Artificial Intelligence goes Radical with Jordan Jacobs on The Unlimited Podcast

The excitement around artificial intelligence has gone “radical”. Our guest believes that in time, AI will “eat all software”. And PWC says AI will contribute over USD $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030.* On this episode of The Unlimited Podcast — with the assistance of ChatGPT — Brian is joined by Jordan Jacobs, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Radical Ventures, a leading venture capital firm focused on investing in transformational AI.

Jordan is also a founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, member of the University of Waterloo President’s International Advisory Board, a Director of Tennis Canada, former Chief AI Officer of TD Bank Group, and was a Co-Founder & CEO of Layer 6 AI and Milq Inc. Jordan was also the Founder & CEO of SpyBox Media and spent over a decade as a lawyer specializing in entertainment, media, technology, and sports.

Brian and Jordan discuss Jordan’s path to AI venture capital, what AI actually is, how AI is being used today, how it may be used in the future, and much more…including a ChatGPT demo.

Brian also asks Jordan about his time working with Elton John and Elvis Costello, and his experience meeting Roger Federer. If you’re a music fan or a tennis player, then this episode is (also) for you!

This episode can be found here or find us in your favourite podcasting app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.

If you like what you hear, please don’t hesitate to rate us kindly. And if there are particular topics you’d like covered, please let us know.

 

Picture credit: https://radical.vc/jordan-jacobs/ & https://labs.openai.com/

*https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/data-and-analytics/publications/artificial-intelligence-study.html

For Your Ears Only…Bonds with Richard Usher-Jones on The Unlimited Podcast

After a difficult 2022 for bonds, higher interest rates have created increased opportunities for fixed income investors. So to kick off 2023, this episode of The Unlimited Podcast will cover “Bonds 101” and opportunities in fixed income investing with Richard Usher-Jones, Portfolio Manager at Canso Investment Counsel.

Richard has 30+ years of industry experience, achieving his Canadian Investment Manager (CIM) designation, and is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI). Since 2009, Richard has been a Portfolio Manager with Canso, as well as the President of Lysander Funds. Canso manages over $35 billion in assets, specializing in fixed income.

In this episode, Brian and Richard go back to basics to explain bonds and how they work, who issues bonds, bond ratings, and much more. They also review Canso’s approach to fixed income investing and opportunities Richard is seeing in the current environment.

This episode can be found here or find us in your favourite podcasting app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.

If you like what you hear, please don’t hesitate to rate us kindly. And if there are particular topics you’d like covered, please let us know.

 

Picture credit: https://www.lysanderfunds.com/our-team/

My First Job: Ginsler Wealth CEO Featured in HBS Alumni Magazine

Hot Dog Employee on the Phone

Ginsler Wealth’s Founder & CEO, Brian Ginsler, was recently featured in Harvard Business School’s December 2020 Alumni Bulletin Magazine, in an article showcasing stories of HBS alumni first jobs and key lessons learned.

The piece, called “Dog Days” recounts Brian’s first job as a hot dog vendor and some of the trouble he got into!

To read about the origins of Brian’s passion for customer service (and barbecued hot dogs) check out the full article.

 

Illustration by: Ross MacDonald

Farmland Investing with Joelle Faulkner on The Unlimited Podcast

In this episode of The Unlimited Podcast, Ginsler Wealth CEO, Brian Ginsler, speaks with Joelle Faulkner, Founder and CEO of Area One Farms.

Joelle is a multi-generation Canadian farmer. She is a Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright Scholar and obtained degrees in Engineering, Business, and Law from Western University, Oxford University and Stanford University. She was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Canadian Private Equity Summit Emerging Leader, EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women, and Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women: Future Leaders.

In 2011, Joelle combined her finance expertise with her farming knowledge and founded Area One Farms – which now has $450 million of committed and invested capital, and owns 140,000 acres of farmland in partnership with 28 farm partners in 4 provinces.

Brian and Joelle discuss what life is like for farmers today, the current global climate for farming, why farmers need partners like Area One Farms, and why investors should think about farmland as an asset class for their portfolios.

This episode can be found here or find us in your favourite podcasting app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.

If you like what you hear, please don’t hesitate to rate us kindly. And if there are particular topics you’d like covered, please let us know.

 

Picture credit: https://areaonefarms.ca/

Cybersecurity Best Practices with Daniel Zborovski on The Unlimited Podcast

We are releasing this podcast on Halloween because nothing is more scary than getting hacked!

