This Apple Shines!

Spent the past week in Cuba but this isn't a travelogue.  Rather, it's about a book I read while away. Started the Steve Jobs biography on the plane on the way down and finished it the day before heading home.  The book was two stories in one.  First, the biography of the genius perfectionist, Steve Jobs.  Secondly it was story of Apple Inc., the company that Jobs co-founded, was squeezed out of, then returned to work for a dollar a year, while he re-invented the company and in the process turned Apple Inc. into the world's most valuable corporation.

In the read, I finally got a sense why so many are so crazy about all things Apple.  The hardware, software, apps and content be it music, books, movies, TV shows, newspapers or magazines, come together in a way that no other platform comes close to.  And I thought my Blackberry and PlayBook were cool.

I've been tracking Apple's (AAPL) share price for a few years.  Every time they'd reach a new high I'd declare, "too rich for me" or, "this can't be sustainable".  Then Apple would churn out another record breaking quarter or a whole new product that nobody wanted because nobody had ever thought of it before and away we'd go again!  Onward and upward!  Heck, Apple shares started this year at $411 and peaked on March 2 at $545.  If you want to get real sick, have a look at a 10 year chart for Apple.  From $12 to $545 with a 2 for 1 split in February of 2005 thrown in for good measure.

The worst kept secret for the past while was that Apple would unveil a third generation iPad at a planned "event" today.  I had a bit of cash in my trading account that had been there since selling Cisco in January but not a lot when considering shares at something over $500 apiece! I looked up and down my list and there is was, my long held aggie ETF, COW.  I pulled the trigger, placed a sell order, unloaded COW and placed and order for Apple shares.  All this was in a rush as I figured if the noon (CST) announcement was great the price would soar  later in the day.

I bought Apple shares at $535 just before noon.  Well, the announcement was pretty much as expected, another great product, but it seems that the market had already run up in anticipation so as the day wore on the share settled back to close at $530.69.  What, me worry?  Not a chance!  I figure not owning Apple is akin to not owning real estate.  I'm very happy to be "in the market" with my newest holding.  Guess I'll just have to wait another quarter or two..maybe.  But maybe not.  Who knows, with this company they may announce that today's pre-orders topped a gazillion units and anyone who waits until they actually go on sale on Friday will have to wait three months for delivery.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Nothing on this site should ever be considered to be advice, research or a suggestion or invitation to buy or sell any securities.  Every investor should do their own research and consult their own finance guy.  See full DISCLAIMER.

As always, Good Luck and Happy Investing!

So Goes January...

So goes the rest of the year...at least 72% of the time, when the markets rise in January it continues throughout the year...or at least, so they say.

Last month, the TSX and the DOW were both up, the TSX 4.16%, the DOW 3.40%

My Canadian Bond Fund holdings, which are up, but just a tick, finally worked against me in January as my stuff was up only 1.88%.  That's the way it is.  Equities up, Bonds either down or flat at best. That being said, I'm way up since I made the switch last June.  No regrets!

Best Online Experience Ever!

My excellent experience with Ally Bank just keeps rollin' along. These people take service to a whole new level. You can actually call them or connect with a service rep for an online chat 24/7/365. It's really remarkable considering that calls placed to most tradition banks either go direct to voicemail or a call centre located in a far away city.

Everything I said at the time still holds true today:

I've never recommended a product or service on these pages but this one is worth a mention.  While reading a Canadian Banking blog last week I clicked on an ad for Ally Bank.  You've all seen the ads with the guy, representing traditional banks, shafting little kids.  One little girl gets a toy pony, because she failed to read the fine print, while the other gets a real live pony. 

Well, I followed the link to Ally Bank and what a great experience.  Within minutes I set up a new account with the help real time, live chat with an Ally rep. 

Why, would I open a new account so quickly with something a new as Ally?  Four reasons.  Firstly, their published GIC rates are by far the best I've seen and I have access to quotes from over 30 institutions through my discount brokerage account.  Secondly, they pay the same rate when you elect to take the interest monthly.  This is unheard of.  Generally, there is a reduction of anywhere from 10 to 50 basis points when choosing monthly payment of interest.  Thirdly, they make it possible to link your accounts with other institutions with your Ally account.  This is something that I've said forever should be possible, given the facilities of the Interac network which we all use with our debit cards.  One click to transfer funds both to and from.  Finally, it's fully insured with CDIC.  By the way, Ally is the old GMAC which has turned itself into a bank.

