Welcome, please scroll down to see past editions of our investment newsletter.
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See links to current and past newsletters in the table below. We have highlighted some of the most interesting past topics.
| Past Newsletters Click Now to Access | Past Topics (Most topics are not specific to the time period when written) | ||
| December 2, 2024 | Long Treasury Bonds May be Timely | Historical Returns from Long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds | Historical Context of Recent Stock Market Returns |
| October 17, 2024 | S&P 500 appears over-valued | China and India will inevitably be the largest world economies | How banks expand the economy |
| September 4, 2024 (Sent Links) | Where and How to Invest | First Home Savings Account | RRSPs: Tax Trap or Ultimate Wealth Builder |
| July 20, 2024 | State of the Economy and Markets | Fixed Income Choices | What to Invest In |
| October 29, 2023 | First Home Savings Account (some free money) | Why stock markets are down | How to get started investing |
| July 2, 2023 | Sent link to Preferred Share Article | Now is the time to invest in preferred shares | The article covers both rate resets and perpetual preferred shares |
| April 28, 2023 | Commented on First Republic Bank | Sent link to Global ETF list | Sent link to Canadian GDP article |
| April 2, 2023 | What happened to Silicon Valley Bank? | Do bank shareholders get bailed out | FDIC fire sale of SVB assets |
| March 13, 2023 | Sent link to article of fixed income choices | ||
| February 25, 2023 | The 2023 Investment Outlook | Higher Interest Rates are a Massive Game Changer! | Check Your Marginal Income Tax Rate |
| January 20, 2023 | Portfolios are set to (probably) do better in 2023 | Ambition is the Mother of Success! | Higher Interest rates are a strong “gravitational force” on stock and bond values. |
| December 5, 2022 | Is now a good time to invest? | What to buy now? | Loss of faith in competition and the fairness of the economy |
| March 26, 2022 | Prepare for Higher Interest Rates | An instant low fee balanced and diversified portfolio | Warren Buffett’s 2022 letter |
| November 4 to 12, 2021 | Is the S&P 500 over-valued | Stocks returns have REALLY walloped bonds, cash and gold in the long term | Rolling 30, 15 & 10 year period historical returns on stocks, bonds, cash and gold |
| August 10, 2021 | FOMM – Fear of Making Mistake | Helping young people start investing | Mistakes come with the territory |
| May 19, 2021 | The Canadian Economy Explained | ||
| April 23, 2021 | Where to invest | Invest in gold coins? | Understanding Money and Banking |
| February 24, 2021 | Current Fixed Income Opportunities | Money Creation and Central Bank Liquidity Injection | |
| February 10, 2021 | Sunshine and roses in the market | Long-Term bonds versus stocks | The GameStop Debacle |
| December 6, 2020 | 2020’s volatile markets | 1% mortgages turn the old mortgage math on its head | Historic return and risks from stocks, bonds, cash and Gold |
| April 12, 2020 | Current state of the Markets | Oil Markets – Bad News | Asset Allocation
Contract Enforcement is vital |
| September 29, 2019 | Achieve a diversified portfolio with as few as just one Exchange Traded Fund | Signs of a softening economy | Dealing with Volatility |
| March 27, 2019 | Why have Rate Reset Preferred Shares fallen in price? | Why do Canadians seem to support tax reductions even for the rich and for corporations? | Winners and Losers when governments interfere in the oil market |
| January 27, 2019 | An announcement | RRSPs are not a tax trap but that refund is NOT free money | How one young Canadian became a Billionaire |
| January 4, 2019 | What Caused Stock Markets to fall in 2018? | Are there any Silver Linings? (Yes, Value and Yield) | How to quickly set up a balanced portfolio |
