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As many media outlets reported, this Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend saw a lot of Canadians take advantage of the high-flying loonie to make the journey across the border to shop. I’m open to some shopping myself in the US stock markets but this article in the London Free Press about the loonie’s meteoric ascent being a double-edged sword sobered me up:

As of Oct. 3, the year-to-date returns on the S&P 500 in the United States are 8.6 per cent.

However, when we factor for the 17-per-cent increase in the loonie, the positive 8.6-per-cent gain turns into a 7.2-per-cent loss.

The same is true for the Dow and Nasdaq, up 12.3 per cent and 13.2 per cent respectively, but off four per cent and 3.2 per cent in Canadian dollar terms.

The numbers won’t impede with my plan to buy lower costing US denominated ETFs as I have a long investment horizon in front of me. However, this serves as a lesson to keep in mind of where I’m going to be in my retirement years and have that reflected in my asset allocation. If the greenback continues its longterm downtrend, I will need to make a decision if I want to hedge the currency or not. I don’t want to run into these conversion problems later on.

What I also found interesting in this article was a list of large cap Canadian companies that derive 20% of their sales abroad.

Some companies whose earnings may be impacted by the loonie are CN Rail, Sun Life Financial, Royal Bank, Manulife Financial, Research in Motion, Potash Corp., Goldcorp, Teck Cominco, TransCanada Corp., Nexen, Cameco, CP Rail, Magna International, Bombardier, Kinross, Thompson Corp, Nortel, Agrium, TransAlta, Cognos, Nova Chemicals, MDS Inc., Biovail and Celestica.

This is a great idea for a shopping list. I’ll need to do more research on these companies but if they are well-managed, sound, and fit into my investment style, I’ll be there with cash on hand to hopefully scoop some shares from shaky hands.

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No meandering money musings today - I’m still recovering from the turkey induced tryptophan haze. I just wanted to wish all my fellow Canucks a Happy Thanksgiving! For a personal finance blog where you’re so deeply entrenched in researching and writing about money, it’s always good to take a step back and realize what you’re thankful for - and it ain’t the $$$!  Be good to yourself and each other. Have a good one!

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It must be hard being Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Envied and gossiped behind their backs, they must really wonder who their true friends are. After all, it’s not their fault all these nitwits want to keep up with them.

My life fluctuates from being the one envied to the envier. That’s only natural as there is always someone better off and also worse off than you. I find myself being two different people when I am with different social classes. I try to act “cool” when I’m with Mrs. Jones. I will spend more when I’m with her. I’ll leave a bigger tip when I’m at the restaurant. I’ll pay retail to show her I can afford it. I don’t know why because she probably can’t afford it but we must keep up the pretext; after all, she is Mrs. Jones.

On the other hand, when I’m with people who are worse off than me, I am ashamed to spend money. I hate shopping and having them know the sticker price. I also hate putting people in difficult situations where I know they can’t afford a meal out on their budget. I’d offer to pay but you can only do so, so many times where personal pride is involved. In any case, I don’t want to morph into Mrs. Jones.

It really is a tough balancing act to being true to myself. Why I would pretend to be something that I’m not in both instances? Perhaps I lack maturity. Goodness knows it’s not my strong point. Perhaps I need new friends who have the same fiscal mindset…

Quick, what’s the phone number for Mr. and Mrs. Smith???

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Well, it’s been quite a week for me.  First, I win a blog makeover prize over at David Airey’s logo designer site. Then I find out of my win of Aaron Wall’s SEO book at Problogger.net’s 3rd birthday bonanza.  I LOVE SEO!  Thank you, Darren Rowse and Aaron Wall! 

Folks, Darren is having 24 hour giveaway contests so subscribe to Problogger’s RSS feed so you can keep up to date with everything that is happening.  I’ve been reading Aaron’s downloadable SEO book (valued at $79) and what is that saying on MTV’s Diary?  You think you know but you have no idea.  That’s how I feel about the SEO book.  Sure you may know the basic concepts of SEO but the book is considered the definitive resource in Search Engine Optimization from the beginner to the advanced.  Best of all, it updates continuously in accordance to search engine algorithm changes.  If you’re looking to become more visible on the Internet, I’d check this SEO book out.

So with an upcoming makeover and new found knowledge of SEO, there’s no reason for my blog to fail, right?  Unfortunately, I’m still the same dumbass author.  Then I read a very nice fan mail from Nancy Zimmerman (aka money coach):

Hey there - just some fan mail: your posts rock, and I’m telling all my do-it-yourself investing women friends about it. I’ve started 2 women’s investment clubs over the past 10 years, and am a HUGE fan of women empowering themselves to learn about the investment world, and make their own informed choices. Because I actually make a living from helping people get their money organized, but am not a CFP (don’t want to be), I cannot really talk alot about investing on my own sites …. so I love that I can send people your way instead. Your comments are down-to-earth and help do-it-yourself newbies feel comfortable.

Ok, enough fan-mail … and publish or not publish this comment as you see fit. I just wanted you to know you’re a refreshing voice on the financial landscape.

What can I say?  You’re right.  I rock.  I am awesome.  My blog is fun financial fluff and I’m keeping it that way.   I’m quite proud of the fact that my website receives a score of 5th grade readability level from the Website Grader.  In fact, isn’t there a TV show about how smart 5th graders are…?

In any case, thanks Nancy for recognizing my lightweight financial features.  For all the other important stuff that I have no business covering, go visit the money coach for budgeting, managing cash flows, and other stuff I suck at.

Now, due to my new found good luck, should I buy the lottery this weekend or would that be financially irresponsible of me?

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I’m taking a preliminary look at Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) as it has recently been generating some news with the fact that big name investors like Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz and Warren Buffett have bought stakes in the company.

In March 2007, Kraft was spun off from parent company Altria Group (NYSE: MO - as in Philip Morris, puff puff). In the words of Peter Lynch, Altria “diworsified” getting into food packaging and Kraft faired no better in associating itself with cancer sticks. So, Kraft is in a multi-year restructure plan to pick up the sloth-like growth pace. The company’s portfolio of good eats include: cheese, mac & cheese, pizza, salad dressing, Nabisco biscuit and cookies, Maxwell House Coffee, Post cereals and Oscar Mayer meats. The latter just got spun off into its own unit. What does this mean? Heck if I know, but it might be a sign that Kraft is looking to sell the business. Kraft just sold its beverage brands to Sunny Delight too.

CEO Irene Rosenfeld is making good on her promise to dump sectors that do not fit into Kraft’s growth plans but she did recently acquire Danone’s biscuit business if that’s any indication of where she’s heading. However, despite her cost cutting and stream-lining measures, the company does face some difficulty in the rise of commodity prices of dairy and meat. Kraft had to raise their prices which made them less competetive with other labels. To combat this, Rosenfeld has been pouring money into marketing to reinvent classic brands such as Oreos. Overall, I like the fact that Kraft is moving and shaking and buying back its own shares. It also helps shareholders’ value to have Icahn and Peltz breathing down Rosenfeld’s neck for performance.

It’s an interesting play and I might jump on board.

Here is a quick look at its dividend and EPS table.

Disclaimer: I like Oreo cookies.

Investing :: 1 Comment »

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