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23
Jan

Retirement – Are you Prepared?

Whether you are decades away from retirement or if it is just around the corner, being aware of the planning opportunities will take the fear and uncertainty out of this major life event.

Blue sky your retirement plans to get clarity

As you approach retirement, preparation and planning become extremely important to help ensure that this period of your life will be as comfortable as possible.   If you are like most, you have spent considerable time contemplating the type of retirement you wish for yourself.

  • Is extensive travel your dream?
  • Do you have an expensive hobby or two you want to take up?
  • Will you stop working totally or continue to do some work on your own terms using your life experience and skills to supplement your income.
  • Will you remain in your house or will you downsize to smaller, easier to care for premises? Or perhaps housing that will be more compatible with the challenges of aging?

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22
Jan

Cardinal Quarterly – Jan 2017

Market Outlook – After a weak 2015 and a dismal start to 2016, global markets ended up doing reasonably well with Canada being a star performer. The fact that oil prices increased by 70% from their 2016 lows certainly helped, but so too did the continued strength of the U.S. economy. This allowed the market to shrug off concerns of slowing Chinese growth earlier in the year as well as surprise negative events like Brexit. Markets even jumped after Donald Trump’s election victory even though up to the election they had been falling every time he inched ahead in the polls. There is a saying that bull markets climb a wall of worry as they move higher and 2016 certainly fits the bill.

Click here to read more:  Cardinal Quarterly – January 2017

22
Jan

Provisus – Investment Review Q4 2016

MARKET COMMENT – Dramatic twists and turns in politics, economics and finance have turned 2016 on its head. Extreme events have bombarded investors virtually every day of late but thankfully they appear to be isolated occurrences. Still, the potential blight on the global economic and financial markets (i.e. political uncertainty; the steep increases in bond yields; a potential hard landing in China; and trade wars) could be looked upon with trepidation during the next year. This would be a very wrong outlook as a bevy of market stimulating activities are just over the horizon.

Click here to read more – Investment Review – Q4 2016

17
Jan

DM Monthly Newsletter – Jan 2017

IN EQUITY MANAGEMENT, SIZE CAN MATTER – Investment management is one of the new businesses in which size can be a detriment. Manufacturers with great scale are able to undercut competition on project bids, huge retailers can secure lower prices from product makers by buying in volume, and large pharma companies often maintain their edge by snapping up smaller competitors with successful or promising innovations. In managing portfolios, though, being big can be a significant hindrance to performance, especially in Canada where our equity markets lack the liquidity of large exchangers. In opening a portfolio position, a manager must not only be sure that the required number of shares can be purchased without flooding the market and driving up price, he or she must think about the possible future exit point and whether there are typically enough shares traded to absorb the holding in a timely fashion.

Click here to read more: DM-Monthly-Report-Jan-17