Cash reaches an all time low

Earlier this week, I moved the bulk of my money into my trading account. Only now do I realize just how much it is. I have roughly $2.25 in the rest of my bank accounts. On average though, I think I do maintain a fairly high average balance, I'll guess that I clear my accounts every time I have 4-5K. As a rough estimate, I take in about 1k every pay day, so:
empty 2Weeks
1k 2Weeks
2k 2Weeks
3k 2Weeks
4k cleaned out to investing account
over the course of 8 weeks there's (1+2+3)x2 k weeks, units that'll make anyone cringe. So my average balance is $12k weeks/8weeks, weeks factor out leaving an average balance of $1.5k. If I could get an extra 1% return on my cash, I'd get an extra $15 a year. So, question of the day, how important is it to get the absolute best rate and how much are you willing to let slip by?

Peer Lending Thoughts

I saw an article that made me wonder about all the hype about peer lending that went on a while back. Apparently it has still yet to happen in Canada. I wonder when it'll materialize. I also wonder what will be deemed an acceptable interest rate for the highest credit score people. RioCan recently issued $180M of debt at 8.33%. I'm thinking that the average person is probably a higher default risk. Will people with good credit take 10%, 12% or more? I can hardly wait to see.

Do I Care More About My Cash Flows Or My Net Worth?

The interest rates on my loans float with the prime rate, however, the amount that I pay does not get adjusted. So, question of the moment, supposing the interest rate changes, how much do I care? Clearly I'm not completely indifferent about interest rate changes. For now I've gone heavy into equities and have done only the minimum for debt repayment. It's my general feeling right now that investments are going to have a greater return than debt repayment. Does this question really depend on how much free cash flow I have though? Again, it's hard to say. I've spent many hours trying to compute what would happen if I shifted more of my investments toward income again and used that money to invest. I also kind of have to reassure myself that going for net worth is the logical thing to do since I do have significant excess cash flow right now. It's a bit of a change from where I started.

Different perspective on yields and interest rates

While I was idly thinking about things at work one day, I came up with this simple idea. Why don't I stop thinking about interest in dollars and start thinking in terms of hours of work?
That lead me to 40hr x 3% = 1.2hr/year and eventually, I got to
100% of employment income = 1 year's pay/3% = 33 1/3 years
70% of employment income = .7/3% = 23 1/3 years
50% of employment income = .5/3% = 16 2/3 years
and in the last category, what I mean by 33 1/3, 23 1/3 and 16 2/3 years isn't that I'll need to work that long. I need to have the equivalent of that much money put away. Clearly this simplification does not include any investment growth or compounding of interest or that I won't be saving 100% of my income. So the point of all this math is that it looks interesting on screen. Whether you think in terms of dollars or how much hard work you put into getting them, the end calculation really doesn't tell you much. At least I sure hope I can get this all done and over with in less than 16 years.

General randomness

Today's random number is 1446. I have no idea how I got to that number, but hopefully it'll help me home in on my future financial freedom day. Ok, I'm actually estimating it based off my wage, market yields and estimated living expenses, but I have no methodology, I just pulled a number out of my head.
Anyway, I was having a little trouble with the market today. I found myself with only some of the data I usually get. Yes, it's the 4th of July and the US markets are closed, but I can't think of a decent reason why I don't see all the information I usually do on the Canadian markets. Yeah, that's my trouble with the markets today. I had trouble with access, no major losses or what not.
I also have a few predictions to make about the future. There are concerns about inflation and it seems to be getting a bit more news every time there's an interest rate announcement scheduled. I don't see interest rates going up nearly as quickly as they went down. That's going to be pinned down by fear of collapsing the economy. I hesitate to make a quantitative guess as to where interest rates will be a year from now. Maybe if I make a new guess each day for a week and take an average. That study really amuses me.

Busy day over, life continues as normal

My brother is moving to france for a year. Now there's even more furniture around here. It was a little mind opening for me. He packed the essentials into about a cubic meter and there's probably 10 cubic meters more stuff around here. I wonder how much space a minimalist amount of my stuff will take up.
In other news, the Bank of Canada has cut their target interest rate by a half percent. I haven't sat down to calculate what that means to me yet. Though it means I can accept a slightly lower return on my investments before paying off my loans becomes more profitable.
There's two other items in the news that I find worth yaking about right now. Hockey riot in Montreal. What is it about sports events and riots? What makes this more confusing is that Montreal won? Torching police cars might make sense in some kind of political outrage, but how many things can you celebrate with torching police cars? I hope someone they arrested is going to get billed for the damage.
The other thing that I want to talk about is Douglas Idugboe, author of Credit Miricle for Canadians. Last year, he was apparently making headlines for being wildly successful having millions after only seven years. He was known for saying things like, "Where you are today depends on the decisions you made yesterday." While correct, they reveal little to nothing about how to do anything. Well, according to the Calgary Herald, the decisions he made yesterday has resulted in him facing fraud charges today. Way to go, way to go...