Investorial

Canadian investors really treat our big banks and their mutual funds as angels. While our American friends keep the pressure on fund companies to lower MERs, Canadians cannot see through the devil’s disguise. I wouldn’t mind as much if those funds performed well, but their abysmal net returns makes me wonder why they can justify those high fees? Our investment watchdogs north of the border have failed in affecting mutual fund fee changes. But instead of playing the victim, why not step up and try to be a solution to the problem? This is the first installment of a series called Canadian Banks / Mutual Funds Watch, that I intend to develop on-going. (more…)

Irwin Michael is my favourite fund manager because of his no compromise, no spin, non-apologetic approach to openly discuss investing. He talks and writes candidly about his investment decisions; allowing me to soak up his perspective and learn from it. You won’t catch him doing any sweet-talking to appease investors and audiences. As of the end of August 2006, Irwin’s ABC Fundamental Value has averaged an annual 17.82% return for the last 15 years while it’s benchmark indes S&P/TSX Total Return has only managed a 10.79% in the same timeframe.

If you haven’t yet, you should start by reading Deep Value Face-Off - Part 1, and Deep Value Face-Off - Part 2 first! (more…)

Ross Healy is the chariman and CEO of Strategic Analysis Corporation, an investment advisory firm. Though I feel at times, that Ross’s comments are too politically correct, too on the fence, I still recognize that Ross is very much respected in the Canadian investment scene. Ross is best known for his bearish call on Nortel when it was trading over $100 in 2000. As of June 2006, Strategic Analysis Corporation’s model portfolio has outperformed the S&P/TSX Total Return index to a tune of 20.9% to 11.7% since its 1993 inception.

If you haven’t yet, you should start by reading Deep Value Face-Off - Part 1 first! (more…)

Canada’s Report On Business Television recently held a series of live broadcasts from BCE place in downtown Toronto. On Monday, September 18th, 2006, they invited two venerable deep-value fund managers in a question and answer forum. You might think I’m hypocritical for advising people not to obssess over ROB-TV while highlighting this event. However, my interest was peaked because of Irwin Michael’s appearance. I hope you will see why I listen when Irwin speaks. It’s truly a no-spin zone (unlike Fox News, or Jim Cramer) and investors get to benefit from his wisdom! (more…)

google-finance-screenshot.thumbnail.jpg"/>I previously wrote about a data problem I noticed with Google Finance’s display of a stock’s timeframe. Turns out it was a designed feature! I’ve since leveraged Google Finance as a starting point to look at my watch list. However, I remain skeptical of Google’s ability to integrate data.

Today, I was looking at a Google Finance stock quote. Even though I have previously blogged negatively about Tim Horton’s IPO, there is no question in my mind that Tim Horton’s is still the strongest franchise name that Canada can offer. I have Tim Hortons (THI) in my watch-list for a possible entry point in the future. Take a look at the bigger screenshot after the jump to see the errors Google Finance displayed for me. (more…)

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< ?php } else { ?>< ?php } ?>One of my favourite movies of all time is “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly“. It’s no coincidence that I wished for Investorial to share the same focus. After all, the Sergio Leone classic is considered the greatest Western ever. If Investorial could accomplish even 1% of that legacy, it’d be an truly fulfilling accomplishment! I wanted to celebrate our 1 year anniversary by dissecting investing from the movie’s perspective. Won’t you join me? (more…)

Do you own stock options that are also under water? Tech employees from the dot com bubble era may never get to exercise their options (if their companies still exist!). I have never been a fan of stock options, and prefer my bonuses in the form of a real bonus compensation or a transparent shares grant.

While most may still think that stock options can foster worker alignment with company goals, it’s worthy for investors to note why most corporations prefer stock option compensation — because it means they don’t have to be held accountable for it! Confused? Then you must definitely read Forbes’ latest article debunking the big lies about stock options. (more…)

These days, water-cooler discussions at work may sound something like “I’m thinking of buying/selling my home. Is the real-estate bubble going to pop? Is there even a bubble?” Hmmm.. let’s just say that some regions are experiencing a state of instability in their real-estate market for the recent time period. How’s that for being politically correct?

No matter whether you think there is a real-estate bubble or not, you will find someone forcing you their opinion about the topic in the media — on the evening news, in your newspaper, on internet blogs. Everybody’s worried about buying and selling real estate! With all those noises in your head, why not step back from all that “marketing” or “fear-mongering” and discuss the media’s role / impact during these “bubbles”? (more…)