Ride or Hide - How to think about risk
All investors conceptually understand risk but the investing industry has likely done us a disservice in its definition. One of the most common tenets in investing is that the expected rate of return for a security goes up with the level of risk that security displays also known as the capital market line. The capital market line slopes upwards to the right with greater risk and return as you move away from the origin.
Risk is a far more complicated term than it appears at first glance so beware of simplistic phrases that provide overly simplistic solutions. Your best course is to speak with your advisor, asset manager and do your own reading to understand risk, history and how to best capitalize when opportunities such as the recent crisis present themselves.
Read More
Canadians shop global brands yet buy asset managers locally
Of the top 50 Large Cap US equity funds in the US ranked by 10 year return to the end of Dec. 2018 only 5 were products from companies that do business in Canada. There were 4 products from Fidelity and 1 each from Vanguard and Franklin Templeton. The remaining 46 were from companies without a Canadian retail presence. That would not be an issue if Canadian based managers have equalled their US counterparts in respect to performance, risk, etc.
Read More
Look Before Jumping...Into Liquid Alternatives
In investing most people quietly favour following the crowd. There is comfort in the crowd which has resulted in the growth of mega funds with $5B and up to $20B+ in assets. With that comfort should also come tempered enthusiasm for returns that are differentiated from the average as doing the same as others rarely produces results differentiated from others. This trend may be shifting with a desire for enhanced returns or a lower risk appetite that has seen growth in liquid alternatives climb. Over $4B in assets have entered the category since the Alternative Mutual Fund rules were introduced in January 2019.
Read More
Are alternatives right for me?
Like many things in life the answer to any question is often not black or white but rather a shade of grey. Investing is certainly no exception to this rule. Transparency of investment products may be clear at a high level but the details may be harder to uncover. What defines alternatives, what should define alternative investing and who is it appropriate for?
Read More
