leftcoast

I noticed that. It was good while it lasted. Fortunately, Microsoft is adding stock quotes to Excel's built-in functionality. Works for most stock markets world-wide, but does not cover other types of securities like warrants and options.

Figured it out... I think the upgrade must have installed a 64-bit version of Excel. It was barfing when trying to load the 32-bit xll file. I replaced it with the 64-bit xll and it works fine now.

Hey rukawa - The GetBloombergData add-in was working great for me for the past 6 months or so and was a nice replacement for the Yahoo SMF add-in. Thanks for sharing it! Unfortunately, when I upgraded to Office 365 last week, the add-in stopped working. Every time I start Excel now, I get the attached dialog box: The file format and extension of 'GetBloomberData-AddIn-packed.xll' don't match. The file could be corrupted or unsafe. Unless you trust its source, don't open it. Do you want to open in anyway? Clicking 'Yes' opens a worksheet full of random characters. Clicking 'No' dismisses the dialog box. But in either case, the getPrice and other add-in functions no longer work. Any thoughts?

It's somewhat encouraging that they're at least trying to do something. But... 1. It'll be interesting to see what the definition of a foreign buyer is. 2. I have a feeling that a lot of trusts are about to be opened in BC. It only applies to people who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents. It's the same definition of "foreign" that the BC gov't has started using to measure the impact of foreign buyers. Early data showed that only 3-5% of Vancouver home purchases met this definition of "foreign buyer." The vast majority of foreign capital flowing into Vancouver is coming through immigrants with PR status, and/or Canadian-registered corporations and trusts. So while this new tax will generate big headlines ahead of the upcoming election, it will probably have very little direct impact on the market... which is exactly what Liberal gov't wants. Here's an article from 2 years ago on this exact subject: http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1385078/why-hk-style-property-tax-may-not-cure-vancouvers-china-syndrome

I misread the original quote. The key part (that I missed) is highlighted below: IBC does not accommodate asset swaps or transfers in kind (cash or securities) from a cash or margin account at IBC or elsewhere to an IBC RRSP or TFSA account at this time. So it doesn't say they won't take a transfer-in-kind from another RRSP account, just from non-registered accounts. And as gokou3 pointed out, they later say explicitly that you can fund your RRSP account with a transfer from an RSP at another broker. My bad. Sorry! BTW, Liberty, the way you link your existing IB account to your new accounts is by logging into Account Management and selecting the Manage Account --> Add or Link Accounts, and then Create Linked Account menu options. Once linked, your new RRSP/TFSA account will benefit from a shared user name, security device, and market data subscriptions.

I have 2 non-registered accounts at IB. I am able to access both of them using the same login. There's a little drop down menu on the WebTrader and Acct Mgmt sites that allow you to switch between accounts. I do not have an "Advisor Account."

This is too bad: IBC does not accommodate asset swaps or transfers in kind (cash or securities) from a cash or margin account at IBC or elsewhere to an IBC RRSP or TFSA account at this time. So to transfer my current RRSPs and TFSAs from another broker to IB, I'd need to liquidate all my positions, convert the proceeds to CAD$ (at the bank's larcenous exchange rate), transfer the cash to IB, and then re-build the same positions (hoping that none of them have moved up significantly in the meantime). That's an expensive transfer. Makes more sense to just use IB for future new contributions and leave the existing assets where they are.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/836b1950-a864-11e4-bd17-00144feab7de.html Investors awaiting Warren Buffett’s annual letter will get three for the price of one this year. The founder of Berkshire Hathaway is planning a special “golden anniversary” publication, marking 50 years since he took a controlling stake in the company. Mr Buffett and his business partner, Charlie Munger, are independently writing their views of Berkshire’s extraordinary journey during the past five decades — and what they expect for the next five. Neither is changing a word of the other’s commentary. Readers will be able to compare the two sets of reflections and predictions, in addition to the regular annual letter.

I really enjoyed this one as an aspiring aerospace engineer 20 years ago: Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben R. Rich It's mostly focused on defense.

Ubisoft Zynga Nexon Tencent And of course THQ went to zero.

Congrats Sanjeeev!