Since I posted the above on May 31, 2010, Rob Carrick of the Globe & Mail wrote an article on August 29, 2011 entitled 20 things I don't understand about personal finance.  Item number 8 of Rob's article reads "Why more people don’t check out Ally, the online bank that has been paying 2 percent interest steadily since September, 2009, and is a member of Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. Almost everyone else is paying much less."

I know, I know, nobody's jumpin' up & down about 2% interest on deposits.  I just keep reminding myself that it's twice as much as 1, which is what others are offering and a whole 13 points better than the minus 11% that the TSX turned in for 2011.

Hand Held Bloggin'...edition two

The first time I tried this I was sitting in restaurant in The Peg with my Blackberry.  It wasn't easy.  The small screen and smaller keyboard on the Blackberry aren't the greatest tools for writing.  Today I'm on the BlayBook.  So far, a much nicer experience.

The other day I was in another restaurant in The Peg and an email arrived on my Blackberry.  I opened the PlayBook and what do you know, the same email showed up there.  I figured I'd test drive the PlayBook for the reply.  Well, things were going okay when I brushed something on the touch screen and my email reply was suddenly saved as a "Draft".  Try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to open the draft to continue editing.  Lunch arrived so I shut it down.

Fast forward a few hours and I'm sitting in my car back in Carman, the Blackberry notifies me of in coming.  I check email on the Blackberry and, what do you know, the draft email that I started on the PlayBook is right there on the Blackberry.  I was able to open it, edit it and send...from the Blackberry.  Too cool!

I realize Apple is way ahead with seamless integration between iPods, iPhones and iPads but I still think the RIM stuff works pretty damn good.  That being said, it doesn't change the fact that I'm darn glad I got out out my RIM shares when I did.

Have a great week and happy investing!

2011...The Year That Wasn't

Pretty boring stats for 2011. On the first trading day of January my stuff ticked up from the close of 2010 and never dipped back to the 2010 level. Never went up much, but never went down either.

My low for the year was + .2% over the end of 2010. This was on January 10. My stuff hit a 2011 high on December 5, up 7.18% for the year. The year closed down a tick at + 6.80%. All in all, the narrowest range since I started tracking the daily portfolio value five years ago in January, 2007.

At the end of day, I'm thinking that I likely fared better than many with a 6.80% gain for the year. My old all Canadian, all the time would have a taken a real $#!^ kicking with the TSX off 11.07% for the year! Those with some US blue chip would have done better as the DOW gained 6.41% for 2011. The broader US market didn't do nearly as well with the S & P up just 1.06%.

They, whoever they are, say that so goes January, so goes the markets.  Apparently in the past century or so, if the markets go up in January they close up for the year.  So far, so good.  Six trading days into the new year and North American markets are all up.  Looks like today might be the first downer or the year as they're all off a bit in the first hour.  Just have to wait and see.

Well, off to The 'Peg today despite what's looking like the first winter storm of the year. Worst case scenario...get storm stayed at the Brunkild Bar & Grill. Don't even ask. Not even sure if even Google Maps can find Brunkild.

As always, Good Luck and Happy Investing!

Happy New Year!

2012 began on a happy note with the TSX up 253 points while the DOW gained 179.  My stuff hit an all time high on December 5. By year end it was off a tick that was so small you can't spot it on the graph. The bump up yesterday pushed my stuff to a new higher high. Could this be a sign of what 2012 has in store for us?

Looking back, TPCI did join the passive ranks in 2011. The move of the biggest chunk of my stuff to the Canadian Bond Fund had me on the sidelines watching the markets.

I pretty much left my trading account alone and made only three trades in 2011. Swapped out Crescent Point (CPG) for Suncor (SU) in January and bought Cisco (CSCO:NQ) in February. With Cisco being my only non-Canadian holding in this account I was happy to eke out a 2% gain for the year given the 11.07% drop in the TSX.

Looking ahead, I'm standing pat for now.  I'm not going to be tricked by yesterday's great start for the year.

Under the heading "Things I'm Glad I Did" my decision to get out of Research In Motion (RIM) in October of 2010 is looking like one of the best.  I sold RIM at $50.02...yesterday $15.71. On the other side of the coin, now that they've cut the price to $199.00 I did order a PlayBook over the holidays.  Not sure why, it may end up as a $199.00 toy.  If so, I'm hoping for a $199.00 worth of fun.  If RIM ever comes out with the promised software update to add email to the PlayBook there'll be no more packing the laptop on vacation.  

