HighView Blog

In this morning’s Globe & Mail, I gave an overview of investors’ three main options for bond (or bond-like) exposure in taxable accounts.  It seems at least two preferred share funds escaped my radar.  I’d also like to touch...

Many financial advisors say that I harp too much on fees.  Many investors (and investor advocates) say that I’m not tough enough on fund fees.  Sometimes, I just can’t win.  But nowhere are fees more important than in the selection...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...