Marketing Ploy of the Week Award: Goes to Upper Unionville developers, in the Arctic Circle of the GTA for 'warning' people not to line up to buy $1 million unbuilt homes this past weekend in -25 degree temps. It worked. They lined up in their cars. Things to remember? 'All offers are firm.'
Stocks laid an egg late last week. Finally. After fat gains in 2013 a correction’s overdue. The cause is almost irrelevant, but you can blame uncertain corporate earnings and the US Fed shrinking its stimulus spending. That’s elevating bond prices and sucking money out of emerging currencies and into the safety of American debt. The ensuing chaos there, plus slower growth in China, is rattling equity markets.
Whatever. It was bound to happen after a 30% romp last year. And the correction will run its course before stocks stabilize and grow again. That’s because the US recovery is as real as it is slow. Anyone who bets against it will wish they’d never read that doomer web site about crashing stocks or economic collapse. No locusts are on the way. Just a better opportunity to buy stuff when it’s on sale.
Now what are you going to do about it?
Most people you know will do nothing. They’re slaves to their houses, over-extended with no disposable income, or they’re stunned. Like Jenny. I tried to help her get organized last week. She’s got a $35,000 GIC making 2% and a condo with a mortgage. She hates risk, but bought her sky box with five per cent down last year, and is already underwater.
Let’s start fixing this, I said. ‘But I have no more money,’ she quavered. Don’t need any, I replied.
So we opened a self-directed RRSP, and transferred the GIC into it. That, I told her, is called a ‘contribution in kind.’ You don’t need cash to fill up a retirement plan, you can use assets. Then we opened a TFSA. ‘But I have nothing to put in there,’ she said, biting her lower lip. You will, I explained. By shifting that GIC into the RRSP you’ll be getting a tax refund of about $10,000, which we’ll stick into the tax-free account. Now instead of having $35,000, you’ll have $45,000 – all thanks to the elfin deity, F.
Then, because the GIC is redeemable, we’ll redeem the sucker. We’ll put seven grand into an ETF owning a basket of real estate trusts, paying a yield of 5% annually. We’ll stick eight into an exchange-traded fund owning Canadian and US preferred shares, with a dividend payment of 5.4%. Two thousand each is earmarked for ETFs owning baskets of government and corporate bonds (yields of 3.7% and 3.9%) and grand for a fund holding real-return bonds which pace inflation. ‘But there’s no inflation,’ Jenny said. ‘I read that on your pathetic blog.’ True enough, which is why these are cheap, but when it returns, you win.
The last fifteen will go into growth assets – six into an ETF holding the 60 biggest companies in Canada, and nine into one owning the 500 largest corps operating in the US. Let’s wait a bit, I said, and see if this truly is the correction I’ve been expecting. If so, we’ll buy at the appropriate point. If it rebounds for a while, we’ll sit in a money market fund paying basically the same as your GIC.
I told Jenny once we’d finished putting the plan together she’d have 40% of her money in relatively stable assets that paid her regularly to own them. That’s called ‘fixed income,’ I said. The rest, about 60%, would be more growth-oriented, well-suited to a 29-year-old self-employed IT contractor with no pension plan. And when the TFSA money arrives, we’d add it into the mix.
Not only that, but the plan turns a $35,000 GIC making 2% which was 100% taxable into $45,000 which should yield at least 7% on a long-term basis, growing completely tax-free. If Jenny does nothing else other than fund her TFSA ($5,500 a year) for the next 35 years and enjoys similar growth in both tax shelters, at 64 she’ll be a millionaire.
Hard to believe? Figure it out. Moving the $35,000 into the RRSP and achieving 7% growth turns that into $337,818 by 64. If Jenny left the money in a GIC at 2% (although rates will edge higher), it would total just $70,046. The TFSA, meanwhile, with the $10,000 tax refund seeding it, plus $5,500 yearly, invested in a balanced and diversified portfolio, will be $867,068 when Jenny retires. Her total is $1.2 million, of which 72% is tax-free.
What can prevent this? Jenny listens to her mom and uses the $35,000 GIC as part of a downpayment on a diseased semi in a dodgy but ‘emerging’ part of town. She fears risk, listens to the doomsters and clings to GICs, only to discover at 60 she can never retire. Jenny stays stunned, failing to understand how a simple, maligned GIC can kickstart a portfolio strategy.
Or, she ignores me. Billions do.
But I’ll not stop trying.
Faux Chateau Update
That over-sexed, over-hyped, 18000-square-foot Mississauga monstrosity (which doesn’t look like this photo) went to auction Sunday afternoon, with about 50 people paying $25,000 grand for the right to stand on marble floors in their socks and wave their paddles. After a few minutes, the thing was done. Once listed for $11 million, the whimsy sold for $6.2 million, about a million less than it cost the dingbat who built it.
