Financial Jungle

A post by my adorable Financial Jungle Gal.

This year, my birthday falls adjacent to Mother’s Day. While jostling through Mother’s Day crowd presents its own challenges, I’m happy to have uncovered many birthday freebies with some help rummaging the Internet and our Entertainment Book for tips. Here are my findings:

1. Denny’s – Free meal. The only catch is you need to have a second meal of equal or lesser value and purchase two drinks. Cost: $17 (one Grand Slam Breakfast, tea, coffee, and tips) + $2 for 1 hour of street parking (no free spots in the parking lot after circling for a bit). Save: $9 (one breakfast)
2. Blenz Coffee – Free beverage. This depends on the independently-owned franchise. The two Robson Street locations honored this special, while I heard the Yaletown location does not. Thanks Miss604 for the tip! Cost: $2.21 (Felt guilty just getting a free coffee, so bought a rice crispy square). Save: $4.10 (one beverage)
3. Cineplex Entertainment – Free movie at Famous Players, Cineplex Odeon, or Galaxy, Theatres. If you’re lucky to have a connection who can purchase corporate discount movie tickets (thanks FJ’s brother!), you can take advantage of the free movie on your birthday coupon that’s included when you purchase four movie tickets. Cost: Pack of 4 tickets $27.32. Save: $12.50 (one movie ticket)

Honorable mentions:

1. Entertainment Book – 2-for-1 coupons. If you purchase the Entertainment Book, there are valuable 2-for-1 coupons inside and online. We used the discounted 50% off baked goods to a maximum of $5.00 at Fratelli Bakery on Commercial Drive. They have mini éclairs and individual mini cheesecakes. Perfect as I love cheesecakes and FJ doesn’t! More for me!
2. Japadog Hot Dogs. Well, there was no discount at this fabulous hot dog stand on the corner of Smithe and Burrard Streets. However, if you get a craving for a Japanese style topping hot dog (try the Terri-Mayo Dog, my favourite) and your best friend wants to treat you out for your birthday, then it could be free! Average hot dog price is $4.50.
3. eCards – Free greeting cards sent to your email. Environmentally-friendly and a quick way to stay in touch with friends scattered over the world. It brings a smile to my face just knowing that a friend was thinking of me and took a few minutes from their hectic schedule to create and send a card. Of course, phone calls are welcome too! Check out: www.bluemountain.com, www.hallmark.com, www.123greetings.com, www.greetings.yahoo.com

Possible discounts to be investigated later (Sources: Miss604.com and redflagdeals.com)

• Dairy Queen → Email coupon for your birthday - possible 2 for 1 16 oz. Blizzard?
• Orange Julius → 2 for 1 20 ox. Fruit Smoothie for sign up and receive “special coupon” on your birthday (Must set location).
• Old Spaghetti Factory - → Free entrée
  Need to fill out an in restaurant registration in advance of birthday and will be sent a complimentary meal coupon for the entire month of your birthday.
• Tony Roma’s – join birthday club for coupons.

Last thoughts: We spend my birthday prowling around Vancouver for the freebies and honorable mentions. Highly recommend the movie “Iron Man”. With the thrill of the hunt, we went home happy and satisfied that we saved $30.60.

Since all BNN guests are having so much fun with their top picks, I don’t see why we can’t have ours. Here are my top 3 picks:

Scotiabank (BNS) - Canada’s most international bank is trading at a cheap 11.7 PE and yielding an attractive 4.2%. The market is hurting the bank even though it has no exposure to US subprime. Risk of a dividend cut is virtually non-existing, and the distribution will head higher over the horizon.

Artis REIT (AX.un) - Retail, office and industrial landlord who has a knack for acquiring undervalued properties with in-place rents significantly below-market rent rates in the booming Western provinces. Currently sports a 6.6% distribution yield, a conservative 75% payout ratio, and a healthy 49.2% debt-to-GBV. For comparison, debt-to-GBV are 55% for Calloway REIT and 61% for HR REIT.

Boralex Power (BPT.un) - Management recently cut distribution from their long-term assets due to USD depreciation and below average hydrology; both of which were outside of management’s control. Odds are in favour of US dollar and hydrology to revert to their historical average. Boralex’s current plight is more than priced in to the 13.9% distribution yield.

What are your BNN top 3 picks?

Disclaimer: This is a fun post. Please conduct your own research before making any investment decision.

Yesterday I celebrated Financial Jungle’s first birthday by renewing both the domain and the hosting service for another year. Yes, you have to put up with me for a little longer. And with your support, the blog has earned $170 in advertising revenue and cost $35 in various expenses. While I’m happy to have made $135 in net income after a year of blogging, the real pot-of-gold was unveiled by this wicked widget from Business Opportunities Weblog.

Financial Jungle is worth $32,743.32 a la Dane Carlson’s “How Much Is Your Blog Worth?” widget. Personally, I doubt my blog deserves such a lofty price tag, but I’m willing to part with it for $10,000.

Just for fun, here’s how other personal financial blogs measure up:

Get Rich Slowly - $1,029,156.42
Millionaire Mommy Next Door - $250,655.76
Consumerism Commentary - $219,606.06
Million Dollar Journey - $160,329.36
The Dividend Guy Blog - $149,038.56
Four Pillars - $130,408.74
Give Me Back My Five Bucks - $96,536.34
Financial Blogger - $79,600.14
Canadian Capitalist - $45,727.74
Canadian Dream Free At 45 - $45,163.20
Money Coach - $30,485.16
Dividends4Life - $29,356.08
Growth In Value - $8,468.10
Michael James On Money - $7,903.56
Nabloid - $7,903.56
SteadyHand - $4,516.32
Thicken My Wallet - $1,129.08
Triaging My Way To Financial Success - $1,129.08
Where Does All My Money Go - $564.54
Money Gardener - $0.00
Middle Class Millionaire - $0.00
Canadian Financial DIY = $0.00

One obvious peculiarity is Canadian Capitalist’s worth. Only $47k? I’d expect it to price at around $150k. A few other blogs I tried came up with $0.00 probably due to absences of Technorati accounts. So take this with a grain of salt, as I honestly don’t know the formula behind this widget.

