‘Canadian Warren Buffett’ Stephen Jarislowsky dies at 101 — his low-fee, buy-and-hold rules for Canadian investors

That simplicity is what earned him the Buffett comparison — and why his investing principles still matter. Even if most Canadians aren’t managing billion-dollar pension portfolios, today’s investor still faces the same three choices Jarislowsky faced: what to own, how long to hold it and how much to pay along the way.

How did Jarislowsky turn $150 into a fortune?

Born in Berlin in 1925, Jarislowsky started out by opening a small investment firm in Montreal, Jarislowsky Fraser & Co., using $100 of his own money and $50 from a partner. By the time he stepped back decades later, it was managing roughly $40 billion for pension funds, foundations and wealthy families, making it one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, according to The Canadian Press*.*

In its early days, the firm did field research on Canadian companies, meeting executives to size up the quality and growth prospects of each business before investing. In 2018, Scotiabank bought the firm for $950 million.

His family announced his death together with the Jarislowsky Foundation, the philanthropic organization behind more than 50 endowed chairs at Canadian universities and institutions.

What were his core investing rules?

Jarislowsky laid out his philosophy in his bestselling book The Investment Zoo. A widely shared summary of his eight rules boils down to a few key ideas:

• Own large, high-quality companies with strong management and a record of doubling earnings every five to seven years
• Favour stocks over property, bonds, gold and art for long-term growth
• Start early and hold — trade only when you’ve clearly made a mistake
• Treat bubbles as a time to take profits and slumps as a chance to buy
• Read the reports of the companies you own
• Keep costs low and be wary of high-fee mutual funds

He expected stocks to earn an average real return of 5% to 6% a year. He saw that as enough for compounding to work wonders over a working life.

Why did he warn investors about fees?

Fees are where his advice lands hardest for everyday investors, and data backs him up.

The latest SPIVA Canada Scorecard from S&P Dow Jones Indices, an index provider which tracks active fund performance, found 93.4% of Canadian equity funds underperformed their benchmarks in 2025.

The cost compounds, too. Saskatchewan’s Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA), the province’s securities regulator, illustrates that on a 5% annual return over 25 years, an investor paying a 1% fee pays $57,206 less in fees than an investor paying a 2% fee.