The Blog

Breaking: Major changes in mortgage market in Canada?

Posted by Preet on Feb 2, 2012 | 4 comments

This is a guest post from Ross Taylor Today, February 2, will bring even more changes to the Canadian mortgage industry, as one by one, lenders will have no choice but to announce major changes to their lending guidelines. Why is this happening? In recent months, some financial institutions have been quietly offloading the risk of even their low loan to value mortgages (previously uninsured) by securitizing these mortgages and bulk buying CMHC insurance – thus quickly pushing the amount insured quite close to the threshold of $600 billion set by the federal government. Only three years ago, the cap was $450 billion. Yesterday, FirstLine Mortgages announced they were...

Facebook IPO: Should you try to buy it?

Posted by Tusk Trader on Feb 1, 2012 | 0 comments

This is a guest post on trading from Tusk Trader (check out the newly launched site: www.TuskFund.com), an experienced Bay Street trader who will be writing here until Tusk’s own blog is set up. Tusk had a front row seat to the twists, turns, and almost collapse of our capital market systems a few years ago and provides a unique perspective you won’t find anywhere else. For most people, financial literacy is the elephant in the room. Let Tusk Trader help change that. If you are on twitter, make sure to follow Tusk at @TuskTrader All market watchers have been buzzing about the news that Facebook is going public. The upcoming Facebook IPO is going to be different...

Is it time to buy RIM?

Posted by Tusk Trader on Jan 26, 2012 | 2 comments

This is a guest post on trading from Tusk Trader (check out the newly launched site: www.TuskFund.com), an experienced Bay Street trader who will be writing here until Tusk’s own blog is set up. Tusk had a front row seat to the twists, turns, and almost collapse of our capital market systems a few years ago and provides a unique perspective you won’t find anywhere else. For most people, financial literacy is the elephant in the room. Let Tusk Trader help change that. If you are on twitter, make sure to follow Tusk at @TuskTrader I have heard that question asked between friends numerous times this week and I have been asked that question personally about 10 times...

High Frequency Trading: A Professional Trader’s Take

Posted by Tusk Trader on Jan 19, 2012 | 0 comments

This is a guest post on trading from Tusk Trader (check out the newly launched site: www.TuskFund.com), an experienced Bay Street trader who will be writing here until Tusk’s own blog is set up. Tusk had a front row seat to the twists, turns, and almost collapse of our capital market systems a few years ago and provides a unique perspective you won’t find anywhere else. For most people, financial literacy is the elephant in the room. Let Tusk Trader help change that. If you are on twitter, make sure to follow Tusk at @TuskTrader High Frequency Trading. A very large topic, with more nuances, sub-topics and Street opinions than a conversation about Tebow. High...

Bloggers For Charity Guest Post

Posted by Preet on Jan 17, 2012 | 3 comments

For those of you just tuning in, a number of bloggers got together and auctioned off the opportunity to write a guest post on our respective blogs in exchange for a charitable donation. The top bidder for a guest post on WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com was $5,000 made by Concentra Financial. I have verified the contribution by receiving a copy of the donation receipt. Today is the day that all the guest posts run on all the participating blogs. Regular programming continues on Thursday. Take it away Concentra Financial… *The following is written by Norm Klatt of Concentra Financial Economic Impacts and Social Values In today’s uncertain economic times, there’s value...

The Block Trade and Real Volume

Posted by Tusk Trader on Jan 12, 2012 | 4 comments

This is a guest post on trading from Tusk Trader (check out the newly launched site: www.TuskFund.com), an experienced Bay Street trader who will be writing here until Tusk’s own blog is set up. Tusk had a front row seat to the twists, turns, and almost collapse of our capital market systems a few years ago and provides a unique perspective you won’t find anywhere else. For most people, financial literacy is the elephant in the room. Let Tusk Trader help change that. If you are on twitter, make sure to follow Tusk at @TuskTrader Trading volume is looked at often, but do you consider the effect of block trades? Traders love volatility It is well known that traders...

Dividends make up 43% of S&P 500 historical returns

Posted by Preet on Jan 8, 2012 | 8 comments

There are a lot of die hard dividend investors out there. Many won’t even look at a stock if it doesn’t pay dividends. There are various reasons as to why this strategy is appealing. Companies that pay dividends are often larger and more stable than non dividend paying companies. If a dividend paying stock’s price gets beaten up, the dividend yield increases making the stock more attractive which means there is a bit of a brake on the price falling. For example if company XYZ is $100 per share and pays annual dividends of $4, it has a 4% dividend yield. If the market tumbles and XYZ is now trading at $50 per share, so long as they maintain their...