Financial JungleFinancial JungleCanadian personal finance on investing, dividends, stocks, mutual funds, will, insurance, real estate, income, and tax. Articles
How To Avoid Shady Income Trusts
2007-07-24 09:00:00 Alright. Maybe I can fit a little sequel to the income trust series. I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but there is a distinct divergence between prosperous and crummy trusts in the aftermath of the income trust tax ruling. The prosperous ones continued to flourish, while the crummy ones never quite ... More About: Stocks , Investing , Income , Rust , Avoid
Camera Lenses Age Like Good Wine?
2007-07-21 20:52:00 Either I lack the bargain hunting talent, or SLR lenses age well like good bottles of wine. Recently, I’ve been hunting for a used Canon EF-S 17-55mm F2.8 IS over at CraigsList.org. This lens is everything that I?m drooling for, abet a little weak on tele-zoom. However, this lens can shoulder ... More About: Wine , Camera , Lenses , Good , Like
How To Pick Oil And Gas Trusts
2007-07-19 08:25:00 One great reward about being a blogger is the new insights you gain from researching and presenting articles. It’s one thing to skim over the Internet for the lowdown of income trusts, but quite another to articulate them to an audience. So much to learn still despite spending a couple of evenings on ... More About: Stocks , Investing , Pick , Rust , Trusts
How To Pick Pipeline Trusts
2007-07-16 08:44:00 Pipeline trusts are terrific additions to any diversified portfolio; their cash flows are generous, predictable and sustainable. When you buy a pipeline trust, you’re buying a combination of long-lasting energy infrastructure cash-cow machines used to transport and store oil and gas. Many pipeline trusts are involved in some of the largest and longest-lasting ... More About: Stocks , Investing , Pick , Rust , Trusts
How To Pick Business Trusts
2007-07-11 09:29:00 I’m collaborating with Thicken My Wallet and Million Dollar Journey to compose a series of posts on income trusts investing. Thicken My Wallet is leading the series with a bird-eye’s view on the financials such as payout ratios, cash-flows, capital expenditures and financing. I recommend you visit his introductory post, and then follow ... More About: Business , Stocks , Investing , Pick , Rust
Hypothetically, Would You Ever ? ?
2007-07-10 16:34:00 Stiff the waiter with a penny for poor service? Never. I always tip 15%. Tips are part of salaries in my book. I feel that restaurant owners factor in gratitude in their salary offers. According to this ad, this catering company offers only $12.00/hr in Vancouver, which is the least affordable city ... More About: Would , Ally
Jungle Bulletin: US Dollars, Diverse Market, Child Benefits and Universal L
2007-07-09 19:11:00 I’m watching our Canadian exchange rate in complete disbelief as the dollar advanced to 95.33 US cents on Friday. While my US positions (30% weighting) are getting whipped, I’m contemplating if I should snatch up some global dividend-paying US blue chips. The higher Canadian dollar buys you more US shares. At the ... More About: Market , Jungle , Bulletin , Child , Universal
Know The Risk: BetaPro TSX 60 Bull Plus ETF
2007-07-06 18:57:00 I was quite skeptical when Horizon BetaPro released this leveraged ETF at the beginning of this year. It promises to double the TSX 60’s daily volatility before various fees. For instance, if the index is up 1%, the ETF rises 2%. Conversely, if the index is down 1%, the ETF dips 2% ... More About: Investing , Risk , Bull
Homebuilders: Ugliness Is Only In The Eye Of The Beholder
2007-07-04 09:55:00 One man?s garbage is another’s treasure. Sometimes it’s quite fruitful to snoop around other people?s dumpsters salvaging disgraced stocks. Lo and behold, I may be gaping at the rottenest of all: Homebuilder stocks. The S&P Homebuilders index has been nailed and hammered over the past couple of years, and is already plummeting ... More About: Investing , Lines , Hold , The Eye , Builder
How To Pick High-Caliber Income Trusts (Version 1)
2007-06-29 20:18:00 Folks, I?m been on a quest to nail down a checklist for income trust investing. The checklist itself is an evaluation, and one reason for this post is to solicit your feedbacks and hopefully morph the list into something functional. The unfortunate reality is that our Canadian common share market is quite narrow when it comes ... More About: Stocks , Investing , Income , High , Pick
Jungle Bulletin: Money Humour
2007-06-27 08:39:00 Two stock brokers, Jon and James, head out for their usual 18 holes of golf. Jon offers James a $50 bet. James agrees and they’re off. They shoot a great game. After the 8th hole, James is ahead by one stroke, but cuts his ball into the rough on the 9th. “Help me find my ... More About: Humour , Money , Jungle , Bulletin , Humo
Not Another Vancouver Real Estate Post!
