Ellen's Investment Club

Hi everyone: We had a great turn out for our end of year holiday celebration at Ellen's Investment Club last night. We showcased Taking Stock (http://www.takingstockmovie.com/index.html) - a look at behavioural finance. Originally the film director Patrick Doyle was to speak to our club about this movie but due last minute personal events he would reschedule in the coming new year. He's interested in our feedback so if you have any questions or concerns about the film please let me know. Our next session will be held on January 18, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Miles Nadal Community Centre. Agenda will be posted in the coming weeks after the new year. At this time I'd like to wish everyone a happy holidays and a great prosperous new year ahead. Luke Zhang General Secretary Ellen's Investment Club Blog: http://ellens-degenerates.blogspot.com Twitter group: http://twitter.com/EllensShareClub Google group: http://groups.google.ca/group/ellensdegenerates Google maili...

Ellen's Investment Club Meeting (December 14, 2010 @ 7:30 to 9:30pm) Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave Room#: Please ask the front desk where the meeting is held Welcome to our annual Christmas Party! Come and join us for this year-end celebration. We will be serving pizza and refreshments. Guest speaker Patrick Doyle will showcase his film: Taking Stock - an indepth review of behavioural finance - why does an investor create market inefficiencies with the errors he/she makes. On the same subject, Ellen has recently done a column so I encourage you to check it out. ( http://www.moneyville.ca/article/899299--roseman-why-we-are-wired-to-be-lousy-investors ) Please if you are interested in attending this, RSVP with me (indicate if you are vegetarian) so I can plan for the food and drinks. See you all here! ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 7:30 PM: Sign in and payment ($10) 7:45 PM: Taking Stock by Patrick Doyle 9:00 PM: Members open forum Luke Zhan...

Good evening everyone: Thank you for attending Ellen's Investment Club meeting on November 16, 2010. * We took some time this evening reviewing the various discount brokerages in Canada. The Globe and Mail has an annual ranking for the top brokerage services. Cost per trade, tools and customer service continue to be the top criteria when selecting suitable brokerage services. * We also discussed the avarice and corrupt individuals who defrauded Wall Street and Bay Street. * General Motor is IPOing this Thursday. The former giant (still traded here ) is boosting the size of its common stock offering by more than 30 percent to $15.5 billion which makes it the largest US offering ever. * Just a reminder this quarter's Investopedia Challenge has already begun. Please visit:   (The game's password is: ellen) to sign up. We are be hosting our annual Pizza Party in the upcoming session December 14, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (750 Spadi...

Thank you for attending Ellen's Investment Club meeting on Oct 19, 2010. * We reviewed the Emerging Market Index Funds iShares MSCI World Index Fund (TSE:XWD), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (TSE:XEM) and Claymore BRIC ETF (TSE:CBQ). While markets in developing countries certainly hold high growth potential and can diversify your portfolio, it is important to understand the added risks (i.e. geo-political as well as socio-economical). * We talked briefly about the Volatility Index as part of our Investopedia topic of the month. The mantra: "When the VIX is high, it's time to buy. When the VIX is low, look out below!" may not always be true but one thing is for certain, the market sentiment is reflected in this index. You can read the full article here: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/09/implied-volatility-contrary-indicator.asp *Just a reminder this quarter's Investopedia Challenge has begun. Please visit: http://simulator.i...

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB AGENDA: Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) Room#: Please ask the front desk where the meeting is held ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 7:30 PM: Sign in and payment ($10) 7:45 PM: Member stock purchase discussion 8:20 PM: Sector Review – Emerging Sector: iShares MSCI World Index Fund (XWD), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (XEM) 8:50 PM: Investopedia Topic of the Month: The Volatility Index: Reading Market Sentiment 9:00 PM: Open discussion Luke Zhang

Ellen's Investment Club meeting on Sept 21, 2010: We reviewed the two conglomerate holdings/investment firm: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) and ONEX Corporation (TSE: OCX). While both companies have done well this year, one must remember the success or failure of such hold companies is often dependent on a particular individual (in this case, Buffet or Schwartz). I am pleased to announce our winners for the Investopedia challenge. Congradulations to: USD winner: Bouffina USD: 1,099,047.33, 9.9% gain over the course of the Challenge. Top 3 USD holdings (as of Sept 21, 2010): TTM or Tata MOters Ltd ADR (+44.07%), KO or Coca-Cola (+13.41%), ABT or Abbott Laboratories (+10.16%) CAD winner: lukezskywalk CAD: 1,152,618.56, 15.2% gain over the course of the Challenge. Top 3 CAD holdings (as of Sept 21, 2010): MFC.TO or Manulife Financial Corp (-18.04%), SU.TO or Suncor Energy Inc. (-0.85%) The next Investment Challenge game will start on October 18, 2010. Please visi...

