Search found 199 matches

by EmperorCoder
24 Oct 2009 12:36
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Clippings 2009
Replies: 321
Views: 34523

Norbert Schlenker wrote:Wanna know what your neighbour is worth? How much your brother-in-law makes? ... If we were Norwegian, you could just look it up online.
Disregarding the privacy issue, I think a public tax list would help iron out some inefficiencies in the labor market. Students would use it as a tool to orient their careers towards higher paying jobs and geographical areas, workers would compare their wage to other similar workers in their area, or plan career moves accordingly. Personally I wouldn't be against such a list.
by EmperorCoder
16 Oct 2009 20:09
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Questrade (the former misnamed TradeFreedom thread)
Replies: 202
Views: 36887

Wife and I have been with them for over 2 years now. Good: +low commissions +no low-activity fees +free real-time market data +USD in RRSP +offers RRSP, TFSA, RESP, NonReg accounts +email statements and trade confirmations +decent tax forms for non-reg investment portfolio (dividends, etc.) Bad: +service is english only although they do operate in quebec +had some problems opening my wife's TFSA because the initial funding came from a joint account +"all or nothing" trades on TSE don't work (not sure it's entirely their fault, but they could do something to offer better execution nonetheless) +it's a bit complicated to get the electronic trade confirmations because you need to login to a separate website +even if you check "e...
by EmperorCoder
10 Oct 2009 08:44
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Industry and historical financial ratios : where ?
Replies: 0
Views: 893

Industry and historical financial ratios : where ?

Maybe someone can help me here. I'm looking for an online source with the following information :

1) Historical P/E ratio of individual canadian stocks (5-year avg is good)
2) Industry financial ratios for canadian companies

I know Yahoo! finance has some industry ratios for canadian companies that are listed on US exchanges, but I'm looking for a more thorough source that would compare canadian companies only.
by EmperorCoder
30 Sep 2009 21:39
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST SEPTEMBER BALANCE
Replies: 14
Views: 1359

September Balance = $ 189,497

Catching up a bit :)

No portfolio change, here's a recap for those who don't want to browse the archives :

668 PRAA
45414 EQN.TO
$40 Cash
by EmperorCoder
31 Aug 2009 17:57
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST AUGUST BALANCE
Replies: 12
Views: 1324

My August balance is $156,111.

No portfolio change.
by EmperorCoder
31 Aug 2009 09:28
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: Starting a business : fiscal questions
Replies: 7
Views: 1130

Starting a business : fiscal questions

I am pondering starting a side business, however I am going to start very small. Thus I would like to delay incorporation as much as possible until the business cashflows can easily sustain incorporation costs and professional accounting costs. My questions : 1- Is it possible to perform business accounting by myself in the first few years (even though I don't have an accounting designation, but I've taken basic accounting classes) and report business revenues (deducted from expenses) in my personal tax form ? 2- Would the decision of starting as non-incorporated make the decision to incorporate later more complicated ? For instance, will I be able to transfer the business equity to the corporation ? 3- Is it possible to retain earnings if ...
by EmperorCoder
23 Aug 2009 14:19
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Who's rebalancing?
Replies: 60
Views: 3468

Didn't rebalance (always 100% equities, I'm 31). I've been DCAing all along, although more recently it became harder to find buying opportunities.

I might consider buying more US equities if the USD goes on sale.

Considering the real risk of inflation, stocks are the right place for my money ATM, I believe.
by EmperorCoder
31 Jul 2009 19:19
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST JULY BALANCE
Replies: 14
Views: 1283

My balance for july is $157,254.

No portfolio change.
by EmperorCoder
30 Jun 2009 20:48
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST JUNE BALANCE
Replies: 15
Views: 1350

June balance : 152,264$

Portfolio hasn't changed.

Modest June increase is mostly attributable to currency fluctuations.
by EmperorCoder
06 Jun 2009 08:16
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: Best Credit Card
Replies: 844
Views: 90593

I recently switched to a new MBNA SmartCash Mastercard.

I get 3% cash back on grocery and gas purchases up to 600$ a month, 1% cash back on everything else.

For the first 6 months, these incentives are bumped to 5% and 3% respectively. Not bad at all.


http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/show ... p?t=722828
by EmperorCoder
29 May 2009 19:00
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST MAY BALANCE
Replies: 13
Views: 1208

Another exceptional month, mostly fueled by takeover rumors on my largest holding, Equinox Minerals.

May balance is $148,877.

Portfolio hasn't changed :

PRAA (668 shares)
EQN.TO (45414 shares)
by EmperorCoder
24 May 2009 21:58
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Asset Allocation: RRSP vs. TFSA vs. Non-Registered
Replies: 15
Views: 3072

I made some retirement simulations using RRIFmetic today, and was pleased to see that it now supports TFSA. Having a large non-reg portfolio at this point, it should be a no-brainer to transfer each year the maximum from the non-reg to the TFSA account. The nice surprise I got was that maxing the TFSA each year until 70 years old seems to be the sweet spot. That's probably because of the forced RRSP withdrawals at 71. Nonetheless, in every simulation I made, maxing out the TFSA resulted in the ability to reduce retirement age by one or two years (assuming cash-neutral comparison). YMMV but I recommend you play around with the thing, it's really enlightening. BTW a free demo of RRifmetic can be found here : http://www.fimetrics.com/demo.shtml
by EmperorCoder
30 Apr 2009 20:26
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST APRIL BALANCE
Replies: 22
Views: 1582

April balance 122 364$.

