Market Research

Almost 10 years after the 2009 stock market low, many investors are wondering whether another bear market is around the corner. Unfortunately, no one can predict the exact timing of a bear market. This being said, if you’re an investor with long-term goals, it’s in your best interest to adopt a strategic framework to guide your investment choices.

PWL Capital has been producing its own projections of future stock and bond returns for the last five years. These projections are a key input in preparing financial plans for our clients. The bedrock of these projections is the estimated rate of inflation.

Controversy continues to swirl around the Ontario government’s decision to torpedo a proposed ban on deferred sales charges (DSC) on mutual funds. A few weeks ago, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli shocked regulators and investor advocates alike by coming out against the ban. Not surprisingly, some big names in the mutual fund industry have cheered the decision.

The current trend in the world of investment funds is “smart beta.” The approach meets investors’ growing demand for funds that generate returns above the benchmark indices, without the exorbitant fees generally associated with traditional management involving the analysis of individual securities. In short, smart beta suggests that it can add value even after deduction of costs.

Fees are important to investors. In most cases, lower fees increase the likelihood of a positive long-term investment outcome. Index funds globally have seen enormous growth in the past decade. That growth (and the competition to capture it) have resulted in fees literally going to zero on some index funds.

One of the biggest myths about passive investing is that ETFs and indexing will cause stock market bubbles. The thinking is simplistic: since index funds have to buy all companies in the stock market, they have to blindly buy stocks whose prices have gone up, right? This makes stock market bubbles worse, right?

In my previous blog post, I talked about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, why investors are interested and the different ways to implement it in your portfolio. This naturally raises the next question: how rigorous is the ESG research and does it actually differentiate and reward good from bad behavior?

What’s the worst month for stock market returns? If you said October, you would be wrong, but no one would blame you. Many people associate October with stock market misery because of three infamous crashes that occurred during the month—the Great Crash of 1929, the Black Monday crash of 1987 and the financial crisis crash of 2008.

I’m sometimes asked for my opinion about the portfolio of an investor who calls on the services of my employer, PWL Capital. Today’s blog post covers some of the most common flaws of the portfolios I’ve analyzed over the past few months. Do you recognize certain features of your own portfolio?

It’s been a grim few months for the cause of investor protection in Canada. The latest blow came from the Ontario government’s shameful decision to oppose a ban on deferred sales charges (DSC) on mutual funds.