EliG
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Posts posted by EliG
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Tearing NAFTA apart comes with a heavy political cost because you are harming a bunch of people. Sunset clause reduces that cost. It's easier politically to sit back, do nothing and let NAFTA expire than to explicitly tear it apart.
Second order effect: sunset clause creates a perpetual uncertainty around NAFTA. With potential sunset hanging over their heads, companies are less likely to choose Canada or Mexico for long-term investments. Sunset clause is a round-about way to gain advantage over your trade partners.
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For some unknown reason the old site is working again. At least the canadian one finance.google.ca
Doesn't work for me, and that's fine. With old Google Finance gone, I spend less time watching markets, which of course is a good thing. Thank you, Google.
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I'm above 250k but I understand that if you hold it with Canadian Brokerage you can just report the total by country. Is that right.
How does one report this. Is it the total for each country for each Broker I have. So would it be something like this structure.
IB
USD
Market value
Cap gains
Income
JPY
Market value
cap gains
income
Questrade
USD
Market value
Cap gains
Income
Yes. I report two lines in Section 7:
Broker 1, USA, ...
Broker 2, USA, ...
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I have done it for years except this year. I just go through my monthly statements for my US holdings account and select the highest number. Never been a problem.
That number isn't actually what they're asking for. According to this CRA link, for property held in an account with a Canadian registered securities dealer (section 7), they want the "maximum fair market value during the year". Most of the time that value will be an intraday value. It can only be calculated by recalculating the value of your account when the price of any foreign security in it changes, then figuring out what value is the highest (i.e. it requires taking into account millions of data poinnts and is basically impossible for anyone to calculate except maybe a brokerage).
CRA instructions explicitly say that month-end values are okay.
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/t1135/t1135-17e.pdf
Page 5, item 7.
"the maximum fair market value during the year may be based on the maximum month-end fair market value"
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I think someone else on here gave a similar talk recently (but couldn't find the thread). Anyone remember that?
Here's the thread:
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Ctrl-Shift-Enter works in Google, too. You can type:
=PRODUCT(1+A1:A3)-1
and hit Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Google adds ArrayFormula() wrapper.
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Old question I've never worked on figuring out and wasted a bit of time on this morning:
Is there a fast way to calculate cumulative gain from a set of gains?
E.g., annual gain in column A:
15%
4%
30%
Currently, I calculate total gain by: =(1+A1)*(1+A2)*(1+A3)-1
There's got to be something easier (other than creating a new column that is A+1)? It would be a ProductSum, but I don't think such a function exists.
Google Sheets
=ARRAYFORMULA(PRODUCT(1+A1:A3))-1
Excel or OpenOffice/LibreOffice
Type PRODUCT function:
=PRODUCT(1+A1:A3)-1
and hit Ctrl-Shift-Enter. The expression changes to an array formula:
{=PRODUCT(1+A1:A3)-1}
giving you the total return.
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DTEJD linked MIT study.
Chief Economist of Uber challenged the validity of the study.
He claims that MIT used a flawed methodology.
twitter discussion
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Thanks. Sorry for being slow, but just want to ascertain - let's say i am holding BEP.UN (traded on the TSX) and I want to sell it and cash out in USD. I would put a trade to sell BEP on the US market and settle in USD, correct? Supposedly BMO would know that BEP.UN/TSX and BEP/NYSE are equivalent?
Yes, if BEP.UN/TSX and BEP/NYSE have the same CUSIP.
Once you sell BEP on NYSE, you will see a long BEP.UN position in your CAD account and a short BEP position in your USD account. BMO system will cancel them out once the trade settles.
Just thought I would add a disclaimer. I've never used BEP.UN / BEP for a gambit at BMO. In theory, the pair should work if the CUSIPs are the same. In practice, there is a chance you may hit some odd issue in their trading system. Maybe call them to confirm if you already own BEP.UN.
I always gambit stocks that have the same ticker on both exchanges: TD/TD, RY/RY, etc.
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BMO may charge you margin interest for the short position, if you have a margin account. I remember reading reports to that effect on redflagdeals forum. You can call and reverse the charge later. Another option is to call BMO on T+1 and ask them to flatten out the long and the short on T+2.
My experience is that you are more likely to get hit with interest in RRSP/TFSA accounts. And the interest rates for non-margin accounts are very high. I'm not sure what triggers the interest charge but I suspect it might be using the proceeds to buy a different stock before the Gambit settles.