Although I don't intend to sell until the end of the contest, I think that the old saying "sell in may" could very well apply this year.
by EmperorCoder
29 Apr 2009 20:35
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: How much is your TFSA worth today? (2009)
Replies: 77
Views: 6637

like_to_retire wrote:Trading into stocks doesn't attract any tax, and trading out of them will only attract a tax at half the rate of interest income tax. Seems to me, that avoiding interest income tax would be a better argument.
Depends on your expected gain. In the current environment, I am pretty confident I can generate a 10% return on equities for many years ahead, of which roughly 2.5% would go away as taxes each year (assuming 50% marginal rate on capital gains).

With fixed income, I could only shelter myself from roughly 1% tax each year given the low interest rates for years to come.
by EmperorCoder
14 Apr 2009 11:04
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Goldman Sachs (Symbol-GS)
Replies: 103
Views: 11874

Re: Goldman Sachs (Symbol-GS)

Mike Schimek wrote:
* Bear Stearns died...
* Lehman brothers has been all beat up...
I think you've got these two mixed up. Bear Stearns was absorbed by JP Morgan. Lehman Brothers disappeared.

Emp
by EmperorCoder
31 Mar 2009 21:42
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST MARCH BALANCE
Replies: 17
Views: 1566

I totally knew March would be good !

$106,721
by EmperorCoder
15 Mar 2009 08:54
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Best/Worst Blunders (Not for Newbies Only)
Replies: 135
Views: 24854

Here is a link to an asset allocation test. Perhaps this will help you determine how much risk you are comfortable with. http://eadvisortdeseries.tdcanadatrust.com/home.asp Just for the kick of it, I tried the test, and rebuked at this question : Investments with higher returns typically involve greater risk. This question presents four hypothetical $10,000 investments with widely varying potential risk/rewards. With which outcome would you be most comfortable? Potential value of investment after 5 years (Best Outcome/Worst Outcome) $12,100 / $10,100 $14,600 / $8,700 $20,000 / $6,400 $27,000 / $4,400 How am I supposed to answer that one if I get not clue about the probability of each scenario ? That's not serious, they must have stolen thi...
by EmperorCoder
10 Mar 2009 21:57
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: WHAT DO YOU OWN THAT WENT UP TODAY!!
Replies: 205
Views: 19903

What a nice rally today!

Now I just need 9 more days in a row like this to recoup ;-)
by EmperorCoder
01 Mar 2009 11:54
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Buffett Buffet
Replies: 806
Views: 247104

Here are interesting quotes from this year's berkshire shareholder letter : Without urging from Charlie or anyone else, I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40-$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars. During 2008, I spent $244 million for shares of two Irish banks that appeared cheap to me. At yearend we wrote these holdings down to market: $27 million, for an 89% loss. Sin...
by EmperorCoder
28 Feb 2009 14:07
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST FEBRUARY BALANCE
Replies: 19
Views: 2105

85,102$

But I can hear the tide roaring back soon... :-)
by EmperorCoder
14 Feb 2009 17:33
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Stock/Bond/Index/Fundamental/Asset Class/Quotes - Sources
Replies: 544
Views: 114431

Historical forex data for pre-euro currencies ?

I am looking for historical forex data (1944-2002) for currencies that were replaced by the euro (more specifically the luxembourg franc, but others as well).

Either in chart or spreadsheet form, against major currencies of the time. The data doesn't have to be daily, in fact a monthly or yearly chart would be great.

So far in my research I've only been able to find data back to 1995 on this site :

http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory

Thanks for your help
by EmperorCoder
01 Feb 2009 17:19
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: CONTEST JANUARY BALANCE
Replies: 17
Views: 1347

January balance : 87901$

Glad loosing paper money doesn't hurt as much :-)
by EmperorCoder
25 Jan 2009 18:24
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Employee stock options - Questions
Replies: 81
Views: 11075

Re: Stock options instead of a pay raise ?

kcowan wrote:under GAAP rules, the options must be expensed in the year they are granted.
Interesting, but how do they price these things in practice? Out of the money, non-vested options can only have a low time value. Maybe in the following years when the stock price goes up do they have to re-adjust earnings accordingly?
by EmperorCoder
24 Jan 2009 14:18
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Employee stock options - Questions
Replies: 81
Views: 11075

During the crash, I lost my job (salary was my primary income source) and the stock was worth nothing ... Yeah, that's a risk I need to be ready to assume if I go that route. Many horror stories abound. But I'm not in a situation where a significant portion of my net worth is tied to the company I work for at the moment. Also consider that if I lose my job I still have the stock options (although they might not be worth much like you said). When you lose your job, you lose 100% of your future pay increases. I would not lose the part that was paid in options though. In fact, you can even consider the options like a partial hedge against being layed off. If the company rebounds in response to its aggressive restructuring, I'd benefit from it...
by EmperorCoder
24 Jan 2009 14:04
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Are franchises worth it?
Replies: 35
Views: 5831

Re: Own the franchise or own the shares?

Spidey wrote:Is share ownership a viable alternative to business ownership?
Share ownership IS business ownership.

However, owning the shares, you actually own a chain of franchised restaurants, rather than only one franchise. Owning a single franchise is always more risky than owning a chain I'd say (but with greater risk can come greater rewards).