In the latest episode of The Unlimited Podcast by Ginsler Wealth, Brian Ginsler speaks with Daniel Zborovski, Founder and Principal Consultant of RestWell Technology. Daniel has over 25 years of experience leading and mentoring security, technical and programming teams. Daniel has managed complex security and IT projects for thousands of clients in legal, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services. A tech evangelist to anyone that will listen, Daniel regularly speaks on panel discussions and keynote addresses to countless IT professionals, business owners and executives. Daniel is also the architect of multiple award-winning products and services.

Brian and Daniel discuss how hackers work in the modern era, best practices for passwords and PINs, as well as “dos and don’ts” for protecting the data of yourself, your family, and your business.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. But listen anyway…

This episode can be found here or find us in your favourite podcasting app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.

If you like what you hear, please don’t hesitate to rate us kindly. And if there are particular topics you’d like covered, please let us know.

 

Picture credit: https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/cybersecurity-horror-stories-to-haunt-your-dreams/

Ginsler Wealth Goes to the Movies

With Toronto welcoming the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) back to town, we started thinking about our own favourite movies. We know that films and storytelling help us learn, grow, and understand the world, so we thought we’d use a few cherished lines from our favourite movies to help you better understand our business. Over the coming days, we will be highlighting these films and using the opportunity to shed some light on what we think makes us different.

Please follow Ginsler Wealth on your favourite social channel(s) to see these as the curtain is raised.

Key Ginsler Wealth highlights we will focus on:

  1. We’re a different wealth management experience
  2. We look beyond traditional stocks and bonds
  3. We do the work so you don’t have to
  4. We provide holistic wealth, tax and estate planning services
  5. We have an extreme focus on client service

Stay tuned, the show is about to begin!


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022:

The first feature in our series of favourite movie quotes…

Like Dorothy arriving in the Land of Oz, when you experience Ginsler Wealth, you immediately sense something is different. We are fully independent, unique, and committed to offering a unique wealth management experience for high-net-worth families.


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2022:

The second feature in our series of favourite movie quotes…

One of our key services is managing your investment portfolio. We are proud to be fully independent and unconstrained, meaning that we can invest in a wide variety of asset classes and strategies. Just like cooking shrimp, there’s many different ways to invest your money. We’d like to tell you about some of our favourites.


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2022:

The third feature in our series of favourite movie quotes…

We work hard taking care of your wealth, so that you can relax. Whether it’s a trip to the museum, watching a parade, or even a joyride, you deserve to live the life of your dreams. Get ready to twist and shout.


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022:

The fourth feature in our series of favourite movie quotes…

Making financial plans for the whole family can be difficult, but we’re here to make the whole process easier. We are currently accepting new clients, and we think joining us is your density. I mean…your destiny.

 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022:

The fifth and final feature in our series of great movie quotes…

We’re closing out this series with one of the favourites of our CEO, Brian Ginsler. Exceptional service is one of our top priorities, and we want all our clients to feel cherished and cared for. We won’t rest until you’ve fallen in true love with our service.

 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18:

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this series and re-visiting some of the greatest movies of all time. Hopefully you get the sense that Ginsler Wealth is not your “typical” wealth firm. We look forward to highlighting some of your favourite movies in next year’s sequel, so please reach out to us and let us know your favourite movie quotes!

 

 

Note that Ginsler Wealth and this campaign are in no way affiliated with nor endorsed by TIFF. This campaign will make use of popular culture references for marketing purposes, should not be taken literally, and is not investment advice.

The Key Lesson of Benjamin Graham’s “The Intelligent Investor”

The “intelligent investor” is one who knows what type of investor they are.

With world equity markets swooning once again, I thought it would be an apt time to review my key takeaway from one of the best investment books ever written.

I recently re-read The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, who is known as the father of value investing, as well as the teacher and mentor of Warren Buffett. The publishers of all recent editions (there are many) have added the following to the cover of each book: “The classic text on value investing.” I think a more apt addition to each cover would simply be: “The classic guide on choosing what type of investor you are.” While this may not sound as exciting as reading the formative guide on how to succeed at a particular style of investing, I do think my title better encapsulates Graham’s intention with this book. I am not convinced that Graham was trying to teach investors how to value companies. I think he was trying to teach investors how to value themselves.

First, a little history… the book was written in 1949 at a time when, according to Graham, common stock ownership was not actually common in portfolios of institutions nor individuals. In fact, it was written at a time when security analysis was just becoming something of a profession. Graham writes “the various societies of analysts […] have well over fifteen hundred members.” Today, 25,000+ firms employ more than 160,000 CFA charterholders. Graham had experienced The Crash of 1929 as an investor, managed through it arduously, and then effectively dedicated his life to managing his investment partnership and educating future security analysts through his perch at Columbia University.

