Investment
Growing Wellington-Altus tops investment advisory rankings – Winnipeg Free Press
After just three years in business and in the first year of its eligibility, Wellington-Altus Private Wealth was rated the No. 1 investment advisory firm in Canada.
The ranking, produced by the publication Investment Executive, surveys financial advisors at the 14 largest firms in the country including the Big Six banks’ investment firms.
Wellington-Altus’ score was the highest by far.
“Not all firms were equal,” Investment Executive said. “The gap between the… ratings for the top- and lowest-rated firms was significantly wider than a year ago (at 2.7 in 2020 versus 1.9 in 2019), and it seems that a clearly communicated firm strategy can make or break a rating.”
Wellington-Altus racked up an average score of 9.6. Only three others broke 9.0.
With a focus on technology and an aggressive acquisition strategy, the firm has grown to about 22 offices, 250 employees and $10 billion in assets under administration. The firm has been particularly successful attracting top producers from other firms across the country.
Founded by Charlie Spiring, the Winnipeg broker who founded and grew Wellington West capital and sold it to National Bank Financial in 2011, Wellington-Altus is on an even faster growth trajectory than Wellington West ever was.
“It took Wellington West 18 years to get to $10 billion,” Spiring said. “This time we did it in three years and with a bear market.”
But the COVID-induced market collapse in March has been followed by a significant spike in April.
“I started in 1981 and it was an awful market that year,” Spiring said. “I have been through several of them. I do my best work here.”
And Spiring said the irony is that April has been the best month on the markets since 1987.
“It’s never been easier to make money,” he said. “No one seems to give a hoot about the bounce back we’ve had.”
Advisors were asked how they rate their firm on more than two dozen categories and Wellington-Altus was the top ranking firm in just about every one.
“We run an enviable book and we are doing it in Winnipeg,” Spiring said. “Everyone keeps telling me I have to do it in Toronto. How can we have the best back office, the best service, the best technologies and we are in a backwater called Winnipeg? It’s a really great thing.”
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Martin Cash
Reporter
Martin Cash has been writing a column and business news at the Free Press since 1989. Over those years he’s written through a number of business cycles and the rise and fall (and rise) in fortunes of many local businesses.
Investment
Private equity gears up for potential National Football League investments – Financial Times
Standard Digital
Weekend Print + Standard Digital
$75 per month
Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.
Investment
Investment Opportunities With Hot Inflation, Higher-for-Longer Interest Rates – Bloomberg
Like a bad houseguest, hotter-than-expected inflation continues to linger in the US.
Traders had hoped by now the Federal Reserve would be free to start cutting interest rates — boosting rate-sensitive stocks and unlocking a largely frozen real estate market. Instead, stubborn price growth has some on Wall Street rethinking whether the central bank will lower rates at all this year.
Investment
Want to Outperform 88% of Professional Fund Managers? Buy This 1 Investment and Hold It Forever. – The Motley Fool
You don’t have to be a stock market genius to outperform most pros.
You might not think it’s possible to outperform the average Wall Street professional with just a single investment. Fund managers are highly educated and steeped in market data. They get paid a lot of money to make smart investments.
But the truth is, most of them may not be worth the money. With the right steps, individual investors can outperform the majority of active large-cap mutual fund managers over the long run. You don’t need a doctorate or MBA, and you certainly don’t need to follow the everyday goings-on in the stock market. You just need to buy a single investment and hold it forever.
That’s because 88% of active large-cap fund managers have underperformed the S&P 500 index over the last 15 years thru Dec. 31, 2023, according to S&P Global’s most recent SPIVA (S&P Indices Versus Active) scorecard. So if you buy a simple S&P 500 index fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -0.23%), chances are that your investment will outperform the average active mutual fund in the long run.
Why is it so hard for fund managers to outperform the S&P 500?
It’s a good bet that the average fund manager is hardworking and well-trained. But there are at least two big factors working against active fund managers.
The first is that institutional investors make up roughly 80% of all trading in the U.S. stock market — far higher than it was years ago when retail investors dominated the market. That means a professional investor is mostly trading shares with another manager who is also very knowledgeable, making it much harder to gain an edge and outperform the benchmark index.
The more basic problem, though, is that fund managers don’t just need to outperform their benchmark index. They need to beat the index by a wide enough margin to justify the fees they charge. And that reduces the odds that any given large-cap fund manager will be able to outperform an S&P 500 index fund by a significant amount.
The SPIVA scorecard found that just 40% of large-cap fund managers outperformed the S&P 500 in 2023 once you factor in fees. So if the odds of outperforming fall to 40-60 for a single year, you can see how the odds of beating the index consistently over the long run could go way down.
What Warren Buffett recommends over any other single investment
Warren Buffett is one of the smartest investors around, and he can’t think of a single better investment than an S&P 500 index fund. He recommends it even above his own company, Berkshire Hathaway.
In his 2016 letter to shareholders, Buffett shared a rough calculation that the search for superior investment advice had cost investors, in aggregate, $100 billion over the previous decade relative to investing in a simple index fund.
Even Berkshire Hathaway holds two small positions in S&P 500 index funds. You’ll find shares of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY) in Berkshire’s quarterly disclosures. Both are great options for index investors, offering low expense ratios and low tracking errors (a measure of how closely an ETF price follows the underlying index). There are plenty of other solid index funds you could buy, but either of the above is an excellent option as a starting point.
Adam Levy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
-
Investment23 hours ago
UK Mulls New Curbs on Outbound Investment Over Security Risks – BNN Bloomberg
-
Sports21 hours ago
Auston Matthews denied 70th goal as depleted Leafs lose last regular-season game – Toronto Sun
-
Media2 hours ago
DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation. – Barron's
-
Business20 hours ago
BC short-term rental rules take effect May 1 – CityNews Vancouver
-
Media4 hours ago
Trump Media alerts Nasdaq to potential market manipulation from 'naked' short selling of DJT stock – CNBC
-
Art19 hours ago
Collection of First Nations art stolen from Gordon Head home – Times Colonist
-
Investment20 hours ago
Benjamin Bergen: Why would anyone invest in Canada now? – National Post
-
Tech22 hours ago
Save $700 Off This 4K Projector at Amazon While You Still Can – CNET