Santa Came Early

As mentioned in my most recent post I was looking forward to the year end dividend for my Canadian Bond Fund. Given that the earlier dividends arrived on the final days of June and September I naturally expected the year end distribution to arrive tomorrow, on December 30.

I was checking my account today and surprise, surprise, the year end distribution was paid on December 23. The value of my Canadian Bond Fund units is now up 6.02% since making the switch on June 22. The actual unit value is up 4.23%...the rest is the result of the quarterly dividends. Sweet! In the mean time, the TSX has dropped from 13,060 to today's 11,841...of 9.33%. What a difference!

Yes, The Day That Fear Trumped Greed was an excellent day for TPCI. In the new year I'll be looking back at 2011 and providing some stats about finance guy's continual advice about the ever increasing value of the long term markets.

Until then, happy investing and Happy New Year to all!   

The Day That Fear Trumped Greed

I've documented in fair detail my decision to take the majority of my money off the table in the past year or so.  It began last fall with my move out of the Canadian Resource Fund to a Canadian Bond Fund.  This year I bailed on my long held Canadian Endeavor Fund and that money also went to the bond fund.

After the move to Carman we decided we'd like to have some of our stuff with a local finance guy so we approached a good friend who works with one of the big five and she put us in touch with the branch finance guy.  We sat down with finance guy and to discuss the transfer.  Sure they have a Canadian Bond Fund just like the one we were in with the competitor.

Pending the arrival of our money from the former fund company finance guy offered some reading material and suggested that we have a look at it and make a final decision when the funds arrive in a week or two.  He gave us info on their Bond Fund, as well as their Conservative Fund and their Very Conservative fund.  In addition he gave us a well written article out of his head office entitled "It's only a flesh wound".  I commented on this article in my post of August 9.

A week or so later our money arrived and it was time to sit down and decide if we wanted to stay with bonds or get back into the markets, just a wee bit, with either the Conservative fund or the Very conservative fund.   Finance guy had made a pretty good case for going along with one of these funds in favor of the Bond fund but I was not to be swayed.  I sat across from finance guy, looked him in the eye and said "no, we're going to stick with the bond fund for now".  I went on to explain that the new job coupled with our desire to spend as much time as possible at the lake limited the amount of time I would have over the summer to watch the markets and make changes as required.  I said that we'd revisit this decision later in the year if there was any sign of stability in the markets.

That day the TSX was 13,060.  Three days ago, 11,171...a decline of nearly 15%  Now, the TSX bounced 609 points in the past couple of days but it's done that, or close to that, several times since that day in June.

Oh, by the way, the YTD return on the Bond fund is 5.52%.  On the Very Conservative fund it's .81% and the Conservative fund is -1.37%.  Yup, down 1.37%.

Unlike the title of this post, I'd like to think that my decision that day had more to do with a reasonably intelligent take on current world and market conditions than fear.  Whatever.  It's been a great summer to be sitting on the sidelines!

Have a great weekend and as always, Happy Investing!     

The Lost Decade

Sounds kind of ominous.  I was watching the tube yesterday and the one of the hosts asked the guest analyst if we are heading into another "Lost Decade".  My ears perked up.  Lost decade???  He went on to refer to the first decade of the new millennium as The Lost  Decade when returns for the entire ten years were sub-par.

I wasn't calling it The Lost Decade a few months later when, on July 16, 2010 I wrote A Little More About The Last (Next) Ten Years.  In this one I included a chart showing the returns of the TSX for the 12 month period ending July 8 for each of the past ten years.  Up and down, to be sure.  Some good ones?  You bet!  Some ugly ones?  Yup!  Because none of us were smart enough to time the market, we hung in there for the whole ten years.  Final return?  10% for ten years and I'm not talking 10% annual, I'm talking 10% in total for ten years.  The Lost Decade!

Canada's Top Ten Companies

This from the Globe & Mail today.  Canada's Top Ten Companies In Pictures

I'm feeling pretty good about this list as I'm holding four of the ten in my trading account...BMO, RBC, TD & Suncor.  Now if their damn share prices would just get back to where they were just a couple of months ago all would be good!