in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 31 ,2 02 2 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the newspaper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca insidehalton@metroland.com facebook.com/OakvilleBeav @OakvilleBeaver WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Jason Pehora Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman Directors of Advertising Cindi Campbell and Graeme MacIntosh Director Creative Services Katherine Porcheron CONTACT US Oakville Beaver 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8 Phone: 905-845-3824 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Advertising: 289-293-0620 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com or call 905-631-6095. Letters to the editor Send letters to insidehalton@metroland.com. All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at insidehalton.com OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM A bald eagle returns to its nest in Bronte Creek Provincial Park. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Bradley Cossitt photo SNAPSHOT PETER WATSON Column Since mutual funds are the investment vehicle of choice for most Canadians, it is helpful to understand how to interpret informa- tion that is publicly avail- able. We will follow the path of an astute investor who wants to invest in a U.S. eq- uity mutual fund. Initially, they look at past perfor- mance for all funds in the U.S. equity category, then just the funds of one specif- ic fund management firm. Does this appear to be thorough research? Yes. Is this publicly available information used in the in- vestor research reliable? No, surprisingly unreli- able. The reason is the data is incomplete. According to Morningstar Direct, start- ing in January 1991, about five per cent of mutual funds are eliminated every year. And instantly, their past performance results disappear. Funds that disappear are more likely to have dis- appointing results than the funds that remain. Think of how your academic suc- cess could have been im- proved if you could have done this back in your school days. Because the astute in- vestor was looking at mis- leading past performance data, they will have overes- timated the ability of all the U.S. equity managers plus likely overestimate the past performance of the specific management firm they reviewed. We recommend you con- sider the potential over- statement of managers' past performance record. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. Watson provides wealth management services through Watson Invest- ments. He can be reached at www.watsoninvestment- s.com. UNDERSTANDING MUTUAL FUNDS PAST PERFORMANCE DATA CAN BE BIAS, WRITES PETER WATSON It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This column is part of that project. Have you checked out our special series on local crime? The final installment of the four-part, Halton-wide series -- which delves into a variety of crime types in the region -- is published in today's edition. This fourth installment focuses on residential break-ins. The first three topics in the series, which launched in our newspapers March 10 with each part published weekly, took a close look at the region's auto theft is- sue, opioid crisis, and frauds and scams that plague our communities. While COVID-19 curtailed our everyday way of life, it didn't stop the region's criminals from carrying out their activities. If you missed any of the first three installments of the crime series -- au- thored by Metroland Me- dia reporters David Lea, Melanie Hennessey, Bam- bang Sadewo and Roland Cilliers -- you can find them on our website, insi- dehalton.com. With your cell phone or tablet, scan the QR code below, which will lead you to the first part of the series on auto thefts. You will see that the next two installments are related to the auto theft story. Special series projects like this one are our way of examining a topic that is complex, and simply can't be properly explored in one article. We have published many such reports in the past, most recently ad- dressing important issues affecting our communities like the local housing cri- sis, the employment pic- ture across the region and Halton immigration. Our modest team of re- porters, photographers and editors put a lot of hard work and effort into our special series projects. Ex- pect to see more multi-in- stallment reports on our pages in the future. If you have an idea for an in-depth series of arti- cles on an impactful topic, I would love to hear about it. Please write to me directly at my email address below. We welcome your ques- tions and value your com- ments. Email our trust com- mittee at trust@metro- land.com. Karen Miceli is manag- ing editor of Metroland's community newspapers in Halton. She can be reached at kmiceli@metro- land.com. HAVE YOU READ OUR SPECIAL SERIES ON CRIME? FOUR-PART SERIES WRAPS UP TODAY, WRITES KAREN MICELI SCAN THIS CODE for part one in our crime series. KAREN MICELI Column