My last gambit at BMO, I used the proceeds immediately to buy a different US stock. I called them on T+1 and requested a journal. The long and the short were erased on T+2. There was no interest charge. That was a margin account.
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I've used it too and saved $1000s. I suggest that you google it -- there is a blog that has details for each of the brokers.
I think this is the one you were referring to:
https://www.pwlcapital.com/en/Advisor/Toronto/Toronto-Team/White-Papers
The blog used DLR as an example. For BMO in particular, I would have to call in to execute the second half of the trade. I wonder if I could avoid calling if I use a dual-listed security, e.g. Enbridge (ENB)? Buy on TSX and sell on NYSE.. not sure how I can specify the exchange for this trade though - perhaps by specifying the settlement currency?
Yes, you can avoid the call if you use a dual-listed security at BMO. You can do both trades online.
Going from CAD to USD, pick two options when you sell:
Market: US
Settlement currency: US dollars
Thanks. Sorry for being slow, but just want to ascertain - let's say i am holding BEP.UN (traded on the TSX) and I want to sell it and cash out in USD. I would put a trade to sell BEP on the US market and settle in USD, correct? Supposedly BMO would know that BEP.UN/TSX and BEP/NYSE are equivalent?
Yes, if BEP.UN/TSX and BEP/NYSE have the same CUSIP.
Once you sell BEP on NYSE, you will see a long BEP.UN position in your CAD account and a short BEP position in your USD account. BMO system will cancel them out once the trade settles.
BMO may charge you margin interest for the short position, if you have a margin account. I remember reading reports to that effect on redflagdeals forum. You can call and reverse the charge later. Another option is to call BMO on T+1 and ask them to flatten out the long and the short on T+2.
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I've used it too and saved $1000s. I suggest that you google it -- there is a blog that has details for each of the brokers.
I think this is the one you were referring to:
https://www.pwlcapital.com/en/Advisor/Toronto/Toronto-Team/White-Papers
The blog used DLR as an example. For BMO in particular, I would have to call in to execute the second half of the trade. I wonder if I could avoid calling if I use a dual-listed security, e.g. Enbridge (ENB)? Buy on TSX and sell on NYSE.. not sure how I can specify the exchange for this trade though - perhaps by specifying the settlement currency?
Yes, you can avoid the call if you use a dual-listed security at BMO. You can do both trades online.
Going from CAD to USD, pick two options when you sell:
Market: US
Settlement currency: US dollars
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I've been using NG on a regular basis for the last ~15 years. All in all, I think I saved more than $10K on forex fees.
What specifically do you want to know?
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Basically, I am seeing a trade-off. On one hand, money-weighted returns will also capture your asset allocation skills. Eg, converting spare cash to equity when prices are low and expected returns are high.
Asset allocation decisions should not affect your return calculations, whether you use MWRR or TWRR. Asset allocation changes happen within the portfolio; they are internal portfolio flows.
It sounds like you are excluding cash from your return calculations. I think it's a wrong way to go. Suppose the market returns 10% a year. You are 90% in cash, 10% in stocks. Your stocks return 30%. Did you beat the market or not? On a total portfolio basis you didn't.
I track MWRR across all family accounts I manage, cash included.
I don't bother to track TWRR mostly because it's too much work. I can approximate my long-term TWRR by calculating the geometric average of the annual MWRRs. It's not an accurate method but it's good enough for rough comparisons with the benchmark.
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My understanding is that bank brokerages got swamped by a flood of new small gamblers clients who opened their first account to trade pot stocks or bitcoin. They required a lot of hand holding due to lack of experience; hence long wait lines on the phones. IB Canada is not a natural choice for this crowd. I think it's possible that IB didn't need to scale up because their web traffic and trading volumes remained relatively normal.
I don't have any data to back this up.
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What's the basis for this platform with regard to headcount?
Berkshire: 367,671 [berkshire Annual Report 2016, p. 116, - add to that at least the employees at Flying J]
Amazon: ? [i don't know, and I don't bother to look it up - please fill in.]
JP Morgan Chase & Co.: ? [i don't know, and I don't bother to look it up - please fill in.]
Amazon: 541,900
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/26/technology/business/amazon-earnings/index.html
JPM: 240,000
https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/About-JPMC/about-us.htm
Combined: 1,150,000
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Power Corporation (POW) - Desmarais Family Conglomerate
Can you call it a great company if the stock doesn't perform?
