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• Hypothetically invested $10,000
• Chose to cash out the distributions (not re-invest)
• Money was evenly split between 3 ETFs

In retrospect, and not even looking at the returns, which are abysmal, I see how stupid it was to buy both the S&P ETF and the TSX/S&P combo ETF. However, it actually illustrates the point very well. Someone who starts to independently build an ETF portfolio could easily make the same mistake, especially at the peak of the market. How can you not buy the winners, when it’s 2007 and the sky is blue? Unfortunately Globefund is no longer available, so calculating distrubitions and precise returns is somewhat more difficult now. Here is a chart showing the value of the shares alone as of today. Value of all shares is $8,957.50 = 10.4% loss. And here are the distributions. Without doing the exact calculations, you only need to look at the 5-year returns to realize that the 10.4% loss wasn’t offset by the distributions. And of course, you would’ve been taxed on the distributions, on top of all this. Again, I admit, this is a terrible ETF selection, a bit of a horror story. If I were to do it again, I would diversify, A LOT.

The post “Couch Potato” Lazy Canadian ETF Portfolio Update – 6 Years Later appeared first on Phantasmix.com.

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Buying/Selling U.S. Stocks

Pre-market trading is open from 7:30am to 9:30am EST After-hours cut-off time is 5:30pm EST with Questrade To place a PM or AH order:

• The order must be placed as a limit order
• Choose ARCA as the preferred ECN
• Choose GTEM (good til’ extended market) as the duration

Buying/Selling Canadian Stocks

Canadian stocks do not have a pre-market. To trade Canadian stocks in the post-market, from approximately 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET, these are the requirements:

• Must be Limit at the Last price the security was traded at on its native exchange (i.e. TSX or TSX-V)
• Choose AUTO as the preferred ECN
• Choose DAY as the duration
• The Quantity must be a multiple of a standard board lot (i.e. 100/200 shares)

Buying/Selling Options

Questrade supports extended option trading until 4:15pm EST for the following tickers: DBO, DIA, DJX.IN, EEM, EFA, IWM, IWN, IWO, KBE, KRE, MDY, MNX.IN, NDX.IN, OEF, OEX.IN, OILB, QQQ, RLG.IN, RLV.IN, RUI.IN, RUT.IN, SLX, SPY.IN, SVXW.IN, SPY, SVXY, UNG, UUP, UVXY, VIIX, VIX.IN, VIXM, VIXY, VXX, VXZ, XEO.IN, XHB, XLB, XLE, XLF, XLI, XLK, XLP, XLU, XLV, XLY, XME, XRT, XSP.IN.

Shorting Stocks

Depending on your data package, you may or may not be able to short outside normal market hours. Just use the same settings as for buying/selling stocks (see above).

Manhattan at Night, By Maciejbledowski

The post Questrade – How to Trade in Pre-Market and After-Hours appeared first on Phantasmix.com.

Companies can exploit your reflexive system just by giving their stocks catchy ticker names. Stocks whose trading names resemble familiar words (like MOO or GEEK or KAR) tend to outperform those with unpronounceable symbols like LXK or CINF or PHM – at least in the short run. In the long run, however, stocks with cute ticker symbols have a disconcerting tendency to go bust.

(bold emphasis is mine) When I was originally looking at CML.V (Crowflight Minerals), I said to myself “I even like their name, logo and company colors!” Silly reasoning, but it’s not the only time I did it. I also like the name of Blue Note Mining, another holding of ours.

So be alert for cute names and symbols, don’t let them influence your stock buying decisions.

Gratuitous kitten never hurt anyone.

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Harold Crick: It says, in the file, that you only paid part of your taxes for last year.
Ana Pascal: That’s right.
Harold Crick: Looks like only 78 percent.
Ana Pascal: Yep.
Harold Crick: So you did it on purpose?
Ana Pascal: Yep.
Harold Crick: So you must’ve been expecting an audit.
Ana Pascal: Um, I was expecting a fine, or a sharp reprimand.
Harold Crick: A reprimand? This isn’t boarding school, Miss Pascal. You stole from the government.
Ana Pascal: No I didn’t steal from the government. I just didn’t pay you *entirely*.
Harold Crick: Miss Pascal, you can’t just not pay your taxes.
Ana Pascal: Yes, I can.
Harold Crick: You can if you want to get audited.
Ana Pascal: Only if I recognize your right to audit me, Mr. Crick.
Harold Crick: Miss Pascal, I’m right here auditing you.
Ana Pascal: Listen, I’m a big supporter of fixing potholes and erecting swing sets and building shelters. I am *more* than happy to pay those taxes. I’m just not such a big fan of the percentage that the government uses for national defense, corporate bailouts, and campaign discretionary funds. So, I didn’t pay those taxes. I think I sent a letter to that effect with my return.
Harold Crick: Would it be the letter that begins “Dear Imperialist Swine”?

I find myself thinking more and more that I don’t want to pay taxes, or rather not “entirely” As most people who give it a thought, I at least partially disagree with how the tax money is spent.

Here’s where the Canadian tax dollar goes

Category descriptions in the chart are kind of vague, but they’re explained in detail here: http://www.fin.gc.ca/TaxDollar/text/html/pamphlet_e.html My web search skills may suck but it was a lot harder to find a clear picture of where the American money goes. Canadian government websites seem to be more straight-forward, like they have less to hide

Here’s where the American tax dollar goes

Note: I put this chart together, therefore the way it’s colored is obviously biased. The big bright blocks comprise 75% of the budget.

The budget should be a reflection of the people’s priorities, whether that’s true or not is a separate question. The major differences are in Defense and Health care allocations. Even if the Healthcare diff. may be due to how federal and state/provincial governments handle things (maybe individual provinces take on more than the states do, for example), but the Defense is clearly a federal expense. Canadians get offended when people say “they’re just like Americans”, and rightly so, at least our budget is a reflection of the peaceful nation that we are. With this, I end my very much delayed bash of the American-Iraqi war. Tax spending is a topic for another time, when I start breaking my New Year’s resolutions and go back to my complaining self.

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