Weekend Reading - Ottawa February Thaw Edition
Today it’s already 7 degrees in Ottawa and yes, that's on the plus-side. Yup, take that Vancouver! :)
While I enjoy winter, I must say I’m looking forward to spring. Spring means we get to see our backyard for the first time as new owners of this house. It also means time to dust off the golf clubs and shoes and hit the links. Yeah, I’m probably getting ahead of myself but it’s hard not to when today’s weather is so mild in the capital. It's a rarity.
Looking back, this week was a pretty good one. At work, I finalized a project plan that should be approved next month that will help my team deliver some great new solutions and tools for customers at work. I got some great news about one of my stocks, TransCanada, who raised their dividend by a tidy 5%; more dividends = more stock = more dividends again. We were also able to plunk down an extra $100 on our mortgage; every little bit helps. Lastly, I had the good fortune to chat in person with prominent bloggers Canadian Capitalist and Big Cajun Man from Canadian Personal Finance Blog and the President and CEO of Claymore over dinner. We had a good chat about the financial industry in general, ETF products, blogging and its relevance as a learning and communication tool amongst investors. I enjoyed our dialogue and I hope we do it again in the future.
Well, the weekend is here, lots of work to do around the house (I’ve got my honey-do-list nearby) but if you have some spare time after your own list is done I suggest you check out these articles from the blogosphere. There are lessons learned, lessons to live life, tax software giveaways, overviews, rants and many powerful investing tips. Collectively, these guys covered it all so check them out!
Until next week, take care!
101 Centavos outlined his model portfolio of resource stocks and it really caught my eye when he showed his overall return. Let’s just say it’s over 100%.
Andrew Hallam reinforced with us the power and success of index investing in his post entitled “When Losers Laugh at Active Mutual Fund Managers”.
Balance Junkie had a great post about your investmnet personality.
Mich pressed the buy button on a few junior resource stocks is week, check out what he picked this time in his ongoing quest to beat the index.
Boomer & Echo said inflation rates aren’t as bad as they seem. I agree, for now.
Larry MacDonald had an interesting post, we always talk about what to buy for your RRSP but how about what not to buy?
Canadian Capitalist asked if better fee disclosures will help investors.
Canadian Couch Potato gave an overview of some new Bank of Montreal income ETFs and decided to give away five copies of H&R Block At Home downloadable tax preparation software. Check it out!
Big Cajun Man told us not to mistake activity for achievement, quoting John Wooden.
Cowtown Realist said this blogging stuff is a lot of work!
Matt @ Dividend Monk analyzed AZZ stock.
Robert @ DIY Investor showed the performance of the five most widely held mutual funds in the U.S. as by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII).
Financial Uproar told us why he donates very little to charity.
Mike @ Money Smarts Blog discussed the first home buyers plan using RRSPs.
Rob Bennett had a guest post on Invest It Wisely about why stocks are far more risky when valuations are high.
Michael James on Money had some challenges getting his credit report from TransUnion but eventually got it in the end.
Frugal Trader @ Million Dollar Journey not only provided a short review of TurboTax, he is giving away a copy.
Sustainable Personal Finance had another great sustainability tip.
The Dividend Ninja told us about the power of preferred shares.
Addicted2dividends @ The Loonie Bin has a unique RRSP challenge to investors this year.
The Money Gardener wondered if a cash advance loan can be paid back quickly.
Passive Income Earner reminded us about the (tidy) dividend yield of National Bank.
Young and Thrifty said sometimes life is for the living and buying something expensive can be worth it now and again. Totally agree.
As my father says "you can't put a price on fun."
Cheers,
My Own Advisor
13 comments:
Thanks for the mention Mark!
I am also looking forward to Spring, I missed mowing the lawn :) (this is how sick i am of winter)
Sounds like you had an interesting meeting. Som is a pretty high-energy guy. Thanks for the mention.
@Mich - I hear ya!
@Michael - yeah, it was fun. Maybe next time you can join us? You were probably busy this week as was Larry. Take care!
Thanks for the mention Mark! That's great that you Ottawa bloggers can get together once in a while in person. I would enjoy that too out here in the West but we are too scattered.
Maybe we should plan for an annual Canadian PF Bloggers conference?
Thanks for the mention, Mark.
I'm not looking forward to Spring, as I have a backyard that needs to be landscaped and a fence to be built.
Thanks for the mention!
Thanx for the mention !:) That must have been a great meeting, lots of fun and very interesting discussion I would think..What a great opportunity.
@Angela Sanders - thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your offer but I'm not interested at this time. Thanks for understanding!
@Echo - you're welcome and it is nice to meet these guys now and again. Yes, I've thought of that too - an annual conference - that would be good.
@Addicted2dividends - at least the weather will be better? :)
@MikeG - I answered your question.
@Dividend Ninja - yeah, fun meeting, hopefully do it again over the next year.