10 year CAGR is 2%. 2.7% worse than TSX Composite.
15 year CAGR is 6.5%. 2.5% worse than TSX Composite.
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since reagan we have been almost entirely in a lowering interest rate environment. just wonder how relevant to current situation
JMP chart looks at the weekly stocks returns. I think it captures every little zig and zag in the 10 year treasury rate. There were quite a few of them since year 2000. See the chart below.
That said, I agree with the skepticism that you and rb expressed.
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Gundlach also called for the S&P to finish the year down in 2018 (which is quite the gutsy call given everything that has happened the past 14 months): after a strong start, as the 10 year moves close to 3.00% he expects stocks to sell off later in the year as higher bond yields (and the threat of even higher bond yields in 2019) eventually starts to factor into stock market valuations.
When yields are below 5%, rising rates have historically been associated with rising stock prices.
See attached chart from JPM Guide to the Markets.
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Doctors are trained to practice evidence-based medicine. I would approach the presentation from that angle. What does it mean to practice evidence-based investing?
For starters, I would present the body of evidence that most people should index. Next, I would introduce them to Bogleheads Lazy Portfolios:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios
I'd think that most doctors are too busy / too tired to moonlight as value investors. Lazy Portfolio is a good default option.
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It's interesting to me to hear how little narcotic people can actually get by with after surgery.
Anecdote:
A close relative had Whipple surgery a few years ago. For those who don't know, Whipple is one of the biggest surgeries a person can have on their body, not counting transplants. The surgeon removes the head of pancreas, the gallbladder, the bile duct, part of the small intestine and sometimes the bottom part of the stomach. The surgeon then reconnects the remaining organs to rebuild the digestive system. The surgery takes about 6-8 hours, sometimes longer if the complications arise. Steve Jobs had this surgery for his pancreatic cancer.
My relative left the hospital with two pain meds: Prescription Tylenol and Tramadol (Ultram). The surgeon gave her clear instructions: stay on Tylenol as much as possible; only take Tramadol when the pain is absolutely unbearable. That's exactly what my relative did: she took only a few Tramadol pills in the first couple of days. The rest of the bottle wasn't needed.
Again, to put things in perspective, this is one of the biggest surgeries a person can have. Prescription Tylenol was effective enough to manage the pain.
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Here is an article about robot.txt: Link.
Please try to google one of your own posts here on CoBF! As far as I can see, the GoogleBot does not index CoBF. I suppose Sanjeev has kicked it out, by the use of robot.txt in the root of installation on the netserver at the company hosting CoBF. Good for us.
robots.txt is a public file:
http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/robots.txt
The file hides one directory (/wp-admin) from all bots. Aside from that, it doesn't block any bots.
For comparison, here's robots.txt from another forum:
http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/robots.txt
As you can see, it blocks a whole bunch of bots for bad behaviour, typically high resource consumption.
As for Google, it does index COBF, although with some delay. For example, I get 45 hits if I google "Hjorth BAM".
https://www.google.ca/search?q=site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum+Hjorth+BAM
The same search returns zero hits if I set the time range to the past 24 hours:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=site:cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum+Hjorth+BAM&tbs=qdr:d
I know that you posted in the BAM thread in the past 24 hours; lack of Google hits tells me that Google indexing is lagging. I don't know by how much.
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Don't you people know about search bots? I thought it was a common knowledge even for non-computer types.
The search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo et al) have bots that constantly crawl the web to index the new content, be it brand new pages or changes to the old pages. These bots may or may not count as views, depending on how this forum is configured.
You can ask Parsad to tweak forum configuration to show the bots as visible active users. If he chooses to do that, you would be able to see that search bots are present at all times.
I know about search bots, but would that account for hundreds of views to a single page in minutes? There is no need for google to load the page more than once (unless it changes). I can't think of 100 search engines, are there that many? Maybe there are a lot of other people/companies/government agencies/aliens who are crawling/indexing the web for whatever reason. I don't know.
There are hundreds of known bots out there, plus many more unknown. Several web sites maintain the lists of known bots, for example:
http://www.robotstxt.org/db.html
https://github.com/monperrus/crawler-user-agents/
I have no idea which bots are active on COBF. An admin user should be able to figure that out.
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I am sorry, I didn't mean to. I was genuinely surprised.
Has B.C. crossed the Rubicon ?
in General Discussion
Posted
I have two words for you.
property taxes