As you know, we had a little contest to see which blog dog might come closest to the auction price. Cy said $6.88 while Marquis de Sale estimated $6.1. Penny Henny was close at $6.0 while Skube guessed $6.9 and Buy?Curious? offered $5.99. Shane suggested $6.5, but the guy who nailed it was KC, at $6.25. Thanks to all those who entered, and along the way heaped scorn upon the symbol of a suburban metropolis that taste passed by. If you email me, KC ([email protected]), you shall be rewarded. Unless you were the winning bid.
185 comments ↓
Can one invest in a TSFA for past year contributions if they have been living abroad and not paying taxes (but were citizens since the TSFA came into existence)?
FT non-residents, no. PT non-residents with ties, likely. — Garth
Listen to Garth Jenny!
#153 bentoverpayingtaxes on 01.26.14 at 2:10 pm
You’re on a roll. What’s Richmond like?
The Mississauga 18k square foot monstrosity you wrote about a few days ago is being auctioned now, Sunday aft. Follow @ddale8 who is live tweeting from the auction!
For those interested in understanding the mechanics of rebalancing Andrew Hallam wrote a great post on this.
http://andrewhallam.com/2013/05/canadian-divorcee-in-singapore-finds-her-investment-wings/
I highly recomend his book as well.
Rob
From the movie Forrest Garth:
Jenny: Why are you so good to me?
Forrest Garth: You’re my girl!
Jenny: I’ll always be your girl.
That’s the least she owes you for saving her Garth.
Good work, another soul retrieved.
Keep it up.
God, I wish that I could understand all that stuff.
Thanks Garth for response to post # 1
Just because Government approved Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg reports trumpet the US recovery, doesn’t mean it’s true.
The first round of taper didn’t work, the second round will be worse.
Just like any Casino, what you win today in the stock market, you’ll lose it all back later.
Some people should stick to real estate forecast.
Sorry about that gold thingy. — Garth
“billions do”
I like hubris. Hyperbole not so much. You are out by a factor of 2000 for the numbers who have even the most remote notion of who you are.
I still check in every day, though.
They still ignore me. Hyperbole trumps humourless. — Garth
The US real estate experience in six real examples
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/business/the-tale-of-a-house-and-an-entire-market.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=MostEmailed&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article
Halifax realtors are using realtor speak/logic to herd the last of the sheep into ownership.
http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-real-estate-house-rental-Would-you-like-to-have-14-000-in-your-pocket-W0QQAdIdZ561980771
Don’t worry, a blog dog was on the guard and a balanced opinion was presented.
http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-real-estate-house-rental-Dont-throw-away-your-money-on-home-ownership-Rent-W0QQAdIdZ562068463
Keep trying Garth, you got me listening but my friends don’t have the time or patience.My tfsa is growing while my silver and gold is idle …..The fear bought the rocks I guess, but your blog has provided a needed alternative view.
In our tfsa do you like any brand of etf’s? I shares has been what I’ve bought what is the best American prefered, and growth etf any thoughts.
Hey Garth
Good call on the market correction but any thoughts on if this is the beginning of a bear market like 99-03 or just a short term dip?
I took profits earlier and am sitting on quite a bit of cash.
Rob
Now why would there possibly be a bear market with steady recovery taking place? — Garth
@2
But if the majority of financially un-savvied remain oblivious to Garth’s teaching, doesn’t that mean that stocks will remain cheap or fair? Which is good for us hard-working ants? That last thing we need is people bidding up stocks and make it more expensive.
Although a crash after irrational exuberance will also mean stocks will be on sales.
Wow Garth, I am impressed by your acumen leveraging up that pathetic portfolio. Every house horny should be posting this to their stainless steel fridge door.
What sort of fee would Jenny have paid for this advice?
Alwyn
How much did you just pay? — Garth
somewhere in the mid teens?
new 900sf bung on our street. 650k. new basement due to flooding in July. two years ago they were 480. In two more years, anyone who owns real property (land) in the GTA will be a millionaire!
Garth, you should make a nice little graphic on this then email it to that pumper humper Cam Good.
Numero quatro weirdos ….hooah !!!
153 bentoverpayingtaxes on 01.26.14 at 2:10 pm
“Eaglebay on 01.26.14 at 9:10 am
Now, how about Surrey?”
the town center of Whalley looks like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie……only the violence in movies isn’t real…..in Whalley people really get killed….a lot.
========================================
This is no exaggeration. I was standing in a pretty full McDonald’s in Surrey one lunch time. Two 20-something guys ahead of me in line were arguing about payment of a debt. The apparent debtor had a pony tail. The aggrieved creditor suddenly grabbed him by the pony tail while kicking his feet out from under him. The creditor then calmly dragged the debtor by his hair across the floor of the restaurant past the goggle-eyed patrons and out the door. He then dragged the unfortunate under the restaurant window and demonstrated his skills at punching and kicking. By this time I was on the cellphone to the Surrey police. All they wanted to know was,”Had I seen a weapon?”. The aggressor left and the victim limped away while I naively waited 30 minutes for the police to show. They never came or even phoned. Just another day in Surrey. Remember, property virgins, there is a reason RE is cheaper in Surrey.
