From Trading to Handyman

One of the things I pride myself on is being a jack of all trades. I may not be the best at any one thing, but I'm pretty decent at most things.

Now I figure just because I work in an office doesn't mean I can't work with my hands. With that mindset I happily spent two full weekends putting up a backsplash that I could have paid someone $500 to do in half a day. And with that same mindset, I spent this weekend putting up a shower door. Took me a pretty long time, but I got it done! I'll post a pic of it later.

Now back to my day job, and back to trading. JPM's up $1 on the day so far, and the market's flat. As are my calls. Come on JP, do your thing.

Super Fast Trade Execution

I had the fastest fill I have ever had on an options trade today. I mean, I literally pressed the button, flipped over to the order status screen, and read my status "filled". Now besides the sense of foreboding that this made me feel (I mean if the market maker's that willing to jump on a bid it makes me kind of nervous), I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the speed of the fill. I bought 6 contracts of JPM Jan 55 Calls, so we'll see soon if that was a good idea or a bad idea.

Commission Fees

About a year and a half ago i left the blue bank to go work at the green bank.

Being a bit lazy / nostalgic / comfortable, I kept trading at the blue bank.

Recently though I've been feeling like a bit of a bad team player by doing this, so I moved the proceeds of one option trade over. The plan was to buy 30 contracts of E-Trade April 4 Calls in my green bank discount brokerage account. Total would be about $1300 + commission. But holy sticker shock batman!!! The cost of the same trade at the green bank is a whopping $145! vs a paltry $43 at the blue bank! That's over 10% of the cost of the trade! The option would have to go up over 25% just to break even! Needless to say I will now have to rethink my trade.

Now I obviously want to be a good corporate citizen, but this differential in cost makes it pretty tough to do so - at least with respect to option trades.

At any rate, I'm going to have to explore some alternatives here, because this is definitely not a good scene.

Pfizer justifies child deaths

This reads like a scene out of a movie.

Pfizer has been accused of conducting improper drugs trials on children. About 200 kids in Nigeria's north-western Kano State took part in trials for an anti-meningitis drug in 1996. Officials in Kano say more than 50 children died in the experiment, while many others developed mental and physical deformities. Pfizer says only 11 of the 200 children in the drug trial died. The Nigerian government's expert medical panel concluded that the experiment was "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug" and a "clear case of exploitation of the ignorant". (The original articl can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6241322.stm)

Its pretty twisted when a global pharmaceutical firm does this kind of stuff. Aren't these folks supposed to be about protecting life, not destroying it? Are Pfizer shareholders really that greedy that they would be willing to look the other way to justify an additional couple of percentage points growth? This devaluing of life is sickening to witness. With all the advances in technology, medicine, and living standards, are we really moving forward? Or are we giving up our humanity with each new scientific achievement?

Making Money Online

Its interesting how easy it is to make a few bucks selling stuff online. For example, I setup an eBay store a couple of months ago. You can check out my eBay store, (stores.ebay.ca/Bamboo6-Kids) here. I've actually been making a few sales. nothing that's going to make me quit my day job, mind you, but still reassuring and produces a bit of pocket change. What I've found though is that it takes a hell of a lot of time to setup the product and process the sale. That's what happens when you setup your store on the cheap rather than paying the professionals. But - even though its time consuming, keep in mind, its easy!

That said, a colleague of mine has done it in a much more professional, and much more structured manner. Their site, ochanga.com is beautifully done, their product is premium, and the business model is very low maintenance. Drop shipped product, virtual office, standardized imagery from the product manufacturers. Excellent.

One key difference between the two is type of committment. My colleague has willingly invested the time in preparing a strong business model, the seed capital necessary to structure their business properly, and designed an excellent storefront to showcase their wares. Much different from my simple approach of selling through eBay. If you are willing to invest the time and money, and have a good product idea, then I think the ochanga.com model is an excellent one to follow.

Depending on your tax bracket and the profitability of your business, a home based business may be an interesting side venture, considering the tax benefits that such a venture allows you to realize.

Thanks Man

So I brought the SVP of finance a version of my work, walked him through it, noted the changes he wanted made, made a small joke that made him laugh, then walked away to words which pissed me off to no end. "Thanks Man".

Now maybe I'm reading too much into things, but as a minority working his way up the corporate ladder, hearing that makes me think that the person I am speaking to is acutely aware of me not as a colleague, but as a Black colleague. It further suggests to me that when I am considered for a promotion, I'll be viewed through that lens. So much for "judge me not by the colour of my skin but by the content of my character " (MLK). Am I reading too much into things? Let me know what you think.

John Hillery on Value Investing

The 6 February 2007 Globe and Mail carried an article on John Hillery, owner and money manager of the Hillery & Associates LP hedge fund. I found the article interesting because of Hillary's strong focus on value investing principles, and how his focus on those principles led to strong returns(11.3-per-cent CAGR over the past five years, vs the average U.S. equity fund, which lost 0.3 per cent). The interesting thing about Hillary is that he accomplished these returns during periods of market downturn. When the S&P 500 lost 13 per cent in 2001, Mr. Hillery made 25.1 per cent. When the S&P lost 23.4 per cent in 2002, Mr. Hillery made 3 per cent.
Hillery is a strict value investor who insists on buying stocks at big discounts to what he believes to be their true worth, and he won't buy just for the sake of keeping his fund's assets from sitting idle in cash.
This article sat in draft in my blog for some time. Long enough for me to witness the end of the prolonged bull run that markets were on as a result of the sub-prime and asset backed commercial paper scares.
So now what? Well, it sure is an interesting time to consider buying opportunities if you've got the free cash lying around.