My first lense

I just create my first Squidoo lense with another super-good article of mine who - again - got rejected by Associated Content. I am not giving up and I am done with Associated Content lol. But in the meantime, I find another way to get publish on the net my fantastic writing: on Squidoo!

Take a look at my first lense, about My first 50 000$.

I am up to 46 206.25$ value and my life is wonderful

Another week passes by too quickly. This week, I was quite happy to clear out some of cedit card debts, cut off some necessaries fees related to my credit and finally, invest in 100 units of Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN).

Good news regarding my investments!

I am now at 46 206.25$! The best will be to reach the 50 000$ value in investment by August 27 (it’s my birthday and I will be turning 29!!!). I am having a lot of fun will this blog and all those little goals I am giving myself. Most of the time, I cannot reach them lol, but life is like that. At least, I will be reaching my first 50 000$ in investments very soon. Once the 50 000$ will be reach, it’s going to be just so special for me, especially in those recession times. It’s just something I will never forget. It will be even better if I could reach it just in time for my 29 birthday. I am getting soooo old.

Next step will be to reach my first 75 000$, and after that, my first 100 000$ and, of course, so on lol. At my first 100 000$, it’s going to be pretty great and my wish will be, of course, to be able to make a living out of that 100 000$ value in investment. After experiencing « in the deep » the violability of the market, I plan to continue working even after that. But I am such a dreamer. I didn’t even reach my first 50 000$ yet lol.

About my job situation

I received good news at my weekend job. I was told by a co-worker that there was work until October at least. I will probably be able to continue to work part-time at that job until that time. As for my evening job I have during weekdays, it’s going fine too. Everything is going so fine for me for at least one in my life lol. I would like things to remain the same, to have my mornings and me afternoons off during weekdays. My job situation is not one the best, but it’s not one of the worst either. I once wrote that about my portfolio…

I lost a great deal of money in my investment adventure, but I am looking forward to see the value of my portfolio increasing over time. I am just quite disappointed with Timminco and Sprott, but live goes on and I hope to reach my first 50 000$ very soon. Only problem is to figure out what will be my next investment. My next official purchase: 100, 200 or 300 units of BA.UN. I will have to be very focus for the next couple of months because I won’t be able to do anything on a monthly basis as investment if I want to be able to purchase some BA.UN units. Or I will have to get a third and fourth job lol.

An awesome investment: Yellow Pages Income Fund

As you can see, I am pretty happy with my newest Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) investment. I just have money left to purchase 100 units of Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN). But even if I would have more money available to invest, I wouldn’t purchase more units of Yellow Pages Income Fund. Yellow Pages Income Fund title is quite volatile. Seem to me like Yellow Pages Income Fund pretty much follow the market. The title sem to be sensible to the market volatility. Regarding this point, Fortis (FTS) is all the opposite of Yellow Pages Income Fund.

I had been looking at Yellow Pages Income Fund for a little while now. Even if the title has its ups and downs, I find the dividend great, even if it had been cut off recently. The Yellow Pages Income Fund dividend is now at 0.80 cents per unit on an annual basis. A 530$ investment that can provide me 80.40$ in dividend money is like WOW! Fantastic! I am very please with my last minute investment.

Just before leaving my place for work, I really wanted to invest in something. And since I was thinking about Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) for a while now, I told myself, why not now? And this is how Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) had been adding to my portfolio, in a complete rush.

I am no longer a penny stocks. My interest in penny stocks didn’t last for long. I still own Blue Note Mining (BN.H) and Dumont Nickel (DNI), which are 2 penny stocks. But it’s about all. I completely desperate about Blue Note Mining and I wonder is the company will ever continue its activities. Regarding Dumont Nickel, I love this one much better. I believe Dumont Nickel had potential and I believe it can reach the old 4 cents its one had reach, not too long ago.

One thing I learn from penny stocks: it’s very hard to follow the market, no matter how hard you are trying. These last couples of days were quite exhausting for me. But still, I didn’t give up yet on penny stocks and we will see how far I can go with Dumont Nickel. If only Dumont Nickel can make another major announcement, I will be able to sell the investment at 4 cents and than make a profit of 175$. I am that ambitious lol.

Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) will add 80.40$ to my annual dividend income. With this brand new 80.40$, my yearly dividend income is now at 1 671.32$ - totally insane!

It doesn’t take much to make me happy, but this new investment make my weekend a dream.

I just purchase 100 units of YLO.UN

I just purchase 100 units of Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) at 5.30$!

I couldn't help it, I had 800$ available, and I was feeling like to purchase something... Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) provide dividend. It's around 6$ each month that I will earn. This is very fun. I am happy with this little investment even if my goal was to purchase BA.UN as next investment. But BA.UN is too expensive for me right now. This is going to be a great weekend.

I am now the proud owner of 100 units of Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN)!

