Steadyhand Podcasts

By Scott Ronalds If you’re an income investor, T-Bills and GICs aren’t helping you much these days. And the prospects for government bonds are nothing to get excited about. In order to achieve a more desirable return, you may find yourself reaching for yield, or moving up the risk scale. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it should be done in a conscious and appropriate way. In this podcast, Tom expands on some of the advice he proposed in his latest Globe and Mail article. He also discusses the outlook and opportunities in our Income Fund. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Equity Fund, is in town this week on a research trip. We booked an afternoon of his time to discuss the fund. Since we've covered his investment process in previous sessions and his philosophy is well documented on our site, Tom sat down with him to talk stocks. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Toward the end of every quarter, we get on the phone with each of our fund managers and review their portfolios (our funds). This is a formal process that we go through with CC&L (the manager of our Savings Fund and Income Fund), CGOV (Equity Fund), Edinburgh Partners (Global Equity Fund) and Wutherich & Company (Small-Cap Equity Fund). In this podcast, we take you 'behind the scenes' by highlighting some of the issues and topics that we discuss in these sessions, using our recent call with CGOV as an example. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Fund, was in town last week on a research trip. We snagged a morning of his time to review the fund and get some further insights on some of the stocks in the portfolio. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Tom met with Edinburgh Partners Limited (EPL) on their home turf last week for an annual update on their firm and global equity portfolio. It was also an opportune time to discuss some of the issues currently impacting Europe and get the CEO’s (Sandy Nairn) thoughts on the debt crisis that is overhanging Greece. A little jet-lagged and with a hint of an accent, Tom highlights some takeaways from his visit in this podcast, which is a supplementary posting to a blog on the same topic. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now.

By Scott Ronalds 2010 was a good year for both stocks and bonds. Resource-focused and small-cap stocks saw sharp gains, and both the Canadian and U.S. markets turned in double-digit returns. European stocks struggled in comparison, however, due to the well-publicized headwinds in the region (i.e., debt problems). Bonds were once again popular, as investors were willing to pay a premium for safety and income, although their shine began to fade late in the year as interest rates began to rise. Our clients with a balanced asset mix experienced returns in the 9-10% range for the year, depending on their mix. In this podcast, we review the performance of our funds and highlight some of the key messages from our Quarterly Report. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Equity Fund, is in town this week on a research trip. We booked an afternoon of his time to review the fund and get some further insights on some of the stocks in the portfolio. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds Stock markets pushed forward in the first quarter despite some strong headwinds, including revolutions in North Africa, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and lingering sovereign debt issues in Europe. It goes to prove that the linkage between headlines and market returns is anything but precise. In this podcast, we review the first quarter of 2011 and highlight some of the key messages from our Quarterly Report. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds It was an ugly quarter for stocks, with most major markets suffering double-digit declines. The bond market, on the other hand, had its strongest showing in 15 years (government bond yields now stand at levels not seen since the 1940s). Our funds declined, but held up better than the market. Their focus on high-quality, non-speculative companies helped dampen negative returns. In this podcast, we review the quarter in further detail and highlight some of the key takeaways from our Quarterly Report. Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now:

By Scott Ronalds It was a good start to the year for Steadyhand. We welcomed close to 200 new clients to the firm in the first quarter, our assets under management grew by 15%, and our transfer pipeline is healthy. Stocks also had a strong showing, with the Canadian market rising 4% and the U.S. and World markets gaining roughly 10%. The bond market declined as interest rates edged upwards, although losses were modest. As we mark our fifth anniversary this month we have our first set of 5-year performance numbers, which are the focus of this discussion. It's been a turbulent period in the capital markets, but our clients with balanced portfolios have fared well. In this podcast, we review the performance of each of our long-term funds in detail, and provide an update on how they're currently positioned.   Download, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or listen now: