The expert problem
A better understanding of how and when to utilize experts helps prevent wasting time and money.
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.
A better understanding of how and when to utilize experts helps prevent wasting time and money.
Chinese reform is a big deal. Despite being the second largest economy in the world and experiencing decades of impressive growth, China suffers from structural challenges that hamper its future potential.
While you may label this Millennial as old fashioned, I would certainly prefer a good rate of return over a poor one, no matter how dull the portfolio holdings.
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.
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.
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.
A better understanding of how and when to utilize experts helps prevent wasting time and money.
Chinese reform is a big deal. Despite being the second largest economy in the world and experiencing decades of impressive growth, China suffers from structural challenges that hamper its future potential.
While you may label this Millennial as old fashioned, I would certainly prefer a good rate of return over a poor one, no matter how dull the portfolio holdings.
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.
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.
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.
Many of the old stories surrounding China are becoming—or are—obsolete. New ones are emerging. China’s economy is very different than it used to be, and this shift, as well as some of the trends occurring there, are worthwhile to understand. We’d be wise to pay attention.
‘Twas the week before Christmas
And we’re again filled with cheer
To provide our blog readers
A review of the year:
How many toilets do you have at home? Or rather—let me put it this way: do you have a toilet in your home? For most people reading this, the idea of not having one may sound crazy, but in India, over half of all households do not have the luxuries of a toilet and/or bathing facility.
The ski season is officially open and the keeners have taken their first turns. I know our CIO, Jim Hall, is an avid skier so I sat down with him recently to discuss portfolio risk management and how it relates to skiing.
In 1845, Scottish poet and author, William Aytoun, published his satire, How we got up the Glenmutchkin Railway, and how we got out of it. His story focused on the railway stock frenzy that gripped Great Britain, with the aim of bringing awareness to what he saw as madness, “if anyone ha[d] the sense to see it.”
With entrepreneurs like Elon Musk pushing for a solar energy future and electric cars on the horizon, many are seriously questioning oil’s dominance. Are we finally moving into a post-oil age?
As an observational lens, bottleneck-thinking can quickly uncover specific pressure points people may have, such as a holding’s valuation or current management.
Each day we observe events and instantly associate meaning to them. In other words, we are constantly making inferences about the world—usually unconsciously. Unfortunately, we tend to neglect challenging these inferences or even fool ourselves into thinking that they are wholly evidence based.
Conversations about increasing interest rates and their impact on bond investments have recently spiked in Canada. Since bonds are traditionally viewed as an investment that provides a steady stream of income while acting as a safety net within an overall balanced portfolio, an environment of rising interest rates understandably causes unease: it can decrease the price of bonds and therefore can negatively impact performance.
Short-term gratification can hurt in the long run.
One thing we might say: change may be closer in the proverbial mirror than it appears.
This week we have the pleasure of partnering again with Beakerhead, a Calgary-based charitable organization that “brings together the arts, sciences, and engineering sectors to build, engage, compete, and exhibit interactive works of art, engineered creativity and entertainment.”
Many of the old stories surrounding China are becoming—or are—obsolete. New ones are emerging. China’s economy is very different than it used to be, and this shift, as well as some of the trends occurring there, are worthwhile to understand. We’d be wise to pay attention.
‘Twas the week before Christmas
And we’re again filled with cheer
To provide our blog readers
A review of the year:
How many toilets do you have at home? Or rather—let me put it this way: do you have a toilet in your home? For most people reading this, the idea of not having one may sound crazy, but in India, over half of all households do not have the luxuries of a toilet and/or bathing facility.
The ski season is officially open and the keeners have taken their first turns. I know our CIO, Jim Hall, is an avid skier so I sat down with him recently to discuss portfolio risk management and how it relates to skiing.
In 1845, Scottish poet and author, William Aytoun, published his satire, How we got up the Glenmutchkin Railway, and how we got out of it. His story focused on the railway stock frenzy that gripped Great Britain, with the aim of bringing awareness to what he saw as madness, “if anyone ha[d] the sense to see it.”
With entrepreneurs like Elon Musk pushing for a solar energy future and electric cars on the horizon, many are seriously questioning oil’s dominance. Are we finally moving into a post-oil age?
