tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792Sat, 29 Feb 2020 09:25:12 +0000Markets and economyInvestingTradingVariousEnergy and fuel pricesFrugal livingBanksCredit cardsReviewsOilStock IndexesCompany listsDebt reductionDerivativesDividend stocksFinancial sectorOntarioShoppingCommoditiesCredit historyETFsGoldHumorIncome trustsIndex fundsSavingsStock analysisTime managementThis blog tracks the equity-building progress of an amateur investor from Ontario, Canada. Step by step, from debt to a small but steadily growing investment portfolio, I am walking towards my financial independence and early retirement.http://beit07.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (BEIT)Blogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2673741585583746376Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:20:00 +00002008-10-16T23:12:10.056-04:00DerivativesMarkets and economyTradingThe article in The Guardian (UK) titled "Was software responsible for the financial crisis?" discusses a conjecture that trading algorithms, which are increasingly being used by quants in equity, commodity, and derviative markets, are one of the culprits behind the recent financial crisis and negative developments in global markets' performance.With rapid development of programming tools and http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/10/are-algotrades-responsible-for-crisis.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-440665505079480121Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:44:00 +00002008-08-21T00:11:58.963-04:00Dividend stocksInvestingIn the previous post, I started an overview of the most recent changes in Mergent's Dividend Achievers, a quarterly publication which tracks a list of North American companies which have regularly increased their annual dividends for at least ten consecutive years.In this post, I update the list of MDA leaders in terms of the longest history of uninterrupted dividend growth, which I first http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/08/mda-companies-with-longest-records-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-7806232246437430164Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:09:00 +00002008-08-17T01:31:35.646-04:00Dividend stocksInvestingMergent's Dividend Achievers (MDA) is a quarterly periodical publication which is highly respected among dividend-growth-strategy investors. The Summer 2008 edition, which reflects corporate first-quarter results for 2008, was released on July 17, 2008 by the publisher, John Wiley & Sons. I am planning to do a series of posts highlighting several different lists on the latest edition of Mergent’shttp://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/08/mergents-dividend-achievers-summer-2008.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-7289095797540613630Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:01:00 +00002008-07-25T00:37:57.042-04:00Markets and economyEvery time the economy goes into a correction, the loud voices of perma bears notify you about the upcoming end of the economic and financial worlds, the mother of all recessions, the new great depression that will make the one from 1933 look pale, etc etc. This time is not an exception. Although I can understand the rationale behind most of such predictions, I do not think that this time we willhttp://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/07/this-correction-is-not-end-of-world-as.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-7090829212152348906Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:54:00 +00002008-06-19T01:10:59.287-04:00Energy and fuel pricesMarkets and economyOilIn 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/06/ground-for-next-bubble-is-being-slowly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-8685467009045403915Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:22:00 +00002008-06-19T01:15:54.825-04:00Energy and fuel pricesFrugal livingVariousIt 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-hours (kWh) of electricity, http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/06/gores-green-policy-hypocrisy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-7968787604931308573Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:17:00 +00002008-06-16T23:49:36.685-04:00VariousA 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,http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-can-check-how-rich-you-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2111886853162549596Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:52:00 +00002008-06-08T18:47:42.376-04:00Energy and fuel pricesMarkets and economyOilI 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/06/irrational-market-story-and-market.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-5336490133909326029Fri, 23 May 2008 02:05:00 +00002008-05-22T22:42:56.813-04:00Markets and economyThe 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/game-of-bad-and-good-economic-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-732586760823803774Mon, 19 May 2008 04:54:00 +00002008-05-19T02:32:04.431-04:00Energy and fuel pricesMarkets and economyOntarioIt 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/gas-prices-keep-climbing-and-canadians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2101496553234594341Mon, 19 May 2008 04:26:00 +00002008-05-19T00:59:38.414-04:00Markets and economyOntarioShoppingI 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/canadians-are-still-spending.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2185515887440190390Thu, 15 May 2008 03:23:00 +00002008-05-19T02:32:37.511-04:00BanksEnergy and fuel pricesMarkets and economyOilIt 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 investment banks http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/big-investment-powerhouses-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2632308190413484528Mon, 12 May 2008 02:10:00 +00002008-05-19T02:33:27.596-04:00CommoditiesEnergy and fuel pricesMarkets and economyOilIt 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/oily-bubble-is-getting-blown.