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As we close out our 4th week “live” we continue to read and learn about personal finance. We were blessed by Seeking Alpha ran a number of articles about renewable energy and investing. Right up our alley! We’ll start with their argument that the Washington tax deal may signal that the time is right to buy wind and solar. The argument here is that in order to get his tax bill through, Obama will need to appease both sides of the House which could include the inclusion of an extension to the Treasury grant program for renewables may well be part of the final deal. In a second article, Tom Konrad evaluates the best clean and renewable energy ETFs providing an extremely thorough analysis. Jared Cummans adds further detail to this series in his article Gust of Activity Puts Wind ETFs into Focus. Mrs. SPF has a good understanding of renewable energy and she thinks wind power is the future. Lastly, Andy Li takes a closer look at China’s Ming Yang Wind Power has had recent struggles on the market and could be a great buy opportunity. We bought Ming Yang Wind Power for our RRSP portfolio and it has not done well for us but we’re sticking with it.
RetireBy40 also takes a look at How much Renewable Energy Costs him and discusses the program that helps give back to our supply.
What happens when social finance becomes the new normal? Joanna Reynolds takes a look at this topic and discusses concepts such a Social Venture Exchange and Community Investment Notes. Joanna has given us some new areas to research!
Do you track your net worth? Not sure if you should or not? Roshawn Watson asks these very questions in his post 7 reasons for and against tracking your net worth. We plan to start posting our net worth status starting in 2011 but this is a great read to help people decide what is best for them.
Clark guest posts @ MillonDollarJourney discussing the difficult topic Lending Money to Friends. Our feeling is that lending money between friends will most likely not work out and that you are putting your friendship at risk by doing so.
One of our favourite bloggers, Prarie EcoThrifter, discusses How Saving Time Saves Money. I’ve long been a proponent of this belief - time equals money and some tasks are worth it to us to pay someone else to do them.
Next up, more great articles I read this week, by category.
Personal Finance
Canadian Capitalist writes about the direction of interest rates, which are going up. Rising rates are viewed negatively by those who are lenders but great for savers.
Are you ready to open a joint bank account with your partner? Financial Highway looks at this personal finance approach.
InvestItWisely makes it into our weekend reading once again with another stellar article 5 Responsible Ways to Use Credit Cards. Reap those rewards and pay the bill every month!
Do you have a plan to deal with financial disaster? Cajun Finances gives some ideas on how to make a plan for the worst case scenario.
Dividend Monk writes about how Consumers and Investors Have Influence. We certainly do but too often we do not leverage it.
Investing
Balance Junkie makes the case for China as a Bull and China as a Bear.
Canadian Couch Potato makes a very interesting analogy between a consistently effective star hockey player and the indexing approach to investing. I remember Mike Gartner who was never a superstar but over his career scored a ton of goals each and every year.
Ever wonder why some companies pay dividends and why others should as well? DividendGuy asked this very question this week.
Are you bear or bull on dividend stocks? Like Jim Yih @ CanadianFinanceBlog, we’re bull on these types of stocks.
Lifestyle
Couple Money asks Are Monday to Friday Schedules Outdated? I think they are.
Buy Like Buffet provides 5 Ways to Feel Richer in 2011. Great ideas on how to approach your money and life next year.
Enjoy your weekend reading!
A special thanks to InvestingItWisely, MightyBargainHunter, InvestingThesis, IntelligentSpeculator, DividendMonk, MoneyCone, Boomer&Echo and PersonalFinanceByTheBook for including us in your weekly reading and carnivals. We are happy you have enjoyed some of our work.
| http://seekingalpha.com/article/241160-gust-of-activity-puts-wind-etfs-into-focus |
| http://seekingalpha.com/article/241295-identifying-the-best-clean-and-renewable-energy-etfs |
| http://seekingalpha.com/article/241506-washington-tax-deal-may-signal-its-finally-time-to-buy-wind-and-solar |
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Thank’s for the mention! Very much appreciated! ;-)
Those are some pretty good Seeking Alpha articles. I had never read them before. Thanks for the mention! How has the Ming Yang Wind Power ETF performed for you?
Ming Yang Wind has been killing us! We have lost about 13% thus far on our small holding (100 shares I believe). But we’re in this for the long haul!
