Attention margin investor: TD Waterhouse had reviewed its margin lending values

The TSX closed today session at 12 853.13 points, -118.90 points. On my way to work, I call TD Waterhouse. I wanted to find out if they were able to see in real time the money left on the margin account. Unfortunately, that information is not available in real time, even from their end. It’s a data that update itself once every day in the evening, usually pass 9pm from what I had been able to observe so far. Not that was that stressed, but I was curious to find out. I don’t want to fall below 20 000$. And guess what, I closed today session at 20 001.88$...

Here’s today data:

Portion of the margin account that been used: 40 677.24$
Non-registered portfolio value: 109 615$
Money left available of the margin account: 20 001.88$

For me, the 20 000$ is something quite strategic, in the sense that if the money fail below the 20k, I feel danger.

Just like it was planned, I will be able to make a 1 000$ deposit on my margin account tomorrow morning. This will help to increase my margin value. I won’t be able to make any other deposit coming from my own money for the month of June. And for the month of July, it could be more difficult, since I will be away for 2 weeks. I would like to be able to sell HZD before I leave, to keep peace of mind. We’ll see what happen.

I went through the reading of an interesting note. On June 16, 2011, TD Waterhouse has review its margin lending values. A PDF document had been produced, in which the chances appear. Some of my current holdings appear in the list of securities whose lending values have changed.

Here they are:

Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI): 50%
Sprott Inc. (SII): 50%
Methanex Corporation (MX): 50%
Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX): 50%
First Majestic Silver Corp (FR): 50%
WesternOne Equity Income Fund (WEQ.UN): 25%
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 25%
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL): 25%
Data Group Income Fund (DGI.UN): 25%
Exchange Income Corporation (EIF): 25%
Horizons Gold Yield Fund (HGY.UN): 25%
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH): 25%

It’s been a good surprised to see Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI), Sprott Inc. (SII), Methanex Corporation (MX), Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX) and First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) at 50%. For my understanding, that means that TD Waterhouse will bring in to the margin value half of any investments hold in RSI, SII, MX and CFX. I am surprise to see RSI and SII at 50%. Not because that they are not good investment, but because I had been holding them for quite some time, I know how much RSI and SII can be volatile. However, it’s good news because I massively hold SII in my portfolio right now. All the rest of the list is at 25%, with WesternOne Equity Income Fund (WEQ.UN), Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A), K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL), Data Group Income Fund (DGI.UN), Exchange Income Corporation (EIF), Horizons Gold Yield Fund (HGY.UN) and Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH) included in the listing.

Interesting, but this new listing show the difficulty of margin. This meaning that at any time, TD Waterhouse can modify the percentage giving to each company eligible for margin investment. That would be actually another con of margin investment. I knew a certain percentage was giving by TD, but seeing some changes being applied in the middle of a stock market crash is quite scary. But I am confident I will be able to go through this without too much trouble. The trouble change on a daily basis depending of the stock market directions. Selling HZD will brought in something like 4 000$ in cash and trust me, once the sell completed, the money will stay and remain on the margin account. At least for a little while.

Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD), it’s now your turn

Currently, I am doing a big fixation on my non-registered portfolio and you may find it repetitive or extremely boring, but a girl needs to do what she needs to do. Meaning I need to monitor closely my non-registered portfolio because of my margin account and of course, I didn’t find better to do than just to blog about it!

At this time, my portfolio is at 110 641.41$, up of 185.41$ compare to yesterday. This is not significant gain, but it’s a good record knowing that the TSX darling is at 12 960.62 points, a loss of 11.41 points. Not too bad. I am still in control of my margin account at this time and I was very happy to sell Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) yesterday. Now, the next big thing is the selling of Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD). I wrote a lot about Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) and Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD) lately, but it’s because those 2 investments had drained me. I had used margin account money for day trading purposes. What an awful decision. Everything went fine in a relatively good Toronto stock market condition, but currently, with what’s going on in Greece, the market is extremely sensible and my margin account could suffered if I am not careful.