As an observational lens, bottleneck-thinking can quickly uncover specific pressure points people may have, such as a holding’s valuation or current management.
Each day we observe events and instantly associate meaning to them. In other words, we are constantly making inferences about the world—usually unconsciously. Unfortunately, we tend to neglect challenging these inferences or even fool ourselves into thinking that they are wholly evidence based.
Conversations about increasing interest rates and their impact on bond investments have recently spiked in Canada. Since bonds are traditionally viewed as an investment that provides a steady stream of income while acting as a safety net within an overall balanced portfolio, an environment of rising interest rates understandably causes unease: it can decrease the price of bonds and therefore can negatively impact performance.
Short-term gratification can hurt in the long run.
One thing we might say: change may be closer in the proverbial mirror than it appears.
This week we have the pleasure of partnering again with Beakerhead, a Calgary-based charitable organization that “brings together the arts, sciences, and engineering sectors to build, engage, compete, and exhibit interactive works of art, engineered creativity and entertainment.”
A close look at our research methods to understand trends, opportunities, and challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
How thinking like a deer in the forest (situational awareness) and other risk management process tinkering has helped the team. In addition, thoughts on the potential CP Rail and Kansas City Southern deal and TELUS International IPO.
One year since lockdown: CIO Paul Moroz summarizes the major market themes of the past four quarters and how it has (and hasn’t) affected our process and way of looking at the world.
Equity Analyst, Stanislav Lopata, shares his observations regarding the pandemic’s impacts on markets and what’s new with the portfolio.
Deputy CIO Christian Deckart discusses market performance in a “story of three quarters” and some new holdings we added to the portfolio.
Chief Investment Officer Paul Moroz discusses why the Research team’s post-mortem process is important, and some of their top learnings from 2020.
Lead portfolio manager, David Ragan, discusses how the portfolio did over the past year, why some companies were more resilient than others, and what makes skepticism a competitive advantage.
A look back on the major investment themes of 2020, and a look ahead at some of the risks and opportunities on our radar.
Our three hosts narrate Mawer's timely variation of "'Twas the week before Christmas"—an annual review of the year. Stay for the bloopers!
Front-of-mind investment learnings from equity analysts Justin Anderson and Joshua Samuel on the dynamic, evolving gaming universe.
Mawer U.S. Equity Portfolio Manager, Grayson Witcher, takes us through how the team approaches portfolio construction.
A deep dive into three new holdings: Stella-Jones, Ritchie Bros., and Granite REIT, and what we mean when we say “winning by not losing.”
A close look at our research methods to understand trends, opportunities, and challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
How thinking like a deer in the forest (situational awareness) and other risk management process tinkering has helped the team. In addition, thoughts on the potential CP Rail and Kansas City Southern deal and TELUS International IPO.
One year since lockdown: CIO Paul Moroz summarizes the major market themes of the past four quarters and how it has (and hasn’t) affected our process and way of looking at the world.
Equity Analyst, Stanislav Lopata, shares his observations regarding the pandemic’s impacts on markets and what’s new with the portfolio.
Deputy CIO Christian Deckart discusses market performance in a “story of three quarters” and some new holdings we added to the portfolio.
Chief Investment Officer Paul Moroz discusses why the Research team’s post-mortem process is important, and some of their top learnings from 2020.
Lead portfolio manager, David Ragan, discusses how the portfolio did over the past year, why some companies were more resilient than others, and what makes skepticism a competitive advantage.
A look back on the major investment themes of 2020, and a look ahead at some of the risks and opportunities on our radar.
Our three hosts narrate Mawer's timely variation of "'Twas the week before Christmas"—an annual review of the year. Stay for the bloopers!
Front-of-mind investment learnings from equity analysts Justin Anderson and Joshua Samuel on the dynamic, evolving gaming universe.
Mawer U.S. Equity Portfolio Manager, Grayson Witcher, takes us through how the team approaches portfolio construction.
A deep dive into three new holdings: Stella-Jones, Ritchie Bros., and Granite REIT, and what we mean when we say “winning by not losing.”