Weekend Reading – Bitcoin, blockchain, 600,000 pageviews, top stocks and Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 23, 2017 by | 33 Comments

Weekend Reading – Bitcoin, blockchain, 600,000 pageviews, top stocks and Happy Holidays!

Wow…

Where on earth does the time go?

Hard to believe I just finished my eighth full year running My Own Advisor.

At this holiday time, I want to thank every dedicated reader, casual fan and everyone who tweeted and supported this site over the last year.  I enjoy running this site and I’m glad you enjoy visiting it.

Here are some great MOA milestones I thought I’d share with you over the past year:

  • Almost 600,000 pageviews!
  • Approaching 3,000 daily dedicated subscribers!
  • Over 5,000 Twitter followers!

Thank you, thank you, and yes, thank you!

I’ll probably get to a few blogposts between now and the turn of the calendar however the most important milestone message I want to give is this:  a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!

Mimimalism

I’m looking forward to a few days off work, for some quality family time and downtime.  I hope the same for you.

Best wishes for 2018 and we’ll see you again for another year of personal finance and investing blogging fun.

Mark

My recent articles:

Here are three utility stocks I plan to buy more of in 2018.

We recently reached a great milestone on our dividend income journey.

Other great reads:

I enjoyed this article about bitcoin from 5iResearch.

What is blockchain?  Here is a great article about it in detail. It is essentially anything of value; that is shared, and continually reconciled, in databases across computers.  Therefore, by storing “blocks” of information that are identical across a network of computers, this “chain” is not controlled by a single entity and has no single point of failure.

My friend Barry Choi called it quits – he recently left a secure job in television after 18 years to pursue his love of the freelance life.  Good luck Barry and looking forward to what you accomplish in 2018.

StockTrades.ca released some top Canadian stocks to consider in 2018.

Almost 10 years on, the birth of the TFSA could be its demise.  I don’t care, I’m going to fund it anyhow in a few weeks!

A single all-in-one portfolio solution?  Here is a MoneySense take.  Here is my take and other simple all-in-one investing options here.

Do you have to worry about Canada Pension Plan running out of money for you?   The short answer is no.  Not for a good 75 years.

Dividend Growth Investor wrote about dividends being an investors’ best friend.  Following a buy and hold approach with dividend paying stocks can help investors in the following ways:

  • Keeping money management fees and transaction costs low – earning your share of long-term investment returns.
  • Stable income – from John Bogle “Finally, what’s most important when we retire is the stream of income we need to support our needs – the dividend checks we receive from our mutual fund investments and the monthly checks we receive from our Social Security Payments“.
  • Built-in diversification – many U.S. multinationals earn a significant portion of their income from international operations.

Don’t forget these holiday deals:

Check out this page where you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars using better saving and investing solutions.

Here is a free trial to unbiased stock and ETF suggestions in Canada.

Here is a link to some FREE ebooks and other saving and investing resources I wrote about for newbie investors.

Thanks to my ongoing partnership you can start a free, risk-free trial account funded with $1,000 of ModernAdvsior’s money. You will also get a $50 bonus when you open and fund a new account.

Using my promo code with BMO, I can save you a few hundred bucks when you open your BMO InvestorLine account.

My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.

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33 Responses to "Weekend Reading – Bitcoin, blockchain, 600,000 pageviews, top stocks and Happy Holidays!"

  2. Rose Martine · Edit

    you are actually a good webmaster. The website loading velocity is amazing. It seems that you are doing any distinctive trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve done a excellent process on this subject!

    Reply
  3. Allan · Edit

    Thanks Mark. Free government money always sounds tempting but as with the hand that grabs the rose – beware the thorn. Will definitely look into your recommendations. Congratulations and best wishes for another successful year.
    Allan

    Reply
  4. Allan · Edit

    Mark and others. A question for the new year. About to make an INVESTMENT in our newborn’s future via a RESP. But know very little about them beyond hearing that some are more flexible than others. Can you shed some light on what are the best features to look for in selecting one over another? Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Mike · Edit

      Get a family plan. That way if one kid doesn’t go to school – it transfer to the other. If both don’t go – transfers into your RRSP (if u have room)

      Reply
  6. Kevin · Edit

    Happy Holidays to everyone in this Community who loves to talk about investing. I hope you like what I enjoy at this time of year, International Hockey!