| December 2, 2018 | Outrageous bank foreign currency transfer fees | An instant low-fee well diversified Portfolio solution | Interest rate Sensitivity of various investments |
| July 16, 2018 | Bank profitability and facts | Understanding the Canadian Economy | Do Gasoline Retailers Collude? |
| April 9, 2018 | S&P 500 Index valuation | Predicting the Canadian Dollar | How The Stock Market Works |
| February 18, 2018 | Achieve a balanced portfolio with one single low-cost ETF! | Business Owners and Investors do get Income Tax Advantages | Attention Value Investors Living Near St. Albert |
| January 10, 2018 | Investment versus Speculation | Impacts of Trump’s corporate tax reduction | Investing with just one Balanced Fund |
| November 26 and Nov 29, 2017 | S&P 500 Valuation article | My Two Bits Worth about Bitcoin | |
| October 15, 2017 | How car dealers make their profits | Why the average active manager cannot beat the index, but some can. | |
| Sept. 27, 2017 | Sent article on How Canadians can set up a low-cost diversified portfolio using Exchange Traded Funds (and indicating the specific ETF symbols that could be used) | ||
| Sept 23, 2017 | Why do the Stock Indexes rise over the years? | Why are Stock indexes volatile? | Where Should You look to find companies to invest in? |
| April 23, 2017 | Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average a good investment? | The Canadian Economy Described | Do Companies Face Stiff Price Competition? |
| March 4, 2017 | How Can I Help You Get Rich(er) Through Investing? | Investing Versus Saving | Is the S&P 500 over-valued? |
| February 6, 2017 | Article on the dangers of buying certain high P/E stocks | ||
| January 8, 2017 | InvestorsFriend’s 2016 Performance | Our rationale in rating four stocks as Strong Buy one year ago | Buy companies with “Good Economics” |
| December 1, 2016 | Growth Stocks Need Not be in Growth Industries | Is the “Jobs-Economy” Obsolete? | Avoiding High Currency Exchange Fees |
| September 18, 2016 | Is Paper Cash Becoming Obsolete? | Investments Are Not “Money” | What Gets Measured, Gets Manipulated |
| July 2, 2016 | Why Interest Rates are so low | Retailers (rightly) battle high credit card fees | Go Trades Young Man, Go Trades? |
| April 21, 2016 | The Jobless Economy | Why Interest Rates are so Low | How corporate Directors defer personal income tax |
| March 12, 2016 | Sent link to updated article on valuation of the S&P 500 | ||
| January 23, 2016 | Actually, Stocks Should Gyrate in price | Does Canada really need to attract more foreign investment? | How should governments stimulate the economy? |
| November 30, 2015 | Sent article on how to invest like a bank | Sent article on capital allocation as a management skill | |
| October 29, 2015 | Sent article on how banks make money | ||
| October 17, 2015 | Sent updated ETF list | ||
| Sept 18, 2015 | It’s been bad year for investors. Or has it? | Think of stock investing as owning a piece of the corporate world | What about the world’s economic problems? |
| July 9, 2015 | Investing in Uncertain Times | Why Oil Prices Fell | The Canadian Trade Deficit |
| June 6, 2015 | The essence of investing | The intelligent use of profits | Stocks versus Bonds – historical returns |
| April 11, 2015 | S&P 500 Valuation | Thoughts on Income Tax | Understanding GDP |
| February 16, 2015 | Credit Card Interest | Exchange Rate Fees | Canadian Demographics |
| January 11, 2015 | Sent article: Saving versus investing | ||
| November 30, 2014 | Sent article: How to value known cashflows | ||
| November 15, 2014 | Sent article Where and How to Invest | ||
| October 23, 2014 | Be careful what investment advice you listen to | Why the tax on RRSP withdrawals is not all bad | Stock Buy backs and Corporate take-over bids |