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB AGENDA: September 21, 2010 @ 7:30 - 9:30 p.m Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) Room#: Please ask the front desk where the meeting is held ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 7:30 PM: Sign in and payment ($10) 7:45 PM: Member introduction and stock purchase discussion 8:20 PM: Sector Review – Conglomerate Holdings/Investment Firm: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) and ONEX Corporation (TSE: OCX) 8:50 PM: Announcement: Investopedia Winner 9:00 PM: Open discussion / Google Group and Twitter help (Optional) Luke Zhang

Many members have questions regarding the behaviour of the Google Group so I am providing some feedbackhere: 1. You will be able to email the mailing list ellensdegenerates@googlegroups.com under your current registered email regardless if you have a Google Account or not. 2. If you registered with Ellen's club with a Gmail Account you have access to both our mailing list (link above) and posting features on web front http://groups.google.ca/group/ellensdegenerates . If you registered with our club using a non-Gmail address, you will need to create a Google Account (note: this account is not the same as a Gmail account) using your non-Gmail address. You will be prompted to do this once you accept the invitation. I encourage everyone to accept the invite to Google Group since it is a more secure and efficient way for us to stay in touch online. You can either email me or email the mailing list above for an invite if you have not done so. Luke.

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB AGENDA: June 15, 2010 @ 7:30 - 9:30 p.m Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) Room#: Please ask the front desk where the meeting is held ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 7:30 PM: Sign in and payment ($10) 7:45 PM: Member stock purchase discussion 8:00 PM: Reward Points discussion follow up 8:20 PM: Sector Review – Commodities: Gold 8:50 PM: Investopedia Topic of the Month: American Depositary Receipt or ADR 9:00 PM: Open Discussion Google Group and Twitter help Fixed income suggestion (requested by our member) Sundry items Please note this will be our last meeting before the summer so please do your best to attend. Luke Zhang

Invites have been sent to our existing members for our new Google Group. Web Access: http://groups.google.ca/group/ellensdegenerates Email Access: ellensdegenerates@googlegroups.com Please use this to carry online discussions.

Please find the link below for the next edition of the Ellen's Degenerates Investment Challenge. I hope to see all of our members taking up the challenge, even if you don't regularly come to the meetings, it continues to be a safe, but great way to try out different strategies, and/or try something you wouldn't normally do with your own money.  You may not win the prize, but you'll certainly learn something about investing, and as I did in the first challenge, what type of investor I am. The Investopedia's link is here:   http://simulator.investopedia.com/Portfolio/?gameid=124793 Game Name: Ellen Invest Password: mnjcc Remember it doesn't start until May 18th so you cannot trade until then, but you may start your research now. See you all online. Luke & Gord

Dear Members, Please see the link below to a presentation on Option Trading. http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0nRg71V-3-zMDA0YjdmYzgtN2RhOC00YzAzLTk5NGMtNWZhZTEwMjFiYTQ3&hl=en   If the link doesn't work please copy and paste it into your browsers address bar. Thank you

Hi everyone:   Thank you for attending Ellen's Investment club on April 20, 2010.    During this meeting we had an open forum discussion on retail sector stocks. Some of the stocks that were discussed included Dollarama (TSE:DOL), Canadian Tire (TSE:CTC.A), Coach (NYSE:COH), Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Shoppers Drug Mart (TSE:SC), Indigo Books & Music (TSE:IDG), Empire (TSE:EMP.A), Liquor Stores Income Fund (TSE:LIQ.UN).   The Investopedia Challenge has come to an end. I'd like to congratulate the winner of the US market: Mary, and Canadian market: Luke. The winners each receive a $30.00 gift card from Chapters. The next challenge will begin on May 18, 2010. I encourage everyone to participate. You will find instruction on creating an account on our Blog site. For a quick glance please visit the below:   http://simulator.investopedia.com/Portfolio/?gameid=124793   We focused the final hour on option trading. While it is an exce...

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB Agenda April 20, 2010 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 1 7:30 PM Sign in and payment ($10) 2 7:35 PM Sector Review – Retail Sector, Each member will bring in their own retail stock pick (1 only) for review. 3 8:20 PM Luke - Option Trading 4 8:30 PM Luke - Investment Challenge Conclusion – the winner is… 5 8:40 PM Gord – Blog site Makeover – How do I…? 6 8:50 PM New Business – Speaker for the month of May?

Courtesy of Andrew please find the attachment on ETF's.  It is 15 pages.   Click Here to Download

Thank you for attending Ellen's Investment club on March 16, 2010. During this meeting we discussed the iShares Energy index fund (TSE: XEG) as part of our Energy sector analysis. We also talked about Encana (TSE:ECA), AltaGas Income Trust (TSE:ALA.UN) and Cenovus Engery Inc (TSE:CVE). Following the Fed's announcement of keeping the interest rate unchanged "for an extended period", the energy sector rose 0.27 per cent. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) gained 30 cents to $31.66 but Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA) fell 37 cents to $33.22. Members' consenus of this sector is one of cautious optimism. Now for new business: we would like to again stress the importance of staying on topic and within the time limit of the agenda items. We appreciate our members' enthusiasm during discussion but let's keep focus so everyone will have a chance pick up useful information. The last 30 minutes of the club is open to free form talks so save your questions for that time. The next me...

