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More Articles by Tom Bradley
2020 was a year of extremes for investors, but it shouldn't change your approach going forward
For investors, 2020 had a bit of everything, from the fastest bear market in history to one of the most impressive recoveries ever, and a whole lot in between. Investor emotions also covered the gamut, from outright panic (March) to complacency and ...
Why keeping a few simple investment resolutions for a few days can change your outlook for a few years
New Year’s resolutions feel good when you’re making them, but rarely have an impact on behaviour since they don’t tend to last beyond the first few days or weeks of the year. Gyms are the poster child for this lack of staying power. Right after ...
This year investors had their cake and ate it too. Will there be consequences in 2021?
Last week, DoorDash went public and its stock soared. On the first day of trading, it closed at US$190, 86 per cent above issue price. The next day, Airbnb repeated the feat, closing at US$144 (after trading as high as US$165), more than double its ...
Why investors should be wary of what's baked into their cakes
“Baked in the cake” is a commonly used investment phrase that refers to the ingredients, or assumptions, that go into a stock price. For example: “Company ABC is trading at 100 times earnings. It looks like its sales growth is baked in the cake.” ...
Gold can be whatever you want it to be — which is why you should treat it with caution
Gold is back in vogue. The price has risen from US$1,200 two years ago to US$1,900 today. Gold ETFs have grown rapidly, and gold miners have rivalled tech giants for stock market leadership. I think of gold as a chameleon. It fits ...
Why investors should spend less time trying to avoid the dips and more time preparing for them
Investment math is pretty simple. Over the long run, stocks beat bonds and bonds beat cash. There’s one catch, however, that complicates things. Stocks don’t follow a straight, steady path. Even a diversified portfolio of stocks, that trends up ...
When it comes to investing, don't believe everything you see on TV
Interest in investing is hitting new highs. Discount brokers are flooded with applications and trading volumes are surging. Despite this renewed focus, some misunderstandings persist about the realities of investing. To illustrate, let’s ...
Why U.S. election results are trivial compared to these factors that will drive your portfolio returns
I really don’t want to write about the U.S. election, but I feel I must. It comes up in almost every client meeting. Why the reluctance? Well, there’s no other way to put it — the U.S. election is seriously overhyped when it comes to investing. It ...
If stock valuations seem out of whack, blame the slow burn of a declining discount rate
Markets usually react to news in a millisecond. There are some market factors, however, that have a slower burn. Prices take longer to adjust because a trend creeps up on us, runs counter to our previous experience, or is expected to return to ...
The fifth risk of investing: Beware of complexity and the costs that come with it
In our household, the political discussions are vigorous. Trump, Trudeau, deficits and pipelines are regularly in the mix. For me, however, one of the biggest issues facing society today is increasing complexity. How do we cope with the complexity ...
![['William Sandeson arrives at provincial court in Halifax on Oct. 27, 2015. Sandeson is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Taylor Samson, a fellow Dalhousie University student, who was last seen on Aug. 15 and whose body has not been found.']](/media/photologue/photos/cache/william-sandeson-2972388_thumbnail.jpg)
