Asset Management via mass-customization is attracting attention in the States:
The next thundering herd on Wall Street may be the ranks of low-cost portfolio managers such as MarketRiders and Folio Investing, which cater to self-directed investors like Cohen. Sites that sell prepackaged portfolios have attracted more than $3 billion in assets over the last three years as more investors leave their full-service brokers.
“Individual investors have started to realize they can actually do some things as self-directed investors reasonably well, if they’re given a platform that allows them to invest more intelligently,” said Steven Wallman, chief executive officer of Folio Investing, where investors can purchase predesigned and customized index portfolios for $29 a month.
Some of the firms, such as Flat Fee Portfolios, are too new to have any performance history. MarketRiders can’t track the actual performance of its customers’ accounts, since it doesn’t have custody of their assets. Covestor and Wealthfront Inc., which give users access to third-party investors, publish performance history for the managers they work with on their sites.
Of course, the big problem with mass-customization is that the decision makers won’t play golf with you:
“Who are the people that are advising me when I’m going to a faceless website?” said Chris Walters, head of wealth management for Pasadena, California-based CitizensTrust. He said investors should be concerned by the lack of performance history available from some of the firms.
But we’ll cut Mr. Walters some slack, as a reward for mentioning the word “performance”. Of course, I don’t see a prominent link to “Performance” on his website.
So much fuss over the leaders’ election debate! It’s a disgrace – the boys have a place to debate each other all the time if they want to … it’s called parliament. But I guess they’re too busy playing thumpy-thumpy on their wickle desks.
Another unpleasant day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts down 25bp, FixedResets losing 6bp and DeemedRetractibles hit for 14bp. Volatility remained low, with only three entries on the performance highlights table. Volume was a little below average.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0238 % | 2,408.3 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0238 % | 3,622.1 |
| Floater | 2.50 % | 2.27 % | 41,892 | 21.56 | 4 | 0.0238 % | 2,600.4 |
| OpRet | 4.93 % | 3.57 % | 57,051 | 2.09 | 8 | -0.2024 % | 2,407.8 |
| SplitShare | 5.19 % | -2.90 % | 117,563 | 0.67 | 6 | 0.0980 % | 2,498.4 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.2024 % | 2,201.7 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.80 % | 5.69 % | 126,420 | 1.16 | 8 | -0.1043 % | 2,049.1 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.58 % | 5.56 % | 133,537 | 14.44 | 16 | -0.2468 % | 2,122.4 |
| FixedReset | 5.17 % | 3.46 % | 203,735 | 2.95 | 57 | -0.0611 % | 2,289.4 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.24 % | 5.16 % | 321,075 | 8.19 | 53 | -0.1384 % | 2,086.7 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| MFC.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | -1.34 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.33 Bid-YTW : 6.65 % |
| W.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | -1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2041-04-11 Maturity Price : 23.54 Evaluated at bid price : 23.83 Bid-YTW : 5.79 % |
| HSB.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.58 Bid-YTW : 5.36 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset | 80,501 | RBC crossed blocks of 50,000 and 25,000, both at 24.59. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.55 Bid-YTW : 4.11 % |
| RY.PR.L | FixedReset | 57,903 | Nesbitt crossed two blocks of 25,000 each at 27.10. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-03-26 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.90 Bid-YTW : 3.15 % |
| CM.PR.J | Deemed-Retractible | 56,681 | Scotia crossed two blocks of 25,000 each, both at 23.75. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.71 Bid-YTW : 5.13 % |
| RY.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | 52,264 | TD crossed 30,000 at 23.86. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.86 Bid-YTW : 5.16 % |
| CU.PR.B | Perpetual-Premium | 49,000 | TD crossed 45,500 at 25.45. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2012-07-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.25 Bid-YTW : 5.74 % |
| W.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | 39,920 | TD crossed 35.500 at 24.19. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2041-04-11 Maturity Price : 23.93 Evaluated at bid price : 24.19 Bid-YTW : 5.81 % |
| There were 27 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| FTS.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 26.30 – 26.75 Spot Rate : 0.4500 Average : 0.2892 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 25.25 – 25.60 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2440 YTW SCENARIO |
| W.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.83 – 24.12 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.1982 YTW SCENARIO |
| TD.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 27.00 – 27.24 Spot Rate : 0.2400 Average : 0.1510 YTW SCENARIO |
| IAG.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 26.80 – 27.15 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2698 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 21.33 – 21.55 Spot Rate : 0.2200 Average : 0.1466 YTW SCENARIO |