Straight from Bay Street's shark pool comes the new boss of a salt-of-the-earth investing and personal finance magazine that was on the financial literacy beat long before it got trendy.
Peter Hodson, former chairman of Sprott Asset Management, is the new owner and editor of Canadian MoneySaver magazine. Sprott, in case you don't know, is an elite firm that runs hedge funds and mutual funds. Sprott is as far removed from the MoneySaver as Formula One racing is from your daily commute.
Mr. Hodson left Sprott in the late summer and immediately announced he would start up an independent analysis firm called 5i Research Inc. that will focus on serving individual investors. Buying the MoneySaver is the next step in his evolution into an advocate for the individual investor.
"I want to empower individual investors to take control," Mr. Hodson said in an interview. "Individual investors pay too much in fees, they trade too much, they do the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time. They just need some help."
The MoneySaver has provided just that kind of help since it was founded more than 30 years ago by Dale Ennis, a onetime school teacher who turned an eight-page newsletter into a not-very-glossy magazine published nine times a year both in paper form and online. The recent November/December issue provides a good sense of what this magazine is all about. Headlines include: What Happened to the Income Trusts (Part Two), Caring For Dividends, Convertible Debentures for Income and Growth, The Gold/Silver Manipulation Story and Actively Managed ETFs – Worth a Look?
Mr. Hodson said the magazine could be updated a bit – "bring it up to the 1990s," he joked. But he also insists he will carry on Mr. Ennis's mission of educating people about investing and other subjects.
"My personal philosophy lines up perfect with Dale – invest properly, invest smartly, invest for the long term and do your homework – four principles that almost nobody follows."
He did not disclose what he paid Mr. Ennis for the publication.
Given his background as a mutual fund manager, Mr. Hodson is a most unusual candidate to become a champion of individual investors. Successful fund managers tend to be far removed from the end users of their products. When they get out of the office, it's often for so-called road shows, where they make PowerPoint presentations to roomfuls of investment advisers. The basic message here: See how smart I am? Put your clients in my fund.
"I've been in the business a long time and I wanted to get on the other side as far as individual investors go," said Mr. Hodson, who is now based in Kitchener, Ont.
Though best known as a money manager, Mr. Hodson actually has a background as an investing writer. From 1989 to 1992, he produced the biweekly Money Reporter for MPL Communications. After that, he earned his chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and then went on to manage funds for Synergy Funds, CI Investments and then Sprott.
Mr. Hodson's first article for the MoneySaver (read it here) mixes practical investing tips with big-picture investing wisdom. His single best investment theme based on his 25 years in the fund business: Pay attention to companies issuing their first-ever dividends. Beyond that, he makes a good case for not letting yourself be rattled during a financial crisis so that you sell good stocks.
With investing and personal finance writing available in mass quantities online at no cost these days, there's reason to question the future of a financial magazine that costs $24.95 per year, plus tax. But Mr. Hodson said the MoneySaver has a growing roster of subscribers (he declined to say what the circulation is) and a strong renewal rate.
"The typical reader is 45 to 60 and has money to invest, but not enough to get real attention from their adviser," he said.
Mr. Hodson said he likes the current roster of MoneySaver writers, a mix of self-taught experts and advisers and other investment industry people who contribute free of charge. Something else he likes is the longstanding MoneySaver policy of not taking advertising from the financial industry.
That kind of independence can be costly in terms of forgone revenue, but Mr. Hodson's Sprott years have left him financially secure enough not to worry about it.
"This is exactly the kind of thing I want to do," he said. "I could have started my own business and tried to build it up. But Dale's got happy customers, a 31-year history and a very nice brand."
Canadian MoneySaver profile
Founded: September, 1981
Founder: Dale Ennis, a one-time school teacher who will remain at the magazine in some capacity, as will his wife, Betty Ennis.
Original format: An eight-page consumer newsletter
Current format: A magazine published nine times annually
Availability: Chapters and Indigo stores as well as newsstands and online
Current owner: Peter Hodson, formerly of Sprott Asset Management
Mr. Hodson on MoneySaver: "It is unslick – that's beauty of it. Everything else in the business is slick, so it stands out."
Topics covered: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, insurance, tax matters, RRSPs and RRIFs, real estate and financial planning
Cost: $24.95 a year or $3.95 per issue
More info: canadianmoneysaver.ca
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Rob Carrick