Forget this whole ETF thing baby, greed is good, passive investing is for wussies, and real men pick stocks! As long as you believe that 3 months is an accurate frame of reference, then I am a genius baby! In case you aren’t sure what I am referring to, check out my progress in the stock picking contest I entered at the beginning of the year (full disclosure, I do not support copying my unique investing style, in fact, I am so against it, that I don’t even invest my own money using it… not fair to the larger market). My four stock picks of Apple, Halliburton, Kelly Services, and Berkshire Hathaway have a combined return of almost 17% year-to-date. Sure this puts me around the average point of my esteemed colleagues, but far more importantly, it obviously conclusively proves that I am better at this whole investing thing than most mutual fund managers. You see the S&P 500 (our relevant index) is up a measly 11.17% YTD. This means that I have beat my index by an astounding margin. When you consider that 9 out of 10 mutual fund managers can’t claim to beat their index, I think we can all agree that I deserve a yacht, a sports car collection, a corner office in a big investment building, and everything else that comes with managing other peoples’ money. Comparing Apples To ? Obviously I’m being facetious. To be brutally honest, I’ve had one stock (Apple) that seems to be the trendy pick for the season, and it has exceeded my wildest expectations. New estimates coming out have people saying the company is not even close to being done growing. I don’t believe this is the case at all, but hey, I’ll claim that I knew it all along. My other stocks have been decidedly pedestrian. As unemployment numbers go down in the states, my highly touted temp agency (Kelly) should continue to do better. Berkshire was an overall play on the American economy improving (hopefully this keeps up), and I truly expect Halliburton to be my big winner by the end of the year. After all, it’s not hard to make profits when you have no soul (or so they tell me). An Investment Strategy Your Kids Will Love It is worth noting that the guy leading the contest Mr. Sustainable Personal Finance, has benefited from a massive leap in the valuation of one of his core holdings. What industry is thriving in these uncertain times you might ask? Marijuana sales apparently! Yes, he invested in a legal marijuana company. I have some friends from high school that decided to invest in the same industry… if not necessarily on the stock market. Show Me The Money Jerry! After seeing results like this and doing the math on compounded 17% returns, I can see how people get tempted into playing this stock picking game. It is like gambling on steroids. I can definitely see how fund managers become egomaniacal when [...]
Why I Deserve My Own Mutual Fund
Picks, Shovels, and Rent
There is an old saying that during the gold rush, it wasn’t the guys who found the gold that got rich, it was the businessman that supplied the picks and shovels. I’m wondering if a similar situation is not developing right now as North America embraces its energy craze, and the newfound riches that working with oil and natural gas has brought. Sure this site might be dedicated to sustainable financial thoughts, but there is always room for that weird contrarian dude in the corner right? There has recently been a spate of articles that I have read talking about the situations in new boomtowns like Esteban, Saskatchewan and Williston, North Dakota. As many natural resource-driven communities have found out before, the sudden influx of new residents and easy money can be both a blessing a curse. While property values suddenly go through the roof, and economic opportunities fall from the sky, the high impact on infrastructure and the basic pace of small town life can leave some prior residence feeling that it wasn’t what they signed up for. Luckily, they can often sell out for a hefty profit. “You’re Richer Than You Think” - If You Own an Oil Company That Is There are many ways to make money off of oil (of which, I am so far making taking advantage of exactly zero… do as I say, not as a I do?) and other natural resource booms. The mega-companies that are making billions of dollars leave all sorts of streams of trickle down income for the rest of us mere mortals. The obvious way to grab a piece of the pie is to become employed as a labourer by one of these behemoths. I had several friends out of high school go this route, and if you don’t mind the lifestyle the pay can range from $60K a year, to well over $100K if you tally up overtime, or you have any specific skills with heavy machinery, mechanical repair etc. You can also become a geologist, like my friends from university. These guys also work long hours, but don’t have to put up with the physical demands of the “roughneck” life and are not often exposed to the elements. With 4-5 years of schooling, $120K+ is easily achievable. The final direct way to get on the payroll of an energy giant is to offer professional services as a lawyer, accountant, electrician etc. Picks and Shovels If you don’t have a nice piece of paper with credentials on it to market to the big oil boys, and you don’t really want to experience life as a “rig-pig” you can become the seller of modern picks and shovels. You see when all of this money suddenly pours into fairly isolated areas, and into the pockets of people who have little experience with such high incomes, it is inevitable that a lot of money is going to be spent on whatever is around. Companies that are desperate to extract a valuable commodity can afford [...]
Why Give It Away?
