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This and That: The $10 life and more…

August 6th, 2009 · 9 Comments

  1. While it is never easy to adapt to hard times especially when it is forced down on us, grasshoppers cannot hope that their spendthrift ways can last forever. The Globe & Mail featured a lament to the good old days and a painful adjustment to the new reality.
  2. Money Manager Jeremy Grantham reckons that stocks are now fairly valued. In his latest newsletter, he also says that the world is fast running out of non-renewable resources.
  3. Bank of Montreal is running ads in major newspapers asking former mortgage holders to contact them regarding possible refund of fees. Michael James explains the details and suggests customers contact the bank to see if they are eligible.
  4. Ellen Roseman recently wrote about a small business owner who says he lost tens of thousands of dollars to currency conversion charges because his bank refused to give him a foreign currency account.
  5. Larry MacDonald hopes that readers will find some money saving pointers in his experience in shopping for a new car.
  6. Four Pillars takes a stab at valuing real estate.
  7. Securities lending is a prevalent practice among ETF vendors. In this post, Preet listed the risks involved in securities lending.
  8. It hasn’t been much of a summer here in Ottawa but Squawk Fox has six cheap ways to stay cool without air conditioning.
  9. Million Dollar Journey weighs the pros and cons of taking over a car lease.
  10. Canadian Financial Stuff counts his blessings despite being laid off from Nortel after a long tenure.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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9 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Four Pillars // Aug 6, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    Thanks for the link. That $10 life post was interesting – that might be the “tomorrow” for people who don’t worry about tomorrow.

  • 2 Michael James // Aug 7, 2009 at 1:03 am

    Thanks for the mention. I agree with the Four Pillars take on the $10 life. The piece was very well written, but it was apparent that this couple could be living at least a $20 life if they had dialed back the spending when they were younger.

  • 3 Big Cajun Man // Aug 7, 2009 at 6:52 am

    Thanks for the mention have a fabulous weekend, I will be back to work on Monday too!

  • 4 Preet // Aug 7, 2009 at 9:17 am

    Thanks for the link – have a good one!

  • 5 MDJ // Aug 7, 2009 at 10:55 am

    Thanks for the link CC!

  • 6 Phil S // Aug 7, 2009 at 10:08 pm

    As I get older, I have started to view Real Estate as an equity and like any other type of equity, I try to evaluate using P/E ratios. In the case of real estate, I look at the cost of the real estate (price) and compare it against what I believe I can get for rental revenue (earnings), with the expenses of owning the property factored in…

    And using my measurement, I have yet to find any real estate in Toronto worth buying. It’s still all overvalued and has been for a very long time.

  • 7 Matt S (Vancouver) // Aug 8, 2009 at 11:45 am

    Interesting Phil:
    I’ve tended to do rough calculations of factoring in cost of real-estate(price) vs average yearly salaries for the city I’m looking in (earnings), all salaries adjusted for inflation. However, this is for my own purchasing needs, not using a property for any generating rental income.

  • 8 Phil S // Aug 8, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    I know your blog is Canada-wide but in Toronto, I think I’ve only turned on my central A/C about 2 days so far this year. It’s been quite a crappy summer so far this year – normally by this time of year we’ve used our A/C so much it’s in danger of crapping out or overloading the grid. Even in the maritimes the weather’s been crap with no A/C really required.

  • 9 Canadian Capitalist // Aug 9, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    Phil: We’ve turned on the A/C just a couple of times as well. But we run the dehumidifier often considering it has been a wet, wet summer.

    It could be overvalued for a long long time. Even with the correction Vancouver has always been a very expensive city.

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