ELLEN'S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB Agenda March 16, 2010 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 1 7:30 PM Sign in and payment ($10) 2 7:35 PM New member self introduction and members investment forum Members are invited to talk about what they had invested in since our last meeting. Please be brief, but explain why you chose a particular stock, if it has performed to-date, and/or what your expectations are from the investment. 3 7:55 PM Sector Review - Energy Sector, TSE:XEG, and the following stocks: TSE:ECA, TSE:CVE, and TSE:ALA.UN. 4 8:30 PM Luke - Investment Challenge update & Tutorial on Short Selling 5 8:50 PM New Business

Hi everyone: Thank you for attending Ellen's Investment club on February16, 2010. Here is the result of the survey we have taken in Janaury: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Almost everyone has a self-managed brokerage account (94%). * Most people think they are beginner to intermediate level investors (between 3-6 level, where 10 is expert) * Most people understand equity (88%) and mutual fund (63%) and fixed (44%). Only two people understand option trading (13%).. * A majority of people make about 1-9 trades in four months (50%). Second majority doesn't trade at all in that time frame (25%). Third majority trades 10-29 (19%). (There is 1 person who trades in the 30-89 range) * Almost no one surveyed is enrolled in the Investpedia Challenge (81%) * Most people think they like the guest speaker session. * Half the people who would attend a separate guest speaker s...

On March 4, 2010, Finance Minister James Flaherty presented the 2010 Federal Budget which contains several measures of interest to Investors Group and its clients. This summary contains highlights of these proposals, which are not yet law. Clients should contact their Investors Group Consultant for information on how these proposals may affect their financial plans. Parental Government Benefits – Shared Custody Currently, when parents share custody of a child, only one individual can receive the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) and Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) amounts in a particular month and the child component of the GST/HST credit in respect of a particular quarter. The Budget proposes to allow two eligible individuals to receive CCTB and UCCB amounts and to receive GST/HST credit amounts when a child lives more or less equally with two individuals who live separately. These individuals will each receive 50% of the annual entitlements effective for be...

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB Agenda February 16, 2010 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) ITEM # TIME TOPIC DETAILS 1 7:30 PM Sign in and payment ($10) 2 7:35 PM New member self introduction and members investment forum Members are invited to talk about what they had invested in since our last meeting. Please be brief, but explain why you chose a particular stock, if it has performed to-date, and/or what your expectations are from the investment. 3 7:50 PM Survey Results - Luke 3 8:00 PM Sector Review - Real Estate iShares REIT index 4 8:30 PM Investment review Romspen Investment Corp, Foremost financial Corp 5 8:45 PM Eckhard - Article Review 5 8:55 PM New Business

The link below is for our revised stock review form. http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0nRg71V-3-zMDZkOTA3ZDItNzU2YS00YmI1LTgyODktNWM2YjNkMGQ2Mzg2&hl=en

To all members, Cathy Patterson (Investor's Group)passed along this link to an online article concerning retirement. It's nothing really new, but offers a fresh overall perspective on retirement for those of us who aren't there yet. Personally, I see retirement as a big wave approaching as I sit on the beach, from where I sit it looks pretty good, but as it comes closer I start to think, 'It seems bigger than I thought'. Can I swim? Do I have a life jacket? Now is a good time to review my retirement plans. I have tried in vain to get my children to start planning for retirement (funny, I had the same excuses when I was there age), to them it is but a ripple in the sea. Regards, Gordon http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/retirement/

Third floor, room 301, See you all tonight...

Dear member, A joint meeting has been set up by Gail B.(NY-1 Club) and Ellen R.(Ellen's Degenerates) to have Vincent, Sales Associate, Claymore Investments educate people on ETF's. Details of the event are: Date..Thur.Jan 28@ 7.30 pm, till 9.15 approx Location..3900 Yonge St. condo party room Subway...1 block south York Mills station Parking....some for guests Cost........$2 Light refreshments served We have access to 15 seats, on a first come first served basis. Please reply to either myself or Luke before or at our next meeting (Janaury 19th). As Condo security requires the list of names for those attending we will need to confirm your attendance 5 days prior to the event. Thank you, Gordon

ELLEN’S DEGENERATES SHARE CLUB Agenda January 19, 2010 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre 750 Spadina Ave (southwest corner of Spadina & Bloor) 1. Administration: A) Sign in and payment ($10) B) Membership survey 2. Welcome New Members 3. Sector Review - By entire group Financial A) Manulife financial Corp [MFC] B) Sun Life Financial Inc [SLF] {REMINDER: Bring your own research data, we will review and fill out our form together but members should be prepared) 4. Article Summary: A) ‘Sell Rating‘ - Eckhard B) ‘Seasonal changes in portfolios of institutional investors’ - Eckhard C) ‘Charting a course with Cautious Optimism’ - Gordon 5. Investopedia Tutorial – Short Selling – Luke 6. Other business A) Next Meetings Agenda - February 16th B) ...

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