2007-06-26 07:30:00 Pretty soon when you look up “Vancouver Bear”, you just might find my face on the Oxford dictionary. Nah, I shouldn’t flatter myself. There are plenty more unpopular Vancouverites in the city claiming the podium; one being Mohican from Langley Financial Planning. Mohican found this hilarious gem on MLS. MLS®: V643849 ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Post , Real
Please Make ?Belus? A Reality
2007-06-24 20:07:00 Being a Telus shareholder, I’m fascinated by the seemingly lopsided skirmish between Telus and 3 other private equity suitors in bids for a BCE takeover. According to Derek Decloet, speed is of the essence for Telus CEO, Darren Entwistle, who is doing everything he can to sweet talk regulators into a swift approval in-time ... More About: Reality , Make , Lease , Ease , Ality
Invest Skeptically
2007-06-24 09:45:00 I recently came across Invest Skeptical ly by Thomas Kim. Although Thomas is new to blogging, he’s an affluent investor judging from his initial posts. I’m always on a look out for online mentors, and Thomas fits the bill perfectly. His writing resembles one of my favourite authors, John Lawrence Reynolds, of The ... More About: Ally
BMO Trumps 10-Year Bond
2007-06-21 09:44:00 At $68, BMO is a mighty compelling investment despite competing against raising bond yields. Minus the recent hiccup with the derivative trading losses, BMO has done an admirable job over the past 10 years, when they bought back shares, paid back 30% of their long-term debts, doubled their earnings, and more than tripled their ... More About: Stocks , Bond , Investing , Year
Jungle Bulletin: You Give A Little Love And It All Comes Back To You
2007-06-19 09:56:00 It’s time for another Jungle Bulletin to share some links. Thicken My Wallet writes a very fulfilling piece on the merit of leverage investing. My favourite part is when he uses a struggling business as an analogy to an under-performing investor. You’ll have to visit his link as I won’t give it all away. ... More About: Love , Back , Give
Must All Trades Be Zero-Sum?
2007-06-18 19:06:00 The market is weird. Every time one guy sells, another one buys, and they both think they’re smart. Being a stock picker, this is one statement that I dread the most. How do you respond when you’re cornered into a no-win rhetorical statement? Do you pretend snobbishly that you’re smarter than the other ... More About: Taxes , Investing , Must
Larry MacDonald Compliments Financial Jungle
2007-06-15 08:20:00 I just met another apex of my blogging career. Larry MacDonald gave thumbs up to Finan cial Jungle when he introduced a few new personal financial bloggers today. Larry highlighted Financial Jungle along with Ellen Roseman and Four Pillars. In his exact words, Larry said: Financial Jungle Guy A nicely written blog with intelligent ... More About: Lime
TSX Group, A Bad Apple In My Portfolio.
2007-06-14 18:23:00 On the surface, TSX Group appears as a textbook play for a fundamentally sound company with a distinct competitive advantage in the Canadian equity exchange market. The company has a strong cash flow, no long-term debt, and sports an attractive 3.5% dividend yield. It owns the only senior equity exchange (the TSX) in ... More About: Apple , Stocks , Portfolio , Investing , Olio
Can Money Really Buy You Happiness?
