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Long-term investing, Barry Schwartz reminds us, is a simple math problem that most investors overcomplicate — and as a self-described permabull, he’s here to explain why staying constructive matters even in the years that test you. Amber and the President & CIO of Baskin Wealth Management dig into the final trading month of the year as Barry breaks down why earnings growth powered the 2025 rally, why double-digit profit growth is still ahead, and why one off-trend year never justifies abandoning a sound philosophy. He also opens up about Baskin’s performance, the pressure of chasing the index, and why he still won’t touch gold miners despite their monster gains. Listen now on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
Here are five things to know today:
Naughty or nice: The first trading day of the month was marred with red across North American indices, but this morning a little green is poking through on the futures. Bitcoin has been run over down 30% from the October peak. The casualties in the stock market have been far greater with Microstrategy down 60% from its peak and trading at less than the value of the bitcoin it holds (that’s what debt gets you, remember leverage cuts both ways).
Bye, bye, bye: Laurentian Bank has agreed to a takeover by Fairstone Bank at a 20% premium in a deal that would split its retail and commercial banking franchise. National Bank will be taking on Laurentian’s retail and small business assets and liabilities, but not its branches or employees. Fairstone will take the commercial lending side of the business. The CEO of Laurentian Bank will continue on as the group head of that division. Fairstone is an alternative mortgage lender that is backed by billionaire Stephen Smith. Recall, two years ago Laurentian Bank tried to sell itself but in the end there were no bidders and the stock dropped from $43/share to $25/share in the span of two months. Shout out to Ross Healy, who had Laurentian Bank as a Pro Pick back in June. “It is an outstanding purchase for another bank,” he said back in June.
Marching to the beat: Bank of Nova Scotia kicked off bank earning season with a bottom line beat even as it took a restructuring charge related to layoffs and its provisions for loans that could go bad were higher than expected. Capital markets was a standout with profit surging 47% from last year. Wealth management was also strong with 17% growth. “The pivot to growth is apparent (mostly in retail), but gradual,” wrote TD’s Mario Mendonca of the results, “We view this quarter favourably.”
Easy go: Watch shares of Goeasy after the sudden departure of CEO Dan Rees announced this morning. Rees suffers from a blood disorder that requires him to resign from his position, according to the release. The board appointed Patrick Ens, the President of easyfinancial as the new CEO effective January 1, 2026. Rees was only six months into the job and his short tenure was marred in volatility stemming from a short report in September and disappointing quarterly results in November. “We believe that this is unfortunate not just for Mr. Rees himself and his health, but could also present additional delays in returning GSY to its previous levels of profitability and growth trajectory,” wrote John Aiken of Jefferies. Aiken says Ens is a strong pick and that under him, easyfinancial has experienced some of its strongest periods of balanced growth. Recall, this was a top idea from Jordan Zinberg on the podcast two weeks ago.
Mongo move: Shares of MongoDB are surging 23% after beating profit expectations and boosting its forecast. The database software company saw a big surge in its ready-to-use database platform, Atlas, with sales surging 30% from last year. This is a feather in the cap of new CEO CJ Desai who came in less than a month ago. This marks a significant shift from earlier in the year when the company was missing expectations and cutting forecasts. Atlas now makes up a significant chunk of total revenues and the CEO Desai says it is well positioned for AI.
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