Good article about foreign ownership of real estate in Canada, and Vancouver in particular. Interesting to see the comparison with Australia. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/27/foreign-real-estate-ownership-canada_n_5718705.html Vancouver’s rise to become the second most expensive housing market in the world — the average detached home is now worth $1 million — cannot be explained by local incomes, which are well below the average of major Canadian city centres. The math simply doesn’t add up to explain what is happening in the market. Just over half of Vancouverites believe there is too much foreign ownership of real estate in the city, according to a 2012 poll. But in a statistical vacuum, no one knows for sure. Estimates for foreign-owned downtown condos in Vancouver and Toronto range from less than five per cent to a whopping 50 per cent. There’s no question that home ownership in cities such as Sydney, Vancouver and London has become a trend among affluent Chinese, sparked partly by policies in China that make owning a second home an extremely costly endeavour and prevent them from transferring large sums of yuan out of the country directly. ... Countries including the U.S., Denmark, France, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and Singapore have not only implemented methods to collect data on foreign investments but have also invoked tax policies to curtail the trend. Eyeing the potential for an investment bubble in London driven by foreign investors, the U.K is implementing a capital gains tax for foreign investors selling homes beginning next year. Hong Kong’s government has levied a 15 per cent tax for non-residents who buy property — in part to curb fears their market will be overrun by mainland Chinese speculation. Denmark forbids foreign buyers from purchasing waterfront property and the U.S. places heavy taxes on the sale of foreign-owned houses. Meanwhile, Canada’s hands-off approach — whether out of politeness, lack of know-how or self-interest — puts it in the minority among industrialized countries by remaining in the data dark.

Yeah, the realtor boards are shameless, but honestly I can't really blame them... their job is to sell houses, not provide an objective view of the market. Nobody expects a car salesman to give you objective and unbiased advice. Blaming realtors for pooping out dubious market data is like blaming a bird for pooping on your car. That's their job... it's just what they do. Now the media on the other hand... their job is to inform the public and to ask hard questions of authority. So seeing the media just regurgitate the realtors' bad data without questioning it at all is pretty galling. They are either complicit or lazy. And the CMHC, well... I'm not sure even they know exactly what their raison d'être is anymore. But you'd think an agency that is ultimately backstopping most of the residential mortgages in Canada would have some decent data on the internal dynamics of the housing market. But apparently not.

The problem, I think, is that there's simply no data on foreign buyers. So all you're left with are anecdotes and marketing hype. The flow of Chinese capital into the Vancouver housing market is certainly real, there's no question. Just look at what was happening in the investor immigrant program that was scrapped this year. From the WSJ today: After Overwhelming U.S. Visa Program, Where Will China’s Emigrants Go Next? At the time of the program closure, there were an estimated 48,000 applications made by mainland Chinese with the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong, and wait times were expected to be as long as five years. The vast majority of those were going to Vancouver. But what kind of impact is it really having on the market as a whole? Nobody has any idea, including Garth. This guy took a swing at it 6 months ago, but had to make so many assumptions that his analysis was basically reduced to guess-work: Vancouver Home Prices to Suffer With End of Investor Immigrant Program It really is mind-boggling that there's so little reliable data available on a market that is so fundamental to the Canadian economy as housing. Not just with regards to foreign investment, but in general. That shitty report that CMHC put out a few weeks ago just underscores the point... after years of research, they still can't even say what % condos are owned as investments vs. primary residences. Really?

I was sitting with a bunch of people around a campfire recently, and while chatting with the fellow next to me, I learned he was the VP of Credit for a prominent mid-size credit union in the Vancouver area... basically overseeing their residential mortgage business. So of course I started peppering him with questions about his thoughts on the Vancouver real estate market, credit quality, mortgage regulations for credit unions vs. banks, etc. He through me for a loop. He told me that several years ago, he firmly believed that Vancouver real estate was due for a major correction, but after watching prices continue to rise and rise, he's since changed his mind and joined the camp that thinks it will just keep going up because borrowing is so cheap and "everyone wants to live here." I asked what did he think would happen when interest rates rise? He said that he doesn't think they ever will now, because they've been so low for so long that raising them would be hurt too many people, so "it's too late... they can't do it." I asked, but what if they do? He laughed and said, "then I'll be out of a job." It was eye-opening... these are kind the sentiments you've heard from average home-owners and speculators in Vancouver for years. Hearing them from a mortgage lending exec -- an otherwise smart guy -- really drove home how pervasive the irrational exuberance really is.