The book is 250 pages long and it is important to note that before there is serious discussion of security analysis, there are 108 pages laying the groundwork for readers to make the following key decision: Are you going to manage your investments yourself and strive for high returns (Graham called this person “The Aggressive Investor”)? Or are you going to either let an advisor manage for you or strive for generally good results (Graham called this person “The Defensive Investor”)?

“The investor’s choice as between the defensive or the aggressive status is of major consequence to him, and he should not allow himself to be confused or compromised in this basic decision. The aggressive investor must have a considerable knowledge of security values—enough, in fact, to warrant viewing his security operations as equivalent to a business enterprise. The majority of security owners should elect the defensive classification. They do not have the time, or the determination, or the mental equipment to embark upon investing as a quasi business.”

I found it interesting that the phrase “margin of safety” – the rallying cry of value investors for decades –  is only mentioned for the first time on page 241 of 250:

“Confronted with a like challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, margin of safety.”

I also found it amazing that most of Graham’s comments on investing, markets, forecasters, and risk could have been written yesterday rather than over 70 years ago. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same:

“Through all its vicissitudes and casualties, as earth-shaking as they were unforeseen, it remained true that sound investment principles produced generally sound results. We must act on the assumption that they will continue to do so.

In the old legend the wise men finally boiled down the history of mortal affairs into the single phrase, ‘This too will pass.’”

The final sentence of the book reads:

“To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks.”

I worry that this phrase may be misunderstood by some readers. Satisfactory seems to take on a derogatory meaning when in reality, for almost all investors, Graham was encouraging satisfactory investment results. He believed the pursuit of satisfactory investment results is the prudent, conservative way to grow one’s assets. For those to whom satisfactory returns are actually not the goal, Graham’s guide warns that one will have to put significant “study, effort, and businesslike resources to bear to achieve – with no guarantees – superior results.”

Ultimately, Graham’s “intelligent investor” is one who understands what she is striving for, and what she is equipped to achieve herself, or not.

That conclusion should not be surprising. It’s the title of the book.

 

Postscript:

Graham details very clearly in his book the role of the advisor:

“[To…] use his superior training and experience to protect his clients against mistakes and to make sure that they obtain the results to which their money is entitled.

The leading investment counsel firms make no claim to being brilliant; they do pride themselves on being careful, conservative, and competent.”

Sounds like an apt summary of my firm, Ginsler Wealth. For the “intelligent investor” who appreciates that they need help managing their wealth, we are here.

 

Note: this article should not be considered investment advice.

Ginsler Wealth Fourth Quarter 2021 Client Letter

(An audio version of this letter can now be found as Episode 2 of The Unlimited Podcast by Ginsler Wealth. Use the link provided or find us on your favourite podcast app.)

 

To Ginsler Wealth’s Clients:

The new omicron variant was certainly an unwelcome and perhaps unexpected holiday development. I do hope the holiday season found you and your loved ones happy and healthy.

“Uncertainty is the only thing I know with certainty.”

With the arrival of the end of the calendar year comes the requisite financial and market forecasts for the new year. On December 30, 2021, the Globe and Mail ran two articles, one directly on top of the other:

The first, written by my dear friend David Rosenberg entitled, Here’s what investors should expect in 2022, details the potential for a 30 percent equity market correction. The second, written by BMO Capital Markets’ Chief Investment Strategist was titled Why the bull market will be alive and well in 2022. Its content is self-evident by its title.[i]

Which of the above will prove prescient, I don’t know. Nor can I identify the best forecasts from the many other experts who have weighed in. So instead of trying to be right, at Ginsler Wealth we aim to be prudent.

Because the only thing I know with certainty is that there are uncertain roads ahead, we build your portfolios by incorporating a variety of investment strategies with the collective goals of both reasonable performance and commensurately reasonable downside protection. To be clear, the other thing of which we are fairly certain is that over the longer term, equities will remain the best performing asset class and will always be an important and sizeable component of most clients’ investment portfolios. However, the cost of achieving higher returns through equities is always their accompanying volatility.

So how do we strive for equity-like returns[ii] while aiming to protect capital? Among others, we do so in a number of ways:

  1. Investing in exchange traded funds, for extremely low cost, broad market exposure (no capital protection component here),
  2. Selecting equity managers that use a variety of strategies to hedge market exposure and reduce volatility,
  3. Utilizing equity managers with strategies that focus on dividends and income,
  4. Allocating capital to hedge funds that aim to take a “market neutral” approach to investing, and
  5. Finding managers with unique and often non- or less-correlated investment strategies.

