The Catholic Investor Gets Interviewed!

In the Greater Toronto Area, we are very fortunate to have a very vibrant Chinese Catholic community.  There is even a Chinese Catholic television program, called Fountain of Love and Life (FLL), that produces its own TV programs.  I was so very honoured to have been invited to do a little sharing in one of the upcoming episodes on this blog!  I actually just came back from the interview.

On it, I talked about ethical investing and the USCCB investing guidelines.  I also mentioned that one of the biggest pleasant surprises I've had were the readers (yep, that's you!) who have reached out to me and contacted me to say hi.  Among you, there are Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians, and I felt that this blog was a means of evangelization and ecumenical dialogue.  So, thanks to the Lord's grace and you, I'm still writing on this blog!  Feel free to drop me a line.  You can add me on Google+ (right side of this page) or email me.

If you are interested, you will likely be able to view the episode here: http://fll.cc/index.php/fll-tv/online-tv.  Unfortunately, the program is in Cantonese and has no English subtitles.  But at least you get to see my face!

I also wanted to thank all the staff at FLL for inviting me!  It was a blast!  God bless!

Merry Christmas!

2011 has been a crazy year for my family and me!  First, we sold out first house and moved into our second.  Then, we had our second child, Athan.  And as if we didn't feel like that was enough change, I changed jobs from ATS Automation to Ainsworth!  But I think these were all in God's grand plan for us.  We are thankful that we all made it alive and well!

There were also some bittersweet moments this year...and we are thankful for those as well.  I've always believed in the saying, "Bad things happen to good people to make them better."  Recently, I started to (re)-read the book of Job, after seeing an extended family member go through some very hard times over and over again.  I believe every Catholic/Christian should give Job a good read as it gives a biblical perspective into why God allows suffering in our lives.

Regardless, this is the season to remember that the battle has been won.  "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"  I wish you and your family a joyful and peaceful Christmas.  Thanks for your continued support in this blog.  I'm truly grateful!  Again, Merry Christmas!

+1 This Blog and Follow Me...Please!

Jumping onto to the social media bandwagon here...I've added 2 buttons on the right column on this blog.  The first one is the Google +1 button and the second is the Twitter Follow Me button.

I'm fairly certain most of you know what Twitter is by now.  Not everyone uses it, but most people know what it is and what it does.  The Catholic Investor has had a Twitter account for some time now, and I've set up Feedburner to automatically tweet a link to each post that I publish.  I am also going to start tweeting a little more.  Sometimes, I find that I have thoughts about investing, but it's either not long enough to justify a full post or I simply don't have time to write a post on it.  So, I'll just tweet my thought.  If you use Twitter, please follow me by clicking on the Follow button!

The other one is the Google +1 button.  What exactly is +1, you ask?  It's Google's way of "Liking" something (borrowing from Facebook).  With Facebook, you "like" something and it shows others that you enjoyed, say, another friend's picture or comment.  It's a short and sweet way of keeping in touch with a friend.  For example, I see my friend upload a picture on Facebook, but I don't really feel like writing a long winded comment.  So, I just "like" the picture.  He sees my "liking" and knows that I've enjoyed it.  The next time we meet up, we can talk about the picture and it's like we have already talked about the topic.

Google's +1 is a little bit more subtle and ingenious.  At first glance, it looks like a Facebook rip off, but it's more than that.  The "+1" phrase was developed by use in forums (I believe...or at least that's where I see it most).  When one forum member says something and another member agrees, he/she would reply with simply "+1" to convey that message.  It's like saying, there's 1 more person who agrees with this.  I think Google's engineers basically had this in mind, and wanted to use it to enhance its search results, which is its bread and butter.  I believe +1 will be hugely successful.

The reason is simple.  When I search for a topic, say, "Rule 1 investing", this blog shows up near the bottom of the first page.  This is due to Google's algorithm taking into account the number of incoming links and their quality, along with the contents of this web page.  Once +1 is fully launched and many people are using it, if my readers decide to +1 the site enough, the Google results will take that into account and bump up my ranking, because people have +1'ed it.  It makes +1ing actually useful to the many other users, including those you don't know, as opposed to the Facebook "like" button.  In the past, Google has always looked at the internet itself to determine the relevance of a site, neglecting the input of the countless internet users.  +1 is the single, easiest way of tapping into the collective wisdom of us users.  I'm hopeful that +1 will turn out to be the next breakthrough in Google Search!

So, won't you be so kind as to +1 this site?

I'm Still Alive!

Just in case any of you was wondering what happened to me...I'm still alive!  I was on vacation in Cuba last week.  I hope to be catching up on some writing later this week.  Please stay tuned!

The Catholic Investor is Getting Some Notice!

I've got some pretty cool news!  Just a few days ago when I published my post on Netflix, Google Finance decided to put a link to the post on its NFLX page (see image above).  I got about 100 hits from this link in one day.  I thought it was pretty awesome and wanted to share this with you.  That's it!  See you!

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of my family, I wish you a joyful and peaceful Christmas.  As the year winds down, I hope you can find the time to reflect on how gracious the Lord has been to you this year.  I know I've got a ton of things I need to be thankful for...including you!  I want to thank all of you for reading my posts.  If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to my feed (click here  Subscribe in a reader).