| August 24, 2014 | Some long-term Winning Stocks that we identified in Advance | The Richest Man in Babylon | Wisdom from 1917 (Gordon Selfridge) and from 1957 (Philip Fisher) |
| June 8, 2014 | The $100,000 (per kid) RESP | Toronto Stock Exchange Valuation | Canadian Exchange Traded Funds |
| May 3, 2014 | The ten-bagger RRSP | The cost of Stock Options | Buffett / Berkshire’s portfolio composition |
| April 6, 2014 | Who gets the spoils of the economy | How to Get Rich | The Canadian Economy |
| February 8, 2014 | $10 Trades for everyone | How bad was the 2008 / 2009 crash? | Predicting the Stock Market |
| January 19, 2014 | How to get started investing | How much wealth will you accumulate through Investing? | The real meaning of Buffett’s rule number 1: “Don’t Lose Money” |
| January 6, 2014 | The Surprisingly High ROEs of large companies | Global ETFs | Why Warren Buffett Bought Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 |
| December 26, 2013 | Company Earnings versus Investor Returns | The Dupont ROE Formula and How Companies Make Money For Investors | Independent Stock Research |
| December 8, 2013 | Sent article on Asset Classes | and regarding the criticality of valuation ratios | |
| November 14, 2013 | Sent update of S&P 500 valuation | and DOW Jones valuation | |
| October 26, 2013 | The Ideal Investment | Can Tax on RRSP Withdrawals be avoided? | Recent Stock Returns |
| September 29, 2013 | Ignore World Economic Events? | No one Value ratio is either necessary nor sufficient to insure a good investment | Defined Benefit Pensions – Relief May be in Sight |
| July 28, 2013 | To understand stocks you must first understand business. There should be an adequate basis for every investment recommendation. | Can Stocks Possibly Provide a Decent Return with GDP at 2%? | Why are Investor Assets tied to their broker? |
| June 15, 2013 | Aesop and the first rule of finance and investing | A sustainable pension plan | Long-term bonds are a bad investment now? |
| May 4, 11, 19 and 25, 2013 | Updates to our Valuation Articles | Includes Canadian ETF list with P/E ratios and more | Includes Valuation of DOW, S&P500 and Toronto Indexes |
| April 7, 2013 | The Joy of Owning Companies | The American Housing and Credit markets improve | The Canadian Economy and the Canada Pension Plan |
| February 18, 2013 | Stock Traders Versus Investors | The Magic of our Organized Economic Systems | Leadership versus Systems |
| December 29, 2012 | Your Million Dollar Strategy | Has anyone made money in stocks since the year 2000? | Stocks Versus Bonds over the years |
| November 17, 2012 | Theoretical Returns from investing | Actual Returns from investing in the S&P 500 and corporate bonds | NHL Hockey as a business |
| Sept 9, 2012 | Watching the markets too closely is counter productive? | A Rational Approach to Investing | Competitive Advantage and High ROEs |
| July 1, 2012 | How Warren Buffett motivates his managers | Manipulated Markets? (Threat or opportunity?) | Dollar Laws |
| April 6, 2012 | Imagine. You. Rich. | The simple (but not easy) formula to get rich by investing | Warren Buffett super saver and investor |
| March 18, 2012 | Is it Too Late to Invest? | Should companies Buy or Rent their space needs? | How much Money goes “into” the market? |
| February 18, 2012 | The Magic of Compound Returns | The definition of Investing | People everywhere want the same thing – to consume! |
| January 14, 2012 | Wisdom of Warren Buffett (the irrationality of buying bonds at low interest rates and other topics) | Borrow to Invest? | |
| December 27, 2011 | How we beat the market again in 2011 | Why can’t Canadians lock in their mortgage rates for 25 years? | Canadian house prices likely to fall |
| October 9, 2011 | Fears, Fears and more Fears | A World of Stocks on Sale? | Global Exchange Traded Funds for You |
| Sept 3, 2011 | Time to Invest in Stocks? | Borrow to Invest? | Review of Basics |