So you think you’re a hotshot daytrader? Let’s see if you can walk the talk.

My colleague recently forwarded me a link to this cool website called Inspectd, where you can trade real stocks with fake money. While the Internet is already littered with hundreds websites that offer similar features, Inspectd is unique in that you can “fast forward” your time-horizon to ascertain your daytrading skills in a matter of seconds rather than waiting for weeks or months. From the website:

Inspectd.com allows you to test your stock market skills against over 20 million actual historical charts. We’ll show you a random stock from a random date in the past, and you try to guess whether it rose or dropped. We’ll even give you $100,000 in play money to test your skill. But beware: it’s addictive!

My little test drive was a wild one indeed. The monopoly money zigzagged from $100k, to $50k, to $130k, to $65k, to $171k, to $40k, to $100k and finished shamefully at $35k. My biggest let down was SAM. It lured me into a deceiving uptrend just prior to slipping precipitously by 36%. Maybe you have better luck than I, but I’m going back to my day job tomorrow. Let me know how you did.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan says it well. Shouldn’t we celebrate and honour our failures as if they’re stars on our shoulders? Even the best basketball player in the world couldn’t make a cut for his high school basketball team, so why should we expect perfection in investing? In fact, the stock market is a place that rewards players who expect failures, because they understand the law of taking a step back and springing two steps forward.

I have this odd habit of observing how investors with different experiences interact in the forums. One consistency and irony I find is that seasoned investors tend to reveal their mistakes more openly, while know-it-all amateurs tend to be more egotistic. Perhaps it’s simply human nature to seek social acceptance by putting their best foot forward — even when neither feet is modeling material. On the other hand, mature investors see every failure as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf. By regularly acknowledging mistakes, these investors become receptive to constructive criticisms from themselves and others, and leave the door opened for further touch-ups to their investment philosophies.

“Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.”- Tony Blair

Now that they have inspired me, I’ll reveal my wall of shame!

DoubleClick - Bought $91, sold $76 one month later.
Cisco - Bought $104, sold $73 nine months later.
Knight/Trimark - Bought $57, sold $35 four months later.
AboveNet - Bought $55, sold $39 two months later.

The worst blunders?

Conexant Systems - Bought $163. Still holding it at $1.36.
AirIQ - Bought $28. Still holding it at $0.15.

The lessons I learned? Always invest for the long-term, analyze the financial statements and think independently from the others — but it’s okay compare notes with experienced investors whom you respect.

ps. If you don’t have a role model, I recommend you frequent the Financial Webrings investment forum.

ps2. I have more blunders, but can’t find all the receipts at the moment.

1. Stiff the waiter with a penny for poor service?
   Never. I always tip 15%. Tips are part of salaries in my book. I feel that restaurant owners factor in gratitude in their salary offers. According to this ad, this catering company offers only $12.00/hr in Vancouver, which is the least affordable city in Canada. The proper etiquette for handing poor services is to inform his manager, not to seize his pay cheques.
2. Pose naked for one million dollars?
   If I’m dead broke and look half as magnetic as Brad Pitt, then I might consider.
3. Want to know when you’ll die in order to plan your finances efficiently?
   You bet. Although I feel the chill of knowing my expiry date, that pales in comparison to experiencing maximum gratification from the fruits of my labour. I accomplish more with the ultimate deadline is looming.
4. Quit your current job if you win a million dollar?
   Yes. But I might launch a new career.

Two stock brokers, Jon and James, head out for their usual 18 holes of golf. Jon offers James a $50 bet. James agrees and they’re off. They shoot a great game. After the 8th hole, James is ahead by one stroke, but cuts his ball into the rough on the 9th. “Help me find my ball. Look over there,” he says to Jon. After a few minutes, neither has any luck. Since a lost ball carries a four point penalty, James secretly pulls a ball from his pocket and tosses it to the ground. “I’ve found my ball!” he announces. “After all of the years we’ve been partners and playing together,” Jon says, “you’d cheat me out of a lousy 50 bucks?” “What do you mean, cheat? I found my ball sitting right there!” “And you’re a liar, too!” Jon says. “I’ll have you know I’ve been STANDING on your ball for the last five minutes!”

A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money. The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, “Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel! I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents. The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37.” “And that’s how you built an empire?” the boy asked. “Heavens, no!” the man replied. “Then my wife”s father died and left us two million dollars.”

I read about this ingenious anti-global warming billboard done by Draft FCB. The billboard is designed to face West such that as the sun sets, the shadow creates the illusion of rising water levels.

More links:
- Media In Canada
- Save Our Climate

SearchRank recently wrote the 10 Signs That You May Be a Blog Addict. I think I may be in trouble. At the moment, it is a bit of an addiction to me, but I’m sure I’ll get over this a few months down the road. I hope.

Here are some of my favourites on the list:

• In order for your family to keep up with what’s going on in your life, they have to read your blog. Furthermore, if they want to communicate with you, they have to comment on your blog.
• You have actually considered setting up a blog for your pet of which you would post the entries pretending you are your pet (weirdo).
• You can’t remember dates for your wedding anniversary, kids birthdays, etc., but you know what your Technorati rank is.
• You tell customers that you missed a project deadline because “some things” came up but in reality, you were blogging.