Garth,
GREAT POST!! Hope Jenny listens.
Maybe dump her skybox at some point, too.
I listened to you.
At least from a distant US perspective.
Reduced RISK added more fixed income stuff.
I now sleep better when the markets have their inevitable hiccups.
Heard the surgery has been done. Hope things are now on the mend, the discomforts tolerable. This too, will pass.
Garth, excellent plan for young Jenny! Jenny, what Garth said about contributing $5500.00 yearly (the amount could rise with inflation, as it started at $5000) is very, very important. Just my opinion, but the TFSA is the best personal savings vehicle ever offered to Canadians, keeping in mind that I also used RRSP’s the same way Garth advises to use them, and they paid me back big time. Jenny, the ability to delay self-gratification today is rare, which is sad, as this discipline is what makes one financially secure.
Jenny, Garth is wise, balance, diversity, liquidity is where it’s at, listen to Garth, and Jenny, I never have debt, but I see that you do, feels terrible doesn’t it? Jenny, remember this, Freedom First.
As per @ddale8, reporter for the star
@ddale8: Mississauga house sells for $6.2 million, less than it cost to build, $4.8 million under its former listing price.
1/26/2014. 3:48pm
So own some gold too?
Garth Says:
“and grand for a fund holding real-return bonds which pace inflation. ‘But there’s no inflation,’ Jenny said. ‘I read that on your pathetic blog.’ True enough, which is why these are cheap, but when it returns, you win.”
Thanks for the straight-forward advice Garth! I spread the gospel every chance I get, and these posts are well laid out and easy to understand for the unenlightened.
Now if i can only convince the wife’s cousin to not buy that $700k glorified townhouse in Calgary….
Dear Garth.
Am afraid of the markets after getting burned a few years back but see no alternative but to dive back in at some point.
Am in my mid 40s and only have 120g to show for it with no pension coming and no real estate ……LOL
I can afford to put that tiny marbleage to work and never tap into it.
I’ve been reading your blog for years now and the ballance thing i do get.
Is there any ideas you could give me to get jump-started as far as how much of that minuscule marbleage should stuff into growth etfs and how much into safe stuff.
Also, is there another blog as reputable as yours to read a little more on this subject.
Thank you very much in advance bushy one.
Oh, when do you think might be a sign that the bottom has hit after this impending market correction we now see??
Cheers all.
Garth, I live in Markham and I can’t believe people would pay over 900k for a 42 foot lot 2 garage for a 2000 ft house, that’s almost $500 dollars a sqft and it only cost the builder about $100 sqft to build. I think the York Region area needs to come down about 30 percent and Unionville at least 40 percent.
Great post!
When a minor turns 18 can they drop $31k in a TFSA and continue adding in every year?
No. In the year a person turns 18 they begin to accumulate room. — Garth
Judging from the photos of the “New U”, it looks like the developers are trying to find the new HAM’s.
We have been renting a tiny nice house apt for 6 years paying only 15% of our income into it. Our investment portfolio almost 200gs. Baby is on the way and we are getting a larger place with washer/dryer/dishwasher/extra rooms and two bathrooms! Going to now pay 30% of income. Not getting house horny, just reasonable I guess.
Very helpful post for many out there.
I see you mention the XRE (real estate ETF) and XIU (Tsx60 listed ETF). The XIU is brilliant with its extremely low 0.17% MER, and is probably the most liquid “stock” on the market with over $12 billion in assets. I loaded a chunk of this one on the pullback Friday for family – XTR. A diversified “fund of funds” that holds REITS, utilities, dividend growers, preferred, all types of bond risk, etc. The 0.56% MER beats the pants off of your local banks 1.5% MER on their mutual funds with similar holdings. Oh, and you can be completely liquid in seconds for the price of a $9.99 in a self-directed trading account.
Why Britons cant have 40 year fixed rate mortgages
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/10594494/Why-Britons-cant-have-40-year-fixed-rate-mortgages.html
Garth I run my businesses, ain’t the best at the paper work side of thing’s but a great tradesman. I have done a lot like rented, I wish I was getting that help like jenny one on one because I have read your blog for awhile but the putting things in action have not occurred maybe need more time understanding or this investing stuff is not my cup of tea, enough about my bs how are you feeling now?
It’s been a relatively easy ride when you’re pumping trillions into existence. (from a balance sheet of $870B in August 2007 to $4.4T by the wind down of QE.)
