BP #37 – Frugal Appetizers

• Gene, our resident expert on geology, early retirement, and eating healthy, pointed out an important piece of information about Questrade. If you have less than $5,000 in equity in your account, there’s a $19.95 quarterly fee. I’ve never been charged that fee, so I remained completely oblivious (yes, I’ve given myself a lecture about doing my homework). Now, obviously, most investors have more than five grand and, if they don’t, they should probably focus on a more important objective like building their emergency fund. Nevertheless, in select cases it would change my general recommendation that you should sign up with Questrade. Thanks, as always, for keeping me honest, Gene!

And then, later in the week, we had some more input on Questrade:

• D.L. pointed out that “Questrade also waives the [inactivity] fee for individuals under the age of 25. Also waived if you make 1 trade per quarter. The $19.95 inactivity fee is rebated back as commission rebates if the client trades the following quarter.“
• Danno pointed out that you can’t always have your cake and eat it, too. Unless you have a lot of money in mutual funds (far north of $30,000), then a large portion (or all) of the Mutual Fund Maximizer bonus could get eaten up by some kind of processing fee(s) — plus trading a mutual fund costs $10. And he’s had them mess up mailed-in forms. But, in summary, Questrade’s fees are vastly lower than other Canadian brokers on stock trades and account maintenance (I mean, a $5k minimum? That should be an absolute minimum before you dive into the crazy world of investing in the first place.)

///Tweet(s) of the Week///

@gregvegas the voice actor who played Beastly on Care Bears viewed my profile. So I tried to add him. And he did not add me back.

— TimelessFinance (@TimelessFinance) October 6, 2012

///Keyword Fun///

Money-Smart Keyword Award goes to:

getting a work wardrobe with no money

I’m going to assume that you mean “no money” in the colloquial sense — that you need to acquire clothes on a very tight budget. My friend and fellow writer Adina can help you out.

Money-Stupid Keyword Award goes to:

does my tfsa affect my welfer

I certainly hope so. I assume that having an asset would affect the means test, even though it won’t affect your taxable income.

“If you want to risk third degree burns” Keyword Award goes to:

do i leave my car running when topping up oil?

lol wut? Keyword Award goes to:

value equity shares using imaginary fingers

Notably missing keyword to SEO-optimize this post by increasing the keyword density

frugal appetizer

///YouTube///

///Quote of the Week///

“I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later.”

- Mitch Hedberg

///Links///

1. Here’s a great article that summarized many of my thoughts about the Boomer generation: “Parasites! How the Baby Boomers Destroyed America“. There’s plenty of blame to go around — I think my cohorts are less intelligent and more irresponsible than previous generations. But let’s be honest: the Baby Boomers were a huge gaggle. Institutions were built that conformed to their needs and, as their glut moves through the population pyramid, they realign society to suit them. They were smart enough to be the first generation since the Black Plague that failed to replace their own population — a.k.a. the Boomers didn’t have enough kids to outvote their elders. The results, however, have been a plundering of our national wealth. When the Boomers started paying taxes in the 70s, they suddenly decided that taxes were too high. We haven’t been back to the Moon since.

2. The above article led me to read the Wikipedia page about Strauss-Howe Generational Theory which ”identifies a recurring generational cycle in American history”.

At first, it seems like a horoscope — “You were born in 1960? Let me look up your generational archetype and infer characteristics about your personality and life course.” But as you learn about the theory, you realize it’s not actually a rigid hypothesis about the future. S-HG Theory lays a loose, interesting pattern on US history and then uses the past to create general hypotheses about the future. I already think that depressions occur on a cycle of sorts (every 50 to 70 years — did I ever mention that I think we’re in a Great Depression?) so it’s not unthinkable that cycles of growth and decline would affect societal attitudes (and vice versa). The last major updates to the theory’s framework were in 1997, and it’s been impressively predictive over the last 15 years.

OK, now let’s use it like a horoscope.

I was born in the mid-to-late 80s. That means I’m part of the Millennial Generation, making me a civic-minded Hero because I experienced an unraveling during my childhood (Culture Wars, Postmodernism, 9/11, the War on Terror) while my “high” is yet to come in midlife. Here’s the description of a “Hero” generation:

Hero generations (dominant) are born after an Awakening, during a time of individual pragmatism, self-reliance, and laissez faire. Heroes grow up as increasingly protected post-Awakening children, come of age as team-oriented young optimists during a Crisis, emerge as energetic, overly-confident midlifers, and age into politically powerful elders attacked by another Awakening.

Due to this location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their collective military triumphs in young adulthood -[really? Iraq?] and their political achievements as elders. Their main societal contributions are in the area of community, affluence, and technology. Their best-known historical leaders include Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. These have been vigorous and rational institution builders. In midlife, all have been aggressive advocates of economic prosperity and public optimism, and all have maintained a reputation for civic energy and competence in old age. (Examples among today’s living generations: G.I. Generation and Millennials).

How about Adina? She’s at the very tail end of Generation X, which is a Nomad generation.

Nomad generations (recessive) are born during an Awakening, a time of social ideals and spiritual agendas, when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order. Nomads grow up as under-protected children during this Awakening, come of age as alienated, post-Awakening adults, become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis, and age into resilient post-Crisis elders.^[46]

Due to this location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their adrift, alienated rising-adult years and their midlife years of pragmatic leadership. Their main societal contributions are in the area of liberty, survival and honor. Their best-known historical leaders include Nathaniel Bacon,William Stoughton, George Washington, John Adams, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower [um, where's Kurt Cobain in this list??]. These were shrewd realists who preferred individualistic, pragmatic solutions to problems. (Example among today’s living generations: Generation X.)

Finally, let’s look at the Baby Boomers who are a “Prophet” generation:

Prophet generations (dominant) are born after a Crisis [World War II, anyone?], during a time of rejuvenated community life and consensus around a new societal order. Prophets grow up as the increasingly indulged children of this post-Crisis era, come of age as self-absorbed young crusaders of an Awakening, focus on morals and principles in midlife, and emerge as elders guiding another Crisis.

I don’t care if this theory is right. It calls me a Hero.

///lol-worthy///