Highlights of this Chapter Chapter 4 of The Mindless Investor was an interesting look at how Tyler got his start and progressed as a trader and we highly recommend taking a look at it. In keeping with the more instructive nature of this series of reviews, we chose to move ahead to chapter 5, which […]

We recently attended a roundtable event provided by TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage entitled “Stock Chatter” at their downtown Vancouver Investor Centre. This educational session lasted an hour and a half and provided the audience with an overview of current stock  market conditions and  two different approaches to equity valuation. The presentation also covered two case […]

Highlights of Chapter 2 – The Mindless Investor Three key points that are covered in this chapter of The Mindless Investor all revolve around investors taking responsibility for their financial decisions. Understanding that trading is a battle, that the market is filled with competing interests and that “the market” itself can be a source of […]

On the heels of the results from the annual Globe and Mail Canadian Discount Brokerage rankings, the 2012 Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards were handed out on November 28th and included a “Best Discount Brokerage” category.  While not nearly as well known as the J.D. Power and Associates award for Investor Satisfaction, the Morningstar Awards offer […]

Highlights of Chapter 1 – The Mindless Investor In the introductory chapter of The Mindless Investor, Tyler Bollhorn sets up several important ideas and goes through some common pitfalls of most self-directed investors. Here are three key points from chapter 1. Key Point #1: Most Stocks Don’t Beat the Market The first and most important […]

Found this great infographic that explains what a stock is and how stocks work.  Thanks to the folks over at mint.com (which is an awesome personal finance tool website). Enjoy!

Defining a market is as simple as picturing a boxing ring with two opposing opinions representing the fighters.  One of these opinions places a bet on an increasing value of a share price while the opposing side wagers that the share price will decrease in value.  This is the simplest way to visualize the market: […]

As stock markets have continued to flirt with highs not seen since before the great financial crisis of 2008 and the heights of the dot com bubble before that, there has been a recurring discussion of the “light volumes” that have taken markets to these highs.  A lot of airtime has been spent trying to […]

In this latest edition of Trader’s Lens Jim Letourneau of The Big Picture Speculator talks to us about commodity cycles, and what to look out for when timing an entry into the markets

Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) Many of you are probably familiar with the saying: “the only sure things in life are death and taxes.” Well, as of January 2009 there’s been a little ray of hope as far as those taxes are concerned. In February of 2008 the Canadian Minister of Finance (Jim Flaherty) announced […]

Listen as Ian Campbell, founder of stockresearchportal.com gives 10 important tips for beginner investors to think about before entering the stock market.

A convenient way of thinking about trading Most people believe that in order to be successful in business, you have to be profitable, and for the most part they’d be right.  The primary “goal” is quite easy to measure – are you profitable or are you not? If you talk to any salesperson or sit […]