How to ride out market volatility

How to ride out market volatility

First Published: ADawnJournal.com Aug 7, 2008

Unless you are living under a rock these days, you're concerned about the recent market turmoil. Investors all over the world have been losing chunks of their portfolios every day. I remember that I stopped looking at my portfolio at some point and since then I have been checking it very infrequently. Poll after poll shows that the majority of investors are pessimistic about the future and they are making changes in their portfolios based on emotion and fear, not based on a calculated decision.

The most common action they are taking? Switching out of equities and parking money into money market products. Equities are at their lowest at this time and switching out of equities may cost you a lot more than you can possibly handle. It is never recommended to get rid of equities when they are at a heavy loss. Now, naturally, you are going to ask, "If we're not to get rid of equities, what could we do to ride out market volatility?" My number one suggestion would be: do nothing. Yes, indeed – do nothing. Just sit back, relax, fasten your seatbelt, and ride out the market volatility.

If you are not convinced yet, consider the following points:

• Diversification is the key to achieving stable returns throughout the good and bad times. A well-diversified portfolio should not fluctuate to the same degree as stock markets.
• Volatility is a normal part of investing. There will always be ups and downs in the market. Do not let market volatility divert your focus away from your goal. Stay invested, keep adding more money, and you will be fine in the long run.
• Investment is a discipline. Do not make decisions based on emotions. Research has shown that the stock market has averaged an annual 11% rate of return over the last 120 years. Stay invested for the long run – through good and bad times.

I would like to end today's article with a quote by legendary investor John Templeton. John Templeton recently died at the age of 95. He was famous for this quote: "Buy at the point of maximum pessimism." Templeton's quote makes perfect sense—whenever there were declines in the market, the market eventually recovered with greater gains. Investors who acted emotionally lost the most. That's why my advice is: Do Nothing. The market will recover and you will be in good shape again. Just be patient and ride out the volatility.

BMO World Elite MasterCard Devalues Its Rewards Points

BMO World Elite MasterCard

I just received a piece of mail from BMO mentioning some changes that will be made to the BMO World Elite travel credit card. This type of notice translates into negative news 99 percent of the time, so I was expecting bad news.

On the surface, to make it look like a good news, BMO says you will earn 50 percent more points. This card used to give 2 points for each dollar spent on all purchases. That was a flat 2 percent return on everything, as each point was worth 1 cent. However, starting January 15, 2018, each point will be worth 0.714 cents. That’s a drastic devaluation. This only applies to the “everything else” category, as BMO is giving 3 points on 3 specific categories: travel, dining, and entertainment. The rate of return on these categories will be 2.14 percent, which is slightly better than what they had before on all categories.

Once these changes kick in, it would not make sense to use this card to purchase items in the “everything else” category. For the 3 accelerated categories it will provide a good rate of return even better than the 2 percent offered before.

These changes do not affect me personally because I do not use this card to make any purchases. My sole purpose to keep this card is to have lounge access. BMO World Elite provides Priority Pass annual membership ($99 US) and 4 passes ($27 US x 4) every year, which I value at a total Canadian $265. So even after paying the $150 annual fee per year, I am on the plus side for $115 Cad.

Whichever credit card you use, do the math to see if it make sense for you to keep it. I have a video on the above explaining further which can be viewed here:

| BMO World Elite MasterCard Devaluation | Analysis & Insights |

How To Write A Mission Statement

Writing A Mission Statement

When you are starting a business, one of the most important things you can do is to write a mission statement. A mission statement is very important when you are writing a business plan, and a business plan is essential when you want to have a successful business with investors. A mission statement explains what your business is all about to customers, those in the community, employees and suppliers. The mission statement should cover all aspects of your business, the products you offer, the service, position and growth potential of your business as well. It clarifies the business you are in, the objectives you have and the goals of your business.

To write a good business plan, you should at least ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I want for my family, my customers and myself with this business?
2. Why am I in business?
3. Who are my customers going to be and how is my product/service going to enrich the lives of my customers and lead to their own success?
4. What kinds of products and services will I be giving to my customers and what is the nature of the product/service?
5. What levels of service will I provide to my customers and do most companies offer these types of services or products?
6. What roles within the company will I play and my employees play?
7. What separates my company from the other companies that provide the services and products?
8. How will I use strategy and technology to reach the goals that I have set for myself in the company?
9. What are the values that guide the company?

Now, you are going to have to write up your mission statement by answering these questions. If you have others in the company with you, talk with them and get their ideas for the mission statement. It is important that when you are picking people to help you with the mission statement, you pick those who will be positive and supportive to your goals. You do not want any naysayers bringing you down.