As an example of the last approach, we have recently begun allocating capital to a specialized SPAC (“Special Purpose Acquisition Corporations”) arbitrage strategy. We believe this strategy is unique in that it has a track record of delivering equity-like returns with principal protection qualities, low downside volatility and low correlation to equity and fixed income markets. In fact, to date, 99% of the fund’s closed positions have resulted in positive realized returns. We believe this strategy’s long-term target return is between 8-10%. As an added benefit, due to our scale, all Ginsler Wealth clients—regardless of the size of their allocation—are able to invest in the fund’s lowest fee class. In a recent Globe and Mail piece entitled How SPACs can tone down your risk, Larry MacDonald[iii] writes on this type of strategy: “…buying and selling pre-acquisition SPACs can be a virtually riskless way to earn positive returns in bear and bull markets.” Our job, as always, is to find the managers with the experience to execute well.

How to Build a Goldilocks Portfolio

This past quarter, a new client asked us to build a portfolio for his family with the following characteristics:

  • Limited direct equity exposure
  • High single digit target returns
  • Tax efficient
  • Downside protection

While we thought of calling this portfolio the “Unicorn” portfolio, given the difficulty in finding such a magical collection of investments, we ultimately named this portfolio the “Goldilocks” portfolio by mixing a few asset classes (i.e., not too much, not too little, just right) with the goal of achieving the client’s objectives. The resulting portfolio blends an income-oriented equity strategy (with hedging capabilities), the SPAC strategy mentioned above, a venture debt strategy (closed to most outside investors), a market neutral hedge fund (closed to most outside investors) and a long/short public real estate focused investment strategy. We utilized the family’s registered (non-taxable) accounts to hold the income-producing securities, while keeping capital gains-oriented holdings in taxable accounts. Through a combination of asset allocation, security selection, and asset “location” decisions, we believe we have built a portfolio that meets the client’s needs[iv]. We will be reaching out to all clients as part of our normal portfolio review process and will be happy to discuss this Goldilocks portfolio in more detail.

Incidentally, this past quarter, we reviewed upwards of 40 or so additional investment strategies and ultimately made allocations to two new strategies (both of which we have known and followed for many years). The bar remains very high.

Digital Asset Activity

We remind you that digital asset exposure generally only comprises a very small, single-digit proportion of our clients’ (where applicable) investment portfolios. However, we continue to spend a disproportionate amount of our time and energy on this space. We remain bullish on the long-term outlook for digital assets broadly and the underlying technology more specifically. This was a particularly active quarter for Ginsler Wealth in the following ways:

  1. We worked with Digital Asset Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP) to bring its certificate program to Canadian advisors at a special, Ginsler Wealth discounted price. We believe it is incumbent on financial advisors to truly understand this space (this goes for the media as well!) prior to making client recommendations. I was also featured on DACFP TV, where I discussed Ginsler Wealth’s approach to digital asset investing.

DACFP GW discount code

  1. We spent an extraordinary amount of time performing due diligence on a Singapore-based digital asset fund manager. Due to the 12-hour time difference, this included many late-night Zooms with the company. When we say we “search the world” for investment strategies for our clients, we really mean it! The core strategy that we have begun allocating to returned 295% for the year through November 2021. While we do not expect this level of return to be repeated, we are confident that we have found a group that are truly experts in this space.
  1. Finally, we were pleased to get clients access to participate in a highly oversubscribed private investment in Sygnum Bank AG, the world’s first fully-regulated digital asset bank, alongside other major international investors. You can read the announcement and company press release.

Digital asset investing is not appropriate for all clients, but we are always available to discuss the asset class with you.

———

As we begin 2022, I am hopeful that the end of the COVID pandemic is in sight, as we learn to live with whatever variant or variation of the virus remains. From a financial perspective, I am hopeful that world economies will remain resilient. Most of all, I am hoping that you and your families are, and will remain, happy and healthy.

But, in these uncertain times, hope is not a strategy. We will remain unrelentingly focused on managing your wealth and investments carefully and prudently. Because, unfortunately…we can’t forecast the future.

Thank you for your trust, support, and confidence. We are available 24/7 should you need us.

Sincerely,

Brian singnature

Brian Ginsler
President & CEO

 

 

Alphabet Soup and Tax Savings

RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plans)

Reminder that March 1, 2022 is the deadline to contribute to your 2021 (last year’s) RRSP. The maximum RRSP contribution limit for 2021 is $27,830. However, check your CRA account to confirm your personal contribution room. If you have good visibility into your 2022 earnings, we also encourage you to make your 2022 (this year’s) contribution now to benefit from tax-deferred investing as early as possible. The maximum RRSP contribution for 2022 is $29,210. We can help you determine your best course of action in this regard.

