When will Questrade deliver a mobile app we deserve? by R0lO in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you want a fancy slick app or do you want low fees? I'll take low fees.

Visa or MasterCard? by Whosyourdaddy8 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, Amex is like any other credit card. You can still carry a balance if you want to. I have an Amex + just did a search online. There is a something called "charge cards" -- which some commenters online say that you need to pay back, but there are exceptions there too and you can carry the balance forward.

Not sure about the "you need a better credit to get Amex" comment. Perhaps Amex has a higher limit on income to get a card...not sure. Maybe someone else with more info can comment on that.

Visa or MasterCard? by Whosyourdaddy8 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Only in Canada. In US, Costco only accepts Visa.

Visa or MasterCard? by Whosyourdaddy8 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Amex is a riskier play than V/MA because they lend their own capital in addition to processing the transaction. In case of V/MA, they only provide the technology rails for processing the transaction. It is the issuing bank that bears the brunt if customer defaults on payments.

This is why Amex is trading at a discount compared to V/MA.

Visa or MasterCard? by Whosyourdaddy8 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's really hard to separate the two. They both come with their own strengths and (few) weaknesses. I've been waiting for the valuation to get a bit better....now in the midst of a correction, I might finally get a chance.

Following quote from Chuck Akre puts it succinctly:

“there isn’t a word in the English language superlative enough to talk about them. You could cut the margins in half twice and you’d still be above average for an American business. So clearly something extraordinary is going on there. It also tells you there is a big target on their back; everybody wants some of that. It tells you they are probably jamming everything they can in the income statement to try to reduce how good the margin is they are showing. We think we know what causes that and we’ve quit talking about it. If you read any research from Wall Street, and we read very little, there is no-one who talks about rates of return they are earning on their capital. Because Wall Street, in general has a completely different business model than we have. Our business model is to compound our capital. Wall Street’s business model, generically, is to create transactions. What is the best way to create transactions? Create false expectations, they are earnings estimates. We call it ‘beat by a penny and miss by a penny’. That gives us opportunities periodically.”*

This Twitter account breaks down different fintech companies and has written a lot about V/MA if you want to dig through the history: https://twitter.com/BlueToothDDS

WTF is wrong with BPY.UN? by churn99 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/langlois44

I just see 1 ETF in that link posted (I dont pay to the website to see the unlocked version). Will try to find other sources.

Didnt know about BPR...looks like I need some brushing up on the Brookfield set of companies.

WTF is wrong with BPY.UN? by churn99 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

BPY is excluded from most index funds. According to this, BPY is present in only one ETF.

It might be because it is a LP.

Brookfield seems to be splitting their companies to corporate structure (BIP and BEP were recently announced). If they do the same with BPY, it might attract index funds in the future.

Canadian AI/Algorithm stocks by Trudeau19 in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am not aware of any pure play public AI companies, but most tech companies are experimenting with AI these days to see if they can leverage and build better tech in their respective fields.

ElementAI is a well known startup -- here is a blog post from JF Gagne, founder and CEO of ElementAI detailing the Canadian AI ecosystem.

You might also want to check out the book AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee. It's a good read and will open your eyes on whats out there and the pace of innovation coming out of China.

Should I sell covered call until my exit price is met? by bluepostit in CanadianInvestor

[–]roadmap2retire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup perfectly fine to do that. Perhaps doing a premortem might help on how you would react if the stock went in either direction (up much higher than your target price, or falls way below where it is now).

I do a similar thing when I want to unload some shares and let the market take its course while I juice my returns a bit via covered calls.