As mentioned in previous posts, this blog is more a personal
financial diary than a stock advisory or a blog for a readership. I love having
a readership or hearing your comments (not spam though) but the reader is more looking over my shoulder into my brains (how do you do
that physically?) than that it is an investment news letter with buy and sell recommendations.
I have read over the years, books or newsletters from guys such
as Jim Rogers, Doug Casie and the great Bill Bonner. I also read a lot of stuff
from Porter Stansberry and his team of excellent analysts. I don’t do in depth
fundamental analysis of corporate reports, but I follow Stansberry’s
analyses and cherry pick from this team’s ideas while learning a great deal. I enjoy reading Gordon Pape, Margaret Wente and Rob Carrick and even Scot
Barlow all from the Globe. I also read the Wall Street Journal and the National
Post (Conrad Black and Rex Murphy). You often hear me quote Jeremy Siegel’s
stock performance numbers. I take those
ideas and apply them from a Canadian investors point of view. I don’t do the detailed analysis myself,
although I run spreadsheets on matters such as how corporate debt affects a
company’s ability to grow and its financial health. I do the same when watching BNN’s Market Call shows or Andrew McCreath’s Weekly. I don’t like the recent Bloomberg changes that have Americanized BNN. The more global focus is good, but the broadcasts are shrill, and I have trouble understanding the wide range of accents that are spoken. I like the humor and demeanor of the earlier BNN better – Kevin O’Leary, Amanda Lang and Howard Green were long time favorites. Andrew Bell is too potty and green; more than I like, but that’s his opinion and he still remains informative and quirky. Guests like Eric Nuttall and Barry Schwartz are good enough to withstand the endless and repetitive stream of commercials – typically I just mute the commercials and walk away to do something useful.
As is, this is typically enough information to help me
decide, along with my full-service stock broker, how/what to invest in stocks
and, along with my realtor, to decide what properties to invest in. The analysis
numbers are important but more so is market psychology and my general knowledge
of the stuff that goes on around me to figure out what I want to invest in and
what to divest (sell). I am not a good seller, I try to use stop losses but often,
in particular with commodities, I buy when everybody hates stuff and then sell
when everybody likes to buy. The numbers
may help you to find decent to good stock purchases, especially in bad markets,
and then when there are euphoria and high prices it is time to sell (some).
That is also why I am politically opiniated because it is often
the political climate and thinking that prevails here in Canada and in the rest of
North America that helps me to invest.
When you read my comments about Trump, Stephen Harper, Notley, Horgan or Trudeau
it is part of my investor make up. You
may have noticed that I am becoming increasingly grumpy towards Canada and
North America. I sometimes think that I like to rename my blog 'Canadian
Diversified GRUMPY Investor'. That is
because I don’t feel at home any longer.
Like others, such as Jim Rogers, Doug Casie and Bill Bonner
in the U.S., I become increasingly disenchanted and feel that becoming more a Global
investor may be the way to go. I have spent
time doing business in Asia, in particular Indonesia but also a bit in Vietnam,
Philippines, and Egypt. I don’t like the hussle and bustle of Asia for me to
call it home. I like the changing attitudes in Europe towards
climate change (you know it is one of my pet-peeves), the changes in politics
in general – a desire for less entitlement and possibly a decline in bureaucracy. I no longer see North America as the only place to live well.
I may become someone who sees both Europa and North America as home. I don’t know how this changing mentality is
going to affect my investing, but I have taken steps to significantly reduce
my Canadian holdings. Not all at once, I
will probably move incrementally.
My life has always been about doing things I feel are
worthwhile doing and in 3 to 5 months my new Calgary residence will be
completed. So, maybe this is a time to ask myself: What next? And since I like
what I see in Europe, I think about directing attention more and more to that
continent. Who knows where I will end up. Probably there will still be a lot of
Canada in me, but just like the Jim Rogers in this world, I consider Canada currently less secure. Canada may do very well over the coming
decades – it is not that I wish to abandon this great country; it is just like
any other investment strategy; the need to diversify. With Canada and the United States, who were
for many years the focus of my investment strategies becoming more
questionable, I will explore more my European, in particular, my Dutch roots. I
should be grateful to Justin Trudeau for making clear that no country will stay
the same, it will change for better or in this case for worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment