An imperfect signal
Bondholders have been on quite the ride in the last few months. The year began with yields moving lower in many regions—notably Europe—to the surprise of some investors who just last year thought that rates could only go higher.
The Art of Boring™ was created for curious and passionate investors. We share strategies, frameworks, and insights to help readers and listeners make better investment decisions. Our aim? To provide some bottom-up, long-term investing signal to cut through the short-term noise.
Bondholders have been on quite the ride in the last few months. The year began with yields moving lower in many regions—notably Europe—to the surprise of some investors who just last year thought that rates could only go higher.
Our team comes across hundreds of weird and wonderful reads in our daily research. Below are the handful that stood out for us this month.
Constantly switching lanes while driving rarely gets you to your destination faster and it significantly increases your risk of accidents and fines. So why do it?
It’s hard not to love Curious George. It’s an unfair contest really—here’s a cute little monkey who, with the best of intentions, constantly gets into trouble as he explores the overly-structured world around him!
Too often, we seem to confuse heroism with heroics, significance with pomp and flash.
When we open our minds to a wide set of possibilities—including ideas that initially seem impossible—we make it easier to put the odds in our favour over time.
Greece has been struggling with some manner of financial crisis for almost five years. The situation has become worse of late due to the fallout from the January 2015 election when the leftist party Syriza rose to power under an anti-austerity mandate.
Our team occasionally uncovers signal in the daily parsing of noise. Since such information can be easily passed over, we thought we’d make it a habit to share some links that we’ve liked recently.
The Chinese stock market has been very hot as of late. Many Chinese indices are up dramatically over the last twelve months.
This was my first lesson in India. When you arrive in the country, you don’t just land at the airport, India lands on you.
If a person's legacy is to be measured by his contributions to society, then Lee Kuan Yew ranks among the great heroes.
The Oilers allowed Gretzky to play to his strengths. In the language of our firm, they allowed him to focus on his “Area of Genius.”
Bondholders have been on quite the ride in the last few months. The year began with yields moving lower in many regions—notably Europe—to the surprise of some investors who just last year thought that rates could only go higher.
Our team comes across hundreds of weird and wonderful reads in our daily research. Below are the handful that stood out for us this month.
Constantly switching lanes while driving rarely gets you to your destination faster and it significantly increases your risk of accidents and fines. So why do it?
It’s hard not to love Curious George. It’s an unfair contest really—here’s a cute little monkey who, with the best of intentions, constantly gets into trouble as he explores the overly-structured world around him!
Too often, we seem to confuse heroism with heroics, significance with pomp and flash.
When we open our minds to a wide set of possibilities—including ideas that initially seem impossible—we make it easier to put the odds in our favour over time.
Greece has been struggling with some manner of financial crisis for almost five years. The situation has become worse of late due to the fallout from the January 2015 election when the leftist party Syriza rose to power under an anti-austerity mandate.
Our team occasionally uncovers signal in the daily parsing of noise. Since such information can be easily passed over, we thought we’d make it a habit to share some links that we’ve liked recently.
The Chinese stock market has been very hot as of late. Many Chinese indices are up dramatically over the last twelve months.
This was my first lesson in India. When you arrive in the country, you don’t just land at the airport, India lands on you.
If a person's legacy is to be measured by his contributions to society, then Lee Kuan Yew ranks among the great heroes.
The Oilers allowed Gretzky to play to his strengths. In the language of our firm, they allowed him to focus on his “Area of Genius.”
It is much more valuable to have a probabilistic risk evaluation process.
This week we learned about e-krona, a digital currency in Sweden; the lasting impacts of Black Monday on Wall Street; how McRib availability can affect S&P 500 returns (hint: it can’t) and appreciated a few wise reminders on what to do when “things get wild” in the markets.
We know we can’t predict the future (read: unknowns), but we can account for the likelihood of some scenarios.
To be sure, there are many reasons a company may prefer to turn to private investors over more traditional public markets, but as more companies choose private funding when they need to raise capital, what are the implications for investors in public markets?
Last week, Morningstar interviewed international equity portfolio manager David Ragan about finding resilient stocks in international markets during turbulent times.
Our reading list this week considers factors leading to the next market correction; stock-based compensation; golfing economists; and the pitfalls of generalization.
How can a business continue to grow while still retaining the internal characteristics that helped contribute to its past success?
A reminder to focus on the long-term; a look at growing corporate debt levels; a helpful explanation of stock buy backs, and a tip to improve the workplace. It’s been an illuminating week.
Canadian insurance companies are no longer just in the business of selling insurance to Canadians. They function more like financial conglomerates, and that, for investors, is potentially a good thing.
This week we admired some exemplary examples of CEO annual letters; raised our eyebrows at the remarkable effects of trade wars; reaffirmed our belief that language matters; and despaired at nefarious online trading platforms.
Given how often “defensive” enters into the investing lexicon and that it can mean different things to different people, aiming for a greater degree of precision in its definition may help to reduce misunderstanding or generalized historical bias.