No more extra fees for my TD Visa

I was able to fix my problem regarding the insurance fee for my TD Visa. Of course, the guy tries to sale me a cheaper insurance. The cheapest one was at 17$. I am not doing to pay 17$ for anything each month. Not for anything of course, but for me, it won’t worth it. I was pretty happy to have this clear off. Yesterday I pay all of my bills. I don’t have anything left to pay on my CIBC Visa, American Express or RBC Visa.

Instead of paying 800$ on my TD Visa, I pay 800$ on my credit line and 150$ on my TD Visa, since I interest remain low until September. This actually mean that I have a brand new 800$ that I can invest it.. I was thinking a way to make money from penny stocks again but it’s just exhausted me.

And yesterday, I confirm the crazy news with TD. I had been offered a raise of 9 000$ for my TD Visa. I could have get a 14 000$ worth credit card lol. But gees, I was not even aware about it. I couldn’t see the offer online in my account, either on by latest statement. I was told it was an offer that we new only about when we were calling TD. I refused the offer for now but the end date to accept was yesterday. This is how TD is bad : not even letting me know about this promotion.

I am very angry at TD right now. I didn’t accept the offer because what I want to see increase is my credit line. But the guy didn’t want to increase it, I have to complete a form online and visit a TD bank. Just disorganize. I have more than 25 000$ in real value with them and those poor people are not even able to raise my credit line. I find it so bad. And not being told about the offer for my credit card until I call them, I fins it disgusting. Those banks like TD think they have it all, but their customer services are so bad and soo disorganize.

The problem with my CIBC Visa card had been resolved

Credit card problem

I call CIBC Visa yesterday to find out about their financial fees I got. To my surprise, I learn that I had been paying 29$ per year since I got this credit card because the card I got is a reward one with Aeroplan. I probably never notice the fee until now.

This mean that since 2005 or around, I had been paying 29$ per year for 5 years or so, for a total of 145$ - without ever noticing anything. I really need to be more careful with the fees I am paying for financial services. I really don’t want to pay any fees for any of my credit cards.

I request to change of credit card for one with no annual fees. I was told I could get the CIBC Dividend Visa, which pay 1% of all purchases on December of each year. I basically pay everything with my credit card. I might be able to get 40$ or 50$ per year from the credit card, which is fun.

At least this problem had been resolved and I shouldn’t get any fees in the future. At least. I always got a good customer service from CIBC, regarding this and also regarding my investment. Earlier this year, I had non-RRSP mutual funds with CIBC that I wanted to transform into RRSP. At CIBC, the transformation had been performed very quickly and efficiency in a one shouts over the phone. But it was not the case with RBC who insisted for me to get a loan to invest in my RBC – can you imagine the horror? I really had to insist and call over their customer service to get the job done after insisted and insisted. And not to talk about Desjardins who never wanted to perform the transformation for me.

From my experience, CIBC is way much better than RBC, TD Canada Trust and even Desjardins in many ways. I am still doing my banking with Desjardins, but it might be just a matter of time before I switch to another bank. And it might be CIBC.

At CIBC, they have understand that it’s their customers who are the boss lol and its look like CIBC staff is willing to do everything they can to please their customers. Like wow! I am a pretty easy going customer as long as everyone obey me lol.

About my debt management

My budget is quite sharp the month of July!

I wake up early this morning to calculate my budget. I am able to pay off completely my RBC Visa, American Express and CIBC Visa… So many credit cards! I am paying 800$ on my TD Visa… and 150$ on my TD credit line. After all my bills being paid, rent and student loan included, I have around 52$ left in my banking account lol. Knowing how much I have money aside allow me to maximize the payment on my credit cards and debts. Now, the ultimate challenge consists in searching for a day-time job. And it’s very difficult for me. I only have to begin by the beginning right, send some resumes

Debts can be so annoying. I do not have any problems with my student loan debts or even with my TD line of credit debt. But having more debts that those 2 really cause me a problem and I find it difficult to live with too many debts. I am really getting annoying by my TD Visa debt and I want to clear it off as soon as possible, even if I have a special interest rate on it until the end of September 2009.

One solution to pay off my TD Visa debts could be the following: sell my Creststreet Alternative Energy Fund (which should provide me 1 050$ in cash) and also sell my Desjardins Fidelity True North Fund. Right now, my investment worth 996.05$. This is quite painful for me because Desjardins Fidelity True North Fund was my very first investment. I am way too emotional when it comes to my investments. I am not willing to sell anything out. I won’t sell for sure when I am loosing from my initial investment anyway, even if I am loosing only 4$. There’s always solution.

Why it’s important to pay off some debts

Even if my TD Visa is at a low interest for the 3 000$ debt I have, I am paying in interest (for the month of June). But want to see something even more frightening? I had been charged 29.34$ in insurance fees for my TD Visa. I am going to cancel this insurance right on today! I am just not paying attention to what’s going on with my credit card and I am paying the price. But better later than never…

I am also looking into increasing my TD credit line after all… Too much stuff is going on :)