Many markets/ prices are badly distorted and out of sync; no matter how the plausible peddlers justify their juiced bets.
In a world addicted to CB intervention, all the hand holding since announcing the taper, the advanced warning and denying that tapering is not tightening does little to console the addicted…
Investors Have Been Bailing Out Of The Emerging Markets For The Last 13 Straight Weeks:
http://www.businessinsider.com/emerging-market-fund-flows-jan-24-2014-1#ixzz2rXjhiGPx
Thank you for your response!
———————————-
Great post!
When a minor turns 18 can they drop $31k in a TFSA and continue adding in every year?
No. In the year a person turns 18 they begin to accumulate room. – Garth
Love you Garth, you’re the best.
This might be your best blog post yet, because it’s probably going to save a ton of virgins from committing real-estate and retirement suicide.
Thanks so much for everything you do here: comedy, education and personal empowerment via financial insight :-)
I hope you are feeling a lot better and that the everything is going smoothly with the leg healing.
Re: #14 Rob on 01.26.14 at 4:21 pm
A simple question and of course the answer is the bear market rally is over. We’re still in a bear market and have never been out of it. We’re still in the bear market that started with the dot com crash. Now you’ll see the full brunt of the bear with the biggest crash in history early this April.
Stocks up 160% in four years. What a bear market. — Garth
Hold onto that prize Garth… Daniel Dale seems to be questioning if the house actually sold?
Twitter: Daniel Dale @ddale8
I asked the woman who bought the house if she bought the house. She said “no.”
1:04 PM – 26 Jan 2014
#27 Jan,
If you re-read the above post and take note of the numbers allocated to each type of fund, you’ll be able to figure out the asset allocation.
If you really are an avid reader, you somehow skipped over the November 6, 2013 blog post where he gave this general guideline:
“For example, if you had 60% exposure to growth assets (Canadian, US and international stocks, as well as REITs, all owned through diversified ETFs) and 40% safe stuff (various bonds and preferreds) you’re ahead about 9% this year.”
There are more posts on this subject on this blog. Re-read and take NOTES, and follow-up with the sections on rebalancing and tax advantages.
And as shown in the example above, you don’t have to go all-in all at once. The most important part is to save regularly and consistently, diversify, and rebalance.
If you are still confused after following the above advice, read the Couch Potato guy for more insight on index investing.
#27 Jan,
After further thought…I think you should contact Garth and get him to help you. You’ve probably got a sizeable enough stack of cash to make it worthwhile to both you and him. At 1% (I believe), his rate is very reasonable.
Besides, it’s one thing to know the basics, but another to have the guts and wits to decipher economic data and make judicious buying and selling decisions. Noone gets it right all the time, but a pro is better equipped to handle the ups and downs in a profitable manner.
The advantage for you is that probably make sizeable gains while learning from a pro :-) Good luck!
DanielDale @ddale8 3h
I am here at the auction of an 18,000-sq-foot Mississauga house. More than 50 people here. $25,000 to register.
50x25k=1,250,000
How much of this goes to the builder?
$6.2 million selling price, the closing costs must be another 1 million.
Builder ends up with a tidy profit!
Unsuccessful bidders get their deposits back. — Garth
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/427545112718360576
@ddale8: The auctioneer was not thrilled with the sale price. He suggested that the competing bidders join forces and move in together.
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/427547584366780416
@ddale8: I asked the woman who bought the house if she bought the house. She said “no.”
#40 Cici on 01.26.14 at 6:45 pm
Very soon, I’m going to start asking you for financial tips/advice Cici. ;)
Keep on the good work….some of us are listening.
Best,
HD
Short Natural Gas
Check out the Realtors twitter for word on whether 2290 Saxony Crt has sold or not:
Sam does NOT indicate a sale.
https://twitter.com/McDadi
So just to turn Cam Goods advice on its head. Sell your car, buy RRSP with it, then get a tax refund and and sink it into your TFSA and in time you are a debt free liquid millionaire with 75% of your income untaxed.
Do the same with you condo and it goes from $275k to $550k assuming RE continues at 7% for the next 30yrs which it can’t.
Gee this is so hard to choose.
Thanks for not answering my question on #27.
How about this one…Can i shove my tsfa tough to rrsp as above and create 10 geez viola as described by your post?
(a) No specific asset advice to people I don’t know. (b) Yes, but the money cannot be replaced for a year. — Garth
#28 shane
Get a degree in urban land economics.
Take a course in construction estimating.
….in the meantime we’d like to know your thoughts on open heart surgery.
Come on Shane. …make us laugh.
Some pics from today’s mississauga mansion auction:
https://twitter.com/BuzzPR_TO/status/427535564041371648
https://twitter.com/yhdragonball/status/427217988949786624
http://instagram.com/p/jhIA3ZMP9f/#
Those bond funds don’t have anything close to a 4% YTM unless you’re exposing Jenny to severe duration risk.