2007-06-13 19:00:00 I’ll give you the famous answer; it depends. Since we don’t live in a binary world where it’s either happy or not happy, I think money can at least buy you some degree of happiness by ridding of financial burdens. Otherwise, your life is constantly saddled with bills, debts, rents, grocery and other ... More About: Money , Happiness , Really , Ally
Top 5 Moves To Combat Correction Jitters
2007-06-08 19:16:00 Investors are licking their wounds as the TSX is struggling over the past 2 sessions and finishing off 3.1% lower. I’m not much of an economist, but word on the street is that south of the border, Treasury yields and mortgage rates are edging higher. Higher rates mean less borrowing, which slow the ... More About: Combat , Moves , Comb , Rect
Deferred Capital Gains Tax Is The Best Debt In The World
2007-06-06 18:44:00 There’s absolutely nothing that tastes better than a deferred capital gains tax. Many investors consider investment loans as good debts because the interests are tax-deductible, but the deferred capital gains tax is even sweeter. Never mind tax-deductibility; it is interest-free! If you double your $10,000 investment to $20,000, you owe Canada $2,000 ... More About: World , Investing , Debt , The World , Ferr
Financial Jungle On Toronto Star
2007-06-06 18:20:00 This morning, I was estatic to learn that Ellen Roseman from Toronto Star crafted a mavelous piece on Blogs offer new views on finance, which included Financial Jungle , Canadian Capitalist, Middle Class Millionaire and The Money Diva. Ellen Roseman is a blogger herself, and I’m an RSS subscriber to her site to draw new inspirations. ... More About: Toronto Star
Vancouver Real Estate Faces Interest Rate Hurdle
2007-06-04 18:58:00 Yikes! I just discovered that the new 5-year fixed mortgage rate had risen sharply to 5.69%. Wasn’t it only 5.25% just two weeks ago? Readers are aware that I’m increasingly leery of Vancouver ’s housing prospect. I still remember those cheap mortgage rates at 4.55% back in 2003. Since then the ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Faces , Real
Mental Accounting In Net Worth Calculation
2007-06-03 09:08:00 I’m seeing a wave of bloggers and forum members proposing a radical way to redefine “net worth”, where the primary residence is removed from the formula. Say you own a $200k investment portfolio, a $400k home and a mortgage of $100k; the new net worth calculation would simply be the $200k investment portfolio. ... More About: Mental , Net worth , Accounting , Worth , Count
Blog Update: Carnival, Canadian Capitalist and Writing Tip
2007-05-31 17:48:00 It’s been a notoriously busy week for me so far, so I don’t have a financial article prepared. Instead of going two weekdays without a post, I’ll chat about the blog instead. Financial Jungle is an editor’s pick I was thrilled to learn that Money Smart Life selected my article, The Dirty Secret Behind Closet Index ... More About: Carnival , Writing , Blog , Canadian , Update
Diversification, Weapon Of The Underdogs
2007-05-29 18:34:00 This is probably the most abused Warren Buffett quote I?ve read in many financial forums: Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing. For one reason or another, investors seem to interpret this as an excuse to concentrate. Let me rephrase the quote a bit. If you don?t know what ... More About: Investing , Divers , Weapon , Diver , Under
The Dirty Secret Behind Closet Index Funds
2007-05-27 09:52:00 If it looks like an index, quacks like an index and charges you 2.5% in MER, it’s a closet index fund. A closet index fund describes a mutual fund that’s a copy-cat, look-alike, mirror image, carbon copy or whatever you call it, to the underlying benchmark. Typically, these funds hold remarkably similar stocks under the ... More About: Investing , Dirty , Secret , Dirt , Closet
Vancouver Real Estate Can?t Grow To Sky
2007-05-25 17:58:00 Vancouver, the most bubbly city in the world declared by Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, the oracle who predicted the tech market crashed, and author of Irrational Exuberance. Someone ought to hand this guy some mouthwash, eh? These days, Vancouverites are rushing into the housing market like there is no tomorrow. With prices ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Vancouver , Real , Stat
Exotic Retirements On A Shoestring
More articles from this author:2007-05-23 09:19:00 Canadian Capitalist recently wrote another thoughts-provoking article. This time the subject was on Fidelity’s Retire ment Math. Instead of going off-topic with a long comment, I decided to write a separate article on an unconventional way to retire; live in exotic countries on a shoestring. My wife and I went on a vacation two years ... More About: Shoe , String , Tring , Tire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
|
 |
|
 |