So why spend dozens of hours of my life putting together an eBook on ETF investing – and then give it away? Purely out of the goodness of my heart of course :) No, in all seriousness, a large part of the motivation to do this eBook was the fact that I want to offer great value to the readers of My University Money and keep them coming back for more. I would also be lying if I said I wasn’t after a certain (extremely moderate amount) authority and prestige that comes with writing an eBook. There is also a monetary incentive. While I might make a few bucks off of the affiliate deals within the book, I highly doubt it will be much. They are not all that prominent, and there aren’t very many of them. The bigger picture is where I eventually hope to make some money. I’ve already had several readers email us and ask about specific types of ETF investing. One person has wanted a primer on dividend ETFs for example, while another was looking specifically at REIT ETFs, and still others were looking for information on USA or Canada ETFs in particular. The goal is to get enough people to download our free eBook on ETF investing that I can conduct some small-scale market survey work and find out what people want to read about it – and then give it to them! It sounds simple, but I think it is a solid game plan. After all, people should be more willing to shell out a few bucks if it something they are really interested in learning about right? The topic is so large, and with so many niches, that I think there is a lot of room for more specific forays into the realm of exchange traded funds. Download Our eBook Here In talking with some of the first people that have downloaded the book, I decided that it would be beneficial to also reveal the table of contents of the book in addition to the chapter I released on Monday. The eBook is roughly 25,000 words long (it’s not as long as that number looks I promise) and takes readers step-by-step through the process of using ETFs in your portfolio. I begin with some of the eye-catching benefits to ETF investing, explain why I believe I can tell you “what time it is” as the kids say and compare ETFs to stock picking and mutual funds. I then give you an inside peak at my current portfolio, as well as where I hope to end up one day. Finally, I am upfront with some of the potential drawbacks to the strategy and give a short easy-to-follow guide that shows you how to get your ETF investing account all set up. Here is the aforementioned TOC for ETF Investing: Low Maintenance and Stellar Returns Chapter 1: How Can I Make You $248,484.92, While You Chill On Your Couch Chapter 2: My Story Chapter 3: [...]
ETF Investing – Low Maintenance and Stellar Returns
So the big day is finally here and we are ready to unveil our eBook the world. A huge thanks goes out to all of the great help I’ve had building and marketing the eBook! Without further ado…. Click Here to download our thorough ETF Investing manual for FREE So why ETF Investing? I honestly believe that for most people, investing through ETFs is by far the most efficient and profitable way to invest money. The bottom line is that most human beings want the investment returns that the stock market provides, but are terrible at picking stocks. Most people get convinced that they should be buying mutual funds, and that they are the best answer, but this is almost assuredly false. Our eBook will show you mathematically, and beyond a shadow of a doubt why ETF investing is superior to most other kinds of investing for MOST people. If you are Warren Buffet, obviously you might have success in other ways; but, for most of us mere financial mortals, using ETFs just makes so much sense. I’m not going to pretend that this Free eBook is some new investment strategy that no one else has ever seen – it isn’t. What it is, is a common sense guide on the best investment option for the average person. It isn’t written by a world expert on financial machinations that holds 3 Ph.Ds. It is written by a business teacher who is relatively experienced at breaking down investment concepts for “average” people to understand. I have to admit to not conducting some new survey, or coming up with a new metric to measure stocks by, instead I used the analysis and research of people far smarter than I to convince you that ETF investing is probably the right path for you. Our eBook Is FREE – So What Do You Have To Lose? If you still aren’t convinced by the price tag and slightly above average sales pitch, I decided to give you a little taste of the product: Chapter 4 – Stock Picking Is For Suckers “Just do ______ and _______ and you too can beat the market!” “Simply follow these few basic rules to win at the stock market and make yourself rich in the process.” “If you use our secret formula for penny stocks you are guaranteed to make millions. Look, we did it, so can you!” These are just a few of the very successful marketing pitches that have found their way into the world of investing over the years. There are certainly no shortage of people who claim that they know the special way to get you unbelievable returns on money. Whether it is the “value investing approach” of Warren Buffett (which actually makes a lot of sense to me… if you are as good at seeing value as Warren Buffett is), the growth model that Peter Lynch espouses, or several other fairly well-known investing strategies that have all been in vogue at one time or another. All of [...]
RRSP Contributions vs Paying Off Credit Card
After the seasonal marketing push for RRSP contributions that we recently seen exert its pressures the last few weeks, it struck me just how single-minded the whole thing seemed to be. While it’s true that not enough Canadians are using RRSPs (only 5.3% of the total contribution room across Canada was used last year) or any other type of savings for that matter, it is also incorrect to tell people that this should be a priority ahead of paying down credit card charges and other consumer debt. The numbers don’t make any sense for this at all, or rather they don’t make sense from the consumer’s perspective. They do however, make sense from the salesman’s perspective. In this case the salesman is the banks. You see, no one makes any money off of you paying down your credit cards. That money has already been spent. If you run your credit card through your bank, then they are actually making money off of the interest you pay every month, so they are obviously not going to put a lot of energy into encouraging you to pay it off. This is especially true when they can instead talk you into, “Buying RRSPs” (I absolutely hate this false terminology that misleads us) which roughly translated means: buying our house mutual fund that will underperform the market, but will give me a big fat commission. Boring Debt Vs Exciting Easy Money – No Contest Financial advisors that work for the big banks make a killing off of showing people those fancy charts that show that you need 3.8 million dollars to retire at 55-60 like you want to, and that you NEED TO START SAVING RIGHT AWAY!!! There are 101 cliches out there about paying yourself first and saving 10% and all that jazz, and while these may have some merit when applied to an overall philosophy, they can cause a lot of financial damage when specific realities are ignored. From there, it’s just basic human psychology. Making easy money through these brilliant investments, and retiring to a winter home in Phoenix (like in those Freedom 55 commercials) is a lot sexier than paying down credit cards that have already given up the adrenaline rush that they once held. It’s a much easier sales pitch when you get to show compound interest working for you instead of against you. This is exactly why the debate about RRSP contributions versus credit cards and consumer debt is not really an argument at all. It is simple mathematics. Please don’t let anyone try to sway you with a slideshow that looks like it could double as a Cialis commercial, and promises of living life golfing in the mornings and walking on beaches all evening (while you wait for the “right moment”). Anytime you have a consumer debt that charges interest rates over 7-8%, it really doesn’t make any sense to try and invest money instead of paying the debt off. The sole exception to this in my [...]
Free Expense Tracking Software