It is going to take you a few hours to do a mission statement because it is not something you do quickly. Make sure you set aside the time for the mission statement to ensure that it is done right. It is important that you prepare yourself for the task of putting together the mission statement. Brainstorm and make sure you have all the information you need in front of you so you can get right down to the business of writing the business statement.

One of the most important things you can do is to constantly revise your mission statement until it is right. You want your mission statement to fit exactly what you think your company means and you do that by reworking the mission statement until it is right.

Once you have completed your mission statement, put it on your company web site, on business plans, company cards, brochures and more.
First Published: Sep 12, 2010 entrepreneurjourney.com

How Google Determines the Order of Search Results

ADJ Scores Higher PageRank

First Published: ADawnJournal.com Jul 31, 2008

Recently, Google just updated their PageRank, and A. Dawn Journal (ADJ) scored a higher PageRank. Previously, ADJ PageRank was 1, and now ADJ gets a PageRank of 3. You may ask, “What is PageRank and why it is important?” Today, I am going to discuss what PageRank is, why it is important, and how Google (or other search engines) decides the order of search results.

How Google Determines the Order of Search Results

When you input keywords into Google’s “Search” box to perform a search, there are many factors that decide the order of search results. Google uses a mathematical formula called an Algorithm to display search results in order. This formula has roughly two hundred components and each component is looking for a specific part of a website to determine the total score of each website’s search results. Based on these scores, websites will be placed high or low in search results. For websites, it is very important to appear on the first few pages of search results – most people are not going to sift through some 20 million or so search results.

What Components Google Looks For

Here is just a few of the 200 components Google looks for:

• PageRank
• Placement of keywords
• Use of keywords
• Themes
• HTML coding
• How old is the domain?
• Website traffic
• Where the website is hosted

What Is PageRank?

 PageRank is Google’s way of deciding how important a website is. PageRank represents a numeric value from 1 to 10, one being the lowest and ten being the highest. To the best of my knowledge, only six sites have PageRank 10. These sites are:

 Adobe
The White House
US Government Website
National Science Foundation
World Wide Web Consortium
Google search

 What Determines PageRank?

 If a site is linking to another site, Google counts this as a vote and the more votes there are, the more important a site is. This sounds very simple, but there are many other elements to it and the whole PageRank thing is very complicated. Let me give you an easy example: ADJ is a personal finance website. If another high-ranking website such as Get Rich Slowly links to ADJ, it will be very good for ADJ PageRank. However, if a junk website links to ADJ, it will hurt ADJ PageRank. If you are interested in finding out more about PageRank, do a Google search for PageRank and read a few sites or visit Wikipedia’s PageRank page

 Why PageRank is Important

 PageRank is the heart of Google search and is one of the most significant components that determine the order of search results. Newer sites usually have zero, meaning no PageRank. It is every webmaster’s dream to achieve a higher PageRank, thus attracting more traffic. That’s why PageRank is so important.

 If you had performed a search last week by typing “Canada personal finance” in the Google “Search” box, you would have seen ADJ after five or six pages of results. Alternatively, a search for “Canada personal finance blog” would have put ADJ on the second or third page. But now, a search for “Canada personal finance” pulls up ADJ on the second or sometimes the first page and “Canada personal finance blog” search is steadily putting ADJ on the first page.

 Only Because Of You

 ADJ is a relatively new site and going through tremendous growth. The higher PageRank and momentum in growth has only been made possible because of readers like you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ADJ readers. Thank you for all your support and thank you for reading ADJ regularly. I know that all of this is only possible because of you and your support.

RateSupermarket Published Canada’s Best Credit Cards

Best Travel Credit Cards

Various websites publish Canada’s best credit card lists every year and today I will look at some of the best credit cards according to Internet rate comparison website RateSupermarket. Keep in mind that your own scenarios can be very different than any best credit card lists and always pick your credit cards based on your lifestyle, needs, and what you value most.

Best Rewards Credit Card With Fee

Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite

Best Rewards Credit Card With No Fee

SimplyCash from American Express

Best Credit Card for Carrying a Balance

MBNA True Line MasterCard

Best Credit Card Balance Transfers

MBNA Platinum Plus MasterCard

Fan Favourite for Best Credit Card

Tangerine Money Back Credit Card

Best Credit Card for Students

BMO SPC Cashback MasterCard

Best Credit Card with Travel Perks

Scotiabank Gold Amex

Best Credit Card for Groceries

PC MasterCard

Best Gas Rewards Credit Card

Shell BMO Air Miles MasterCard

My own suggestion for picking best credit cards is to not choose your credit cards based on any best credit card lists or anything of that nature. Always do your research and make an informed decision. I have a video on the above on my channel, which can be found here:

Canada's Best Credit Cards by RateSupermarket

Also, I have various other videos available on credit cards and rewards points on my YouTube channel that will provide you unbiased and non-affiliated information to help you research credit cards that suit your needs.