tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162853972009-10-05T02:47:31.136-04:00Sharing the experiences, knowledge, and challenges of a beginning Canadian investor. My goal is to become educated and effective at maintaining healthy personal finance habits, with a focus on eventual wealth building. The goal of this page is to offer up my investing ideas, issues, and my portfolio, and allow the reader to learn from them, evaluate them, and hopefully discuss them.Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-741163745016428812007-11-18T16:20:00.000-05:002007-11-18T16:29:19.864-05:00

As I wrote recently I purchased 35 shares of Wachovia. Since that purchase at $44.50 the shares have dipped as low as $38.05 on continued panic regarding the mortgage market deterioration. I decided to add 20 more shares to my position, and have reduced my cost basis now to $42.33.As I noted before I am in some respects trying to pick the bottom of this hurtin' that has been put on financial

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-42675224034123618592007-10-30T19:05:00.000-04:002007-10-30T19:13:49.699-04:00

Sirius Satellite Radio released earnings this morning (Remember, until last week I owned some Sirius).They announced that losses had reduced from 12 cents per share in the 3rd quarter last year to 8 cents per share this year. Also, subscribers increased 50% over the same quarter last year.To me, this sounded like good news, yet the stock was down 9% to $3.29 today. It made me feel great that I

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-10081779559556738372007-10-25T18:53:00.000-04:002007-10-25T19:44:45.762-04:00

Wow, can you believe I haven't posted here in more than a year? I can - I haven't been actively investing, as I've been adjusting to my new life as a working stiff (I know, lame excuse).Anyhow, I thought I would drop by with an update of my holdings.First of all, I sold Microsoft months ago for an 8% profit overall including commissions (nothing to brag about considering I held it for a whole

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1146936634187293272006-05-06T13:26:00.000-04:002006-05-06T13:30:34.196-04:00

Obviously I have completely neglected my blog for a looong time. The fact is I haven't had time to focus on my investing, and thus I haven't had any new thoughts to contribute. I have happily watched visitors continue to come here, so I hope people are still enjoying some of my older posts.Unfortunately as I've passively sat back and watched my investments, I've had to watch some of them drop

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1134787819291649212005-12-16T21:48:00.000-05:002005-12-16T21:59:44.683-05:00

Well, it's been a mixed couple of weeks. The gains that were making me feel good in both my stock holdings are pretty much gone, but all my mutual funds are into positive gains.Coach has continuously dipped since it peaked at a new 52-week high about 20 days ago. From a profit of 9.93% back then, I now sit to make 1.65%. I am still feeling good about Coach though (the company and the stock), and

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1133281473010259332005-11-29T11:18:00.000-05:002005-11-29T11:35:20.663-05:00

Today I purchased TD US Index mutual fund with the capital and profit from my former holding, CIBC Energy. TD US Index is an index fund which tracks the S&P 500. As stated before I wanted to stay away from sector-specific funds (like the Energy funds), to remain more diverse and not risk devastation at the hands of fluctuating commodity prices.When I looked around for a good diverse Canadian

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1132947297287020262005-11-25T14:15:00.000-05:002005-11-25T14:36:50.283-05:00

Coach [my new favourite stock ;)] continued building on Wednesday's gains today, climbing another 1.95% today in shortened trading hours. My profit (including commissions) now stands at 9.93%, after holding the stock for 2 1/2 months.Profit = (($36.64/share*40 shares)/($31.88/share*40 shares + $58 commission)-1)*100=9.93Now I guess I need to think about when to sell it. Because it was debatably

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1132772395072083092005-11-23T13:55:00.000-05:002005-11-23T14:00:40.640-05:00

Coach is up over 3% so far today, after Standard & Poor's featured the company in their Outlook newsletter as one of the top 10 stock picks for the remainder of 2005.I purchased my 40 shares of Coach at 31.88/share, thus my profit if I sold now (including $58 comission for buy and sell) would be around 8%. That makes me feel great.Now I need to get back to finding a mutual fund to replace my CIBC

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1132330351802630372005-11-18T11:08:00.000-05:002005-11-18T12:26:43.423-05:00

Well I finally sold my CIBC Energy Mutual Fund today, and made off with 14.3% profit. I purchased on July 26th at $31.792 per unit, and sold today at yesterday's closing price of $36.331 per unit.One nice thing about mutual funds is that the price is not updated throughout the day. I built a Yahoo portfolio with the top ten holdings of this mutual fund, so I can watch it during the day. The fund

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1131887490248081142005-11-13T08:05:00.000-05:002005-11-13T08:22:46.946-05:00

"Microsoft's stock has been treading water for years". I've heard that more than a few times. Basically MSFT has traded between $30 and $24 for a couple years. But that doesn't really mean that the price of Microsoft has not changed for years. As I discussed before, the true price investors are willing to pay for a stock is the Price/Earnings ratio. This consideration applies to any stock, of

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1130951502474398802005-11-02T12:08:00.000-05:002005-11-02T12:11:42.486-05:00

I haven't posted in a while, as I've just been letting my stocks do their thing without observing too closely, and I've been investigating the possibility of purchasing a used car. It's a big investment, which is probably not an 'investment' at all. I'll just need a car anyways to get to work when I graduate.As for my two stocks (Microsoft and Coach), they've both been climbing since their

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1130449916462343352005-10-27T17:44:00.000-04:002005-10-27T17:56:41.716-04:00

The rough market we've seen so far in October continued yesterday and today. Although Coach posted earnings better than expectations on Tuesday, it closed today around the same level as Monday.Today Microsoft posted earnings for their fiscal first quarter after the market closed. Read more here. Including a one-time charge of 2 cents per share related to the settlement with Real, the earnings

