The following article first appeared in the ACPM Observer in November 2024 (original here) and has been republished with permission. It was based on a presentation Marc Williams made to the PIAC conference in Victoria in October 2024. Occam's razor is the problem-solving maxim that when considering two competing ideas to explain a...

Albert Einstein once said, “Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” This is very high praise from one of history’s greatest minds and it may lead you to wonder “What is compound interest and how do I ensure I’m on...

On the second floor of London’s National Gallery, near Trafalgar Square, hangs an oil-on-oak painting, The Ambassadors. The 1533 masterpiece by Hans Holbein portrays two aristocrats contemplating an assortment of curious items: tokens of wealth and heritage, works of science and art. Meanwhile in the foreground, a skull, a Memento Mori symbolizing mortality...

Warren Buffett is often described as the ultimate value investor. The “Oracle of Omaha” certainly deserves that moniker but what he and Berkshire Hathaway practice is much more nuanced than simply buying cheap stocks. Indeed, in his 2024 Shareholder Letter, Buffett reflects on an early conversation with his late, great, partner of many...

This article was originally published by O'Sullivan Estate Lawyers and has been re-published here with permission. Clients like to say that they don’t have any personal effects of value. While they likely mean monetary value, they are overlooking the sentimental value these items may have. Fights over estates are not always about the...

Warren Buffett is often described as the ultimate value investor. The “Oracle of Omaha” certainly deserves that moniker but what he and Berkshire Hathaway practice is much more nuanced than simply buying cheap stocks. Indeed, in his 2024 Shareholder Letter, Buffett reflects on an early conversation with his late, great, partner of many...

We’ve written and spoken several times in recent years about the pros and cons of including private assets in portfolios (here and here and here), as we launched two infrastructure funds and a diversified private assets fund, for clients. As with all we do, we have strived for balance in our positioning of...

Leith Wheeler has engaged Canada Gives, a Canadian foundation that offers Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), to provide our clients with an effective philanthropic and tax planning tool. The following article outlines the potential benefits of the DAF structure. Donor Advised Funds are an exciting innovation in charitable giving that offers individual donors many...

It has been a volatile few years in capital markets. Both equity and fixed income portfolios posted strong returns in 2023, with significant help from a fourth-quarter rally that boosted modest (non-US) equity returns and saved bond markets from another negative year. The year also provided a significant turnaround from 2022, when investors...

While the internet has democratized access to all human knowledge (and opinions), it has simultaneously created endless opportunities for fraudsters to separate trusting or uninformed citizens from their hard-earned money. Unfortunately, odds are you and your family will be targets at least once in your lifetimes, so we put together this resource to...

This edition of Quiet Counsel focuses on measuring value creation through the magic of Return on Equity (ROE). In the short term, sentiment can help boost the price the market is willing to pay for a given set of earnings but long term, without a demonstrated track record of being able to grow...

Living a long life is only fun if you have a quality of life in which you can move around, think clearly, look after yourself, and pursue your interests. A long life span is best accompanied by a long health span. It’s remarkable that 150 years ago, the average lifespan was only about...