I didn’t have that much trouble monitoring my portfolio when the catastrophe hit Japan. Since the economy was already week in Greece, I think the market respond to that is exaggerate. When the tsunami hit Japan and provoke a nuclear disaster, the TSX did not plunge like that. And Japan is the third economic country of Earth, from what I understood. So to me, this is not making any sense. While Japan was facing the disaster, the TSX did not crash, but it’s crashing now because of Greece, Greece who never had been an economic powerful country. So because of that, I think the TSX will recover quickly. Remember: the stock market has a short term memory.

All this is strictly in term of business. However, I feel sadness for what’s going on in Greece and I just hope for an economic release. I read quite a bit on the topic and what seem to be the best solution will be for Greece to go back to their old currency and declared bankruptcy. From my understanding, it’s the only way for Greece to reconstruct themselves. A lower currency value could volume tourists and maybe exportation. Another problem being that Greece does not do enough of exportation. Anyhow, all this being interesting, but personally at this time, my only concern is to make a 1 000$ payment on my margin account by tomorrow morning, sell Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD) and keep my margin account in control. I may able to do that. The most difficult part is Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD).

And in case you wonder, yes, Xavier Rolet is still among my financial guru and I still plan to vote in favor of the merger of equals. We will discuss in a later post the merger of equals and the reasons why I am now planning to vote YES.

Playing it safe on the broker margin account

Following my sell of HOD, my data look better now:

Portfolio value: 110 456$
Margin account money still available: 20 528.48$

Much much better. As long I still have left more than 20k available on the margin account, I am safe. Also, by the end of the week, I will have a 1 000$ available in cash to deposit on the margin account. I will be able to proceed with this deposit on Friday. And once the Toronto stock market will become more “normal”, I will take 2 000$ from my margin account and apply the money on my 10 000$ credit line. It won’t hurt.

Ok, so just 2 more days to go before finishing this crazy stock market week.

Atlantic Power Corp (ATP): a blockbuster stock

While the TMX is going through another correction (currently, the TMX is at 12 951.09 points, -146.72), a couple of my stocks are doing well. One of those holding doing better than the TMX itself is Atlantic Power Corp (ATP). But no surprise.

Ken Hartwick, who’s the President and Chief Executive Office of the super fantastic Just Energy Group Inc. (JE) is also from the Board of Directors of Atlantic Power Corp (ATP). There you go. You now know why Atlantic Power Corp (ATP) is performing so well.

I had been a long time investor of Just Energy Group Inc. (JE). If Rebecca MacDonald herself had brought in Ken Hartwick in the company she found years ago, you can be sure the man is good.

I find out about Ken Hartwick affiliation to another of my stock, Atlantic Power Corp (ATP), while reading the latest documentation in the voting package for Just Energy Group Inc. (JE). And of course, I vote in favor of Rebecca MacDonald, Ken Hartwick and all the other folks.

Just Energy Group Inc. (JE) is among my top holding. JE is rocking the place, as well as Atlantic Power Corp (ATP).

Atlantic Power Corp (ATP) currently trade at 15.14$, offer a dividend yield of 7.26% for 1.09$ in yearly dividend distribution.

Enjoy!

I did it, I sell my units of Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) at 6.85$!

Ok, so this is quite exciting! I had a lot of things to do today and I wanted to write about my discomfort and my frustration about Jean Charest joining the Maple Group. Really frustrated. So early this morning I wash dishes, clean up, took a shower and run to the Jean-Paul Gaultier at La Baie. I swear, I was there at 2:04pm and Gauthier was gone! WOW. Anyhow, that’s ok. If you would tell me that Jean-François Tardif was going to be at Montreal La Baie between 12 and 2pm, I would have made sure to be there. But see, my interest in fashion and gay man is very little.... LOL!