Again, have a wonderful Christmas!  May the Lord shower you and your family with His many graces in the new year!

Sick Leave for This Week

This winter has not been good to me so far.  I had my first round with the flu a few weeks ago, which eventually subsided.  It never really went away, but I was well enough to drive around Southern Ontario to attend various events such as baptisms, my company's kids' Christmas party, birthday parties, galas, etc.  With all these activities, coupled with the lack of a good night's rest, the flu decided to take me up on a second round.  So, here I am, behind in my work at work and work at school.  Unfortunately, the thing to be sacrificed would be my post for this week.  I will, however, keep my 10 week-10 analyses plan, but just offload this week's post to the future.  Please keep me in your prayers and do take care in this flu season.

For this week, I thought I'd share the following video with you from Google.  It's an inspiring video about the words that were searched in 2010.  They did a good job choreographing it.  Enjoy!

Would Love Your Feedback!

Hi Everyone!  I can't believe it's been more than a year since I first started this blog!  I've been doing much of the talking here and now, I'd love to hear from you!  Could you please kindly fill out this very, very short survey?  If you are so inclined, drop me an email as well at felix [at] felixwong.ca.  God bless!

Whew! Finally a Break!

Wow...I had a heck of 2 weeks!  At work, I'm working on a machine that manufactures blood testing cassettes for a major healthcare company (due to non-disclosure agreements, unfortunately, I cannot name the customer; otherwise, I would recommend you to look at it for investment prospects).  The machine is close to being shipped and so, we're in crunch mode.  At the same time, my term was coming to an end, which meant my final paper was also due (last Friday).

So, I finally handed in my paper last week and at the same time, it's tapering off a little bit at work.  It's one thing to pull long hours at work, and being able to relax at home, but quite another when you work for 12 hours and then go home to work some more, and repeat it for the rest of the week.  Anyway, now that most of that is behind me, and I have the summer of for school, I'm going to try kicking it up a notch on my efforts on this blog.  My aim is to publish 2-3 posts per week.  Now that I've published this goal, I will feel accountable for it.

So, watch for my next post in the next few days...Have a good week!

Don't Forget to Give Back!

Giving

A reader recently sent me a video on how fair trade is helping Kenyans improve their standard of living.  After watching the video, it really puts things into perspective.  In the video, one of the first things that was mentioned was that that many live on $1 a day.  That translates to $30 per month.  How easy it is for us to blow $30 on a single meal!  My wife and I brought our 11 month-old daughter to Burger King tonight and even with a coupon, we spent $11 on our meals (no, we didn't feed our little Adele a Whopper...just the two of us eating)!

While I advocate direct depositing part of your paycheck into a retirement investment account as a way of saving for retirement, I also think monthly donations to your favourite church/charity is an obligation that Christians should bear.  I'm not talking about tithing (giving one-tenth of your salary to the Church); rather, it's making a financial sacrifice, however small or large, to show our Christian charity to the less fortunate.  While not all of us have the freedom to volunteer to go on missionary trips or to distribute food to the needy, the very least we can do is put our money to work.  There is really no "right" amount to give, but I would think if you were to sacrifice one nice meal per month and donate that, it'd be a good start.  One of the great things about donating to a charity is that chances are, it's tax deductible!  So, go ahead, be generous!  Not only are you preparing yourself for a nice tax refund after April, you're also storing treasures for yourself in heaven!

Misconceptions About Catholics

Another reader, Karen, sent me a blog post that she had written about the misconceptions about Catholics.  I'd bet some of you have those misconceptions yourself!  Go ahead and give it a read!

Do You Have Extra Cash?

It's been an interesting day.  I got 2 emails from 2 separate readers and both were asking for help.  One was a publisher of Catholic material and one was a producer of Catholic films.  One was looking for investor capital to fund their ministry and the other was looking for contacts in starting a TV channel.  As much as I'd like to help, I'm just a young, poor Catholic guy struggling through life, but sharing my investing thoughts on this blog.  If you happen to be a super rich guy who wants to support a meaningful Catholic ministry, please let me know and I'll put you in contact with these 2 readers.  Thanks in advance!  If you are not super rich, maybe you can keep these 2 readers in your prayers and ask the Lord to bless their ministry.

I am truly amazed at what great things can be done on the web.  It really is able to connect people when used correctly.

By the way, the market has been on a tear!  If the S&P500 breaks 1150 by a good margin in the coming days/weeks, it'd be safe to say the bull market is still ON!  Keep your eyes open!

Augustine vs. the Pelagians

One thing that I love about this blog is that it is my blog!  I can pretty much post anything I want.  So, this is exactly what I want to do today.  It has nothing to do with investing!

As you may have noticed, I've been a little quiet for some weeks now.  It was mainly because I was slaving away at my assignment for my introductory course in the history of the early Church.  So, anyway, here it is in all its glory (update: it's proof-read - this is the version I will submit to my professor)!  It's a paper on Augustine's writing against the Pelagians.  If you have heard of neither, don't worry, wikipedia or newadvent.org will solve your problem.  In short, it's about St. Augustine's understanding of predestination and free will.  Enjoy!