Weekend News – Free Coffee

Thanks a Latte

For all of next week there will be free coffee being served at participating McDonald’s restaurants in Canada. You can see their Facebook page for more detail 🙂 If you want to exploit other people’s caffeine addictions like I have, then consider investing in profitable coffee companies 🙂

I bought shares of Starbucks and Tim Hortons earlier this year. On average these 2 companies have so far produced over 30% return on investment since I blogged about buying them in January. I hope some of you guys were also able to take advantage of that opportunity. I predict their prices will rise even higher going into 2014!

Growth Downgraded 

A couple days ago the Bank of Canada pointed out that the country’s economy is growing slower than previously thought. It’s even considering to lower the interest rate. This changes everything for businesses. For the past couple of years, we’ve believed that rates could only go up. But now we realize that they could just as easily go down in the future. This is excellent news for investors like myself 🙂

How can we benefit from this news?

• First. Realize that this means borrowing to invest is now less risky than before because we know with relative certainly the cost of short term lending won’t be going up any time soon (exception being in the fixed rate mortgage market.) So personally I’m going to use more of other people’s money to hopefully accelerate my own profits.
• Second, buy US assets. After the Bank of Canada announced this news my net worth increased by $400 immediately 😀 Why? Because I have $40,000 USD in American stocks, and the news brought the Canadian Loonie down by a whole 1% compared to the U.S. dollar. I have a feeling the $CAD will fall even more over the next 12 to 18 months. Since I calculate my net worth in $CAD, for every 0.25% weaker our currency becomes I’ll get an extra $100 for free 😀

The Panes of Building a Home

A young couple, both artists like myself in their 20s, had quit their jobs to build a home in the woods in West Virginia. They scavenged abandoned yard sites for building material and spent as little money as possible. Slowly but surely they built their dream home for only $500.

They also claim their diet contains a lot of rice and beans, which is understandable since they purposefully quit working! But hey, good for them. I admire their creative passion and how they did something meaningful with their lives 🙂 This is a great example of frugality taken to the extreme! But it’s not something I’d want to do myself.