Peter Guay

I came across an interesting article recently about the Norwegian Oil Fund, the largest sovereign wealth fund on the planet. The Norwegians certainly showed admirable foresight in setting up the fund after oil was discovered in the North Sea in 1969, according to the article, which summarizes a talk given by Anton Mork, an economics professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The article, Passive vs. Active: Nothing to fear but fear itself, debunked the idea that the huge and growing popularity of passive investing is making markets less efficient and creating the conditions for a crash.

It may be bad memories from last October coming to the surface, but I’ve been sensing more nervousness about the stock market in recent weeks. You’ll recall the markets went through a bad patch around this time in 2018, with the S&P/TSX Composite down 6.3% in October and another 5.4% in December. South of the border, the S&P 500 plunged 6.8% in October and 9% in December.

The growth of passive investing shows no signs of letting up and neither do the warnings about it from people who earn their living actively managing investments.

The dot.com bubble seems pretty far away, especially given how much has gone on since 9/11, the financial crisis, the election of Donald Trump to name just a few of momentous events. Nevertheless, there is much to learn for today’s investors from the late 90s mania that sent Internet stocks rocketing to the stratosphere.

Last month, the CEOs of 181 U.S. corporations released a statement committing to a vision of business that is bigger than the single-minded pursuit of profit.

After a difficult year-end in 2018, stock markets have sprung back in the first half of 2019, fully recovering from the decline in the previous year, and then some. As always, stock markets regularly defy the pundits and refuse to follow predictions.

With low interest rates, fewer defined benefit pension plans and longer life expectancies, more people than ever are concerned about outliving their savings in retirement.

A client recently asked me about the differences between the regular investment funds we use and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funds.

We all want to leave the world better off than when we arrived. The growing interest in Responsible Investing in Canada and around the world clearly reflects that desire.