Good advice in general, but glossing over a point like that make you seem disingenuous.
That, of course, is the distribution yield. — Garth
Long time reader first time emailer. Where did Vulture go?
In all seriousness, I would like to learn more about investing but know there is a lot of info out there, could you give some pointers on where to start and how to become someone well informed enough to make this into a job?
Me thinks this post will help many. Thanks for what you do here Garth. How long before therapy begins? Hope you are 100% soon.
#44 HD
Thanks for the compliment, but seriously, the best investment advice I can give you is to go to an expert that you can TRUST, like our wise bearded one :-)
It’s ok Garth no offence taken about the gold stuff. I own just enough as an insurance policy since we don’t really know what the end game of having all the major Central Banks around the world printing money at the same time since it never happened before in history. That being said, I respect your faith in Governments and pro Wall Street Criminals insight (not much of a difference nowadays) and I really think you have amazing insight when it comes to real estate.
Cheers,
PJ
(a) No specific asset advice to people I don’t know. (b) Yes, but the money cannot be replaced for a year. — Garth
Thanks for the reply.
Not to irritate you any further, could i just put my money form any account to that rrsp and have that 10k created, and what if i haven’t been working for a while, does that matter?
Thanks again sir.
RRSP room is carried forward indefinitely. Qualifying assets you personally own can be used for a contribution in kind. — Garth
Hi Garth…like your blog because it is highly amusing. While you’re bang on with some things, you are completely off about others. If you think there is an economic recovery in the US, you’ve been smoking the same bong as the mainstream media. No inflation?! Ask that to the millions who pay more and more every day for everything. Since 1971, the value of our currency has declined by 75%. Since the early 20th century, it has declined by 97%. While she may have made 1.2 mill, that will not be enough to retire in 34 years at the current rate of inflation (which, according to Shadowstats is currently around 10% in the US).
However, we are currently in a deflationary period (more to point, stagflation – rising consumer prices with deflationary asset pressures). The only reason the stock markets are up is because investors are looking for yield. Yes, QE has helped this. Also, US currency will continue to climb as investors move to the only still safe currency. It is called capital flows – in other words, follow the money. When investors can’t find yield, they move their money around the globe, which is very easy to do today. They also move from public to private. Stocks will not continue to rise forever, although, they will continue to reach new highs at least until 2016.
The US gov’t, and by extension, CDN gov’t, are looking for cash to payoff their ever enlarging debts and are taxing everything. The US has even gone so far as to say that any entity that holds any capital owned by a US citizen will be fined for not reporting them. Swiss banks are giving up the farm to the IRS. This is called socialism – take all the money you can from the people until they have nothing left to give. Eventually, these policies will implode and the system (of gov’t funding programs by debt) will crash. This is sooner than you think – look at Argentina, Venezuela, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus. France is in deep do-do. Britain is not far behind. Etc, etc.
The depression is all yours. Enjoy. — Garth
what? $25000 just to participate in the auction? I don’t understand.
Refundable registration fee. To keep the riff-raff from this blog away. — Garth
I guessed 6 million.
You know all that stuff we hear about the elite ‘1%’?
it’s less-
http://www.voanews.com/content/oxfam-85-wealthiest-people-own-as-much-as-half-the-worlds-population/1834791.html
Garth u wrote the “safety of us debt”
Man u are hilarious
What you put into US Treasuries will always be paid back in full unlike, say, gold. — Garth
Pancaked MERs?
groovin123 at 32 said:
I loaded a chunk of this one on the pullback Friday for family – XTR. A diversified “fund of funds” that holds REITS, utilities, dividend growers, preferred, all types of bond risk, etc. The 0.56% MER beats the pants off of your local banks 1.5% MER on their mutual funds with similar holdings. Oh, and you can be completely liquid in seconds for the price of a $9.99 in a self-directed trading account.
************************************
Not sure you taking into account the MERs of the funds that XTR holds, you said it was fund of funds. Is 0.56% the total MER or just what XTR layers on?
I hope you are feeling better, sir garths a lot. I’m surprised you can put two sentences together while on meds. Congrats. Take note, Smoking Man. THAT’S how it’s done.
bentoverpayingtaxes, you win for best posts ever!
There were some good ones yesterday!!!
The US recovery is not real, it is phony and based on monetary interventions by the fed. Even the most modest tapering is showcasing the shaky pillars it is based on.
The “recovery fever” you hear about on CNBC is nothing more than a bad acid trip.
“That’s because the US recovery is as real as it is slow.”
___________________________________________
OK, Garth: How can you state such (or similar!) with any degree of certainty, … considering that the economic data has been eroded by decades of ongoing “methods alterations” which have distorted – by now most grossly, all statistics to the point where no reliably accurate data is available (or believable!) for a critical evaluation of, … say: inflation, growth, output, unemployment, debt, et al? Just curious, …
F.S. – Calgary, Alberta.
