Hélène Laverdière, Yellow Pages Media Inc. (YLO), and Sprott Silver

This past week had been full of great events! Never of my life would I have think possible for Gilles Duceppe to leave the Bloc Québécois Party but he finally did. And even better, Gilles Duceppe did not get re-elected. That’s partly due because I vote NPD Hélène Laverdière! It was something I was proud of, being able to be represent by a national party instead of a provincial one. The Bloc Québécois is gone, and we may not hear about them too often in the next 4 years or so now. Hélène Laverdière is going to rock the Plateau Mont-Royal! Go girl go! I know, I am still under the election buzz! The day I went to vote, I was so happy, like I knew something was going to happen. And it did! Yeah! Take that Quebeckers oh lol...  I did something great for my country: I kick Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Québécois out of Ottawa! There you go! There’s a few left, but just a few represent the Bloc Québécois now at Ottawa. I think only 4 remain or something like that.

This had been my first week at my evening shift. That allow me to do bunch of things I wanted to do for very long. I did not write on HubPages like plan, but I did better than that. I spend quality time working on my portfolio. I had all the time of the world to do so. And the results had been quite good.

My trading week in review

Being at home during daytime is making it easier to follow my portfolio. Because of this, I decided it was time to sell my Yellow Pages Media Inc. (YLO). It wasn’t an easy decision to make. I had initially invested in Yellow Pages in 2009, when the company was still an income trust. At the time, I had purchased the units for less than 5$ each. I was getting that gigantic dividend yield of more than 10% with Yellow Pages right from the start. I was in heaven. Following their conversion into a corporation, the stocks had reached at some point, 6$ each. I did not sell at that time because I did not have any intention to sell my Yellow Pages investment. But lately, I saw Yellow Pages loosing in value and I decided to sell. I did not loss the investment I initially invested, but I lost because of the DRIP. Something like 300$. I may have loss in the dividend that got reinvested, but that money wasn’t directly coming from my pocket. Anyhow, it was time for me to sell my Yellow Pages Media Inc. (YLO) investment. I felt some kind of sad because I was holding it for so long and it’s been in my portfolio like forever. But the time had come. I reinvested the money in something that I know is a good company: Exchange Income Corporation (EIF).

I first invested in Exchange Income Corporation (EIF) in February of this year and ever since, I had been enjoying the monthly dividend payment and a great increase in the value of my initial investment. Since February 2011, Exchange Income Corporation (EIF) had increased their dividend and they had exceed the 22$ per stock for a little while now. The company is strong and stable. I had been pleased with my decision to invest a bit more in Exchange Income Corporation (EIF). But selling Yellow Pages haven’t been an easy thing. In my case, I become emotionally attach to the companies I invest in. I read about them every day, I follow them daily on the stock market, etc. But I know when it’s time to make a decision. On the other hands, I support the companies I invest in. So yeah, investment is not always easy.

Another thing that hasn’t been easy to live is to assist to a silver crash when it comes to my Sprott Silver investments. Until lately, Sprott Physical Silver Trust ET (PSLV) and Sprott Physical Silver Trust UTS (PHS.U) were both around 22$ per unit. Sprott Physical Silver Trust ET (PSLV) close the week at 16.05$ and Sprott Physical Silver Trust UTS (PHS.U) at 15.76$. I loss quite money there, but since I am not holding too much in both investment, the money loss is not that huge. And I am confident both investment will reach the 22$ per unit in a close future. The trick with Sprott investment is to stick and HOLD. Why am I saying so? Well, I had experimented Sprott investment volatility more than one time in the past. I will first begin with my experience with Sprott Inc. (SII).

Back in 2008, I was making my first EVER stock investment: 500 stock of Sprott Inc. (SII) at 10$ per minute. That was before the market crash event. FOLLOWING the market crash, my stocks value went extremely low, less than 5$ each in the bad period. But I never doubt about this investment. My faith in Sprott was basically the same as I have in God: indestructible, even in front of the most destroying market crash our modern time. What to do while facing destruction is very simple: STICK and HOLD, as I like to say. Since 2008, Sprott inc. (SII) had paid special dividend after special dividend. And my Sprott Inc. (SII) went closed to its original value. I had trade Sprott Inc. (SII) in many occasions since 2008. That was for the story regarding Sprott Inc. (SII).

I had a similar experience with Sprott Canadian Equity Fund. My timing was real bad, but in 2008, also BEFORE the stock market crash, I decided to invest a straight 5 000$ into the Sprott Canadian Equity Fund. At that time, my goal was to double the value of my investment. But than, the stock market CRASH... Leaving me with half of my value... In 2008, I invested in Sprott Canadian Equity Fund when the units were at one of their highest level ever. But really soon, I was hit by the stock market, leaving me with half of the value of my investment. Faith in Sprott? Oh yeah, because following the market crash, I took the decision to invest another 2 000$ in the Sprott Canadian Equity Fund. This was a smart move. Previously this year, my 7 000$ investment exceed the 8 000$. Currently, my investment worth a bit more than 7 000$. I am just curious how it will turn out in the future for the mystic Sprott Canadian Equity Fund. One day, my 7 000$ investment in Sprott Canadian Equity Fund will worth 100 000$. It’s just a matter of time before it happen.

I am writing all this because I had been criticized for my investment in Sprott Physical Silver Trust ET (PSLV) and Sprott Physical Silver Trust UTS (PHS.U), but I know what I am doing and from my perspective, I had made the good choices. Sure, I had been hit hard with this week events, but still, I know that when it come to Sprott investment, it’s like that. But I have to say, since November 2010, this is the first ever silver crash I am experiencing with PHS.U (I had been holding PSLV since last week only).

Of course, Sprott investments are like all other investments. It’s about diversification and investing moderately in each Sprott products to make sure to keep it in control.

I only live one bad experience with Sprott, it was with my investment in Timminco (TIM). I wrote numerous times about that one. So if you want to read again, you may want to use the search engine located at the right column of this page to find out about my experience. It was a bad one, but now, with other investments that perform well (compare to Timminco lol...), I totally recover from my loss.

There’s been the hell of a funny joke I read in a comment of a Globe and Mail article. It’s been announced previously in the Globe that Eric Sprott sold for 36 million of his own silver stuff he own in his Sprott Physical Silver Trust ET (PSLV). Following the announcement of his sell, Eric Sprott announced that he didn’t give up on silver, that he has reinvested the money in companies producing silver. Ok, no problem. But a reader comment said something like that Eric Sprott had reinvested the money in Timminco (TIM). Which, I find, hilarious, knowing Eric Sprott and Timminco (TIM) story. Crazy guy who wrote that comment! I still own Timminco (TIM) in my portfolio, so the reader comment make me laugh really hard. Especially knowing that I had been a Timminco (TIM) Eric Sprott little victim. What are we going to do when Eric Sprott will be retired? There will be no more gossip, Bay Street will be bored without him, don’t you think so? We’ll be losing one of the best financial entertainments of Canadian history.Go read it for yourself right here. The 6th comment worth the reading.