BUT... I SAW RICK GENEST! He was in a rush, but I had time to see him snack a pic with a girl, and then he picked a box, I scream Rick! Rick! but he had the box in his hands and I think that our Rico had to leave in a rush... FUN! I am about 5’8 and Rick is a bit shorter than me. Maybe 5’6-5’7. And his tattoos are REAL.

This event was very fashion. At 2:04pm... Everyone gone! CRAZY....

But I have one of those good news! May God bless Rick Genest because while I was at the event, my sell of HOD went through! I had set myself a sell order at 6.85$ and the sell went through!!! I officially sell my 100 units of Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) at 6.85$! WOW! The only thing that remain now that I want to get rid of are my units of HZD. For a little while, I taught I will have been stuck with HOD forever.

WOW! I am so happy right now!

I hope Xavier Rolet has as much fun as me today in Montreal.

Celebrating a first 3 000$ in dividend income for 2011

Here I am, now exceeding 3 000$ in dividend income for 2011! I am currently at 3 140.95$.

I received some interesting dividend today:

Data Group Income Fund (DGI.UN): 33.27$
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL): 9.16$
New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI.UN): 6.72$
Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL): 57.33$
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 14.42$
Westshore Terminals Invest Corp (WTE.UN): 19$

I should received shortly another dividend distribution for New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI.UN) really soon. Increasing my dividend income is what I had been into for the period of January to May 2011. Until May 2011, I had extended my investment portfolio using a mix of my own financial resources and money that was available on my margin account, among other. The adventure had been fun until recently.

Now that the Toronto stock market had faced some serious corrections, it’s adding stress to the whole thing and I saw the value of my margin account decrease. This situation adds extra stress on my shoulders, a stress that I could easily go without. It’s not something that keeps me awake at night, but it’s something I need to monitor on a daily basis.

I have the chance to have this very over diversified non-registered portfolio. The portfolio is not perfect, but it’s been strong enough to survive recent correction. I previously used the term “crash”. True it’s more a correction than a crash but in my delicate mind, I was in front of a crash and a major one. It’s been difficult to see the darling TSX hitting below the 13 000 points. This week had been quite chaotic.

The TSX is reacting really badly to the debt situation in Europe. Europe never been very good financially, so why is it something what matter now? Greece had problem for years, it’s just this year that we are getting hit by the monster, feeling the result of incapacity in term of management.

However, all this results in some positive stuff for me.

First of all: no more day trading. My first couple day tradings shot had been successful. But remember that I am currently stock with HOD and HZD that I am now desperately waiting to sell at profit... Despite the TSX droping in points, it wasn’t enough for me to be able to sell HOD and HZD at profit. After selling those 2, there will be no more day trading, at least not the way I had initially experience it.

Problem being that I am working at a night shift and that is giving a lot of time in my hand, so I started day trading. It’s something I wanted to try. I try it, made a couple of hundred dollars. Fun. But a turnover can happen very quickly, even on the Canadian exchange and that’s how I had remained with HOD and HZD without having the capability to sell at profit. I am still holding HOD and HZD on date of today. Whenever a new trading day begin, I am always hoping that it will be on this day that I will be able to sell HOD and HZD. Day trading had handicapped my life, in such way. It’s not everyday that I feel good about spending the day in front of my laptop. There’s no way I can possibly take a break from it until I can achieve the selling of HOD and HZD. Day trading involved a lot of stuff I was not necessarily aware of and like I wrote to a reader, I am happy to have lived this while being 30. I will look smarter and sexier when I will be 31, I guess.

Second of all: never invest too much on margin account money ever again. So far, I had that big thing as portfolio. Very good portfolio that work well for me, but gees, at only 20 000$ more or less available in margin account money, this is making the whole thing a bit more crispier than I would like. Once my sell order of HOD and HZD will be perform, I will be more careful when it come to investing using margin money. I will make sure to have much more than 20 000$ available on the margin account.

