Michael Vincent Performs on Penn and Teller Fool Us

Michael Vincent performs wonderful sleight of hand techniques on Penn and Teller's show "Fool Us".  Unfortunately, it is classical magic and there is no way Penn and Teller will get fooled by it.  Entertaining nonetheless.  Teller even kisses Vincent's hand at the end to show how much respect he has for him

Canadian Royalty Trusts Post 2011

During the mid-2000s, Canadian Royalty Trusts (or Canroys) grabbed the minds and attentions of many retiree investors with their double-digit dividend yields. Structured as trusts, they were exempt from federal tax as long as they paid out dividends to their shareholders.

All this changed in 2011 when a new law was passed that these trusts would also be taxed like normal corporations and taxed at the corporate tax rate.  I wrote about this sometime back in the post "Future of Canroys".   This new law made little sense for the trusts and many of them converted to corporations, merged with other companies or chose the easy way out of liquidation.  The dividends of most of these Canroys have also declined sharply as they no longer enjoyed the tax exempt status.  Likewise, share prices also dropped.

Today, most of these canroys trade at only around 10% yield.  Pengrowth Energy Corporation (PGH) now trades at around US$7 but pays only a monthly dividend of Canadian $0.07.  That puts Pengrowth at a nearly 11-12% yield.  Still pretty decent for a monthly dividend stock or if one's purpose of investing is for income.  However, there have been recent talks that even Pengrowth might have to follow the path of Enerplus which cut its dividends by 50% recently. Enerplus shares have taken a beating since.

Canroys will probably face challenging times ahead.  

Life is So Much More Interesting

Life will be a whole lot more interesting if we take ourselves less seriously and start dreaming.  Unfortunately, due to pressures from friends,family,society, etc, we often stop dreaming.

Buy Which REIT?

There are actually quite a few REITs now listed in the Singapore stock exchange.  Have been thinking of investing a bit of my money again since there is some spare cash sitting around.  There are really so many options to choose from: industrial, retail, office, hospitality, etc etc.

I am having a difficult time deciding what to buy.  Have been thinking that maybe I should get a handful of Saizen REIT, Sabana REIT and Starhill Global REIT.  What do you all think?

What a Toilet!

New Look for This Blog

After contemplating for some time, I decided that it was time to shed the "bluish" look that has stuck with this blog for the past 1 to 2 years.  So I am trying out something new and sticking to a really clean look which I hope readers will actually find more soothing to the eyes.  I am not a design kind of person so do bare with me.  I remember that there were some offers to help me design the blog (for a fee of course), but I could not afford it. Anyway, the look is new but the content remains the same.

 I must admit that I am guilty of not pushing out  enough posts to satisfy my readers.  There is always this fear that I am boring readers to death and that there is really nothing interesting I can write about.

Okay, question of the day:  Will Greece default on their debts?  

If so, how can we profit from it?

Good Stuff to Share

Just an old posting that I will like to share =>  we are powerful beyond measure.  Really good a reminder whenever I feel low or suffer from a bout of low esteem.

Another good stuff that I will like to share =>  Two Ideas that Every Investor Should Know.  Just plain old wisdom from plain old me.

Anyway, the month of April and May were bountiful in terms of the dividends that I received.  April dividends was $700plus while month of May was around $1400plus.  Good stuff if you ask me.  The money is already being spent or at least I am thinking of investing it again.  Stock prices are low but I bet that they will go lower.