The markets have headed lower since the middle of July and the start of August has been extremely volatile. The CNN Fear and Greed index is at extreme fear. With a conflict looming in the Middle East, I certainly expect markets to continue lower. The heightened volatility has made it profitable for options sellers like …

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For all the Americans out there, Happy Independence Day! And for the Canadians, Happy Belated Canada Day! Summer is upon us. Although I’m excited about the warmer months, I’m sad that the days are getting shorter. I’ve been trying to stay active by playing recreational sports with friends. I’m …

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I just completed my second airplane flight this year. It was a short trip to visit family. Thanks to the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite credit card that I acquired this year, I had my first airport lounge experience. From the outside, the lounge looked tiny because all you can see is the bar but inside is slightly …

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April has turned out to be a volatile month for the markets. I took that opportunity to purchase more shares of XGRO.TO. I didn’t get a chance to add to my other stocks. I haven’t had the chance to research my holdings more closely. But I am looking to consolidate my holdings. For example, I might consider …

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Similar to previous updates, work was very busy, which caused me to largely ignore the market. But the upside was that due to my large tech exposure, my portfolio gained value in the first 3 months of the year more than it has in most years. As one of my largest positions, Amazon has been on a tear and I think …

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I finally took my first flight since the pandemic started. It was a nice little break from the monotony of working from home daily. Two things stood out the most. The first is that US/Canada customs was more efficient. The second is that I was hyper-conscious of all of the coughing and sneezing in the airport and the …

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The market was a roller coaster this month. It was down at the start of January, which was great for my options trading. But then it started to go higher and higher. Everything looked quite expensive. Earnings season was in full swing with some companies like Google reporting weak numbers, but then yesterday Amazon and …

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful holiday full of joy. I certainly had a restful break and met up with friends and family. The first order of business in the new year is to reduce annoying foreign exchange (FX) fees. I currently have a Rogers Platinum Mastercard, which Rogers Bank is phasing out. The card …

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I moved my US accounts from TD Ameritrade to Interactive Brokers. The account transfers are now complete along with cost basis transfers. The process was painless. I even executed an option trade. What I don’t like is not having real-time quotes. There is currently an offer at …

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Last month, I wrote that September is historically the worst month for the stock market. But if you thought September 2023 was bad, October said “hold my beer”. War in the Middle East drove oil prices up, talks about a recession coming back, uncertainty about growth in big tech, etc. each contributed. But …

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