Third of all: the importance of an emergency fund. As my family members are getting older in New Brunswick, the difficult it is. I never had to live some difficult situation before too much. But in February 2011, my uncle deceased of Parkinson diseased and it started a whole bunch of problems. I was able to spend 2 weeks in New Brunswick when it happens, I got my vacation pay. Also, my mom had spent some time with me in Montreal a couple of times and each time I took off from work. Whenever she wants to come now I never refused her, knowing the pain that left the death of her brother.

From 2007 until now, I had been living paycheck to paycheck, packing up my investment portfolio with my savings, credit line and other. Nice. But that’s not of any good to cover me in case of an emergency situation. I need to leave more money on my credit lines or leave money in my banking account so I can be safe in case something else happen. Also, when my mom when to come and visit, I need to be able to take off. This is not something that happens on a regular basis, but I need money to cover when I don’t work.

That’s what my life is about to be for now.

It’s not looking good for HOD and HZD. The market is about to recover from the previous corrections, it seem. Day trading had brought in a couple of hundreds of dollars, some learning stuff and the discovery of First Majestic Silver Corp (FR). I may be able to generate a good profit from First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) in a close future.

Xavier Rolet, it’s now your turn of glory, please show it all to those poor Quebeckers, you are going to win the merger of equals, I am voting for you, I love you now

Sweet... I made of Xavier Rolet my newest financial guru. It's something he should be very proud of. My gurus, I write about them, I defend them, protect them and I love them. :0)

Tomorrow – or should I say today – is going to be a busy day for Xavier Rolet. Today, among with his colleague Thomas A. Kloet of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Xavier Rolet, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, is going to defend his merger of equals project in front of the Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain. Please, Xavier Rolet SHOW IT ALL and win your merger of equals. GO FOR IT.

Funny thing in the story is that Montreal believes it should take an active part in the merger of equals. TMX Group Inc. (X) has activities in Montreal. Montreal office only takes care of derivative products, the kind of stuff that the real players don’t give a damn about and that are not really important when we talk about the Toronto Stock Exchange. Here in Montreal, incompetent Quebeckers fear for their jobs. Fact is, Montreal believe and think of itself as being an important financial center in Canada. What a joke!

Premier Jean Charest is now supporting the Maple Group Acquisition Corp. The reason behind his support? Preserve jobs. It’s not about keeping the stock exchange in Canadian hands. The Quebec pig that is Jean Charest supported the Maple Group for his own little interests. To preserved the job of other Quebec pigs. The hypocrite!

I went through many experiences in Montreal and I can assure you to all Canadians who are reading this post right now that Montreal is not a serious financial centre in Canada. Among the way, while building my investment portfolio, I met different people working in the banking services, all here in Montreal and I went through hell. I had been fired from BMO Bank of Montreal, Montreal call centre and my laid off was very unfair. I was still under my learning process; I had been fired within the matter of a few weeks. I had everything required, it’s just following a credit check and after opening a broker account with BMO InvestorLine, I was just too much for them. I wrote about that experience many times in the past, you can search BMO Bank of Montreal in the search engine.

Also, remember Henri-Paul Rousseau, ex CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. While being CEO, Rousseau had been responsible for the lost of millions of dollars. He never has to spend time in prison for what he did. Why? Because Quebec is a society that accept cheating and lies. See Brian Mulroney who accepted more than 300k in payment for promoting Airbus while he was still the Prime Minister of this country. Who is Brian Mulroney? A F Quebeckers. Brian Mulroney should be in prison but he’s not. Why? Because Quebec society accept the fact that some people responsible for the well being of other can cheat, make money like PIGS, but don’t worry, here in Quebec, the society accept that.

Never forget: Quebeckers are cheaters and Quebec society reflects the people of its very own nation.

Never deal with Quebec, never trust them. You really need to read the different experiences I went through, here in Quebec province, with different financial planners and so on to understand all this. In other words: you need to read this blog to assure your very own financial success! Stay away from Quebec province!

