Freefall

Chart courtesy ca.finance.yahoo.com

On a day when $TRP has fallen by 4.13% and trade was halted for sixty minutes, we might do a reality check and see how the stock has performed over the past year vis-à-vis the S & P TSX. Transcanada Corporation’s stock price increased by 22.85% while the $TSX fell by 6.54%. We must remember that the $TSX is a basket of 239 stocks, weighted in financials (37%), energy (18%) and materials (11%). As the constituent stocks perform, so does the $TSX. As the constituent stocks (only one of which is $TRP) express their volatility and emotional hysterical responses of shareholders, so does it.

Why was trade halted? In the good old golden days of stock trading when the bourse had stockbrokers getting apoplectic fits when stocks became volatile, trade was not halted. This permitted a freefall at the whim of an investor’s chilblains. Not anymore. As we have more sophisticated(?) tools that permit us to place trailing stop orders, at the discretion of the stockholder, trade is certain to be halted when there is investor emotion involved or global economic doom predicted.

Perhaps I am of the ilk where I place more stress on investor psychology. Perhaps that is because whether we deny it or not, our inherent fight-and-flight response sets in. Despite eons of being agriculturalists, our hunting instinct strikes and we go in for the kill or flee.

We may only anticipate that trade will not be halted without a moment’s notice when investors depend not only on sophisticated tools but focus on their long-term investment goals which would include dividend growth.

Please contact your investment adviser for recommendations. We are available to provide a second opinion and do investment analysis. We prepare extensive Capital Gain schedules (Schedule 3, T5018) for Canadian personal taxes. #TrushaDesai.com

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Dividend Growth Works

While the $DOW and $TSX are closed for a long weekend, this is an opportune moment for us to evaluate our long-term and short-term financial priorities. TFSA or RRSP is the question in some minds as RRSP season is at its peak. If we have not enrolled in monthly RRSP investment that would enable us to obtain the benefit of dollar-cost averaging, now is the time to get in by a hoof.

With the volatility of the stock market pre-eminent in our radar, we should think of various hedging opportunities like commodities and precious metals, bonds and GIC’s. When you have age on your side, there is the ability to stomach a certain degree of risk. However, the older one gets, the higher should be risk aversion.

As always, to learn from the best: as Warren Buffett would do, always keep some cash on the sidelines for an investment opportunity, or as a hedge. For we cannot all invest in Berkshire Hathaway ($BRK.A or $BRK.B). In the meanwhile, a dividend growth investment in a registered portfolio works.

Please contact us for innovation consult, budget preparation, cash flow projection and management, preparation and discussion of customized financial statements. Please contact your investment adviser for recommendations. We are available to provide a second opinion and do investment analysis. We prepare extensive Capital Gain schedules (Schedule 3, T5018) for Canadian personal taxes. #TrushaDesai.com #TrushaDesai.com

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Volatile Interest

In order to be polite ... as Canadians are, eh? We say that January 2016 has been "interesting". Record high snowfalls in Washington D.C. and New York. Record falls of the DOW. Not quite a recession. Not yet a recession. For what we have observed on the stock market over the past few months has been remarkable volatility. How that will translate onto the economy is the question: only the balance of the year will tell, soothsayers or not.

Business watches the stock market jitters and the economy with hawk's eyes. How will that affect strategic plans? What about budgets? How will that affect hiring? How will that nudge cash flow?

As we have been told time and again that volatility in the stock market is a result of emotional investing among other concerns, as business owners we needs must hold our breath before we exhale. There are macro issues such as federal stimuli and bond yields. How does that affect the recipient of the micro loan in some corner of the world? If we are all tightly knit together globally in the twenty first century as we never have been before, why is it that locally grown berries are exported before some in the 'hood get a pound? And why does that trade balance (negative or otherwise) affect whether we can buy a cup of coffee or not?

I am determined to eat healthy, but I have a monthly produce budget which appears to vary negatively. So, I am determined to work diligently and sincerely in order to expand my clientele and provide a professional service that helps my accounting and management consulting clients. This is not a volatile affirmation.

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