Author Archives: konkin
Building a Perfect Portfolio - Part 1: Starting Out
A good friend of mine who has just graduated is looking for a good place to start investing. She's young, and time may be her side, but today's youth won't find it nearly as easy as their parents did to build their wealth. Global growth has stalled, and many are even calling a top on … Continue reading
How to survive a winter in Toronto
Now that the cold weather is here I thought I'd share some of the ways in which I battle winter in Toronto. Even though I grew up in the far north, I never really got used to the cold... so this is a list of things I do to stay warm in body and in … Continue reading
Loving your job
How many of us can honestly say that we absolutely love what we do for a living? Some say that you can love your job, but your job will never love you back in the same way. Not so, according to a panel of successful business people who spoke at Ryerson business school's CEO Outlook … Continue reading
It's official: Torontonians are dull and have an inferiority complex
People who live in Toronto are boring, quite conservative, their food is dry, and they consider themselves inferior to Americans.... Or at least this is what The Economist magazine would have the world believe.
Travel is a workout for the mind
A great quote I ripped off the wall from one of my friends on facebook. It speaks volumes to the experience of travelling... "Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except … Continue reading
On Sabbatical...
I'm seeing a bit of the world right now, so this site will not change much until I return. See you then!
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
A colleague passed me this link to a commencement address Steve Jobs gave at Stanford some time ago. I wish I had seen it earlier. I've intuitively practiced the same principles in life's decision making process as Jobs, but this crystallizes the process for me. Here, in point form, is the advice Jobs gave to … Continue reading
War on gas is a bunch of hot air
I received one of those call-to-action emails today... this one titled "The War On Gas Prices". The basic idea is for consumers to boycott Petro Canada, thus forcing this former crown corporation to reduce prices. This action will then force the other gas companies to follow suit, supposedly because consumers will then come swarming back … Continue reading
The income trust conspiracy
Why is the Canadian government persistent in trying to 'fix' the income trust sector? Both the Liberals and Harper Convervatives have claimed that legislation is needed to stop the flow of all that lost tax revenue. "Lost tax revenues" may be the way they spin it, but I have to wonder: was this revenue ever … Continue reading
A Soviet reunion
Imagine for a minute that the people who run the government of Canada just disappear. All of the MP's, the prime minister, all of the head bureaucrats at all the ministries and crown corporations one day just decide to quit their jobs, maybe leave the country for more sunny climes. What do you think would … Continue reading