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Saturday Morning Dump: I Will Stay Up Until 12:02 Tonight

 Saturday Link Dump  9 Responses »
Dec 312011
 

Did everyone have a good Christmas? (Don’t actually answer that. I don’t really care.)

A few days ago, I’m driving the chip truck on the highway, since part of my route involves driving to a small town about 45 minutes away twice a week. So I’m driving, and a car pulls up behind me, doing a pretty good speed. The chip truck is governed at exactly 106 km/hr, (it gets up to 110 going down hills, which is easily the highlight of my drive) so I get passed a lot. But this guy wouldn’t pass me.

This was kind of weird, so I kept an eye on the car in my mirror. We reached a hill with an actual passing lane, but the car still stayed behind me. Suddenly, I realized what was going on. I was being followed by the cops, in a ghost car. The reason the cop wasn’t passing me is because I was being used to shield him from oncoming motorists.

Right on cue, a car approaches from the other direction. And, like most people on the highway, he’s speeding. I’d estimate he was doing 30 km/hr over the speed limit. I can see him approaching this trap, powerless to do anything. I started yelling at him from inside the cab, like that was going to do anything. “SLOW DOWN! THE COPS ARE RIGHT BEHIND ME!”

He didn’t, and not 3 seconds later, the flashing lights were on and the cops were pulling a very illegal u-turn in the middle of the highway.

It’s New Year’s Eve tonight, which has to be the worst excuse for a celebration ever. Why are you celebrating again? Is it because you made it through another mediocre year? Or it because 2012 is gonna be the best year ever? We both know you’ll break your resolutions by January 22nd. If you actually wanted to quit smoking, you’d have done it months ago.

So yeah, new year’s resolutions are stupid. You should still make a few though.

Song I Like And Therefore You Should Too

Thank baby Jesus that all the Christmas music has finally been eliminated for another year. It’s all horrible.

It’s been a while since we had some Taylor Swift. That is a crime of unimaginable proportions. She’s working on a new album, approximately 35 seconds after her year long world tour finished. Damn woman, take a vacation.

Simpsons Quote Of The Week

Barney: Hello, my name is Barney and I’m an alcoholic.

Clerk: Oh… You want A.A. This is Triple A.

Homer: Hi, my name is Homer and I’m planning a trip to St. Louis.

Clerk: East St. Louis?

Homer: Is there any other St. Louis?

Gambling Is Fun

I followed up my glorious 3-0 week with another solid effort, going 2-1. At this rate, I’m going to be a professional gambler in about a month and a half.

Because it’s that time of year, let’s go with some World Junior hockey bets. The US is a 2 goal underdog against Canada, and the over/under is 4 goals. Clearly I’m taking the US to cover, and the over. Rounding out my bet, I’m taking Switzerland minus the goal against Slovakia. Here’s hoping for a meaningless empty netter.

Overall Record: 12-16-2

A Post You Might Have Missed

My archives are sexier than a black bra/garter belt lingerie set. By the way, if any of my lady readers have any spare sexy underwear they’d like to send my way, you know how to find me.

Anyhoo, you’ve probably heard of an investment philosophy called Dogs of the Dow. Basically, an investor finds the top 5 yielding stocks in the Dow 30, and invests in them every year. I explored whether you should do a similar thing with stocks trading on the TSX. Of course you should. You should do everything I say.

The More You Know

COULD YOU PEOPLE DONATE TO WIKIPEDIA SO I DON’T HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING AT THOSE CREEPY FACES.

The 1966 Soviet submarine global circumnavigation was announced to be the first submerged around-the-world voyage by a group of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines. The voyage was an early example of blue-water operations by the Soviet Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and it paved the way for future operations during the latter half of the Cold War. The voyage took place nearly six years after the first complete submerged circumnavigation of the world undertaken by the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine Triton in 1960. Technically speaking, this Soviet submerged around-the-world voyage was not a true “circumnavigation” since the submarine group went from the Soviet Northern Fleet in the area of the Kola Peninsula to the Soviet Pacific Fleet base inKamchatka and consequently did not go completely around the world as did the USS Triton.

Those damn commies couldn’t do anything right.

Pick A Stock. Any Stock.

Sorry, but you’re not getting one this week. Oh, don’t cry little one.

