The Radio Girl

CBC Exposes 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' Seminars

Have you ever heard of Robert Kiyosaki?  

He's the man behind the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of best-selling books that supposedly teach folks to 'Be Rich'.

CBC Marketplace produced an excellent 3 part expose on the Rich Dad, Poor Dad Seminars that have been making their way across North America.  

This is an eye-opening look at the scurvy critters who conduct high pressure sales at these seminars.  If you're interested in the Rich Dad seminar, or know someone that has signed up for one, check this out first.  

Do your due diligence, people.  NO ONE cares about your money more than you!  

Loonie Update

FYI:  If you're a Canuck heading south anytime soon, the loonie just hit 0.99 (USD). 
Parity by the end of the day?

You can keep track of it here.

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

Shelbert and I took a long stroll around our rural BC neighbourhood yesterday.

Here's my buddy Shelbert patiently posing on the rocks by the river.

Gotta admit I was a little distracted, trying to focus the camera AND plug my nose at the same time.  Smells a little fishy down by the river because of the salmon run.

I recently read an excellent write-up explaining the massive sockeye salmon run that's hitting our little part of the country:

"A couple of months ago somewhere between 20 and 30 million sockeye salmon massed at the mouth of the Fraser River near Vancouver to begin their one-way trip to their spawning grounds in the interior of B.C. The number of fish caught everyone by surprise, from local fishermen to government officials. It is the largest salmon run in nearly a century and nobody knows why it happened."

That was swiped directly from columnist Mike Drew from The Sun newspaper chain, who covered the story in a very easy-to-understand style.  You can read the whole article here.

And now, the stars of the show: 

The bright red salmon are still alive and kicking, slowly swimming upstream.  They run the entire length of the river and seem to be anywhere from 10 to 30 fish across, depending how wide the river is.

At the edge of the riverbank, the dead salmon (in white) bob along the shore or get wedged between the rocks. 

But the bright red salmon keep swimming by as they complete their mission.

Or as Dory says in Finding Nemo - "just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Oh Canada

I am so sick of stupid stupid STUPID government decisions.

For the past 15 years I've personally been watching what I spend.  Cutting corners and buying generic instead of brand names.  Turning the heat down and putting on sweaters and socks.  And comparison shopping for bigger items.

Then I read this story about our Canadian government spending 2 million taxpayer dollars TO BUILD A FAKE LAKE IN THE MIDDLE OF TORONTO so G20 journalists have a pretty background for their media reports.

Does our so-called CONSERVATIVE government even know what the hell the word conservative means? 

Yup. I said hell.  I must be really mad.

Interviews

For one third of my life I worked at a big city radio station.

It was usually number one or two in the radio ratings and as a result, we got to host a lot of fun interviews with musicians, athletes and other famous folks, like the Dixie Chicks. 

My fave interview was with David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber.  He's smart and witty and rich (thanks to his best-selling book) but still very humble.

Figuring he was probably a squillionaire by now, I asked him to marry me (on the radio) and he said yes.  After the interview, he sent me an autographed copy of his book, with this written inside... 

"I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you..."  Funny guy :)

The one person I've never met, but would love to sit down with is Ron MacLean, from Hockey Night In Canada. 

He falls into the category of "Celebrity Crush Old Enough to Be My Dad", but there is something so interesting about him.  Like David Chilton, MacLean is smart and witty... and I admire how smooth he is leading Don Cherry during Coach's Corner.

And My Fella just gave me something new to admire about Ron MacLean. 

Yesterday, while you and I were enjoying lunch, The Ronster was rescuing a suicidal man from the Delaware River.

ByeBye May: Don't Let the Door Hit Ya On the Way Out

What a crazy month for investors.

But crazy in a good way.  The big dips gave us lots of opportunities to buy... unless you're broke like me.  There wasn't much buying going on over here.

Our total portfolio is up overall on the year, but down for the month:

• RRSP  -2.9%
• LIRA   -6.7%
• TFSA  -3.4%
• non-reg  -3%

And our individual securities haven't changed.  In order of weighting:

• Student Transportation
• Alaris Royalty Corp.
• Superior Plus
• New Flyer Industries
• Crescent Point Energy
• Bonavista Energy
• Colabor Group
• Pembina Pipelines
• Artis REIT
• Yellow Pages Income Fund
• Inter Pipeline
• Avenir Diversified Income Fund
• Armtec Infrastructure
• Cash

It's probably going to be a nutty summer for investors.  If the current market volatility is freaking you out, it may be better not to look for awhile.  Volatility is your friend... until you start to panic and sell at the wrong time.

In the Biz News tomorrow:  The Bank of Canada will share its latest decision on interest rates, whether they go up or remain the same.

And in local news:  Our roma tomatoes are sprouting like crazy  :)

Raining Cats and Dogs

It's been pouring at our BC RV resort all day.