| June 12, 2011 | Sino-Forest | Risk of Stocks | Exchange Traded Funds |
| March 5, 2011 | Getting Started Investing | Graduating from Mutual Funds to Stocks | RRSPs, RESPs and Tax Free Savings Accounts Explained |
| January 8, 2011 | What return can you expect your stock portfolio to provide? | Mental Models – how to quickly accept or reject economic claims | Could Buying Local lead to a new Stone Age |
| December 11, 2010 | Is The End Nigh? | Death of the U.S. dollar? | Does Gold Track Inflation? |
| November 7, 2010 | Past Stock Prices don’t matter | Warren Buffett and Investment Education | Editorial – public washrooms not private enough? |
| October 10, 2010 | How to Invest Intelligently in businesses through stocks | CMHC – bankruptcy candidate? | The High Cost of Free |
| September 11, 2010 | Invest in Long-term bonds or Stocks? | Dow Jones Industrial Average Valuation | United States Dollar to implode? |
| August 1, 2010 | Good is the Enemy of Great | What return can you expect from your stocks? | Remember, there’s a company under that stock |
| June 29, 2010 | The Upside of Down | Warren Buffett’s letters to shareholders | |
| May 29, 2010 | Invest based on corporate earnings not on Squiggles on a Chart | A World in debt? | |
| May 2, 2010 | Your RRSP – It’s Much Smaller than you Thought | The Canadian Economy | In Praise of Buying from Big Retailers |
| March 21, 2010 | Beware Mis-leading cash Dividend yields | High Canadian dollar emergency | Is U.S. stock market over-valued |
| February 13, 2010 | Slay the Retirement Savings Monster | The down-side of tax deferred savings plans | How to Make Money in Stocks |
| December 8, 2009 | Editor’s Investment Performance | Financial Independence | When Your Money Makes More Than You Do |
| November 29, 2009 | Market Direction is unknown | Canadian Mortgage Delinquencies | The burden of jumbo mortgages |
| September 6, 2009 | Banking and Risk | Businesses and Charity | How I Saved $8000 with a phone call. |
| August 9, 2009 | Best of times? or Worst of Times? | Stock Market Valuation | Warren Buffett and the recession |
| July 26, 2009 | Compound Returns | Performance | An Investment Fund |
| July 11, 2009 | The Joy of Wealth | When Opportunity Knocks… | Aging Population Data |
| June 20, 2009 | A Quadrupled RRSP | Dividend Reinvestment Plans | Free Report |
| April 25, 2009 | It Costs a lot of Money to be Poor! | House Wealth has Vaporized? | Borrow to Invest? |
| April 4, 2009 | How Investors Bought High and Sold Low | How to Get Help Selecting Stocks | The Canadian Economy |
| March 1, 2009 | Warren Buffett’s 2008 letter | Is Buy and Hold Dead? | Stocks versus Bonds |
| January 25, 2009 | Stocks versus Government Bonds | Budget Wish List | Housing Prices |
| November 8, 2008 | Should You Invest Now? | Stock Earnings Versus GDP | S&P 500 Historic P/E Ratios |
| September 28, 2008 | Credit Crisis – What’s At Stake? | How Do Banks Work? | Who Gets Bailed Out? |
| August 22, 2008 | Are You Mr. Market? | Portfolio Management | Market Direction |
| July 6, 2008 | Market Declines – Problem or Opportunity? | Buying Companies at Book Value | Tax Free Savings Account |
| June 1, 2008 | It costs a lot of Money to be Rich | Scams | Stocks We analyse |
| May 4, 2008 | MicroSoft and Yahoo bid | Finding Hidden Earnings | Car prices dropping |
| April 5, 2008 | It All Starts With Saving Money | Law of Unintended Consequences | Corrupted IPO practices |
| March 29, 2008 | Competitive Advantage | Regression to the Mean | Market Outlook |
| March 2, 2008 | Warren Buffett’s 2007 letter | Characteristics of Attractive Businesses | Realistic Market Expectations |
| February 9, 2008 | Buy Stocks Now? | Stock Index Valuations | Mortgage Life Insurance |
| January 20, 2008 | Revenge of the Procrastinators | Off-Balance Sheet liability is Oxymoron? | Price to Book Value Ratio |