The reason is because on Monday you’re getting 4. Plus, the best 4 picks from approximately 15 other bloggers. That’s right kids, it’s a stock picking contest. You’re going to want to come check that out. Some of the picks are bananas!

Babe Loosely Related To Finance

Some of you have been complaining that the babe loosely related to finance isn’t related enough to finance. It’s almost like I’m just picking a hot chick at random for us all to ogle. Well, duh. Of course that’s what I’m doing. I don’t see any of you suggesting hot chicks for this category. Seriously, please do. I’m running out of ideas here.

This is Gina Bianchini, the co-founder and CEO of Ning. Oh, and she’s a Stanford MBA and was an analyst for Goldman Sachs. Is that financial enough for all you naysayers?

Time For Links

My internet girlfriend Young and Thrifty gives us some tips on how to rent out your basement. She only got around to posting it a whole year after I did. So thanks for the good, albeit late post Y&T.

Fabulously Broke explores why women are burning out by the age of 30. She linked to me, which pretty much proves she wants me, but I’m playing hard to get. It’s a good post. Really.

I asked if Canada is in a real estate bubble over at Canadian Finance Blog. Have you subscribed to CFB yet so you get to read me every Thursday? What are you waiting for, 2012?

Speaking of other blogs I write on, I’ve accepted a couple new staff writing positions for 2012. Go follow me on the Twitter, so you’ll be the first to read the crap that isn’t good enough to go here my finest writing.

Sandy from Yes I Am Cheap wrote a piece for Yakezie about why you can’t make a living blogging. Many disagreed in the comments. Go check it out before I mock you for not going to check it out.

The sexier half of Boomer and Echo wrote about the risks of joint accounts. You’ll just have to click through to see which half of the duo I think is sexier.

Holy Potato has a massive piece on whether you should sell your house and rent. The answer is… Like I’m going to tell you. Go read it for yourself, slacker.

This week’s obligatory Control Your Cash link. It’s about books, or something.

Go check out the artwork by the college kids who are renting a house from Darwin’s Money. Delightfully hilarious, if not very good.

And finally, in what has to be my favorite story ever, some guy hired a hooker and it turned out to be his daughter. Not sure if it’s true or not, but hilarious.

Carnivals

Do imaginary carnivals count?

Have a good week everyone.

 

 Posted by Nelson Smith at 11:56 am

What Role Does Luck Play In Accumulating Wealth?

 Big Picture Stuff  16 Responses »
Dec 282011
 

I’m a pretty lucky guy, even though it doesn’t really translate into getting lucky, if you know what I’m saying. That was a sex joke.

I was born in Canada, which might be the best country in the world, with the exception of the crappy weather most of the country gets. I have great parents, who were kind enough to let me stay in their basement even after I turned 18. My Dad was, without a doubt, the biggest financial influence in my life. He taught me the wonders of compound interest, ways to use leverage to enhance returns, and the importance of living frugally, which should pretty much be a no-brainer at this point.

Because of a great support system and an education unlike most other kids got, I quickly took a shine to financial matters. While other 18 year olds were concerned with getting drunk and hooking up with strangers, I studied balance sheets and read every personal finance book I could get my hands on. I remember intentionally avoiding going out with my friends to stay home and watch the business channel on TV. I’m clearly a bummer at parties.

I’m the first to admit that, statistically speaking, I was set up to accumulate wealth.

Let’s compare my story to my sister. Without going into too many details, she is, shall we say, not as skilled at the art of wealth accumulation as I am. We are at two very different points in the financial spectrum. Why am I so good at accumulating wealth, while someone who had the exact same upbringing so bad at it?

This brings me to a post from Andrea over at So Over Debt, all about how being poor is more complicated than most of us think. For those of you who don’t know how to use a mouse well enough to click through, let me summarize. Poverty is complicated, most people who end up poor do so because of all sorts of factors. A series of bad choices, combined with a poor upbringing or whatever, and we end up with someone who’s poor. I’m painting in broad strokes here, since I kinda have to in just a one paragraph summary. Go check out the post for the whole story.

Since I’m at least 94% sure that post was directed at least in part towards me, let’s take off the gloves. It’s scrappin’ time! Hopefully Andrea doesn’t kick me in the balls or something if we ever meet. Because I wouldn’t put it past her.

