2009 April | WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com

A Lap Of The Blogs

Posted by Preet on Apr 30, 2009 | 5 comments

If you are new to WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com, every Friday I run a post called “A Lap Of The Blogs” which provides links to articles I found interesting and think that others may want to read for themselves. I also include some commentary on what’s going on in my personal life and a weekly “racing video” since my former life was in the auto-racing industry. The name “Lap of the Blogs” is in reference to “A Lap Of The Gods” which is an old video series which chronicled on-board footage of the world’s greatest F1 drivers lapping various racetracks from around the world. From Around The Blogosphere Seems like I just got over a cold, and now I have...

Save Money On Wheels and Tires

Posted by Preet on Apr 29, 2009 | 15 comments

Last winter I was looking for a set of cheap steel wheels to mount winter tires on, but I couldn’t find them fast enough so I just decided to mount the snow tires on the factory alloy wheels as the tires were getting close to worn out anyways. I thought to myself, when the warm weather comes around I’ll just buy some new wheels and tires as a package so I don’t have to keep flipping tires off one set of rims (the bead can only take so many mounts/dismounts). I had bought the snow tires down the road: a set of four 16″ snow tires was $900 installed (remember, this wasn’t including wheels). Yikes! I didn’t remember snow tires being so...

Anyone Looking For A Smokin' Deal On A Lexus?

Posted by Preet on Apr 28, 2009 | 4 comments

…because my friend’s Lexus is going back to the dealership since he is fed up with his experience. First, I want to say that I don’t believe that this one experience should reflect upon the entire company. I’ve been in a Lexus showroom once or twice (love the IS series) and I’ve met some of the most professional sales staff I’ve ever run into. I also happen to think that most Toyota vehicles (which includes Lexus) are amazing vehicles from a quality standpoint. What’s happening with my friend won’t put me off considering a Lexus or Toyota down the road. …having said that, this particular ordeal (which you can read...

The Market Can Stay Irrational Longer Than You Can Stay Solvent

Posted by Preet on Apr 27, 2009 | 2 comments

Research Affiliates, the asset manager, sub-advisory service and general investment think tank, publishes a newsletter monthly which, more often than not, is quite thought-provoking. I’d write a summary of the March 2009 issue, but when I forwarded a copy to Jonathan Chevreau (author of The Wealthy Boomer, columnist for the National post, Twitter Profile: http://twitter.com/JonChevreau) earlier today he dissected it much better than I could. You can read Jonathan’s thoughts by clicking here. One point that that I’ll add to Jon’s notes are that the eVestment Alliance returns are GROSS of management fees, but do adjust for survivorship bias –...

Investor's Guide To Effective Complaints

Posted by Preet on Apr 26, 2009 | 1 comment

Ken Kivenko (author of CanadianFundWatch.com) kindly (again!) sent me an email with his latest work: The Investor’s Guide To Effective Complaints which is published under the Kenmar Associates banner (which is Ken’s other endeavour focused at investor protection and education). Some Highlights Don’t forget that a firm’s compliance officer is paid by the firm. You may want to make notes on your meetings and phone calls with your advisor (because they are making notes for their records). Keep copies of ALL paperwork (your copy of the initial account opening agreement and all transaction confirmations, etc.) There is a list of organizations that can...

A Lap Of The Blogs

Posted by Preet on Apr 23, 2009 | 6 comments

If you are new to WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com, every Friday I run a post called “A Lap Of The Blogs” which provides links to articles I found interesting and think that others may want to read for themselves. I also include some commentary on what’s going on in my personal life and a weekly “racing video” since my former life was in the auto-racing industry. The name “Lap of the Blogs” is in reference to “A Lap Of The Gods” which is an old video series which chronicled on-board footage of the world’s greatest F1 drivers lapping various racetracks from around the world. I was a bit late ordering some new wheels and tires now that winter is over (new...

Indexing and Options, and The Value Of Stock Market Research

Posted by Preet on Apr 22, 2009 | 4 comments

A few readers wanted to know more about how to manage a buy and hold indexing portfolio with some option trading. I wrote a post about The Reverse Dispersion Equity Collar about a year ago which is a complicated example. Note that if your portfolio is not large enough to accommodate holding 100 shares of each of the TSX60 companies as noted in the example, you could also just buy a longer put on, say XIC (the iShare that tracks the S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index) and write monthly calls. You won’t get the reverse dispersion benefit, but you can still reduce the cost of the collar, and perhaps run a net credit. Whenever I talk options, I always note that...