HighView Blog

Providing for Man’s Best Friend – Pet Trusts

By Guest Contributors on August 8th, 2010

Conchita is one lucky Chihuahua. When her owner, heiress Gail Posner, passed away in March 2010, she and two other dogs were left with a $3 million (USD) trust fund and an $8.3-million Miami Beach mansion. A bodyguard and housekeeper who take care...

Explaining XIU’s bi-polar performance

By Dan Hallett on August 3rd, 2010

In her latest Globe & Mail Number Cruncher, Shirley Won ranked the largest Canadian stock funds (including those with significant foreign stock holdings) by 5-year annualized return as of June 30, 2010.  The column also featured each of the...

AlphaPro Balanced ETF could have low fees for now

By Dan Hallett on July 29th, 2010

I was quoted in today’s National Post regarding the launch of the Horizons AlphaPro Balanced ETF (HAA/TSX).  As is common practice in the ETF world, the firm only quotes the management fee on its website.  This fund, like most other AlphaPro...

Most stock markets still deep in the red

By Dan Hallett on July 27th, 2010

The list of today’s economic worries seems as long as it’s ever been.  Bearish strategists underline negative economic statistics with 2009’s brisk recovery in stock prices.  But the mathematics of loss/recovery – and more...

XWD & XEM tracking errors much better than they appear

By Dan Hallett on July 20th, 2010

Sponsors of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, generally have websites loaded with great information. I visit the iShares website regularly. One of my favourite tools is iShares’ Tracking Error Chart.  For any iShares fund, it shows you how well...

The Great Reflation

By Mark Barnicutt on July 11th, 2010

I just finished reading The Great Reflation by Tony Boeckh. Tony is the former long time Editor and Publisher of The Bank Credit Analyst and current author, along with Robert Boeckh, of The Boeckh Investment Letter. I highly recommend this book for...

Stewardship: common sense not controversial

By Dan Hallett on July 5th, 2010

Morningstar Canada recently introduced its Stewardship Grades for 27 Canadian fund companies.  Media coverage began slowly but picked up momentum.  The Toronto Star’s Jim Daw had some valid critique of the scoring scale.  Then, Tom Bradley...

Longevity Risks For Retirement Assets

By Mark Barnicutt on July 4th, 2010

In a recent article, Degrees of Longitude by Rhea Wessel, in the CFA Institute Magazine (March/April 2010), the issue of longevity risk — ie: life expectancies increasing beyond original forecasts — was reviewed as well as some of the...

IT Funding – 3 technology numbers every business leader needs to know

By Guest Contributors on June 29th, 2010

Technology costs represent a significant portion of a company’s annual expenditures. As a business leader, not having a solid understanding of these costs can put your business at a competitive disadvantage. Here are the three technology numbers...

The Importance of Client Investment Portfolio Monitoring

By Mark Barnicutt on June 26th, 2010

In a recent article, I reviewed the importance of having an Investment Policy Statement.  In this article, I’d like to address the importance of Investment Advisory Firms monitoring their clients’ portfolios.  Specifically, a...

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