Articles

If you feel like doing a some light reading about investment strategy, we’ve included below a selection of articles that we have written for the Globe & Mail.


Learning to think probabilistically is the key to finding success in investing

In discussions about artificial intelligence, we often hear the question: Why do neural networks, designed to think like us, generate…
Continue reading

Tags:

In investing, look at the jockey as well as the horse

This spring marked the 50th anniversary of a great sporting event – Secretariat’s Triple Crown win. Photos taken near the…
Continue reading

Tags:

How to shift from investor to forecaster

Are you a good investor? Or, to ask exactly the same question differently, how good are you at predicting the…
Continue reading

Tags:

Just starting to invest? Follow these steps for long-term success in building your wealth

The beginning of the new year is an ideal time to update your financial plans and, if you are in…
Continue reading

Tags:

Why putting the investment odds in your favour is so hard

Norman Rothery’s ranking this past weekend of the 250 largest stocks on the TSX pointed out the advantages of tilting…
Continue reading

Tags:

Untangling luck and skill in investing

What is the ratio of luck to skill in the following pursuits: picking lottery tickets, running a race and investing?…
Continue reading

Tags:

When it comes to investing, time trumps rate of return

In 2005, the novelist David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech at Ohio’s Kenyon College. He began: “There are these…
Continue reading

Tags:

As stocks nosedive, don’t lose sight of the difference between price and value

A cynic is one “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” This comment, by a character…
Continue reading

Tags:

Why ‘stay the course’ is good advice for investors

In a thought-provoking article last month, Globe and Mail contributor John De Goey questioned the common investing advice to “stay the course”…
Continue reading

Tags:

How to go about pursuing the perfect portfolio

The recently published In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio, by Andrew Lo and Stephen Foerster, reviews the work of 10 of the…
Continue reading

Tags:

Three errors every investor, big or small, needs to avoid

At Longview, we recently recorded a decade of annualized investment returns of more than 17 per cent in our global…
Continue reading

Tags:

Addressing cognitive biases will help investors net better results

Many studies have shown that, after fees, the long-term results achieved by the majority of professional investment firms are below…
Continue reading

Tags:

Value vs growth investing – a distinction without a difference

The person most responsible for China’s extraordinary economic growth over the past 50 years is Deng Xiaoping, who led that…
Continue reading

Tags:

Steel resolve: A hands-off approach to investment gains

In Ian McEwan’s recent novel, Machines Like Me, the main character buys an advanced robot that winds up competing with him…
Continue reading

Tags:

Why is the U.S. stock market up when the economy is shrinking?

In economics, interest rates act as gravity behaves in the physical world. At all times, in all markets, in all…
Continue reading

Tags:

Compound interest may not be Einstein’s eighth wonder, but it is a powerful tool for investors

If you invest a sum of money at 10 per cent for five years, you will multiply your wealth by…
Continue reading

Tags:

The argument against holding bonds: Your portfolio is better off without them over the long haul

Studies have shown that, when it comes to investing, most people make decisions based on intuition rather than reasoning. They…
Continue reading

Tags:

Blending fundamental, quantitative approaches can boost outperformance odds

Studies of investment returns reveal a startling paradox. Over time, the vast majority of professional investors will produce an after-fee…
Continue reading

Tags:

In investing, you need to understand the importance of time

When people talk about investing in stocks, a comment often heard begins with: “The most important thing is …” How…
Continue reading

Tags:

Why a do-nothing approach to investing is often the right way to go

Have you ever come across an article in the financial press recommending a do-nothing or “couch potato” stock portfolio? Typically,…
Continue reading

Tags:

The struggle to invest rationally

Richard Thaler won this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics. This is the third time in the past 15 years that…
Continue reading

Tags:

The folly of trying to time the market

Is now a good time to invest in the stock market?  When asked this question, most market commentators respond with…
Continue reading

Tags:

Putting the odds in your favour when investing

At a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Warren Buffett was asked how he managed to be such a successful investor. He…
Continue reading

Tags:

Why 1-per-centers should not live on dividends alone

What will 2016 bring for Canadian investors? Two obvious trends will be a higher percentage of our aging population living…
Continue reading

Tags:

Take your time when choosing an advisor

The Globe and Mail has published several insightful articles on how to invest successfully in stocks. However, most people would…
Continue reading

Tags:

Warning: Investment fees can be higher than they appear

In the investment world, it is essential to distinguish between what is knowable and what is not. The returns that…
Continue reading

Tags:

Refining the search for growth, value

What are we looking for? Growing companies with a history of high returns on invested capital (ROIC) that are also…
Continue reading

Tags:

Predictable companies are long-term hits

Twitter Inc.’s recent IPO has many people talking about how its business will evolve in coming years. The one thing…
Continue reading

Tags:

In search of a competitive advantage

What are we looking for? Growing Canadian companies with a history of high returns on invested capital (ROIC) that are…
Continue reading

Tags:

Maximize investment returns while minimizing taxes

Today’s media are full of advice for the retail investor. At least 99 per cent of that advice relates to…
Continue reading

Tags:

Overconfidence: the Achilles heel for investors

Several years ago I was discussing with a colleague the well-known strategy of buying companies with low price-to-earnings ratios. He…
Continue reading

Tags:

If you want to beat the average, try what works on Wall Street: discipline

The Globe and Mail’s Strategy Lab, which pits growth, value and other stock-picking styles against one another, raises the essential…
Continue reading

Tags:

Lessons from the few who beat the market

Having trouble deciding whether you should worry more about the European banking crisis, the U.S. debt cliff or the slowdown…
Continue reading

Tags: