IntrinsycTechnologies - manufactures a number of devices and nodes in the #IOT space, is profitable and pays a small dividend.
Maybe a takeover target at some point! ITC on TSX
Did I mention we like profitable Smallcaps in this environment? ClearwaterSeafoods of HalifaxNovaScotia, Canada made $5 Mil last quarter and stands to benefit hugely from the trade dispute between China and the USA as it increased shipments to China this year.
2019 does not bode well for Stock Indexes and therefore, Index funds. Buying Index funds has been the go-to investment of individual investors (and some institutional investors) for years now. Since 2009, many have done very well with this simple strategy which has outdone many money managers over that time.
2019 may be different for a number of reasons! This bull market we have enjoyed since 2009, is getting very long in the tooth and 2019 is beginning to look like the end is in sight.
The macro picture is a mishmash of poor decisions and poor leadership from Central Banks and world leaders alike. The news is dominated by trade war talks, Walls, Brexit, German (read Euro) downturn, and Debt, beyond anything we have witnessed in the past. Real war cannot be dismissed either as the USA and North Korea are at a stalemate, and (nuclear armed) India and Pakistan are shooting down each others fighter jets, to the cheers of their domestic audiences.
With Britain on the verge of a "no deal" Brexit, Italy may be becoming a financial basket case, German output is inching into negative territory, and in France, the Macron government has done nothing to right that ship.
Some believe that, Deutsche Bank may well be the "Lehman Brothers" of the Euro zone this year as creditors close in and a bailout partner is not in sight. The two largest economies on the planet, USA and China are at serious odds over trade AND both are in serious DEBT! As the USA begins to withdraw from the world under this administration, it owes $22 Trillion dollars and that debt is now growing at 1.5 Trillion per year under Trump.
There are two ways to handle such a debt burden, 1: Default 2: reduce the dollar to a nickel. There is no other way to pay down such a massive debt! (my bet is that, if it were entirely up to Mr. Trump, he would pick door number 1) There are now more refugees on the move across the world than WW2 and most countries are putting up barriers to entry. Euro zone countries from Spain to Greece are doing whatever they can to keep out refugees, instead of welcoming them. Climate change, inept governments and wars are the reasons for such a migration.
Witness the debacle in the USA on the southern border as this president continues to threaten to shut down government if he does not get his wall. This argument is a hideous sidelight to what is truly going on in the world. This same administration seems to admire despots while scorning democracy, whether it is in it's own constitution or that of valuable allies.
The USA has now walked away from trade agreements, peace treaties and most recently, a nuclear arms agreement with Russia. None of these things bode well for markets, or indeed, humanity, going forward, but the pied Pipers of Wall Street keep on playing!
On a lesser, and personal financial note, while most index funds have very low fees, they are paid annually, and therefore, add up over time, eating into profits. As the value of your investments go up, so do your fees. This is a built in strategy that will eventually eat away at your gains. If these investments go down, the fund still gets paid, every year!
Conversely, Buying individual stocks is now usually done online for less than $10 per trade! (One time). When an index tumbles, not all stocks are included. Some stocks actually go up at such times.
The drawback:
Now you have to do homework! Stocks are not index funds! They require you to do some investigating of your own, unless, of course, you want to keep all your money in cash, gold and silver, and buried in your back yard!
A mutual fund in the hybrid category that automatically resets the asset mix of stocks, bonds and cash equivalents in its portfolio according to a selected time frame that is appropriate for a particular investor. A target-date fund is similar to a life-cycle fund
except that a target-date fund is structured to address some date in
the future, such as retirement. Its returns are not guaranteed, but
depend on how the market performs.
Next Up
BREAKING DOWN 'Target-Date Fund'
For example, a younger worker hoping to retire in 2050 would choose a
target-date 2050 fund, while an older worker hoping to retire in 2025
would choose a target-date 2025 fund. Because it has a longer time horizon,
the 2050 fund would likely be weighted heavily toward stocks, with a
relatively small percentage of bonds and cash equivalents, while the
2025 fund would hold relatively more bonds and cash equivalents and
fewer stocks so it would be less volatile and more likely to contain the assets the investor needs to begin making withdrawals in 2025.
Target-date funds are popular with 401(k) plan
investors. Instead of having to choose a number of investments to
create a portfolio that will help them reach their retirement goals,
investors simply choose a single fund designed to help them reach that
goal. The fund’s managers then rebalance the fund’s assets each year and
keep its investments on track to meet the fund holders’ goal of using that investment to begin paying for their retirement in a particular year.
While proponents cite the convenience to investors of putting their
investing activities on autopilot in one fund, critics are wary of these
funds' one-size-fits-all approach. They don’t take into account that
one investor wanting to retire in 2050 might have a different risk tolerance
than another investor wanting to retire in the same year. Also, a fund
with the same target date can have varying levels of risk and investment
expenses depending on which brokerage is offering it.
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Target Dated Retirement Funds are also referred to as: Retirefunds.
The latest effort by Stratfor Gobal Intelligence details how the United States became an unintended global power, mostly through it's important geography as is laid out in this vlsual from Stratfors latest effort.
Over the space of a few hundred years, the United States of America became a global powerhouse of business and politics, with the most powerful military the world has ever seen.
Although I have made many comments over the past few years regarding the demise of the U.S. dollar due to it's massive debts, Keynsianmonetary policy and stalemated congress, I have also said many times that I never bet against the U.S. Yes, I have bet against the U.S. dollar, but not the U.S. economy. To bet against such a powerhouse country of pure business, is a fools game.
Will the world's power structures in 20 years look the same as they do today? Probably not. Emerging markets like China, India and Brazil are on the rise, and Russia is still a powerhouse in energy production. Germany will continue to power the Euro zone in one form or another, and second tier countries like Indonesia, Mexico, Canada, Australia and several eastern European countries are chugging along just fine.
However the USA is, and will be for the forseeable future, the first engine of global industry. This chart of per capita growth is a prime example of the power the USA has on global growth.
In your portfolio don't ever count out the good ole USA. As I said, that is a fools game. Count out individual companies, and maybe even certain sectors, but never count out this massive business powerhouse.
As I pointed out in a previous post, I do not work for Stratfor, nor do I benefit in any monetary way in suggesting they are one more valuable resource when considering macro events for your portfolio over time.
You can acess their latest efforts at Stratfor.com.
If you think gold and silver as an asset class are severely misunderstood, and they are, then multiply that misunderstanding 10 times, and you will realize the level of misconceptions that exist around junior mining stocks.
The typical propaganda disseminated by bankers that surround gold and silver every single year when gold and silver corrections occur dominates the mainstream financial landscape right now. In fact, even though a rapid correction in gold/silver prices and gold/silver mining stocks is normal behavior at least twice a year, for every single year of this 9-year gold and silver bull, every single correction and consolidation phase has elicited chatter from the same financial shills about the end of the precious metals “bubble”. And amazingly every year, the mainstream financial media grants them a platform to spread their disinformation to confuse investors.
Last year, when gold dipped from $1,421 an ounce to $1,332 an ounce in just 6 trading days in November, an analyst I spoke to in Asia told me that he would not buy gold until after the bubble completely burst and that he would consider buying gold when it reached $600 an ounce. I believe that he is still waiting to buy today.
You may feel that this is an odd time to write a piece about one of the riskiest sectors in the precious metal investment class, especially as gold and silver prices continue to plummet in the futures markets but the proper time to buy, of course, is when fear is high and prices are low.
It's almost year end, and the big dogs of the managed mutual fund industry have quite a quandary on their hands.
They stayed out of the fall rally, hoarding cash, and subsequently made no money, while the market surged ahead.
Their problem: Well, they now either have to make up all of that in the next two weeks, or be prepared to explain to their many clients why their investments did not keep up with the market, and in fact, performed well below it.
News: Hertz and Enterprise to rent Nissan leaf starting in January!
This is an update for those of you who took my advice and bought Salares Lithium in early July for around .60 cents per share. While their is a current hold on trading this stock (LIT-TSX-v) it is by no means a time to worry. It is a time to rejoice, because you have just doubled your money, at the very least. Here's why! About Salares Lithium Inc.
Salares Lithium Inc. is a lithium explorer in Chile that controls the 'Salares 7' lithium project made up of seven salars (brine lakes that are prospective for sub-surface lithium and potassium) and the surrounding concessions in Region III, Chile. Five of the seven salars are clustered within 155 kilometres and are 100% owned by Salares and its Chilean partner. About Talison Minerals Pty Ltd
Talison Minerals Pty Ltd is the leading global producer of lithium. Talison mines and processes the lithium bearing mineral spodumene at the Greenbushes Lithium Operations in Western Australia. Talison has an extensive, well established global customer network and a leading position in the growing Chinese market.(Talison produces over 65% of the current lithium being imported by China) Talison and Salares are merging into what will be the largest pure lithium producer on the planet, and the "only pure lithium production company" to be listed on the TSX (not the venture exchange). That will occur on Sept 17th.
I have spoken with Salares CEO Todd Hilditch and company consultant, Matt Johnston who assures me that the new company (he will provide the stock symbol in the next few days) will strike somewhere between $3.50 and $4 per share when it is launched on TSX in September. At that time, Salares share holders will own 1 share of the new entity for every 2.81 shares they hold of Salares Lithium (LIT)
With a price cap between $340M and $350M, this equates to approximately 35.6 % of the new entity will be owned by current Salares shareholders which should return approx $1.25 per share, or more to those of you who took my advice 3 weeks ago.
If the TSX-v allows trading in Salares over the next few weeks, I will not part with many of my own shares. (of course I will take profit on a portion - maybe 15-20%) as I see this as a strong, bullish move for our holdings.
The new company will be the only lithium producer listed on the TSX at a time when the electric car market is gaining momentum, and new lithium ETF's are popping up on the NYSE.
The Global X ETF will have no choice but to list the new company as the largest pure lithium supplier into China. If you invest you should do so "before" this occurs.
The combined company will have to be included in the new Lithium ETF's, as a front runner in the lithium space supplying the huge Chinese market and developing the huge Salares 7 project that Salares Lithium brings to the merger table.
When the new entity launches on Sept 17th on TSX, look for the strike price to pop. There is no way this stock will stay under $4 per share after it is launched. We think this new company will be a home run.
Your welcome folks, and here's to your retirefund.
HP
When I was a policeman, I always felt relief when a perpetrator finally admitted to his wrong doing. It was a corroboration of the evidence that I already had, coming from the person who did the dirty deed.
Humans have an innate yearning to "come clean" on their sins, and that is the reason why so many people actually admit the wrong doing. It gives them a sense of relief not unlike the relief felt by Catholics when confessing their sins to a priest, and then doing penance for their sins. The relief is instant.
However, when such a confession happens in a simple conversation between an interviewer and a guest on T.V., it sometimes goes either unnoticed, or unappreciated, by the people listening, as their interest did not, at first, lie with hearing a "confession"! It essentially gets lost in the context of the greater interview.
In the interview in question, however, one would have to fall asleep to overlook the confession of an otherwise honest man who often "says it like it is". Jim Cramer of "Mad Money" fame on CNBC did exactly this in an interview which has been posted online.
To listen to that "confession" on YouTube (see Jim Cramer admits ) is to understand that the markets today, are susceptible to a whole range of manipulations, from Central Banks, to fund managers to the glorified salesmen, masquerading as investment advisers, who are paid huge sums by Wall Street firms to corral investors into believing in the "integrity" of those firms.
Jim is merely an honest man who admits to some "otherwise legal" manipulations of stocks for the benefit of his fund and his clients. However, if you multiply by the hundreds of otherwise honest fund managers doing similar manipulations on behalf of their funds and clients, by the number of out and out con men such as Bernie Madoff, who have entered the great Casino, through the front door of Business Schools, contacts and friendships, it is little wonder that the average Joe has been running for the exits in the past few years.
Folks, as comedian George Carlin once proclaimed, "Wall Street is a big club, and your not in it"!
Is that a wicked smile on the beast, as almost every major stock in this market advances onward and upward? Are the innocent climbing back on board? What is driving the sentiment of investors, in this market which has risen 80% since that March low, to new highs for the past 8 days. Is it a true bull market, or a beast that will throw the innocent into a wall of hurt, and cause financial damage around the world and countries to turn on each other?