    Reply
  9. SST · Edit

    Blockchain/cryptos: as revolutionary as the technology is, there are currently some gapping holes which need to be resolved in order for these things to become truly viable. As previously stated, blockchain simply eliminates all third parties in all financial transactions (i.e. there is no ‘clearing house’ per se). It creates a strict person-to-person payment system. This is great because now there is no middle-man taking a cut nor recording and collecting data. This is why both banks and governments have demonized cryptocurrencies, but also why current payment systems like Visa and MasterCard have already invested in blockchain tech, to secure their future.

    However, each and every transaction must be reconciled and verified by the system itself. As far as I know, it requires six (6) crypto “miners” (actual people) to verify each transaction — for a cost (because it utilizes resources). Now, five years ago this was not a problem; no one was using cryptos for payment and no one was trading cryptos. Fast forward to today…still no one is using cryptos for payment but there are now a boat load of trades going on. This has put massive strain on the blockchain system. Transaction costs have risen to ~$40 per (from almost nothing), but the real cost is time. The more transactions occurring, the slower the processing time. It might now take up to 4 hours or more to verify a transaction; if you are merely buying something off Amazon then it’s no worry, but if you are actively trading a crypto…that’s a problem.

    This will lead to events such as we saw last week when many of the crypto trading platforms crashed due to overload. If your “investment” is plummeting 5%/hr and it takes 4+ hours — or days — to settle…you get the idea. And this is just with a few people engaged in mania trading. What happens if 1 billion people/day want to use blockchain systems to conduct business? I won’t be waiting in line at the grocery store for 6 hours just to have my BTC transaction go through.

    Bottom line: vast potential still requiring vast amounts of refinement.

    re: Some things are just not worth my time or effort to figure out how they work (GPS).
    GPS was essentially the brainchild of Einstein, so don’t feel too bad if you can’t figure it out.
    I have no idea how gravity works.

    re: Happy Holidays to you SST. Anything big planned for 2018?
    Just the usual: Figure out what I want to be when I grow up. 🙂

    Ending the year with a cycling challenge: 500km between Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve.
    If you don’t hear from me in 2018 you’ll know I didn’t make it.

    Reply
    1. Lloyd · Edit

      “GPS was essentially the brainchild of Einstein, so don’t feel too bad if you can’t figure it out.”

      As long as it works I don’t really care how.

      Reply
  10. Lloyd · Edit

    I haven’t figured out all the features on my Beta VCR yet so I’m thinking Bitcoin and blocks of chain will also be beyond my level. Some things are just not worth my time or effort to figure out how they work (GPS).

    All the best of the season to all.

    Reply
  12. SST · Edit

    re: Bitcoin is beyond my scope of comprehension.
    Blockchain basically spells the end of the middle-man in any financial transaction (e.g. bank, government). It’s that simple.

    re: bitcoin & blockchain
    Blockchain is where the real value is; the crytprocurrency is a mere digital product. Tricky thing with with these companies is that, it seems, one cannot invest strictly in blockchain tech, one can only trade the cryptocurrency. The underlying tech is stable and valuable, the market layer product (and market itself) is not, for so many reasons. It’s like only being able to trade iphones without being able to buy APPL stock.

    re: Barry Choi…to pursue his love of the freelance life.
    Um…the provided link hilariously brings up an article on “doorstep stealing”/package theft. Not sure Barry will appreciate you bringing attention to his new gig.

    re: TFSA — “It would be very unpopular, but a lot of tax changes are unpopular and they still seem to be getting away with it.”
    Only getting away with it because We the People are lazy. It wouldn’t change our “middle-class” lives drastically enough to make us do any more than complain about it. So, yeah, they keep getting away with it because we keep letting them. The 2008-09 protests in Iceland are always a great example: over the course of 4 months, a one-man protest grew into a few thousand and resulted in a new government and constitutional, policy, and banking reforms.

    Enjoy your holidays!

    Reply
    2. Mark · Edit

      I think blockchain technology is very cool. I don’t know enough about it yet but it’s very interesting…

      As for Barry, thanks, link changed!

      Happy Holidays to you SST. Anything big planned for 2018?

      Reply
  13. Gary · Edit

    I’m sorry Mark but Bitcoin is beyond my scope of comprehension. They might as well explain it in a foreign language because I have no idea what they are talking about. I guess I’m just too old! I would like to wish you and your family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy, Healthy New Year.

    Reply

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