Owner: Building Equity in Toronto URL:http://beit07.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:20:48 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog tracks the equity-building progress of an amateur investor from Ontario, Canada. Among the topics discussed are comments on the U.S. and Canadian economy, stock markets, dividend-growth investing, stock trading, and money-saving tips.
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Last week: picked up little crumbs from the financial sector action 2008-03-23 13:27:57 As I mentioned earlier, I decided to get involved in the financial services sector
action earlier this week. A small two-day position that I prefer to retain unidentified gave me a modest net 6% return. It was not that much, taking into account that I got in a bit too late and got out a bit too early, missing out the most wild action on Tuesday in anticipation of the rate cut and on the late Read more:little
Dividend Achievers with the longest history of consecutive dividend growth 2008-03-22 22:15:13 One of several qualities that a dividend-growth investor is looking for in his/her investment-portfolio candidates is a history of dividend growth. If a company has a long history of uninterrupted annual dividend payments, which are increased every single year, then you can conclude with a high degree of certainty that: (1) one of the managment's top priorities is the company's shareholders and Read more:consecutive
Restaurant prices are not always the indicators of quality 2008-03-21 22:35:41 Not a long time ago, I agreed with my wife that we would start a tradition of dining out on Friday or Saturday nights. I know, I know that this is expensive and that dining out does not match well with the principles of frugal living. However, sometimes we have to make comprises to satisfy the tastes and wishes of our significant others. Anyway, I prepared myself mentally that every week a Read more:always
February 2008 blog stats 2008-03-21 20:18:59 To keep track of historical numbers, the summary of February
2008 blog stats is below:
Total visitors = 280 (89% are new):
11% - direct,
78% - through searches,
11% - through other websites.
Total posts = 11;
Top incoming traffic sites (visits):
Google search (213),
(9).
Top visited posts (views):
1. Customer review: Questrade discount brokerage (70);
2. On
Nasdaq's stock analysis tool 2008-03-28 00:44:43 Just wanted to briefly share some info about a fairly new and free stock analytical source that I lately like: Nasdaq
's Stock Quotes and Research info tool. Of course, there are many other nice info hubs, like Reuters, WSJ's Markets Data Centre, and MSN Money, but Nasdaq's tool scores well in a couple of dimensions.
It has several very attractively presented functions, like information on short
Tips on searching for a vacation package 2008-03-29 03:12:22 As I recently spent several long hours trying to find a good deal for a family vacation at an all-inclusive beach resort somewhere in the Caribbean, I thought I’d share some tips related to this process. These tips primarily apply to Canadians, but generally should work for Americans too. In the discussion below, I will limit my focus on search for vacation package
s to resort areas.
The first Read more:searching
A brief look at U.S. Fed's new credit facility programs 2008-04-06 21:39:00 It appears that the U.S. Federal Reserve, together with top heads from the financial services industry, are working overtime lately to come up with the new creative ways to save the butts of U.S. and global banks. Up until recently, what did we remember from our college economics courses about the Fed’s monetary-policy tools? Each good student knew that there were three key tools that the Fed Read more:credit
Dumb money inflows, artificial rally, volatility, and more... 2008-04-08 21:54:16 The markets over the last two weeks have been quite interesting to observe. In part thanks to the new credit facilities from the Fed, the banks bought more time to settle their issues. And, oh boy, there are still plenty of them. It will take quite a bit of time, maybe even a year or two, to clean up the risky mess associated with asset-backed securities and derivatives.
I do not really buy
The oily bubble is getting blown 2008-05-11 23:59:59 It is really disappointing to observe lately what is going on in the markets, especially commodity markets and energy commodities in particular. Over the last three-four weeks, the amounts of lies and fake news that are being released by the Talking Heads have exceeded all reasonable logical and illogical limits. I started collecting those stories, and I am sure we will hear a plenty more over
Responding to a question on Questrade 2008-05-11 09:42:57 I received the following message from Ranv about the Questrade RRSP account:
I read your blog posting review of Questrade at:
-review-questrade-discount.html
I'm currently looking to open an RRSP account with a discount brokerage. I've never opened an account with a brokerage before so this will be my first time. I will likely make less than 20 trades
Big investment powerhouses are increasing their exposure in energy commodities trading 2008-05-14 23:08:04 It was an interesting news read from Reuters today about the intention of JPMorgan to increase its involvement in trading of enery commodities
. The article titled "JPMorgan to start physical oil trade, eyes $200 oil" states that JPMorgan just announced that it will substantially expand its trading of energy commodities and energy derivatives:
JPMorgan will join a growing list of investm Read more:investment
Gas prices keep climbing, and Canadians continue paying for it 2008-05-19 01:32:04 It seems that Canadians
pretty much are got used to high gas prices by now. Americans have been scared by the gas prices steadily climbing
towards $4 per gallon, with the country average having passed the $3.75 mark for the regular gas lately. Meanwhile, Canadians are already paying over $4.60 per gallon, in part thanks to Canada's federal and provincial governments which have been silently
Canadians are still spending... 2008-05-18 23:59:38 I was shopping with my wife today at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto and, oh boy, I must tell you that Canadians
are still very much into shopping, despite all economic worries and troubles with the big southern neighbor. It could be the fact that it was rainy today and there were not too many other things to do for many people, or maybe because it was the middle of the long weekend, but the big mall
The game of "bad" and "good" economic news continues 2008-05-22 21:42:57 The jobless claims data released today and the reaction to this information from the markets and media once again clearly show that:
(1) Nobody can and should trust the US government stats anymore;
(2) The US administration are totally desperate in trying to save the US economy from falling apart, and every single bit of non-negative news is being used to do that;
(3) Hopefully the countdown has
The irrational market story and market manipulations at play 2008-06-08 17:47:42 I think that under the current market conditions pretty much only intra-day trading (without keeping positions overnight) can generate you some consistent money. The alternative to trading would be to stay in cash and wait. The seemingly illogical phase continues, with the markets being manupulated big time by the governments, government agencies and agents, and big institutional players. Once Read more:story
You can check how rich you are 2008-06-16 22:49:37 A while ago, a friend sent me a very interesting link, Global Rich List. On this website, you can check how you are ranked in terms of your income in comparison to the other six billion inhabitants of our blue planet. The idea behind this little tool is simple: it is based on the income distribution data from the World Bank Development Research Group (which is an approximate statistical estimate,
Gore's green policy hypocrisy? 2008-06-19 00:15:55 It was a pretty amusing read about "frugal" hydro consumption by the big-time green policy advocate, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore. According to the article published by the Tennessee Centre for Policy Research and titled "Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month," last year Gore's home "burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hou
The ground for the next bubble is being slowly prepared 2008-06-19 00:10:59 In the last post, I mentioned a read about Green Environmentalist Gore's through-the-roof hydro bills. To be honest, I do not think Gore cares a penny about the Mother Nature, the effects of so called global warming, greenhouse effects, etc. More likely, Gore is on a mission in one of those crooked big-scale schemes that at the end of the day screw a lot of people, businesses, and countries and Read more:ground
Good bye university loans 2008-07-21 23:04:11 Early this summer we finally paid off my wife's university student loans, along with the remaining credit line balance. The reduction of this $15,000 debt balance will allow us to save roughly a $1,000 annually on interest, which can be more usefully applied towards the accelerated mortgage payments.
During the last 14 months, we paid off roughly $42,000 in household debt (the wife's student
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