And I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to scrounge up plastic containers to fill with rain water for our plants.  When we finally have our own little piece of land, I want a rain barrel. 

I covet rain barrels.  I ENVY people with their own rain barrels.  Seriously.  If you have your own rain barrel, DO NOT TELL ME - I have Rain Barrel Envy. 

Since I'm barrel-less, I resort to using these lame plastic containers.

 
Not as cool as a rain barrel, but they do the trick.

The best part of the rain is hearing it fall on JohnnyDiscos roof.  So soothing.  I love being in a warm, cozy RV when it's pouring outside.  We're surrounded by BC forest and it smells amazing out here. 

The Shelbert was not as impressed with the rain today since she's only been out for two walks, compared to the usual five or six.  She lay by the door (like a little bear skin rug), waiting and waiting and waiting for the skies to clear...

Then she tried to pass the time playing with her Squeak ...

Eventually Fuzzbert just gave up and went for nap.

Paws are crossed for sunshine tomorrow.

Mid May Stocks

Canadian Tire reported quarterly earnings this morning, topping analyst estimates at 0.63 cents per share (adjusted earnings before taxes).  I don't own any of the stock, but we've enjoyed excellent customer service at Canadian Tire over the past six months, and they seem to be improving both store layouts and stock availability, so I hope the company does well in the future. 

That being said, I have no interest in buying it. 

Just because you like a business or product, that doesn't automatically make it a good investment.  I have a very healthy interest in Coors Lite, but don't own Molson Coors (TAP) because the stock doesn't fit my portfolio strategy. 

It's really REALLY important to keep emotion out of your stock selection, something My Fella can tell you firsthand.  As an amateur goldpanner, he'd love to invest in every small cap miner on the Venture exchange.  Fortunately his financial advisor won't let him.  Just like she won't let him eat pork n' beans for breakfast.  Some things are just a bad idea  :)

No real changes in our portfolios this month.  I bought a teeny bit more YLO.UN when it dipped to $6 a couple days ago and now it's back up to $6.65.

Current holdings:

• Student Transportation
• Alaris Royalty Corp
• Superior Plus
• Crescent Point Energy
• Newflyer Industries
• Bonavista Energy
• Colabor Group
• Pembina Pipelines
• Yellow Pages
• Inter Pipeline
• Artis REIT
• Armtec Infrastructure
• Davis + Henderson Income Fund
• Avenir Diversified Income Fund
• CASH
• Morneau Sobeco

Our holdings are equally weighted and the bulk of the portfolio was purchased during the March '09 market lows.  I wouldn't be adding to any of these names at current prices, but there will be many more dips to come throughout the spring and summer, especially in the income trust area. 

And only two more sleeps 'til trust payday, our most favorite day of the month.  Even Shelbert loves trust payday.  Trust payday = more dog snacks!

 
Or maybe a sleek, new satellite receiver hat. 

She's been licking her front paws a lot so out came the always-stylish head cone.  According to the vet we saw yesterday, her paw pads might be a bit bruised. 

Shely-Belly is not used to getting out for so many daily walks (4 or 5 a day) on rougher terrain, out here in the country.  We've cut back on walks a bit and now she wears her cone when she's relaxing, at least until her pads harden up a little. 

She's still a happy little mutt, and mysteriously, we're getting much better TV reception.

Buying USD $$$

2009 was a big trading year for me.

I was lucky enough to have a substantial wad of cash sitting around when the markets hit those ridiculous March lows.  I was also buying a lot on margin because good quality stocks were so cheap.  Trades at my discount broker are only $9.95 if your total assets equal at least $100,000 and I took full advantage of that last year. 

2010 is a very different story. 

I'm happy with our current portfolio mix and haven't been selling much.  And companies are a lot more expensive now so I haven't been buying either.  Yet stocks keep going up.  Hopefully Yellow Pages drops down to the mid $6 range again so I can snag a bit more of that, but there's nothing else I'm eyeballing right now.

Instead I'm thinking of buying USD $$$. 

 
My Fella and I are heading south again in November for about five months.  My plan is to open a US dollar chequing account in the next week and just make a few big US dollar purchases when our loonie is above par.  There may be an easier way to do it, but this makes the most sense to me.  I've been with the same bank for years and have a good relationship with the manager so hopefully I can get a discounted rate on the forex.  Doesn't hurt to ask.

If you know of a better way to buy USD, please let me know.

BC Fire Bans

So far this season we've had two campfire nights at our RV site.

 
My Fella and I are trying to have as many firepit nights as possible before a BC fire ban is announced.  Western Canada experienced a drier than usual winter so we're expecting a fire ban at some point, we just don't know when.

Here's the website I use to monitor the BC fire ban situation.