Twenty ways to make mistakes with money, the history of monetary innovation, untangling misconceptions around interest rates, and the truth (data) about the creativity of pop songs. It was (not) a boring week!
It is much more valuable to have a probabilistic risk evaluation process.
This week we learned about e-krona, a digital currency in Sweden; the lasting impacts of Black Monday on Wall Street; how McRib availability can affect S&P 500 returns (hint: it can’t) and appreciated a few wise reminders on what to do when “things get wild” in the markets.
We know we can’t predict the future (read: unknowns), but we can account for the likelihood of some scenarios.
To be sure, there are many reasons a company may prefer to turn to private investors over more traditional public markets, but as more companies choose private funding when they need to raise capital, what are the implications for investors in public markets?
Last week, Morningstar interviewed international equity portfolio manager David Ragan about finding resilient stocks in international markets during turbulent times.
Our reading list this week considers factors leading to the next market correction; stock-based compensation; golfing economists; and the pitfalls of generalization.
How can a business continue to grow while still retaining the internal characteristics that helped contribute to its past success?
A reminder to focus on the long-term; a look at growing corporate debt levels; a helpful explanation of stock buy backs, and a tip to improve the workplace. It’s been an illuminating week.
Canadian insurance companies are no longer just in the business of selling insurance to Canadians. They function more like financial conglomerates, and that, for investors, is potentially a good thing.
This week we admired some exemplary examples of CEO annual letters; raised our eyebrows at the remarkable effects of trade wars; reaffirmed our belief that language matters; and despaired at nefarious online trading platforms.
Given how often “defensive” enters into the investing lexicon and that it can mean different things to different people, aiming for a greater degree of precision in its definition may help to reduce misunderstanding or generalized historical bias.
Twenty ways to make mistakes with money, the history of monetary innovation, untangling misconceptions around interest rates, and the truth (data) about the creativity of pop songs. It was (not) a boring week!
Featuring insights from the first quarter from Balanced and Global Balanced Fund co-manager and Asset Mix Chair, Greg Peterson.
Director of Research and Canadian equity lead manager Vijay Viswanathan discusses the overall Canadian economy, the problem with investing in natural gas and gold, and the amount of foreign exposure in the portfolio.
Equity analyst John Wilson discusses how decentralized organizations can maintain agility and operational excellence as a defense to the negative aspects of change.
Lead portfolio manager, Peter Lampert, discusses the current environment for the emerging markets equity portfolio.
On this episode, institutional portfolio manager, Rob Campbell, explores a few different types of business models in the travel industry and their respective risks and competitive advantages.
Equity analyst, Justin Anderson, walks us through the definition of intrinsic value, how we model it, and some of the ways it might be influenced by technology now and in the future.
Equity traders Merv Mendes and Peter Dmytruk discuss the evolution of the trading desk at Mawer, the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, and the value of relationship building.
Featuring insights from the fourth quarter from Balanced and Global Balanced Fund co-manager and Asset Mix Chair, Greg Peterson.
CIO, Paul Moroz, walks listeners through the reasons why going global is optimal in today’s environment.
U.S. portfolio manager, Grayson Witcher, discusses the sustainability of U.S. earnings, some of the major position changes over the past two years, and overall team learnings.
In light of our president Michael Mezei’s upcoming retirement, he sits down to reflect on the many lessons in leadership he’s gained over the course of his career.
Institutional portfolio manager, Andrew Johnson, discusses key investment issues foundations and not-for-profits are facing in today's environment
Featuring insights from the first quarter from Balanced and Global Balanced Fund co-manager and Asset Mix Chair, Greg Peterson.
Director of Research and Canadian equity lead manager Vijay Viswanathan discusses the overall Canadian economy, the problem with investing in natural gas and gold, and the amount of foreign exposure in the portfolio.
Equity analyst John Wilson discusses how decentralized organizations can maintain agility and operational excellence as a defense to the negative aspects of change.
Lead portfolio manager, Peter Lampert, discusses the current environment for the emerging markets equity portfolio.
On this episode, institutional portfolio manager, Rob Campbell, explores a few different types of business models in the travel industry and their respective risks and competitive advantages.
Equity analyst, Justin Anderson, walks us through the definition of intrinsic value, how we model it, and some of the ways it might be influenced by technology now and in the future.
Equity traders Merv Mendes and Peter Dmytruk discuss the evolution of the trading desk at Mawer, the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, and the value of relationship building.
Featuring insights from the fourth quarter from Balanced and Global Balanced Fund co-manager and Asset Mix Chair, Greg Peterson.
CIO, Paul Moroz, walks listeners through the reasons why going global is optimal in today’s environment.
U.S. portfolio manager, Grayson Witcher, discusses the sustainability of U.S. earnings, some of the major position changes over the past two years, and overall team learnings.
In light of our president Michael Mezei’s upcoming retirement, he sits down to reflect on the many lessons in leadership he’s gained over the course of his career.
Institutional portfolio manager, Andrew Johnson, discusses key investment issues foundations and not-for-profits are facing in today's environment