Because my portfolio tells me so. You wait for collapse. I make money. — Garth
SMan — Nick Mason found some New Memories, and may have one final fling together, ‘tho this would be The Final Cut. Unfortunately, Syd and Rick are still a little dead! Roger Waters’ parents before / during WW2.
Thanks for not stopping trying. You’re a mensch.
Garth,
You mention in this article that she invested some money in “ETFs owning baskets of government and corporate bonds (yields of 3.7% and 3.9%)”
I’m just wondering if there is a difference between these and other bond funds out there that you warned about previously that could get people into trouble in an environment where interest rates only have one way to go(e.g. bond prices fall as yields rise)
All bonds and funds made up of them are rate-sensitive. But there seems little threat of much movement, and bonds perform a valuable stabilizing influence. Investors with diversified and balanced portfolios should not worry about trying to have everything rise at the same time. Not the point. — Garth
#7 Min in Mission: “God, I wish that I could understand all that stuff.”
******************
You’re not alone…and that’s why we have Garth.
Garth: re: your comments to #9 and #38
It all depends on what time series you choose.
Anyone who bought physical gold before the Panic of 2008 is well ahead. Today’s price (Jan 26) for 1-ounce gold Maple Leafs is C$1,371.66, which is Kitco’s buying price. https://online.kitco.com/sell/gold-silver-CAD.html Please note that the Canadian mass media quote the US price for electronic futures contracts, but Canadians don’t buy them. They buy real physical gold in loonies.
Anyone who bought stocks on the TSX when it was 15,000 before the Panic still hasn’t recovered their initial investment.
None of my oil income has faltered. Wish I could say the same for some of the paper investments
If you did not sell gold at $1,900 you have no advice to offer. — Garth
Just popped out for some milk here @Bloor/Yonge. Got a “Spare some change?” from a Canada Goose wearing expedition parka. Sure give you $5 for your coat. Guess this is the lesson of illiquid…
#13 stuckinsurrey: “Keep trying Garth, you got me listening but my friends don’t have the time or patience….”
********************
I’m still reading ‘One Summer, America 1927’.
And trust me when I say this — history repeats and we never learn. We just keep making the same mistakes over and over and over…
“Because my portfolio tells me so. You wait for collapse. I make money. — Garth”
________________________________
Now! Now! Are we being a bit presumptuous? No? :)
No harm, … I was actually being serious. Curious. Hoping for unearthing more knowledge, …
Cheers,
F.S. – Calgary, Alberta.
Garth, please read John Hussman to understand why you are very wrong about investing. I am sure that your intentions are good and you give some great advise, but for those that are buying now, there will be a lot of pain. This is one of the worst times in history to invest. Looking at your portfolio you can see paper gains. Selling is what turns it into profit even CRA know that.
Thank you for the amusing blog.
It’s made much more amusing with comments like yours. When you understand what ‘balance’ and ‘diversification’ mean, do return. – Garth
Garth,
Good post. Good for Jenny for having saved up some dough but she needs to save hard to get to retirement and keep it up.
Interesting view on real-return bonds though. Although they will help out in higher-inflation times, gov’t CPI is far below actual cost inflation for families.
Thanks,
MC
Garth, thank you for the financial asset allocation information.
Lighten up on the meds Garth
So, I cannot decide if I like the post more, or if I prefer the clever, somewhat rhetorical (scotch fueled?) responses provided by the host to some of the comments.
Either way, please keep it coming.
I prefer being a DIYer.
I did not have success using a financial advisor. I could never identify the value-added provided by the advisor. I could not justify the fees. In the long term the fees consume a large portion of the portfolio.
Then you chose badly. — Garth
35k. Wooppie shit
Bull markets last 5 years, almost to the day. Guess how long this one has lasted?
The ride down will be much faster than the ride up, but have no fear, Garth and the mainstream media will be comforting you all the way down.
US recovery is a fiction. 60% of 2013 market gains due to corporate buybacks. Solid market fundamentals if ever there were right Garth?
Where did all these weenies come from? — Garth
I think some of the comments people have zerohedge.com listed just above greaterfool.ca in their favorites.
Garth, can u tell us what ware the ETFs and funds you recommend for her?
No. — Garth
Yawn. More ETF talk. Like I said before Garth, ETF’s are a conservative strategy more suited for older and less risk averse people. Not saying it’s a bad strategy, but being a millionaire at 64 doesn’t get most people aroused. I’m confused why you don’t tell a 29 year old to go into some individual stocks that have what you preach. If your portfolio consisted of 5-10 individual stocks such as a bank, REIT, Tech, Energy or Pipeline Stock, Utilities, Telecom, and a speculative stock, you can get more than a 6-7% annual return. You put your neck on the line for your housing call but when it comes to investing it seems you are scared to get burned.
