Weekend Reading – Personal finance conferences and great blogs
Last week I told you it wasn’t a good week for my laptop. The LCD screen started to do some very usual things so I took it into Future Shop for some diagnostic work. Turns out my machine needed to be shipped out for repairs. Hopefully it will come back next week, fully functional, in time for me to take it to the Canadian Personal Finance Conference in Toronto next weekend.
I am looking forward to this event, seeing some familiar faces like Preet Banerjee, Canadian Capitalist and meeting new faces like the writers behind Give Me Back My Five Bucks, Finance Fox and The Blunt Bean Counter. It should be a great event and I look forward to sharing with you what I learned from the conference. Thanks again to Preet and Krystal for organizing and putting all their hard work into this event.
I found some great articles for you to check out this weekend. Thanks for making time to check out My Own Advisor!
Susan Brunner was very kind to highlight my blog with Dividend Ninja this week as one her favourites to share with others. Susan also wrote highly of the Dividend Guy Blog and Dividend Monk. Thanks for the nod Susan.
I learned more about what Som Seif would like to do, after building then selling Claymore Investments. It was refreshing to read that Som makes investing mistakes now and then, “I made many, many investing mistakes. I started in the industry in 1999, during the tech bubble, and I invested aggressively in single stocks. I stuck at it, and I was fortunate to go through the bubble at an age when I didn’t have meaningful money to lose. I learned not to think too much about investing, and to diversify and stay long-term.” Now, Som’s portfolio is “…pretty much all ETFs. I eat my own lunch. I bought Claymore ETFs through and through. There is also a sprinkling of single stocks, though—I own RIM, for example.”
Canadian Finance Blog learned some financial tips from other bloggers at FINCON12.
Retire Happy shared what he learned at FINCON12.
MDJ offered a few ways to invest in gold.
Young and Thrifty discussed the costs of weddings.
Dividend Monk wondered if Procter & Gamble is still a dividend champion for the future.
Canadian Budget Binder wrote about what most women want in a man. I’m trying to keep a clean mind as I type this…
Boomer & Echo told us how to avoid these 4 investing mistakes.
Passive Income Earner informed us about some top dividend stocks.
The Web Ninja said to use AdSense at the bottom of your posts.
Michael James on Money cautioned us about the speed of traders, rightly identifying us “common folk” have no chance of keeping up to them.
The Blunt Bean Counter said Canadians continue to break TFSA rules. He offered some advice to help correct that.
How to Save Money told us how to minimize your monthly cell phone bill with a smartphone and a data plan.
Financial Highway offered some tips on how to save money on electricity. I need to write a post about how we do that around our house – maybe this fall I will get to that.
Balance Junkie thinks it’s a good idea to invest in utilities. I feel the same; I own a bunch of them in my portfolio including telecommunications companies.
Passive Income Earner revealed Jim Cramer is going main stream with his stock picking.
Big Cajun Man said let’s define retirement.
SPF listed 5 financial planning mistakes to avoid.
Invest It Wisely is climbing the freelancing mountain on his way to higher income. Well done!
Canadian Personal Finance offered 8 tips to manage your finances during a natural disaster. Geez, I hope we don’t have any of those anytime soon!
Beating The Index updated us on Xtreme Drilling.
The Dividend Guy gave us a new look.
Arbor Asset Investments said slow and steady wins the race.
Modest Money wrote about guilt induced frugality. I rarely feel guilty about saving! :)
Thanks for reading and sharing this article.
The blog on the Personal finance conferences were nice and the information provided in this blog were great …..
Looking forward to meeting everyone at CPFC12!!
Kanwal Sarai @ Simply Investing recently posted..Your Friend Just Gave You a Hot Stock Tip. What do you do?
Hope you have a blast over there, Mark! Now that things are starting to go a bit better for me, I might have to start thinking about saving and investing again.
I’ve been out of touch with the macroeconomy for a while.
Invest It Wisely recently posted..You Don’t Have to be a Born Entrepreneur
I look forward to meeting you (I am in Ontario now), it should be fun for the first Canadian Personal Finance Bloggers Conference.
Same Steve. See you this weekend!
