Google has revolutionized the stock market as much as it has the internet. Starting with its application of its legendary real-time auction model to its initial public offering, Google has continued to exceed expectations for its bottom line as an investment opportunity. From it, … [Read more...]
Understanding Market Neutral Positions
Filed Under: Market Positions by
Volatility can be a tough pill to swallow, especially when it can have such a large daily impact on your personal savings portfolio. However managing volatility as a personal investor can sometimes be overwhelming, in that there are so many confusing strategies available to choose … [Read more...]
Mitigating Equity Dilution as a Value Investor
Filed Under: Value Investing by
In the last article, I went through a couple of scenarios that could result in an investor’s position being diluted out by further equity issuances by the company itself. While these situations don’t really have a major impact on the value of the investment itself (increasing the … [Read more...]
Inside a Mutual Fund Evaluating BPRAX
Filed Under: Fund Analysis by
Now that we understand the basics of this fund which I discussed here (BPRAX), let’s take a moment to understand why it is that we would want to consider it as an investment opportunity. I’m going to discuss this fund under the following assumptions: The near-term inflationary … [Read more...]
Portfolio Balancing Part 2 – Making The Best Use of Asset Classes
Filed Under: Portfolio Balancing by
In the first article, we discussed what the four main elements of your personal investment portfolio will generally consist of. With that understanding in mind, let’s continue on to discuss how each of these asset classes is practically applied towards building our financial … [Read more...]
Credit Score Factors: Payment History
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
It might seem counter-intuitive, but the most important investment decisions that a personal investor will ever make tend to revolve more around debt than they do actual securities. This is because of the way in which our debt and credit capacity makes up for such much of our total … [Read more...]
Understanding Economies of Scale: Brokerage Commissions
Filed Under: Economics of Scale by
The other day I received a question at work about how it is that a mutual fund or ETF can provide an investor with scale in an investing portfolio. The asking party was mainly curious about how it is that the diversification benefits of a fund can outweigh the liquidity that an … [Read more...]
Short Put Market Neutral Positioning
Filed Under: Market Positions by
The final market neutral position that I’d like to examine in this week’s series is called a short put strategy. It is similar to the previously discussed long call position in that they are opposite positions to the same effect. However, the main difference between the two positions … [Read more...]
Who Regulates Financial Advisory in the USA?
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
Financial planners and advisors seem to spring up frequently these days, all claiming to be the best qualified to handle our personal savings and investments. While many of these professionals do indeed have the skills necessary to guide us towards our financial goals, it can still be … [Read more...]
Applying Value Analysis to Income and Cash Flow
Filed Under: Value Investing by
The first things you should ever look at when analyzing a company is its top and bottom lines. How much money is this company making, and how much is it keeping? From there, you can work your way throughout the gritty details about where it is all the money is going, and whether or … [Read more...]
The Spanish Debt Crisis: How Bad is it?
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
Over April, the Spanish Debt Crisis began to take centre stage as investors turned their attention away from Greece. Despite a brief rally in the market, it seems as though European debt is again going to exert its influence on North American Stock Exchanges for the near future. But … [Read more...]
Earning an Income in Selling off a Position
Filed Under: Investing Strategies by
In the last post I described how you can earn an income by using cash covered puts to gently introduce yourself to an equity position. While it works as a fantastic strategy to graduate a security into your portfolio, and thus reduce the psychological gravity associated with suddenly … [Read more...]
Credit Score Factors: Age of File & Credit Seeking Tendencies
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
Credit building requires, without a doubt, a long term plan and determination in order to be effective over the long term. However, many people don’t realize that the long-term nature of credit building is not just an exercise in self-restraint, but a factor that is considered in … [Read more...]
How a Gold Exit Might Impact Your Commodities Portfolio
Filed Under: Investing Strategies by
My favourite story from economics class is the Wizard of Oz. Believe it or not, this book was actually a story about the great depression. Go ahead, Google it and come back here when you’re done. Rather than bore you with the details, I’d like to quickly draw your attention to the … [Read more...]
Equity Dilution’s Impact on Value
Filed Under: Value Investing by
Keeping in mind the theme of value investing, I’d like to dedicate the next two posts to the discussion of equity dilution, and how its impacts can be worked into a value-based portfolio. For our purposes, equity dilution is going to refer to situations in which the values of an … [Read more...]
Averaging Down Without the Risk
Filed Under: Investing Strategies by
Volatility went through the roof again this week, and to be honest, I can’t even keep track of it any more. Between the political deck-shuffling in Italy and Greece delaying any semblance of sanity in the debt markets, and a sudden re-emergence of conflict in the middle-east stirring … [Read more...]
Stop Payments, Stop ETF, and Trace Check
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
Working for a financial institution, I’ve been able to see the benefits of online banking from a first-hand perspective. By cutting the costs associated with retail transactions in more than half, online banking provides some amazing opportunities for expanding the kinds of services … [Read more...]
How a Gold Exit Might Impact Your Bonds and Guaranteed Savings Portfolio
Filed Under: Personal Finance by
Your bond portfolio is your back-bone. It supports both the fixed-income and growth aspects of your portfolio by virtue of its stability, predictability, and cash-producing nature. No matter what, you know what kind of returns you’ll be getting from this portfolio, provided that there … [Read more...]
Context of a Mutual Fund – Vanguard Specialized Energy Fund (VGENX)
Filed Under: Fund Analysis by
Last week we examined a set of mutual funds that delivered stability and safety for an investor looking to pursue a somewhat more aggressive inflation-hedged bond portfolio. In order to both provide some contrast, as well as to examine the lucrative oil markets of the last ten … [Read more...]
Being Paid to Receive a Dividend, Covered Call
Filed Under: Investing Strategies by
This post is going to describe for you one of my favourite equity positions, the covered call. A well executed covered call position can be a cash-flow generating machine that increases the yield of a position by a complete handful of percentage points. Here’s how it works. When an … [Read more...]
