Herman VanGenderen looks back into the various mistakes and successes in his portfolio, with the goal of helping readers out there actively managing their own off-farm investments.
Tag Archives equities
Smashes and setbacks line the path to a successful investment portfolio
Investing for Fun and Profit: The personal portfolio quadrupled in the equivalent of eight years, despite numerous mistakes
What factors historically boost stock returns?
Investing for Fun and Profit: Valuation, momentum and profitability historically drive returns
Drivers of stock values can be summed up in four positive terms - valuation, momentum, quality and profitability - and four negative: growth in assets, turnover, company size and share price volatility, Herman VanGenderen explains.
Limiting Canadian exposure, I am not alone
Investing for Fun and Profit: The flight of capital from the Canadian economy continues
Canada’s government may still be in its honeymoon with voters, but not with investors, Herman VanGenderen writes, citing reports that foreign investors are divesting Canadian assets while Canadians are boosting exposure in foreign securities.
The Titanium Strength Portfolio keeps plugging along
Investing for Fun and Profit: The portfolio achieved a nice double by its seventh anniversary
If, seven years ago, you had told me all the extenuating circumstances to come, I might have been hesitant predicting what I did at the time about this model stock portfolio.
Even in a weak economy, strong performers exist
Investing for Fun and Profit: We limit our exposure in some sectors, but ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat’
The saying “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” probably dates back to medieval times when both domestic and wild cats were skinned for their fur. A literal interpretation would be rather repugnant in modern times, yet the saying persists to represent multiple ways to achieve a goal. Two issues ago, I bemoaned […] Read more
Markets are dispassionate to our human disasters
Investing for Fun and Profit: While headlines may exalt a unique situation, to markets it's 'same as it ever was'
The first public stock exchange opened in Amsterdam in 1611, trading one company, the Dutch East India Company. Twenty-five years later, coincident with tulip mania, the company had a market cap of 78 million Dutch guilders, which translates to $9.7 trillion current U.S. dollars, putting Microsoft’s and Apple’s near-$3 trillion valuations into perspective. The London […] Read more
‘Everybody’ is usually wrong — and why it must be so
Overwhelming strength of sentiment, when few buyers or sellers remain, can bend a trend
Everybody is familiar with the colloquial term “Everybody is doing X.” By “X” we don’t mean “formerly Twitter” — everybody has been writing “X (formerly Twitter)” so I thought I would do the opposite. In this case you’re welcome to fill in whatever you wish for X. Salespeople often use the phrase to help sell […] Read more
Economic and market outlook for 2024
If the U.S. avoids recession, Canada's will probably be shallow
It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” One of my favorite prediction quotes comes by way of the legendary baseball player, manager and philosopher, Yogi Berra. This quote, like many of his famous quips, incorporates a meaningful paradox. Following up on my previous column, the TSX ended 2023 with a total return — […] Read more
How did 2023’s economic and market predictions turn out?
Predictions are often made but their accuracy never evaluated, yet this is an important step
For the past seven years in my newsletter, I have made annual “Fearless Predictions.” I also summarize predictions from the investment industry. The last chapter of my book, titled “If I claim to be a wise man…it surely means that I don’t know,” launched my annual prediction exercise, largely to poke fun at the process. […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hog futures hit contract lows
Cattle futures also sag
Chicago | Reuters — Lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell to life-of-contract lows on Friday and cattle futures also retreated, pressured by technical selling and worries that a slowing global economy could hurt demand for meat, traders said. Hog futures fell the most, with the benchmark December contract settling down two cents, […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