I’m definitely a fan of technology reducing the real costs, including those plasma TVs. It sounds like, at least where you live, that decent measures are being taken so that installations are appropriate and not wasteful. I remember when corn ethanol subsidies were touted as being great for the environment, too — until it was realized that they burned more energy (and oil) than was given back!
The production and use of the renewable energy technologies are still not perfected by any means, but they sure are improving. Given pressures on other energy resources I believe the green techs will gain increasing proficiency and profitability. There is only so much oil available (from what I understand). Getting into this sector seems to make sense for those who have a long term horizon for investing. Plus, it “feels” right. Digging into the earth and sucking all of her guts out does not.
re: ethanol. I like the idea of “clean” fuel, but one must also look at food shortages and food prices - wheat and corn - that help sustain our planet’s people. The cost for these staples is super high - gas vs food? I pick food.
Pretty much agree with that 100%. I am for whatever improves the living conditions of humans and reduces poverty. I don’t agree with waste in the name of “renewable” energy (renewable in quotes here since not all green technology is actually all that green, like the ethanol example from before), but as renewable energy gets better, it actually has a lot of potential here, since it is easily scalable. A one-person coal power plant doesn’t really make much sense, but a small turbine or PV installation can, so not only is it clean, but it also decentralizes the production of energy. That’s something to look forward to.
Thanks very much for including my China articles in this most interesting roundup. China’s insatiable energy demand is yet another reason for us to kick it up a notch on pursuing alternative energy options. I like the solar and wind options, but I’m not a fan of nuclear power - too dangerous in my opinion. Even if the chances are low that another nuclear accident could happen, the consequences are so severe that I just don’t think it’s worth the risk. It seems like we have enough other viable options that we shouldn’t need to go down that road - just my 2 cents. ;)
Agreed BalanceJunkie. Nuclear scares me too. Chernobyl and Mile Island are lessons to not be forgotten
Renewable energy is a great opportunity for the US in terms of business, environment and the economy. I’m looking forward to looking back at the end of the decade to see what’s been accomplished.
P.S. Thanks for including my staff post at Couple Money!
Couldn’t agree more Kay! And YW on the mention - it was a great post!
Hey, you missed my “How much does Renewable Energy cost Me?” post that went up yesterday.
Include me…. :)
Hey retireby40 - I do the writing for the weekend reading on Thursday night as I try to put some effort into it - if I don’t see an article until Friday it has a low chance of getting caught prior to publishing. I did add a bit for you in an update just now. Also subscribed to your site - might you do the same?
Heya IIW - I could ramble about my opinion on your points, however, Mrs. SPF is formally educated on the subject, so I am going to defer to her knowledge here. I believe you will be somewhat enlightened. :)
One thing I can comment on is this: Does a wind farm hurt your eyes as much as a massive coal plant facility in an industrial part of town that is spewing smog and grey smoke?
Do you wonder how much real resources are used to produce both the coal plant and the coal extraction, distribution and transformation to energy? (wind just happens!)
I think the cost of these technologies, like all technologies will drop over time. Remember when a 32″ plasma TV was $1500? Not so much anymore …
@PrarierEcoThrifter - we only include our favs in our posted blogroll. The fact we quote your articles, and those of IIW for that matter, means we’re big fans!
I agree with Invest it Wisely.Solar and wind power are the way of the future. If I had the land space I would buy my own turbine. I do agree though that we need to have enough demand for it,otherwise the resource costs are too high.
Thanks so much for including me in your roundup. I am honoured to be called one of your favourite bloggers.
Interesting about the renewable energy. It would be great to see continued efficiency increases in solar power. Wind in some areas may make sense, too, so long as it’s cost effective and not an eyesore on the landscape.
When it’s not cost-effective, it’s actually environmentally destructive, since it takes real resources to produce these turbines and install them.
agreed IIW that it would be great to see solar become more efficient.
Concerning wind power development, at least where we live, any company interested in developing a wind farm is going to spend years testing out a site before they decide to invest in the farm itself which they wont do unless its cost effective. As for eyesores-any company interested in developing wind energy must conduct formal public consultation as well as Aboriginal consultation so that is the time for the public and Aboriginal communities to voice their concerns about the projects and the company can offer alternatives…of course every province, state, country has their own methodology but in our neck of the woods it costs a lot of money to install wind turbines so company’s make sure its worth it and that the public living, working nearby (if any) won’t be protecting/ blockading their project