Services
Overview
Everything that you receive from my company will have been prepared and written by me. Once you join and become a client you don't have to worry about being passed along to someone else with lesser qualifications or experience.
I actually do what I write about. I am not conducting an experiment using other peoples money where others may lose while I don't.
My only compensation is derived from my clients on a fee-only basis. I have no interest in selling anything to anybody. The only person that I work for is you and it is my best interest to give you the best alternatives possible when deciding among different courses of action. Otherwise I haven't done my job and you'll leave.
Publications
I write two newsletters that are published when I have something worthwhile to convey that I think will benefit readers. They are a means of keeping in touch with clients on financial matters of practical value. I write about things that interest me, and over the years it has been gratifying to learn that what arouses my curiosity matches that of my readers.
Of the two publications, Capital Ideas is more essay-like, it usually scrutinizes topical subjects and puts them to the type of agenda free analysis that they may have not been subjected to in the past. When it comes to money, there is a lot of myth and lore that is perpetuated by interested parties but that has no basis in fact.
The companion publication Permanent Alert is a more personal newsletter where I fully disclose my own investment activities at the time I do them. There are not many who venture to do that because it provides the ultimate test of credibility. One can't go back and rewrite history when one's record is a matter of public knowledge.
I also use Permanent Alert to pass along anything that I have read or seen and that I think is worthy of readers' time.
Here are two samples to give you an idea of what to expect from Capital Ideas:
- Dividend Re-Investment Plans (DRIPS) - Part 2: published April 1, 2008 delves into the role of dividends in a portfolio. Not only are they gifts that keep on giving but they also have the ability to turn an unsatisfactory investment into a profitable one while giving a longer term equanimity when faced with near term losses.
- Seeing What We Want To See: published July 18, 2010 combines some behavioural finance with commentary on investment newsletters and a performance review of the Dow Theory.
The subscription rate for 12 months of the two newsletters is only $290.00 (CAD). It is almost certain that you will recover its cost in savings or enhanced returns many times over each year by implementing just one of the ideas or strategies presented in each edition.
Portfolio Evaluation
This would interest those of you looking for an independent and objective appraisal of your current holdings and an assessment of whether they are in alignment with your investment personality and financial objectives
Generally, the longer individuals have been investing, the greater the chances are that their portfolios have deteriorated into a jumbled collection of securities that have moved away over time from the original strategy, that is, if there even ever was one.
Often this type of scrutiny can reveal a simpler and more efficient portfolio and better use of accounts to reduce costs and taxes. Again, it is almost certain that you will immediately recover many times over the $450.00 (CAD) fee by implementing any of the recommendations contained in the evaluation.
Investment Plan
A comprehensive Investment Plan takes into account your objectives, return requirements, willingness and ability to tolerate risk. It is simple and straightforward to implement but sophisticated in its design. An investor can put as much or as little time and effort into managing it as he or she chooses. From passive once a year re-balancing to moderately active risk reducing activities, it is just a matter of personal preference.
The quarterly updated chart below shows the performance of the type of core balanced asset class portfolio (solid black line) that is suitable for an investor with a risk-reward profile that indicated a 50% equity and 50% fixed income portfolio. Even though the account's activity was restricted to once a year re-balancing, it still managed to handily outperform a benchmark index (solid blue line) comprised of the 50% MSCI World Index and 50% 5 Year Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs).
Most of the period covered in the chart represents real time results using real money with no rewriting of history when new asset classes were added or replaced.
Note the solid red line in the chart that begins in the fall of 2007. That marked the first time when I began publicly disclosing through Permanent Alert the risk control signals that I use to avoid catastrophic losses and hedge my portfolio. Again, that was in real time with real money and all verifiable by my clients and subscribers.
The table below summarizes the annualized returns to the end of the last quarter over selected time periods. The bull or bear icon represents the mode that the risk control system was in at the end of the last quarter. Be mindful that with a delay of up to almost four months before appearing here, it may not give a current reading.
| Performance | ||||||
| Average Annual % Compounded Return | ||||||
| December 31, 2011. | ||||||
 |
||||||
| Years | ||||||
| Portfolio |
Closing CAD |
3 | 5 | 10 | 15 | Since 1995 |
| Balanced MSCI World | $96,762 | 3.5% | -1.4% | 1.0% | 3.0% | 4.0% |
| Balanced ETF | 134,033 | 7.0% | 0.8% | 3.3% | 4.7% | 6.0% |
| Balanced ETF With Risk Control | 137,566 | 4.0% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
The Investment Plan covers far more than simply putting together a group of asset classes. It is custom designed to meet your overall present financial planning needs as well as those in the more distant future. It could be all that you really need to become a confident self-directed investor. The fee is only $600.00 for something that could forever change the way you look at investing and save you tens if not hundred of thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs and fees over an investment lifetime.
This is how I address the three major issues of costs, conflicts of interest and unmet high expectations. I keep my costs low and pass the savings along to clients. I eliminate any actual or potential conflicts of interest by having all my compensation derived solely from clients and subscribers. I do not accept commissions or any other form of consideration from any investment product or individual associated with them.
Finally, the performance graph and table show what to expect from this type of investing. No false expectations there, it is all about slow and steady with an emphasis on risk control and avoiding catastrophic losses.
Now that you have found out what I think is important and what I do, it is time for us all to become better acquainted.