About JB
John Budden (JB) has 60 years of diverse, domestic and international investment experience.
JB was hired by Dominion Securities as a Sales Trainee in 1964 to work in the London, England office. Over the course of his career he has been registered with the Ontario Securities Commission in a number of capacities including: Registered Representative, Branch Manager, Trading Officer, Investment Counsel / Portfolio Manager, Registered Representative pursuant to the Commodity Futures Act, Registered Options Principal, Exempt Market Dealer – Dealing Representative, Director and Partner of a Toronto Stock Exchange member firm, owner of a seat on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and co-owner of a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange.
JB is a renowned advocate of holding a portion of one’s portfolio in Gold Bullion, as a cash alternative, in an era of competitive devaluations. He provides specialized advice to pensions, endowments and family offices.
“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the “hidden” confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.” – Alan Greenspan
JB collaborated with Margret Kopala on The Dog Bone Portfolio: A Personal Odyssey into the First Kondratieff Winter of the Twenty-First Century Paperback and Kindle Edition – June 1, 2015. Over the summer of 2017, JB polled friends around the world about the idea of creating a virtual investment club tailored for family offices, institutions, experienced investment professionals and high net worth investors. The response was overwhelmingly positive and to that end the Dog Bone Portfolio Club was born.
In addition to his investment activities he was a contributing editor for The Financial Times of Canada on ‘Interest Rates and Currencies’ from 1977 to 1988 and, in the early 1990’s, he had the privilege of interviewing some of the world’s top mutual fund portfolio managers for CNBC.
JB joined MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier (3Macs) in 1970 and was a Partner from 1972 – 1975. From 1975 to 1981 he advised international corporations on currency and commodity trading and in 1978 his firm, John Budden Inc., was acquired by Conti Commodity and he became a Vice President (Canada). In 1983 he joined Dynamic Fund Management, as Vice – President, Marketing, at a time when Dynamic was one of a handful of Canadian mutual fund families offering No Load funds. In 1985, he and Ted Rabin co-founded Rabin Budden Partners, an investment counsellor and No Load mutual fund manager; with a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange. Rabin Budden Partners was acquired in 1988 by Altamira Management and Altamira went on to become one of Canada’s largest and top performing No Load mutual fund families in the 1990’s. In 1990, he returned to Dynamic Fund Management as President and CEO, and also as a Director of Dundee Capital Inc. and Goodman & Company. In 1992, he retired and moved with his family to Boston, Massachusetts. In 1993, he acquired a 25% interest in, Kanon Bloch Carre, a Boston based mutual fund research and consulting firm. Starting in 1989, KBC had prepared the Exclusive Fund Survey for U.S. News & World Report. Then in 1996 he sold his interest in Kanon Bloch Carre, to Bill Dougherty, the founding principal of KBC.
Since 1992, his Ottawa/Boston based consulting practice has advised major international financial services companies on mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances and emerging trends in the United States and Canada.
From October 2003 through June 2005, he was an Advisor to Ottawa based Orezone Resources, Inc. (IAMGOLD Corporation) – an emerging gold miner focused on growth through exploration and acquisitions in West Africa. From March 2003 to March 2006, he was a director of Ottawa based Brookfield SoundVest Capital Management Ltd. From December 2005 to January 2015, he was a director of Beaufield Resources Inc. (Osisko Mining Inc.). From June 2009 to July 2015, he was a Senior Advisor to Ottawa based Investment Partners Fund.
In addition to his investment activities, from January 2003 to March 2013, as CFRA’s Markets Commentator, he interviewed renowned investors and offered his ‘outside the box’ interpretation of macro economic events on ‘Business@Night’. Bell Media CFRA is Ottawa’s leading News/Talk radio station; owned by Bell Media Inc. who are also the owner of BNN Bloomberg.
From April 2010 to January 2013 he produced and hosted ‘Sprott Market Insights’, a weekly compendium of wisdom from seasoned investment realists, which evolved into the ‘Sprott Friday Market Review’ and in March 2016 the show became ‘Money Talk’; aired every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm (EST).
For a number of years JB joined Rob Snow, the host of the ‘Afternoon Edition’, for the ‘Budden Market Minute’ and offered his opinion on the important financial events of the day. JB joined Rob Snow on ‘News & Views’ every Friday at 12:45 pm.
JB retired from 580 CFRA on May 21, 2020.
JB feels at home internationally with the first twenty-five years of his career spent in Europe and Canada; followed by 10 years living and working in Boston, Massachusetts, before returning to Ottawa in 2002.
Over the years, he has introduced a select group of great ‘Under The Radar’ core and alternative investment managers to major pensions, endowments and family offices.
He has extensive contacts in the Canadian institutional investing community, and around the world, which has allowed him to provide his clients with relevant insights into evolving global investment trends and opportunities.