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1130241939983151392005-10-25T08:05:00.000-04:002005-10-25T08:05:39.993-04:00

What a nice way to start my morning... unless I'm missing something, this should give the share price a boost. Coach First-Quarter Profit Rises: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "NEW YORK (AP) -- Coach Inc., the high-end handbag and accessories maker, on Tuesday reported its fiscal first-quarter profit surged 54 percent, lifted by robust sales and improved operating margin. The company also

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1130164697952936362005-10-24T10:34:00.000-04:002005-10-24T10:38:17.956-04:00

I'm watching Coach (NYSE-COH) closely today (and pulling my hair out), as Merryl Lynch downgraded it from Buy to Neutral this morning. It has already dropped more than 5% on the news, but recovered to around $31/share presently, down 4%.This is not what I wanted to see after a good week of gains last week, and awaiting tomorrow's earnings announcement. I have my fingers crossed for a good

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129901084384346822005-10-21T09:14:00.000-04:002005-10-21T09:26:37.050-04:00

I am anxiously awaiting earnings announcements from Coach(NYSE-COH) next Tuesday, and Microsoft(NASDAQ-MSFT) next Thursday. As I mentioned before, this is the first round of earnings announcements since I have owned these stocks (since I have owned any stocks in fact), so it's definitely got me nervous.Both stocks are not in a great position for me. Coach has rebounded nicely this week, and sits

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129829671581979582005-10-20T13:33:00.000-04:002005-10-21T08:32:51.306-04:00

... I'm trying out some new blog formatting, so far on the main page only. I wanted to make it a little more unique, and a little less dark, but I'm not sure I've got a color combination that works yet...Ok I like this one I have right now, I think we'll go with this for a while. I liked yesterday's until I saw it on my laptop, so who knows I might hate this one later too... maybe I'll just go

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129765390910149242005-10-19T19:30:00.000-04:002005-10-19T19:43:10.916-04:00

I've learned a lot about the stock market this year, but I think I have more to learn about analyst's estimates. For instance, Google reports 3rd quarter earnings tomorrow after the market closes. I read the earnings preview, and it contains some interesting statements that had me questioning the logic of analyst predictions:ANALYST TAKE: "We believe Google will report (third-quarter) results

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129600907614115852005-10-17T21:53:00.000-04:002005-10-21T09:09:10.153-04:00

I thought a little more about whether to deduct my RSP contributions for the tax savings [see this post to get caught up], or to wait until a future year. I am in the lowest tax bracket of ~24%. I'll graduate late next year and be in the higher bracket of 34% in at most two years.I contributed $5000 to my RSP account already this year, but I don't need to use the tax deduction until I want to.Use

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129557679863887752005-10-17T09:58:00.000-04:002005-10-17T10:01:19.870-04:00

The 18th Carnival of Personal Finance is now up, hosted at My Money Blog; I have a post featured once again this week. Be sure to take a look around at My Money Blog; it is becoming one of my favourite personal finance sites.Carnival of Personal Finance description:"...a 'Carnival' is a weblog post that brings attention to some of the week's most interesting and informative blogger-written

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129479954761726372005-10-16T23:48:00.000-04:002005-10-21T09:11:46.266-04:00

I explained the different investment accounts I have in one of my first posts. One is, of course, my 'retirement account'. RRSPs, as they're called in Canada, are Registered (i.e. tax exempt) Retirement Savings Plans. When you move money into your RSP, you can reduce your income for the year by that amount.But I'm only 24, and I'm in a low tax bracket; is it advisable to use my RSP? Well, I've

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129405077654688732005-10-15T15:55:00.000-04:002005-10-21T09:13:29.430-04:00

Well, it's been a bad couple of weeks for my portfolio, as I already posted about my stocks. My mutual funds have been hit pretty hard as well. When I posted my first ever quarterly performance review on October 3rd my RSP mutual funds were up 6.93% and my discretionary account mutual funds were up 5.63%.Now my RSP funds are up 3.3% and my discretionary account is up 0.31%. The worst performers

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129174573480022012005-10-13T17:17:00.000-04:002005-10-13T17:18:12.986-04:00

I've started looking at my venture into investing as part of a broader mission of personal financial health and overall self-improvement. I've already begun to change the way I think, as I've learned what it takes to prepare for retirement (... and I'm still a student). I'm going to attempt some self-improvements in other areas as well.I've even taken a goal-oriented step and added a new sentence

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129170908917067292005-10-12T22:47:00.000-04:002005-10-13T08:26:29.600-04:00

My two individual stock holdings, Coach (40 shares) and Microsoft (90 shares), have performed consistently poorly since I bought them. I obtained each in the past few months, so I am nervous for my first round of earnings announcements in the next couple of weeks. I am probably worrying over too short a time frame, but they're my first stocks, so it would be nice if one of them had climbed,

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129133284767547202005-10-12T21:06:00.000-04:002005-10-13T08:29:00.463-04:00

Everybody seems to like or dislike a stock based on their own system of requisites. Of course there are opposing schools of though on stock valuation (i.e. growth vs. value), but I thought I would highlight some of the other reasons people believe in certain investments, for better or for worse.Cash Flow - In finance terms, the value of any investment (be it a stock, a real estate or small

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16285397.post-1129070214699690592005-10-11T18:31:00.000-04:002005-10-11T19:18:35.886-04:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I want to establish a formal budget for myself. I consider this an imperative step for both short-term financial health and eventual long-term wealth building.I've begun to think of it this way: there's no point working hard to get extra gains out of your investments when you haven't yet taken the time to trim unnecessary spending. Increasing savings by

Ginsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14022609811570302834noreply@blogger.com0