I am so glad you’re not an advisor. — Garth
or, may you should (send the reward to the winning bid) !
True detectives, new show, Wood Haralson, Matthew Mconokey.
Brilliant writing is all I’m saying :)
If we were playing by” The Price is Right” Rules, my $6.1 million guess woulda taken the showcase! Elfin Diety…come onnn dowwwnnnn!
Garth- thank you for this post. You truly are a master in altruism, helping others even in your time of recovery.
I will be maxing out my RRSPs again this year. Why? As a self-employed business owner, it’s cheaper to pay into my RRSPs than to pay for ‘work insurance.’ If ever an accident happens or work dries out, I can dip into them. And the tax return goes into the TFSA of course. Balanced portfolio, like you said…except with about 5% to play on penny stocks or individual stocks. This is money that I can afford to lose so I call it ‘fun money’. So far, no losers yet. Hope it stays that way this year.
Stocks down commodities up….simple as that, you know where to invest, open your eyes. Even SM knows it. Yellow and shiny.
Man alive, I can’t believe how many people still don’t believe in a US recovery. Are they fudging employment numbers, port, railroad and truck traffic, housing starts, sales and prices, sales and income tax receipts, sales, profits…
A few nutbars probably believe that, yes, the great ones are indeed fudging all those numbers, while a vast cohort believe that, though the numbers are reasonably accurate, they’re all “fake” because of the Fed’s easy money policy. Modulating the economy is the Fed’s JOB. They’ve been getting better measuring it, controlling it and communicating their actions since before I was born. How are the wages and spending of a man employed as a result of Fed easing any less real in the economy than the spending of a man who would have been employed even with neutral Fed policy?
Now who brings up John Hussman and asks Garth to read him? Hussman is an active investor with a brilliant mind and a brilliant writing style. Garth, for all his opinions about North American macro, advocates a passive investing style; pick a long term asset allocation representing a fundamentally optimistic view of the world, and rebalance periodically.
Much as I enjoy reading Hussman, I can’t understand his portfolio. His flagship and oldest fund, “Strategic Growth,” is 99.1% in common stocks, many of the growth or cyclical persuasions, 1.8% in put options, 35.9% in money market funds, and (-37.4%) in unearned written call option premiums. Is this a tax thing for long term holders? He seems perfectly positioned to capture none of the upside and none of the downside of these stocks, with expensive put options and fees constantly gnawing away at any returns that might accidentally be made. I suppose that’s his plan; he expects a crash, so wants to insure against it. Problem: Markets are going up, and his investors are missing the boat.
What’s the point of gruelling analysis to pick fancy growth stocks, then hedging away all the downside AND the upside? Why not just buy some dividend stocks or high grade corporate bonds and be done with it?
#88 carpicker on 01.26.14 at 10:57 pmStocks down commodities up….simple as that, you know. ow where to invest, open your eyes. Even SM knows it. Yellow and shiny.
…….
Dude I have 5 safety deposit boxes in 5 banks, assortment of coins, and mellow yellow, doomsday hedge.
It’s a shit Community to trade with.
I like forex, and options. Invented a new indicator, combo of boulanger bands, and something else.
That knowledge is not free or for sale.
But I might get hammered one day and split the beans.
Way to go Jenny. And Garth.
She sounds like a smart one.
The message is working.
Is it just me or are the ladies leading the way on fixing finances?
As for the correction. If folks were buying the cheap stuff at the end of last year they are doing just fine.
Speaking of cheap. Is RETAIL therapy in the eft store that pays me on special?
#83 should be: Saskatoon-Living?
SM go with Anthology. You’re incapable of doing it any other way.
Garth won’t specify or recommend particular ETFs, but I’m guessing these ETFs would work for Jenny’s profile:
(35k investment)
7k – ETF REIT (VRE, ZRE)
8k – US/CA prefs (ZPR)
2k – gov bonds (VSB)
2k – corp bonds (VSC)
1k – real-return bonds (XRB, ZRR)
6k – CA equities (XIU)
9k – US equities (XUS)
That look about right?
Must be snowing across Canada tonight, or else all the flakes descended to this blog. Ho-Hum back another day.
No More HAMlicopter this time. Chinese New Year is coming up and Chinese banks are “frozen” solid. Well, only small drip, drip, drip is allowed … proverbial ancient Chinese touture.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-bank-transfer-halt-only-for-small-amounts-2014-01-26
Make sure you follow the link there to see Gordon Chang’s other article(s): http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-halts-transfers-at-citi-other-banks-report-2014-01-26?siteId=
What they can get from the ATMs won’t be enough gas money for Cam Good’s feel good HAMlicopter tours.
Not racist … I am Chinese myself.