Never forget who Quebeckers are: the enemies of the Canadian nation. The merger of equals? I am voting for it, now more than ever. Go and do your thing Xavier Rolet. Save the Canadian stock exchange from Quebec mediocrity. BACK OFF QUEBECKERS. Let Canada be at its best, for once.

The Canadian exchange is the best: back on track following positive data for China, welcome back, 13 000+ points!

I really taught that the TXS was going to lose another one hundred points if not more today and that I was going to sell at profit HOD and HZD... But none of those things have happen yet today! And its way better this way. It’s very awful to be in front on of a situation that is out of control, seeing another correction live in front of my laptop is something pretty awful to see. When I saw that the TSX was gaining points today, I went back to bed and I just wake up now. I was totally exhausted. Staying in control in front of a TSX losing more than points what I ever wanted, well, that was quite a burn out. I should know how to handle those kinds of situation better but also, remember that I am not from the stop working club. I work at 2 jobs ok?

Following the TSX, trying to sell at profit HOD and HZD well, it’s not exactly easy to handle. Especially knowing that today was supposed to be the day. Well, I had read a French chronic of Richard Dufour in La Presse Affaires and according to that, the situation seem to be quite alarmist. But in all this, I guess investors focus more on China and for Greek well, I told you that yesterday, always remember: the stock market has a short memory. The catastrophic situation of Greek is no longer in investor mind, until next time it will be mention by an analyst. Until that time, we’ll be safe. That’s how it seems to be working.

So far, my non-registered portfolio is at 112 529.13$, a gain of 1 687.13$ compare to yesterday. I rock the stock market baby! This is good, because it will probably bring up the part of my margin that is not use back to 20 000$... OUF! My portfolio is strong but it will never beat the index. If the TSX crash, I crash too, not to say I will get kill lol. In a way, a stock market in deep correction is a good test for the nerves. Never sell in time of desperation. The stock market is there to remain despite the situation in Japan and Greek. Those were good things to go through at an early stage of my investment life. A good test for the nerves yes, but my nerves are exhausted.

The stock market is just like God: just like God, the stock market will never let you down. At least not for long. lol... No one can beat God, no one can beat the stock market. Except for this one, Jean-François Tardif. And guess what, I have the exclusivity on the man. Google “Jean-François Tardif” and you may see something quite familiar on the first page results (the 5th result). :0) What will you see? ME. lol... Isn’t funny?

Always remember who you are: a small investor willing to make money on the merger of equals. And the market will never let you down. At least not for very long..

Sunny day in Montreal going out and leaving the stock market behind. Now you know that I know that I rock :))))))

Xavier Rolet as new CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange?

On date of June 13, 2011, here are the latest data:

Non-registered portfolio value: 110 842$

Money still available on margin: 19 425.13$

Margin account in use: 41 398.61$

The money left on the margin is less than 20 000$... The situation is getting more difficult. But I always have that 5 000$ available on my credit line that I can transfer at anytime of my margin account...

In order to decrease my margin account usage, I am looking forward to sell at profit HOD and HZD tomorrow if everything goes well. I get through the reading of an interesting article of the Globe and Mail regarding the situation for the TMX Group Inc. (X), merger of equals etc. An analyst of the name of Jeff Fenwick that I never heard of before advice investors of X to get out of the “poker game” and sell any holding of TMX Group Inc. (X). As you know, I had invested a couple of thousands of dollars in X and I am currently under profit and I am looking for more.

Unfortunately for him, what the analyst Jeff Fenwick doesn’t seem to understand is that this poker game will provide a lot of cash to the TMX Group Inc. (X) investors. And money is what it’s all about.

I am currently reading a lot about the TMX Group Inc. (X) merger of equals project and I have to say, this is not a decision that shareholders should be carrying on their shoulders. There’s way too much involve and high financial specialist should get involved. Like Eric Sprott for example and Jean-François Tardif. What both of them think of the merger of equals: a good or bad thing? First of all, I would like to understand why the TMX Group Inc. (X) wants to sell its business. Because that part, I didn’t get it. But it’s all about money right and the London Exchange Group is willing to pay 48$ per stock while currently, X closed today at less than 45$... So yes, there’s a lot of money involved in the deal.