Around here, I talk a lot about ways to accumulate wealth. I think that it’s really not that hard. All you need to do is spend less than what you make, do it consistently, and the results start to add up. If you can increase your savings rate by earning more, the results get accelerated even more. There are all sorts of examples of people from every economic background, from every sociological background, and from all sorts of broken homes that manage to accumulate wealth. Why is that?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but Andrea thinks she does. And she thinks it’s luck.

Frankly, the notion that luck plays anything but a small factor in my journey to become wealthy is an insult to all the hours of study I’ve put into the subject, all the hours I’ve spent researching potential investments, and all the hours I’ve busted my hump working hard, physical jobs in order to make excess cash to invest. Sure, I was lucky to win the ovarian lottery, but that’s where the luck ended. Everything else I’ve accomplished it’s because I’ve worked for it.

There are millions of people who are just like me. They were born in a first world country, to parents who raised them to the best of their ability. They had teachers who encouraged and challenged them. They are intelligent enough to go off and finish high school, and a large percentage of them ended up going to college as well. I’m hardly alone in getting these advantages.

And yet, a small percentage of us privileged folks are accumulating serious wealth, while the rest wallow in debt brought on by bad decisions. Some of us are buying stocks and real estate and other assets, while the vast majority buy crap that goes down in value every time they touch it. Some of us make every single major live decision with one goal in mind – how will it help me get rich? After spending the past 10 years working single-handedly towards one goal, it makes me upset that someone can just write off my efforts by declaring that the only reason I’ve been able to accomplish what I have is because I haven’t had any setbacks.

There’s a significant minority of the population that, for whatever reason, simply cannot get wealthy. They’re the types of people who are lucky to even stay gainfully employed. It may be cold up here in Canada, but we have a support system that ensures their basic needs will always be provided. I’m happy to exchange a slightly higher tax rate in exchange for that safety net, just in case I ever need it. We can’t simply flip a switch and make these people into middle class citizens with good jobs. But, at least from my perspective, I’ve never written a word that was intended for people in that situation. Those people don’t need a personal finance blog, they need someone to teach them the basic math skills needed to make a budget in the first place. To compare someone in that type of situation to a college educated person isn’t helpful.

Millions of people are smart, educated, and ambitious enough to put themselves in a position where, with years of hard work, they can begin to become financially independent. And yet, most don’t bother. It’s difficult to dedicate your spare time to learn how an investment really works. It’s hard to take your excess capital and invest it for the future when a MacBook Pro looks all shiny and pretty. The richest among us weren’t alone in being lucky enough to be put into a position to succeed, yet they are alone in succeeding. Why do they rise to the top, while everyone else suffers through mediocrity? Nobody can tell you the exact answer, because every situation is different. What I can tell you is that, while luck plays a factor, it’s not at the top of the list.

 Posted by Nelson Smith at 4:20 am

Building A Passive Income Stream Using Preferred Shares

 Alternative Investments, Stocks  5 Responses »
Dec 212011
 

Tweet These days, dividend growth investing is more popular than an ice cream cake at a fat camp. In today’s low interest rate environment, finding yield isn’t so simple. Government bonds yield next to nothing. Even corporate bonds have pretty skimpy yields. All sorts of investors are jumping aboard companies with decent dividends and a consistent history of growing that Read More [...]

 Posted by Nelson Smith at 4:20 am

Why Aren’t Personal Finance Bloggers Wealthier?

 Big Picture Stuff  29 Responses »
Dec 192011
 

Tweet Hey, welcome fellow finance nerd. Obviously you take more than a passing interest in your finances, since you show up here (hopefully on a regular basis) to read about some financially related topic. As you all already know, around here I like to focus on the increasing revenue side of the equation, rather than the reducing expenses side. This Read More [...]

 Posted by Nelson Smith at 4:20 am

Borrow Money Fast! Payday Loans Save You In A Pinch!

 Sponsored Posts  8 Responses »
Dec 182011
 

Tweet I kind of am getting sick of the use of two or more exclamation points in posts. But we gotta cut through the clutter of some of the negative stuff you might read elsewhere. The exclamation point is a sure-fire way to tell you, “hey, this blog is about something you might be surprised to know.” Or not. Perhaps Read More [...]

 Posted by Nelson Smith at 10:34 am
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