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-3641404865215668330Sun, 11 May 2008 13:50:00 +00002008-05-11T10:42:57.227-04:00ReviewsTradingVariousI received the following message from Ranv about the Questrade RRSP account:I read your blog posting review of Questrade at:http://beit07.blogspot.com/2007/12/customer-review-questrade-discount.htmlI'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 per http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/05/responding-to-question-on-questrade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2049554422181908311Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:08:00 +00002008-04-08T22:54:16.368-04:00InvestingMarkets and economyTradingThe 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 into http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/04/dumb-money-inflows-artificial-rally.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-4706555386527873031Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:24:00 +00002008-04-08T02:25:09.391-04:00BanksFinancial sectorMarkets and economyIt 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/04/brief-look-at-us-feds-new-credit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-3005906707502574966Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:37:00 +00002013-05-17T16:18:59.602-04:00VariousAs 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 packages to resort areas. The first http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/tips-on-searching-for-vacation-package.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-8158112811568664249Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:49:00 +00002008-03-28T01:44:43.046-04:00ReviewsStock analysisJust 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/nasdaqs-stock-analysis-tool.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-797174446559998588Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:56:00 +00002008-12-08T21:05:02.619-05:00BanksDerivativesFinancial sectorMarkets and economyI am still convinced that the credit derivatives bomb is slowly ticking in the financial services market, ready to explode and hit all other sectors of the US and global economies. For some extra recent info on the CDS topic, read Swaps Backers Rush to Prevent 'Credit Event' from the Financial Week publication about the recent developments in credit default swap ("CDS") markets, or read The http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/troubles-with-derivatives-in-financial.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-8068284033594391970Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:34:00 +00002008-12-08T21:05:02.771-05:00Company listsDividend stocksInvestingOne 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 http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/dividend-achievers-with-longest-history.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-5775212481910999427Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:09:00 +00002008-05-09T11:07:53.131-04:00ReviewsIt's been almost five months since I opened my RRSP account at Questrade Inc. I guess it is time to provide a brief first update on my usage experience. During the five months since the account was opened, I did approximately two dozens of trades with US and Canadian stocks. What are my impressions of Questrade so far?Positives/neutrals:- The market orders are executed instantly;- The limit and http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/quick-review-update-on-questrade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-5423990354101684317Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:06:00 +00002008-03-18T23:09:30.939-04:00Financial sectorMarkets and economyIt was quite an action today in the markets, which all started yesterday and continued in the morning in anticipation of the upcoming rate cut by the U.S. Fed. The Fed did not dissappoint most of the more rational market players, cutting its Fed Funds rate by a healthy 75 bps, which brought down the rate to a meager 2.25%. Another contributor to the crazy rally was news on better than expected http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/markets-this-week-feast-in-time-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-2412548526312277259Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:23:00 +00002008-03-17T00:21:29.283-04:00Markets and economyShoppingI went to do some shopping here in the Greater Toronto Area a couple of times during the last month and noticed several new things that I did not quite like. I view them as alarming signs that many things in the Canadian economy are not as robust and steady as Canadian politicians are painting them for the general public. What are these signs?First, a number of people in shopping malls went down http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/03/looks-like-canadian-economy-is-heading.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-8701726598959705622Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:03:00 +00002008-02-10T15:00:59.403-05:00Credit cardsDebt reductionFrugal livingThe third part of the credit card series shares a couple of tips on how to properly close your credit card account.Do not cancel your old credit cards with a large credit limit which you have owned for more than five-ten years – doing so causes the deterioration of your overall credit score which partly depends on the average age of your credit account balances. The oldest credit accounts prolonghttp://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-on-credit-card-use-part-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1447991845273978792.post-3805521229434815275Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:38:00 +00002008-02-10T14:25:41.109-05:00Credit cardsDebt reductionFrugal livingThis post continues the three-part series on tips related to opening, using, and closing credit card accounts. The second part deals with optimization of credit card use and relevant safety considerations.Credit card use:Always remember that credit card is not the same thing as cash. It is not money, it is just a convenient short-term credit tool that allows you to consolidate your payments and http://beit07.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-on-credit-card-use-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (BEIT)0