Thanks for the inclusion Mark. You’ll have to share some of the better takeaways from the conference with us when you get back. Feel free to be the official representative of Y and T and MUM if there are any eager advertisers there haha!
Nice posts on the Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets this week. I love that series. I have to admit that of course the John Bogle Little Book is my favourite for obvious reasons, but the Hedge Fund one was really interesting as well. I think I’ve read about half of them at this point.
TM @ Young and Thrifty recently posted..The Great USA Tax Grab Nets -$400
Anytime guys. I’ll just strike out “My Own Advisor” on my networking cards and put Y&T and MUM
The John Bogle book I need to read. Maybe later this year I’ll pick that up. No doubt it’s one of your favourites! Have a great weekend.
Good luck with the laptop! Definitely looking forward to CPFC 2012. Will I look lame if I bring a pen and notebook? lol
Joe recently posted..BP #33 – Silver Restoration
Looking forward to meeting you at CPFC12!
Thanks for including us this week Mark. Have agreat weekend!
Balance Junkie recently posted..The Utility of Investing in Utilities
Same to you Kim.
Mark, thanx so much for the mention! Have a great time at CPFC12, it is going to be kick-ass for you!!
I finally downloaded Skype, we should catch up when you are back.
Cheers
Avrom
The Web Ninja recently posted..Use AdSense at the Bottom of Your Post
Awesome re: Skype. I look forward to chatting with you soon Avrom.
Mark
Have a great time at the Toronto conference as I’m sure you will learn so much and meet some amazing bloggers! Wish I could be there. Thanks for the mention as well and glad you kept it clean lol.. Cheers mate Mr.CBB
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..What Most Women Want In A Man… and It’s Not Always Money $
Thanks CBB. I look forward to learning a ton of new things. Stay in touch!
Have fun at the conference. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to make it. Thanks for the mention.
Michael James recently posted..Short Takes: ETF Liquidity, Protecting Canadians from TFSA Mistakes, and more
Anytime Michael, I enjoy your site.
Thanks for including my article on cell phone VoIP Mark! I hope you get your laptop back soon and fixed up as good as new. Too often when things are sent back for repair they come back with the same or similar problem. I’ve had it happen to me countless times, but hopefully not this time for you!
I really wish I could be at the conference too and meet all of you but I’m fresh out of vacation because of an important family related trip I need to take next month. Too bad. At one point I was thinking of going to both FINCON12 and CPFC12 and turns out I’ll miss both.
SavingMentor recently posted..How to Minimize Your Monthly Cell Phone Bill with a Smartphone and a Data Plan
No worries! The cell phone VoIP was a good post. I hope to get my laptop back on Wednesday next week.
It would be good to meet you also at CPFC12 but maybe next year. Safe travels next month.
Thank you for including me!
Ken Faulkenberry recently posted..Can I Consistently Outperform the Market?
Thanks for the inclusion Mark. I will see you @ CPFC next weekend.
Did you happen to catch my post on camping (finally got around to writing SPF style again).
Simon
Sustainable PF recently posted..Green Camping Tips
Ha, yes, I read that post. Glad to see you back writing more. I can only assume you’ve been very busy with the lil’ one. I look forward to seeing you at CPFC12!
Mark, thx for link. Looking forward to meeting you next week. I will be the guy in golf clothes who is looking confused as to why he is indoors at a conference and not golfing
Ha. Well, if we finish early on Sat. before the food and drink event on Sat. night, we can always hit the driving range downtown first?
Looking forward to having a beer with you Mark.
Thanks for including me, and have fun in Toronto next week too, sounds like it will be a blast! Mention my name (my real name if you wish)
Big Cajun Man recently posted..Sinkholes, Gas Prices, No Hockey and Friday #Shoutouts
Will do BCM
Thanks for the mention, Mark. Too bad I’ll miss out on the conference this weekend. Would’ve been nice to meet you finally…but September’s a tough month for me to get away.
Sounds like it will be fun and informative, Krystal and Preet did a great job organizing.
Have a great weekend!
Echo recently posted..How To Determine Your CPP Benefits
Yes, it would have been nice to meet but surely we’ll meet up one of these days. Preet and Krystal have done an excellent job organizing and promoting. I look forward to learning from others and meeting some new faces.
Take care and thanks for the blog support!