TFSAs (Tax Free Savings Accounts)

Similarly, you now have another $6,000 of TFSA contribution room to utilise. The TFSA is a wonderful way to invest tax-free, forever. For those that have not yet established a TFSA, you may have up to $81,500 of lifetime contribution room. We recommend all our clients make use of this tax saving opportunity.

RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans)

Finally, for those saving for their children’s education via a RESP, for those who are eligible, you can now earn 2022 CESGs (Canada Education Savings Grants – i.e., “free money from the government”) on your contributions. At Ginsler Wealth, we love helping our clients get free money.

 

 

 

 

[i] Both articles are only available to Globe and Mail subscribers. Apologies if you are unable to access them.

[ii] While equity markets of late have been returning high double-digit returns, please recall that the historical, long-term compound annualized total return of the S&P 500 has been approximately 10% since 1928. Source: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html.

[iii] This article is also only available to Globe and Mail subscribers. The article references a SPAC strategy offered by a Calgary-based firm. Ginsler Wealth is not familiar with such strategy nor its principals.

[iv] Of course, no investment results are guaranteed and there is no guarantee that this portfolio of strategies will meet the targets and objectives detailed herein.

Van Halen’s M&Ms and Ginsler Wealth’s Pencils

Let me tell you about the pencils we use at Ginsler Wealth. If that opening sentence doesn’t instantly grab you, then for some important context, let me first tell you about Van Halen’s M&Ms.

You may know that when rock stars roll into town, their contracts with the venues are long and often include a contract “rider” with specific details the band requires (or demands). In the case of Van Halen, buried deep in their lengthy contract rider included the demand for a bowl of M&M’s with “ABSOLUTEY NO BROWN ONES”. Clearly absolutely ridiculous, right?

Well…not exactly. According to David Lee Roth, the band’s original and then on-again/off-again frontman: “Van Halen was the first band to take huge productions into tertiary, third-level markets [think, older arenas like Maple Leaf Gardens]. We’d pull up with nine eighteen-wheeler trucks, full of gear, where the standard was three trucks, max. And there were many, many technical errors — whether it was the girders couldn’t support the weight, or the flooring would sink in, or the doors weren’t big enough to move the gear through.”

At first glance, it seemed like Van Halen’s request was just another instance of rock stars being difficult or demanding. However, their M&M rule was their “canary in the coal mine”; it helped them identify the partners they could trust, who had demonstrated great attention to detail. Because if they hadn’t, it could literally mean a life and death safety issue for the band or its fans. This litmus test ensured they could protect the band, the crew, and their fans, and enabled them to put on a spectacular show each evening.

So maybe their request wasn’t so ridiculous after all.

At Ginsler Wealth, we are also sticklers for attention to detail. We look after people’s money…we better be! So let me tell you about our pencils. We use Blackwing Matte pencils with a special-order yellow eraser in place of the standard-issue black (which we hand-swap ourselves). We sharpen it with a two-step long point sharpener (for the perfect point), and protect such point with a matching black point guard.

Why do we use these and why does it matter? When we help our clients, we have a key phrase we keep in the back of our minds: “best in the world”. If our clients need strategic tax planning, we seek out professionals who, in our opinion, are “best in the world”; when we build investment portfolios for clients, we seek to find external managers who, in our view, are “best in the world” at their specific investment mandate. And then we customize a plan or portfolio for each client.

So, similar to our research into any financial or investment detail for our clients, for our use, we searched for pencils rated “best in the world”…and found Blackwing: a pencil whose roots go back to the 1930’s and which uses Genuine Incense-Cedar and premium Japanese graphite. Then, we customized the pencil to match Ginsler Wealth’s black and yellow branding. And then we take care of our tools. Most of our clients won’t see this. Much like most will never open the backs of their Apple computers to see what Steve Jobs demanded: “Jobs had always insisted that the rows of chips on the circuit boards look neat, even though they would never be seen.”

Van Halen took what appeared to be extreme steps to ensure their customers got a safe, “best in the world” experience. Similarly, if Ginsler Wealth puts all this effort into our pencils, imagine the effort we exert to create a “best in the world” experience for our clients.

Postscript: Blackwing just released a limited edition set of Bruce Lee-inspired pencils with a black and yellow design motif, complete with yellow eraser. We’ll be using these for a while!