Insights Into Wealth

Today, Kevin Van Dyk, BULLWEALTH’s Managing Director, introduces you to BULLWEALTH’s newest partner, Denisa Farrow. Denisa joined BULLWEALTH after many years in the investment advisory and consulting, and investment management arenas where she has worked with and advised many families and not-for-profit organizations and pension plans on their investment portfolios and overall wealth decisions. Kevin’s conversation with Denisa is wide-ranging and covers many topics from who Denisa is and how she found her way into investment consulting to some of her career decisions to why she loves the contact she has with her clients.

Today, Randy Gunn, BULLWEALTH’s VP & Portfolio Manager, speaks with Walid Hejazi, a Professor of International Business, and Economic Analysis at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Walid has been published in the Globe & Mail, the Financial Post and the Toronto Star, along with other globally recognizable publications. And, most recently, Walid and his co-author published a book called Everybody’s Business: How to Ensure Canadian Prosperity Through the Twenty-First Century. Over the years, Walid’s research has focused on the development of strategies that enhance the ability of companies to compete domestically and internationally, and his book focuses on Canada’s lost productivity. Walid and Randy discuss some of the reasons for Canada’s decline in productivity and some strategies to help us return to the upper levels of the world’s richest countries.

Kevin Van Dyk, one of BULLWEALTH’s Managing Director’s, and Sean Yuile from Manitou’s Canadian Equity investment team discuss how Manitou’s Canadian equity team implements a high-quality investment philosophy that has resulted in long-term outperformance and excellent downside protection by investing in growing companies that have a discounted value. Sean describes Manitou’s investment philosophy and process around searching for and investing in Grade A companies and how the portfolio’s cash weighting can rise and fall depending upon underlying company valuations.

Today, Randy Gunn, BULLWEALTH’s Vice President & Portfolio Manager, speaks with Scott Armstrong, an author, speaker and coach to business professionals and athletes who are in the process of transitioning to retirement. Scott has a passion to redefine the word retirement by helping people recognize that the next stage of our lives is an unparalleled opportunity. He believes that once we retire, we can then aspire to uncover hidden adventures and social connections that leave us all wondering why we did not do this sooner. Randy and Scott discuss Work Optional Life, another word for Retirement, and how our transition can be a microstep to what is next. Scott also gives Randy some ideas of how to enact these microsteps. As you can imagine, Randy and Scott’s conversation is both thoughtful and insightful.

Randy Gunn, BULLWEALTH’s VP & Portfolio Manager, speaks with Jeanette Bock, Founder and Senior Transition Specialist at Fluid Senior Transitions. Jeanette has over 30 years of listening, planning and solving the challenges of transitioning to our later stages of life. Randy and Jeanette begin their conversation by discussing the difference between long-term care and retirement living, then discuss where some of us may make mistakes as we age and forget to plan, or plan too late, for this next chapter of our lives. Finally, Jeanette gives examples of how to transition to retirement living or staying in your home as we age. Randy and Jeanette’s conversation is both thoughtful and insightful, and we hope it helps with your planning decisions.

Kevin Van Dyk and Randy Gunn, two of BULLWEALTH’s Portfolio Managers, and Julian Smith, BULLWEALTH’s CEO, share some of our observations from 2023. Our discussion will be joined by Savva Cherdantsev, BULLWEALTH’s Director of Research & Investments. Our discussion will focus on how shifting interest rates have impacted the fixed income markets, why education is a key focus of BULLWEALTH’s interactions with our clients, why select global equities outperformed others, how to reallocate to equities if you are underweight, and why due diligence is critical to understanding an investment manager’s performance. Each of us will discuss our thoughts and insights into why these observations were key to some of our decision making throughout 2023.

Today, we welcome back Sharon Avery, CEO of Toronto  Foundation, to share her thoughts as to where community foundations are assisting Canadians by giving through multiple vehicles, ideas of where to donate – Both big and grassroots organizations, and trends within the philanthropic sector such as giving circles or group giving to help solve some of our communities’ largest issues. Sharon speaks to Randy Gunn, one of BULLWEALTH’s Portfolio Managers, in an insightful discussion that we hope will help broaden your philanthropic thinking and different ways to approach giving.

Kevin Van Dyk, one of BULLWEALTH’s Managing Director’s, and two members of Fiera’s Canadian Equity investment team, Tony Rizzi and Nick Trottier discuss how the team implements a high quality, strong valuation philosophy that has resulted in long-term outperformance and excellent downside protection when volatility rises throughout the global capital markets. Tony and Nick describe why their team’s extreme focus on companies with excellent management teams, low debt, strong earnings and continuous cash flows leads to long-term success.

Randy Gunn, BULLWEALTH’s VP & Portfolio Manager, speaks with Anne Brayley, a Philanthropic Advisor to many families about Strategic Philanthropy. Randy and Anne begin their conversation by discussing the importance of philanthropy in Canada and to both those who give and those who receive. Then, Anne explores the idea that ‘Strategic is Intentional’ when families decide to give and the different options available to Canadians in the charitable sector. One of these options is via donor-advised funds or specifically through the Canadian Community Foundation network, which Anne describes in depth.

Randy Gunn, BULLWEALTH’s Client Strategist, speaks with Barbara Stewart, one of the leading researchers of women in finance and who is recognized worldwide for her work. Prior to Barbara’s current focus, she was a foreign currency trader and a leading portfolio manager with more than 30 years of experience. In today’s podcast, Randy and Barbara discuss how women think about investing and how they communicate about their overall investment goals and objectives. In addition, Barbara discusses the dynamics of women with their investment advisors and why it is important to make the financial industry more of a destination of choice for young women entering this sector.