The Maple does not appear as being a good decision. The exchange need to remain in a neutral territory and with Maple, the Canadian exchange will be hold by banks, insurance companies, not to forget the infamous Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Desjardins Group. Do we really want the Canadian exchange to be partly hold by Quebec authorities? My answer is no. So at this time, I am strongly thinking about saying yes to Xavier Rolet and his France, saying yes to European crap. Because European crap is better than Quebec ones. But I didn’t take my final decision yet.

The TSX hit below the 13 000 points today June 13, 2011

Today, the TSX crash again. This is a very unfortunate event. But there’s just one thing I will like to come with: the stock market had a short term memory. I had read one of those very good articles from the Globe and Mail online, but I lost track of it. It was written by a professor of Windsor or something like it. And he was saying that the best thing for Greece will be to call for bankruptcy, that selling the state asset wouldn’t be enough. Also, the same professor was saying that the stock market has a short memory for such even. Fact is, Greece has never been an economic player. It has never been. It could seem unfair to say such thing, but I am just reporting what I had been able to catch from the article. So according to him, we are currently in the low of the lowest level, but the stock market will rebound. That’s good news isn’t? I particularly appreciate the “stock market has a short memory”. This is a precious finding that investor should aware of.

Remember: the stock market has a short memory

I experience the stock market short term memory in 2008, in the sense that my asset hit low, and than rebound. And I will probably experience the same thing now, in the sense that my asset will gain in value again in a close future. A stock market crash is never an enjoyable experience. For now, I hold, I am not selling anything. I am safe for now on my margin account, no asset had been sell without my authorization and I did not received a margin call from my “friends” at TD Waterhouse.

I am happy to say, my non-registered portfolio is as strong as I am! Currently, despite the TSX crash, some assets are performing well. My non-registered portfolio is currently at 111 511.24$. Here are my holdings who are performing well:

TMX Group Inc. (X): 44.26$, +1.05%
Dumont Nickel Inc. (DNI): 0.28$, +3.70%
Atlantic Power Corp (ATP): 15.01$, +1.49%
Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI): 5.31$, +0.19%
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 16.13$, +0.19%
Fortis (FTS): 31.72$, +0.22%
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL): 20.26$, +0.65%
Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD): 6.55$, +3.64%
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bear Plus ETF (HZD): 6.90$, +7.31%
WesternOne Equity Income Fund (WEQ.UN): 6.24$, +1.13%

Very interesting gain realize for HOD and HZD, but not enough yet for me to sell at profit. For a couple of days in a row, HOD and HZD had gain in value. Maybe tomorrow will be the day where I will be able to sell those 2 at profit. For the rest, I will hold. I don’t plan to perform any other sell – and certainly not any other purchase – at this time. I will sell in case of extreme necessity, in case my margin account gets out of control. If it happen the TSX goes lower, I may have to sell some asset or TD will do it for me... I don't think I will have the heart to sell any of my stocks just for the heck of it. So go ahead TD Waterhouse, do your thing, kill me if you want, sell if you have to sell. But than, it will be ME who will be calling YOU... LOL

For now, 2 things: looking forward to sell at profit HOD, HZD and STICK and HOLD for the rest. The stock market will recover from today crash. Remember 2008. We have one of the best exchanges of the world. The trick is not to sell in a rush under the impression that it’s all over. The stock market is not dead, it’s the beginning of new eve. Fact is, despite the desperation, some of my holding had gain today. There’s hope in the desperation. If my portfolio goes through this without a margin call, this will mean that I am the best investor on earth. Or sort of. lol...  

Lesson learn: never use too much of your margin account money or if not your broker will kill you or sort of.