It’s been a while since I penned one of these personal vignettes.    I am in the process of interviewing for a few junior positions here at the firm (one in sales, one in research), and the question typically comes up: how does one become successful in one’s commercial or business life?  Especially for those entering the workforce for the first time and seeking a career path.    The answer to that one is quite simple: don’t settle to fill

Back on November 21st when I was vacationing abroad, I received an email from a friend and former Bay Street colleague, Doug Porter (Chief Economist of the Bank of Montreal), who emailed me about the sudden passing of Bob Brooks. I became totally discombobulated and since that time, there has not been a day that Bob has not popped into my head. Before I go on, it must be said that through the 1980s and 1990s, Bob Brooks was a

When I left Merrill Lynch in New York back in the spring of 2009 to come back to Toronto and focus more on my family and gain some needed work/home-life balance, I had plenty of opportunities to stay on the “sell side” and shift back to a Canadian bank. But then the Gluskin Sheff (R.I.P.) opportunity presented itself and I thought that spending time at a “buy side” shop would help round out my career. And I wasn’t wrong. I

Sometimes we simply have to be able to laugh at ourselves and take things just a little less seriously. This is an attempt at that piece of advice.  I have been struggling with weight problems for the better part of the past thirty years. Second and even third helpings at the smorgasbord was natural behavior for me over the decades. And that doesn’t even begin to address my love for cherry cheesecake, fudge brownies, pecan pie and tiramisu.  In those years when

Before I delve into detail in this personal vignette, please remember that these were the days before yours truly became a road warrior and seasoned global traveler. Chalk it up to youthful inexperience if not outright stupidity.  This story takes place in 1996, when I was toiling as Senior Economist at BMO/Nesbitt Burns. I was asked by the Bank’s bond desk out of London to do a European marketing trip to institutional clients across Europe. The person leading the charge was Paul Petrashko, who

It was the summer of ‘81. And not one that I will ever forget. Not exactly the best days of my life. I had just completed my second year at the University of Toronto, doing my undergraduate degree in economics. As with anyone at the ripe young age of 21, I thought I knew it all…

At this time of year, in the lead-up to the High Holidays, I think back to my childhood when I used to sit next to my dear dad in the synagogue. As he stood to say the solemn prayers, I would be right beside him hiding under his prayer shawl (“tallit”) and hugging his leg. That intense feeling of safety and security has never gone away.

Those who knew the Wall Street legend, Jack Rivkin, will surely appreciate my sentiment that this is someone deserving of a monument or a plaque somewhere – anywhere – for how he radically transformed the investment industry in the 1980s from being a male-dominated sector to a business where women were finally recognized for their talent, efforts, and achievements. This isn’t to say that there are still not wage gaps in existence today – which need to be resolved – but

This was a rough year for everything outside the equity market and I say good riddance to 2021 just as I did to 2020 a year ago this time. But it must be said that at least we have vaccines, boosters and treatment, and there is hope now that the pandemic will finally transition to an endemic. I keep saying that in the 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald classic The Great Gatsby, there was not one reference to the 1918-19 Spanish Flu in

When I’m asked how I got through these past twenty months of the pandemic with my sanity intact, the answer hasn’t changed. Wine. Good wine. And lots of it. But not to the point where it clouds my judgment (though many folks think I may have had too much given my against-the-consensus call on the inflationary future). I wasn’t always a wine guy. I used to be a beer (and scotch) guy. But I began to develop a taste for

I figured that since we’re still in summertime, I would share with everyone the summer job that changed everything for me. This is what students today who are opting to sit back and relax and collect a government benefit are missing out on — the opportunity to go out there and make a difference. In my case, it was all about weed and grass. But not the kind you’re thinking of. It was the summer of 1982, between third and

Recently, I was having a cocktail on the backyard deck with my youngest of three boys, Michael. I had just picked him up from Queen’s University in Kingston where he finished his B.A. with a major in psychology. Michael (I still call him “Little Mikey” even though he is 21 and stands six feet tall, give or take), as mostly everyone knows, came up with the moniker Breakfast with Dave more than twelve years ago. He also has a bartending

Last Thursday, I was being interviewed on CNBC when I was told that my views were diametrically opposed to the consensus and how the markets are positioned. To which I exclaimed that it’s been many years since I was this excited about going against the herd. I did have just enough airtime to work in Bob Farrell’s Rule #9: “When all the experts and forecasts agree, something else is going to happen.” Of = course, this was all about the

If you have never seen the movie The King’s Speech, I highly recommend it alongside the reruns of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. The classic won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, exactly a decade ago. In a nutshell, it’s about how King George VI managed to cope with a stammer, to only then, through intense therapy and learning, deliver the sermon of his life when Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. So, what does this

I participated in a webinar last week for a charitable organization and was asked to kick things off with something personal. So, rather than diving right into the markets and the economy, I started the eveningwith a story, which I’ll share with you now. A friend’s son had just started working in the capital markets side at Bank of Nova Scotia. He called recently to ask me about the “secret to success”. My initial reply was a bit glib: I

A human resources guru once told me that almost everyone’s professional success can be attributed to one inflection point — a particular event — that often lasts no more than a few minutes. That definitely happened to me at the genesis of what would eventually become Breakfast with Dave. I remember exactly what transpired as if it were yesterday. In October of 1998, I was working at BMO Nesbitt Burns when I attended the annual client gala at the Royal