| January 6, 2008 | Outlook for 2008 | Companies that grow like snowballs | Stupid Banker Tricks |
| November 3, 2007 | High Dollar Emergency | Buy U.S. Dollars? | Sell Manufacturers? |
| October 21, 2007 | Build Your Portfolio like Buffett | Information is more valuable than products | Are we leaving debts to the next generation? |
| October 7, 2007 | Realistic Returns from Stocks | High Canadian Dollar | |
| September 23, 2007 | Bank Exchange Rate fees excessive? | Canadians are now way richer in U.S. dollars | Can’t Beat this Market Down with a Stick? |
| September 18, 2007 | Canadian Dollar soars! | ||
| September 1, 2007 | In praise of eBay | Look for toll-booth businesses | Invest like Warren Buffett |
| August 12, 2007 | Market Direction? | The long-term arbitrage | Exchange rates and implications |
| July 29, 2007 | A lulu LEMON of a Stock? | Price Differentiation | A Rapidly Aging Canada |
| July 14, 2007 | Getting Rich in Stocks is Simple, but not Easy | Conrad Black | True Independence |
| July 2, 2007 | Stock Market Direction | Canadian dollar fluctuations | Pension versus a self-managed pot of money |
| May 27, 2007 | Don’t hope to Get Rich, Plan for it | Magic of Compound Interest and Returns | Impact of Higher Dollar |
| May 13, 2007 | Are you Getting Enough Return? | Asset Allocation and the all-stocks approach |
Non-GAAP or Non-Sense? |
| April 3, 2007 | Is Preservation of Capital dangerous to your Wealth? | Does Asset Allocation really Explain 90% of returns? | At what rate will Your Money Grow? |
| March 4, 2007 | Risk Tolerance | Insurance Needs | Mutual Funds versus ETFs |
| February 4, 2007 | 3 words of Investing Advice of incredible value | Can You Take the Heat of being in Stocks? | Scams to Avoid |
| January 13, 2007 | Goal Achievement | Lottery Mentality | Income Trusts and taxes |
| December 21, 2006 | Your Net Worth | ||
| November 12, 2006 | Is Competition Working? | Don’t accept mediocre returns | Great Companies Of Canada |
| October 6, 2006 | Back to Basics (ROE, P/E) | Paradoxes of the Market | Interest Rates |
| Sept 10, 2006 |
Return to expect on stock indexes | Return versus GDP | Earnings versus GDP |
| August 16, 2006 | Making Money in Flat Markets | Compound Returns | Why there are few Sell Ratings |
| July 29, 2006 | Get rich in stocks | Make Time Your Friend | Compound Growth |
| June 28, 2006 | Buffett gives away $37 billion | Beware hidden commissions on U.S. stocks | Accepting higher volatility may increase returns |
| June 9, 2006 | High dollar | Dealing with a market decline | Gasoline taxes |
| April 16, 2006 | Interest Rates | Stock Option Expenses | The Abundance Mentality |
| April 8, 2006 | Financial Engineering | Boring can be good… | Subscription based businesses |
| March 8, 2006 | Trust | Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders | Why your return matters more in later years |
| February 15, 2006 | Dual Class Shares | A dollar worth $20? | The Value Trap |
| January 15, 2006 | Strange interest rates | Mortgage strategy | Will stocks increase in 2006? |
| December 17, 2005 | Copy from the Best | Outlook for 2006 | Pension Problems |
| November 20, 2005 | TSX Segment Analysis | Behavioral Finance | Should you invest in stocks? |
| November 8, 2005 | Stock Market versus Casino | Strategy to Get Rich | Avoid the Victim Mentality |
| October 23, 2005 | Income Trusts | Proxy Voting Problem | Finance/ Accounting Education – value for money |
| September 29, 2005 | Good Industry characteristics and bad | Stop Loss Orders | Regression to the Mean |
| September 4, 2005 | Hurricane Impact | Impact of currency fluctuations | Earnings often not correlated with share price |
| August 20, 2005 | Income Trusts | Investment Approaches | No-brainer Investing |
| August 4, 2005 | Brand Power | Risk Adjusted Returns? | Capital gains on bonds signal lower returns ahead |
