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Governments have only a limited amount of sway over markets at large but can influence investor sentiment on different sectors, such as health care or alternative energy.
Columns, Global markets, Home Quarter Investing

Is it best, when investing, to stay politically agnostic?

Investing for Fun and Profit: Besides, how much influence do governments really have on the markets?

By
I began this column the day after the great Harris/Trump debate. Based on the publishing schedule, you might be reading it just before the U.S. election. A lot can happen in both politics and the markets over a six-week period, but I thought it would be an appropriate time to review how politics may or […] Read more
guy looking skyward holding sign proclaiming end times
Columns, Home Quarter Investing

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'

By
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
The Svartsengi geothermal power plant in Iceland. An overlooked alternative energy source is geothermal. With its volcanic environment, Iceland produces 20 per cent of its electricity with geothermal.
Columns

Investing opportunities in alternative energy

Why can’t we have a rational debate in search of pragmatic goals?

By
Some of my past writings may have left you with the impression I exhibit Luddite-like attitudes toward new sources of cleaner energy. That wouldn’t be an accurate impression as I have been investing in alternative energy for a long time. I simply wish there was a more fact-based, rational discussion on the pros and cons. […] Read more
A few things I don’t like about corporate behaviour
Columns

A few things I don’t like about corporate behaviour

Pet peeves about stock option awards, share buybacks and more

By
Generally, I write very supportively of our capitalist system as in last September’s column, “Profit is not a four-letter word.” This time I will outline several items that often reduce shareholder returns and provide fodder for socialist attacks on the capitalist system that is responsible for our high standard of living. Excessive stock option rewards […] Read more
Authorities didn’t think this money supply expansion would cause inflation because it didn’t cause inflation during the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Columns

Interest rate herky-jerky

What led to the demise of Silicon Valley Bank?

By
Here’s my definition of herky-jerky: an overreaction of equal magnitude but opposite direction to previous overreaction. Disclosure: I am in no way an expert on the nuances of money supply and the inner workings of bank policy. What follows is my layman’s perspective of what caused the March bank panic. To say I am puzzled […] Read more
To take this annual return calculation approach, we must drop one of the long-held market misperceptions — that we must sell to profit.
Columns

Do you have to sell in order to profit?

Investing for Fun and Profit: Measuring and benchmarking are key to understanding performance

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According to a Bloomberg article, average retail investors lost 30 per cent in 2022, significantly underperforming the 17 per cent loss of the S&P 500. While this is U.S. data, it seems unlikely that Canadian investors fared much better given the excitement around technology and disdain for energy. This was by no means an anomalous […] Read more
Having a reasonable cost of money – ie: higher interest rates – often motivates a more judicious use of personal finances.
Columns

Value investing is dead … long live value investing

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” — Mark Twain

By
As I was cleaning my desk clutter, I came across a Globe and Mail article titled, “Five reasons why value investing may never regain its appeal.” It appeared Aug. 27, 2019, after a decade in which growth stocks had significantly outperformed value stocks. It isn’t unusual to see these types of headlines just before a […] Read more
Selling options is generally more profitable as the math is in the seller’s favour. However, buying puts works during major bear markets and buying calls works in strong bull markets. In other words, buying options works when there are big price moves.
Columns

More stock option strategies: follow the math

Buy options when there are big price moves

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Puts and calls can be both bought or sold. A call is the right, but not the obligation, to buy shares of a company at a certain price up to a certain date. For example, 3M at the time of writing is $200 per share. Calls expiring on January 21, 2022, with a strike price […] Read more
An investor should have at least five years of successful stock investing experience, encompassing at least one bear market.
Columns

How I doubled my money in less than four years, Part 4

Cautions around put selling and why it works

By
The previous article might have intrigued you on my put selling strategy, so I thought it important to also share cautionary guidelines. Before beginning such a strategy, an investor should have at least five years of successful stock investing experience, encompassing at least one bear market. If past success has been spotty, fixing basic stock […] Read more
First, I did not ride the coattails of hot spec stocks like Tesla or EHang. While this portfolio has companies with stronger growth profiles than the TSP, they are not speculative.... Second, as an investor rather than a trader, I did not regularly buy and sell.
Columns

How I doubled my money in less than four years

Not quite as good as my son’s spec foray, but it was the whole portfolio — not one stock

By
How many investment avenues provide the opportunity to double your money in four years? Using the rule of 72, an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) can quickly be calculated. Lots of fun, with lots of exciting twists and turns including the 2018 mini-bear market and the COVID plunge of 2020. The Titanium […] Read more

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