Recent Market Plays: June 2012

Not much happened in June because if you recall, I'm out of gas. I did however sell some units of a bond ETF to finance an increase in my CIBC position in my TFSA account. That worked out according to plan and I intend to keep putting all the money I have into bond ETFs until stock prices become attractive. That way I can collect a higher interest rate than if the money was parked in a high interest saving account while still being flexible enough to be able to jump into stocks when I feel the price is right. Sure, I have to pay a commission fee for the transaction but if I have to sit on cash for a long time because everything is too expensive, then I could be missing out on the extra income that a bond could provide. Also I'm thinking about using Claymore's service of allowing unitholders to buy shares via their PACC (Pre-Authorized Cash Contribution) which would allow me to get shares without paying the commission fee.

I plan to use it to transfer money into a bond ETF and when it's a sizable amount or when prices are attractive, I can sell some units to buy shares. This also puts me in a position where I have to dedicate an amount of my income to investing and will hopefully prevent me from blowing all my money away (if you've been following my journey into budgeting, you'll know that I need all the help I can get). I'm still looking to unload some ETFs and I seem to have amassed enough to make another purchase so look for those two things in July.

-the Paperboy

July Budget 2012

I should be able to make the usual numbers work for July. I don't foresee any crazy expenses coming up so I should be fine. I haven't been able to stay on budget for the majority of the months that I've been doing this so hopefully this one will have me in the black.

-the Paperboy

Splurging on those "Time to Time" Moments

Today I read an article in the Globe and Mail that talks about those little splurges. You know the ones. The extra money you're willing to pay when you buy something that you don't often buy (ex. a new television or car or even a birthday gift). Midway through the article, I realized that I was one of these consumers. I justified paying more on certain things by reassuring myself that it was "something that doesn't happen often so it's okay to spend more money". Going out with my family to restaurants, and buying gifts for people are the main culprits of my splurging. The truth is, I don't go out with my family often. We all have our own busy schedules and barely see each other at home, let alone go out and have a meal together. It's in light of this fact that I'm willing to spend money to go out with my family; it only happens every couple months.

However, after reading this article, I realize that extra spending does in fact add up. Now I'm going to think long and hard to determine if it is in fact worth it for me to be splurging on something. Father's Day was last Sunday and my siblings all got my dad something. I didn't come up with a gift so I offered to take everyone out for dinner. To me, I think that the time we spend as a family is worth it but I'll take what I read to heart. We're going out today because we can get half price wings at one of my favourite wing joints. I believe that I should spend money and enjoy life from time to time (although it seems like those "time to time" moments are coming up more often nowadays), but it doesn't have to cost me an arm and a leg to do it.

-the Paperboy

May Budget 2012 Review

May was the biggest bust I've ever had in terms of staying on budget. Along with the usual overspending on food, I spent a lot of money on gifts last month. This was because I bought my girlfriend her anniversary gift and birthday gift (although her birthday is in August, so I'm saving the second present). I also got charged extra on my phone bill because I received some pictures via text so they dinged me for that. All in all I spent over $1000 last month, which is heartbreaking because I could have used that to buy shares. I should really buckle down and try to be more consistent with my saving especially since I was making progress in April. We'll see how this month goes. I'm sure it'll be a lot better than last month.

-the Paperboy