| July 18, 2005 | Free Trade | Floating Currencies | Paper Currency worry? |
| June 30, 2005 | Historic stock versus bond returns | Are stocks riskier than bonds? | Are stock indexes overvalued at this time? |
| May 30, 2005 | Exchange Traded Funds | Not all Commodity businesses are bad | |
| May 2005 | The Only Two Sources of Money in the Market | The Folly of Ethical Investing | The Joy of Owning Familiar Companies |
| April 2005 | How to Get Started | Investing in Bonds | Thinly Traded Stocks |
| February 2005 | Investing in Bonds | Convertible Bonds | Free Trade |
| January 2005 | Successful Investing | Corporate Charity | Advisor Conflict of Interest |
| December 2004 | One Up on Wall Street | Understanding IPOs | Currency Risk |
| October 2004 | How to Lose money thru trading | Gold is no Inflation Hedge | Sports and Capitalism |
| September 2004 | To Succeed in Life – Copy from the Best | Trading Tips | How to Pick Stocks |
| August 2004 | The Insurance Industry | Understanding P/E Ratio | Short Selling |
| July 2004 | Casual Dining Industry | American Responsiveness | Politics and Business Editorial |
| June 2004 | Uncommon Profits | Fantastic Business Model | Lock in profits? |
| April 2004 | Insider Trading | Future business Trends | |
| March 2004 | Be Rich, not just Right | Exchange traded Funds | |
| February 2004 | Low risk, high return | Income Trust Phenomena | Trading Psychology |
| January 2004 | Conservation of wealth | Why RIM was smart to issue shares | |
| Dec 2003 | Time-specific material only | ||
| Nov 22, 2003 | Beware Greedy Managers | Beware Bankruptcy candidates | Pension Concerns |
| Nov 2, 2003 | Financial Services – the world’s best industry? | Trading Strategies | |
| October 2003 | Time-specific material only | ||
| September 2003 | Time-specific material only | ||
| August 22, 2003 | Time-specific material only | ||
| August 3, 2003 | Warren Buffett and the Washington Post (129 Bagger and counting!) | How to Invest in Stocks | Don’t be a “Ninny And Pension Plan Woes |
| July 2003 | Time-specific material only | ||
| June 4, 2003 | Winners Win | ||
| June 21, 2003 | Warren Buffett investing style | ||
| May 10, 2003 | Warren Buffett investing | How earnings can be manipulated | |
| March 2003 | Warren Buffett letter | ||
| February 16, 2003 | Investments goals and risk | Fixed Income versus Growth in RRSP | |
| January 11, 2003 | Do as the rich do | ||
| January 25, 2003 | Air Canada and goofy management | ||
| Nov 30, 2002 | Income Trusts | ||
| Nov 21, 2002 | Pension Problems Loom | ||
| Nov 10, 2002 | Portfolio Management | ||
| October 27, 2002 | Realistic Returns | Lessons from Bonds | |
| September 28, 2002 | Earnings Growth versus return | Markets are always volatile – get over it! | |
| August 2002 | Cash-flow definition | Quality of assets | |
| July 7, 2002 | Definition of cash flow | ||
| May 24, 2002 | How to succeed in business and life | ||
| May 11, 2002 | Smarter company growth strategy | ||
| April 2002 | Growth and Stock price | ||
| June 22, 2002 | What Works on Wall Street | ||
| June 8, 2002 | Nortel | Income tax | |
| Mar 23, 2002 | Why Buy Stocks that are fully valued? | Preservation of Capital | |
| Mar 9, 2002 | Smart growth versus Stupid Growth | How to Pick Stocks | |
| Feb 23, 2002 | Are all Stocks “Holds”? | All stocks are risky | Goofy Management |
| Feb 9, 2002 | Adjusted Earnings | Enron | P/E expansion and contraction |
| Jan 26, 2002 | How to identify an attractive industry | Death of the family farm | Canadian Loonie |
| Jan 11, 2002 | Accounting earnings versus adjusted earnings | Dilution and anit-dilution | |
| Dec 27, 2001 | Value Line | ||
| Dec 8, 2001 | Efficient Markets? | ||
| Nov 24, 2001 | How the market creates and destroys wealth | Cash Cows and Sick Cows | Money “in” the market? |
| Nov 11, 2001 | This web site as a business | Price to Value Ratio | |