After all, apocalyptic predictions of the world ending are said to point to the year 2012! Is Nouriel Roubini an economist or a prophet in the mold of Nostradamus or even St John the Apostle (who wrote the book of revelation) Did Nostradamus and St John, along with the ancient Mayans receive a direction from God that points to 2012 as "the year of destruction"? Did Dr. Roubini receive the same message two centuries later?
Is Jim Cramer one of the false prophets foretold by St John? Is his recent prophecy of a rising bull market helping to cause a wild party of unbridled optimism when the world, according to Prophet, Roubini, is about to go to hell in a hand basket? Hell, even Charlie Munger of Berkshire-Hathaway thinks that 2012 is the year of doom. (see- Charlie Munger). His partner, the venerable Warren Buffet remains an eternal optimist, buying a Chinese car company and an American Railroad in the past year. Others are warning of a future of Hyper Inflation.
I certainly don't have all the answers, but these guys believe they do. However with sentiment so split between the giddy bull soothsayers and the doom and gloom naysayers, how can we mere mortals find our way through the investment jungle that has become today's market. Well, in point of fact, it has always been a jungle and experience teaches that when people are in turmoil, especially investors, opportunities usually abound. The problem is, how do you find such opportunities, when your Retirefund won't allow you to invest in Berkshire-Hathaway.
More moderate voices can be heard through the din of disaster scenarios and scare mongering. One of those is Peter Bisson, a director of McKinsey and Co, of Stamford, Connecticut. In a recent interview with the Globe and Mail, titled, a great re-balancing of economic power, he makes some interesting points about the current markets. Some of his thoughts:
"The financial crisis is just a little earthquake in a long process of fundamental economic realignment. !"
"globalization is basically a good thing. It has lifted huge numbers of people out of poverty"
"For the first time in hundreds of years, there will be more growth in emerging markets than in developed markets. We are doubling the size of the global middle class. "
"the work force in a lot of the West still fits a 20th century economy. In the U.S., there is only 3 per cent unemployment in the most highly educated groups, but 30 per cent unemployment in the bottom 10 per cent of education. We are drifting toward this chronically unemployed group because skill sets don't match."
"Canada is a big beneficiary. This huge [emerging markets] urbanization and this doubling of the world's middle class drives very significant real increases in resource demand of pretty much all types." (and Canada is a supplier of many of those resources)!
"Inequality between nations is evening out; inequality within nations is getting worse. That is politically volatile, and you can't escape that reality."
And finally:
"The risk in the system today is more on the individual. On average each year, 15 per cent of U.S. households can now expect their incomes to fall as much as 50 per cent. That's a third higher than in the 1970s."
I encourage you to read the entire interview at: GlobeandMail.com
It’s bragging time!While I know full well that a “rising tide floats all boats” I also know that some boats are faster than others.Since January the S&P/TSX is up 25.2% so if you had bought a simple index fund you would be in the money by that amount minus .5% of your entire portfolio.
However, if you had invested along with me this year, here is what your returns would be at this point in the calendar:
Now, if you had sold your U.S. Cash into the Canada buck when I did in January, this small simple transaction would have returned for you over 27.6% or more than the entire index.
To update these picks, I have sold approx 75% of my TD Stock (anytime you get a lift of 96% on a bank stock you take profit, period) however I am holding on to the rest as I still see great upside in all four of these picks. I also have some low PER mutual funds and my near term use funds are in money market funds.
I hope you have done as well with your Retirefund this year to date; however the year is not over and there is much more to be made. Of the four stocks I am keeping I expect that, even though their returns have been great, Ballard Power, and Apollo Gold have the momentum to double in the next two months with good upside beyond in early 2010. Wilan Technologies is still a sleeper with upside in the 300% range in my opinion, over the next 12 months, because of it’s 750 wireless patents. Corridor Resources is a small gas play with takeover potential.
I have increased my holdings in Apollo gold twice this month, since buying in at .45 My last purchase was at .55 as I believe that this stock has the most upside potential of all four.
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