Outcast

I'm feeling like an outcast. Defying the norm does kind of distance you from people. Reading some other blogs right now talking about emergency funds and trying to control spending. I don't have an emergency fund and can justify my not having one. I have enough in investments to cover a good portion of my expenses and usually have enough cash on hand to not have to worry about jobloss. Also there's a stunning lack of high end stuff in my life. Most of what I have is fairly basic, granted I have a lot of things that other people don't. A blog for one, a computer, a camera, granted not high-end ones. I'm contemplating a digital SLR though. For now my high end luxury item is my fork. There is just about enough metal in that fork to make a regular quality knife-fork-spoon place setting. The things that actually affect my livelihood though are few.
Also, trying to control spending... I don't have trouble with that. Stuff was just simply hard to replace and I've had to learn that I don't need to stress over little things, I can simply replace them.
So, do I comment on those blog posts, or do I come across as bragging?

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?

$514.70

I couldn't think of a good title for this post, but I was reading earlier that the average canadian has $514.70 left in their primary transaction account after all the bills are paid. How do I stack up? Frankly, I try to keep that under $10. Though in all practical sense, predicting my expenses with the accuracy to run with $500 less than average in my primary transaction account is worth about $15/year. Somehow it doesn't quite seem worth it. Then again, in my life what might happen to me? The car I don't own could get a flat tire and need replacement. Hmm, my computer could die and I'd have to patiently wait and plan the purchase of a new one. Umm, I could get sick and need medicine which I'll have to put on my credit card and move money out of my savings account to pay for. Maybe I'll think of something.
In other news, I'm once again rethinking my investment plans. Since September 23rd, my hypothetical portfolio of reits is down 16.34%, compared to 15.06% for the reit index I'd like to beat. Though I did out perform the TSX, which fell 18.37% in the same time period. The venture exchange has dropped almost that much in the past two days. The Dow though did a 8.28% drop, which is considerably better. The correlation data is valuable, though the current allocations no longer reflect the amount of money I anticipate I'll be able to invest. Granted there's still a heck of a lot of time for them to bounce around. Meh, it's completely hypotheical for now anyway. I'll defer decisions for when resources free up again.