell their funds. This is harmful to investors since it really treats the advisor – not...

I recently participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The purpose was to delve more deeply into the industry’s response to regulators’ proposal to eliminate commissions embedded in investment...

The Canadian Securities Administrators launched a lengthy consultation period in January on their proposal to eliminate embedded commissions – i.e. commissions paid to those selling investment products that are built into the product’s price or...

Over the past two decades, investors have had seemingly little patience for an underperforming investment or money manager. Investors tend to dump the laggard for “something that’s doing better”. But an understanding of market...

For virtually my entire career, bond yields have been characterized as “historically low” – yet have fallen with few interruptions. Since the Financial Crisis, however, yields have been super skinny and have continued falling. Razor...