- If you collect Aeroplan points and haven’t made any transaction in the past year, you need to act now to keep your miles from expiring at the end of this month. You can collect points by filling up gas at Esso or buying specially marked Quaker or Tropicana products. (On a related note Rob Carrick compares Aeroplan with Air Miles).
- Jon Chevreau reports that regulators are considering a standard two-page disclosure form called a point-of-sale (POS) document. Unfortunately, POS (in engineering parlance, POS or piece of sh*t, is a term for a product that truly sucks) is a more appropriate term for the vast majority of mutual funds.
- Derek DeCloet writes in The Globe and Mail about his plan to start a hedge fund: he will borrow from the bankers at today’s low-interest rates and invest in the TSX Index for the usual fee of 2-and-20.
- Rob Carrick points out the TSX index is concentrated in just three sectors: Financials, Materials and Energy. If you are heavily weighted in Canadian equities, you should look abroad for getting exposure to sectors such as health care, consumer staples etc.
- Ellen Roseman writes in The Star on how Canadians can diversify their portfolios by investing abroad. Note that the Vanguard Europe Pacific ETF (Ticker VEA) should be available in the fall and will offer a cheaper alternative to EFA.
- Are we saving too much for retirement? Fortune magazine talks to two economists who hold opposing views.
- Many Canadians dream of retiring much earlier than the traditional age of 65. Fortune magazine talks to five who have actually achieved the dream.
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11 responses so far ↓
1 FinancialJungle.com // Jun 21, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Damn. All my blog topics for next week vanished in one swoop.
Great summary.
2 Canadian Capitalist // Jun 21, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Sorry FJ. Didn’t mean to steal your thunder.
3 Phil S // Jun 22, 2007 at 7:45 am
Just my opinion, but I believe hedge funds are just a passing fad as long as global interest rates remain low. They will disappear once interest rates return to a more historically normal level. Also in my opinion, the rise of global interest rates will separate the wheat from the chaff with regards to the leveraged buyout firms (LBOs) as well. Only the truly smart money managers will survive and those who are only mediocre will get slaughtered.
I belong to both Aeroplan and Air Miles. As a user of both, my opinion is that Aeroplan sucks, Air Miles rocks. AM has more sponsors that allow you to collect on a more regular basis, makes more sense when redeeming for flights (the further you go the more points it takes) and doesn’t have as tight restrictions. I also collect Royal Bank Avion points which in my opinion is also better than Aeroplan. Aeroplan and Air Canada in general is at the bottom of the heap for me - as far as choices go, it is my airline of “last resort”. I only take AC when I have no other choice and I’m stuck with them.
4 Mr. Cheap // Jun 22, 2007 at 9:43 am
The debate between the two economists is between a prof and his former student (now also a prof) in case anyone missed that in the article. It’s funny to read the two of them going back and forth. I bet its a dream of a lot of grad students to “debunk” their former advisors… too funny!
5 Mr. Cheap // Jun 22, 2007 at 9:45 am
“When I met you last I was but the learner. Now, *I* *am* *the* *master*!”
6 Phil S // Jun 22, 2007 at 10:59 am
Hey! Do any of you have any experience with rights and warrants? Is it a pain in the arse to execute? Do I still get nailed with trading commissions from my broker?
One of the stocks that I already own (MKP) is offering existing shareholders the rights to purchase more shares at roughly $1 less than the current trading price. Do the stocks tend to tumble at a new rights offering? It’s already tumbled once when the rights offering was announced, from about $12.50 down to $11.45 today.
This will be my first experience with a rights offering. I wonder if any of you listeners out there have any experience?
7 Canadian Capitalist // Jun 22, 2007 at 11:18 am
Phil: I have exercised warrants to buy more stock once. It is quite simple. You call your broker and ask to exercise the warrant to buy more stock. There are no extra commissions to pay.
You can also sell the warrants in the open market. I haven’t personally done this but I’d assume that you have to pay brokerage commissions to sell.
8 ThickenMyWallet // Jun 22, 2007 at 11:41 am
What corrects first: hedge funds or private equity?
Private equity may feel the brunt of rising interest rates but with Congress beating the regulatory drum, hedge funds may be pinched by both rising interest rates and greater (and needed) regulation.
9 Phil S // Jun 22, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I think there needs to be some clarification on the term “private equity”. If you are actually referring to leveraged buyout firms, then I agree there will be a correction coming.
Traditional private equity is just people who use cash with varying degrees of leverage to buy businesses, such as venture capital. Venture capital is an essential part of a free market economy as it is required to provide innovation and growth. Without venture capital, an economy will quickly become a “rust belt” full of old bloated bureaucratic companies which are dying slow deaths.
10 Phil S // Jun 22, 2007 at 12:49 pm
CC. Thanks for the feedback!
11 Outroupistache // Jun 23, 2007 at 10:56 am
I enjoyed reading the article on the early retirees. Good philosophy they seem to have in common - your job is not your life, your life is your job. All people who take responsibility for themselves as well. Thanks for posting the link.
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