#89 Ralph Cramdown on 01.26.14 at 11:22 pm
Man alive, I can’t believe how many people still don’t believe in a US recovery. Are they fudging employment numbers, port, railroad and truck traffic, housing starts, sales and prices, sales and income tax receipts, sales, profits…
——————————————————-
In one word yes…..most of them are fudged. That’s why it’s called fraud and the US Banks in NY and the US Govt commit it everyday. Banks have paid 100 BILLION in fines ( cuz its Just Us not justice) because they don’t go to jail for laundering and committing fraud for drug cartels, terrorists and selling phony mortgage paper.
http://financearmageddon.blogspot.ca/2014/01/harry-dent-2014-coming-great-deflation.html
I believe Harry Dent because he presents real facts that are a biological certainty (wrinklies) which were first introduced to me by Garth.
They also talk about aliens on that show which our household also believes in because there is tons of proof. Funny? Tin foils are we? Your probably also against the Quebec govt banning “religious” head dress and symbols for dudes that walk on water and fly around on horses 1000 miles to Mecca in one night. Anyone got any proof of those dudes? Yeah….exactly.
50 people get murdered in Toronto a year usually by the gun.
Thousands get murdered by torchure and poverty by a pen and a demented belief system
impregnated by the teacher, the TV and parents who all can not
think critically.
When I see hundreds of people at Union station staring at the TV to see what track the train will be on. Even when unless it’s yellow, it will always be on the same track.
Tells me mortals are stupid. They live in fear, and will only take ques from authority figures. Never tapping there oun minds, there little voice inside the head who’s toungs gave been torn from the root by the machine.
So much to teach so little time.
#91 SM
Cameltoe at $185 so obvious a blind Bat can see it.
The machine feeds on ignorance. XTR 700m market cap and how much in GICs again?
How’s the leg doing?
Thank you for that post Garth. Wanted to add, if it is the shifter leg that is bummed out for riding season, you could always go down to your local custom shop and make the bike into a hand shifter. Just make sure it doesn’t sit higher than the tank, don’t need to risk it poking you should a realtor try to take you head on with a KIA.
87 Uh oh – as a business owner, you are doing it wrong. You put pre-tax money in the RRSP (never see the refund) and you use the extra for investing now, not next year.
http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-us-20-2013-2013-11#12-the-future-of-housing-is-renting-48
note: usa business insider report: source: Census
The future of housing is rental.
Garth or anyone, I have a stock in my margin account that has gained 100% over the past few years. My 25k is about 50k now with it. Can I transfer it in kind to my Rrsp and then avoid the 25k capital gains tax?thanks
I thought one is supposed to focus on yield to maturity for bonds, not distribution yield…?
YES! GARTH! I get an hounarable mention in the body of the post! In your face, Armchair Economists! Suck it old people who start their comments with “Back in my day…” or the equivalent. And you know where your dinner hangs (in my case, it’s an appetizer) to dudes like Bigrider whose smug dismissive comments are about as useful as lips on a chicken.
It feels like I’ve been nominated for a Oscar. Even though I didn’t win, it’s an honour just to be recognised. I’d like to thank Smoking Man, Ralph Cramdown, Beach and Amazon Girls and of course, our host, Mr Garth Turner! The Greastest PM Canaduh never had!
What a way to start the week! Ladies, sparkling wine and a 12 person hottub at Casa de Buy?Curious? “Cmon in! The water isn’t the only thing that’s hot.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZusfazdV548&list=LLk-QX2_dmgB80NUxaDote6w&feature=mh_lolz
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-halts-transfers-at-citi-other-banks-report-2014-01-26
Oad Chinese pwaverb say when Yuan get fwew evweeone die.
Happy New Year !!
#61 Shaun – In regards to XTR, small correction it’s actually a 0.57% MER but that is the absolute total. It is weighted 50-50 to bonds and equities so it errs slightly towards the elder investor. I am only 35 so personally I am weighted 80-20 towards equities.
As for my favourite rock….
” If you did not sell gold at $1,900 you have no advice to offer. — Garth ”
I missed the mid-term top by a couple hundred bucks I must admit, selling in the Spring before that late-Summer ramp – but I have re-loaded aggressively around the $1200 level since what I would consider the bottom last June. No doubt gold will smash through $1,900 and for that matter $19,000 given our currency system but the question is when? Gold bulls like to brag about buying the bottom in 2000 but the fact is you would’ve made a tonne more buying the bottom in Apple.
OFF TOPIC, but I need a reply here. I am hearing about people having trouble withdrawing large amounts (like $100,000++) from their TFSA (yes, some people have made huge gains) getting flack from the taxman, and brokerages being fined? I can only assume people have been stuffing huge amounts (way over the limit) of money into their TFSAs and swallowing the 1%/month penalty “aware” of huge gains to be had in the near-future? They can’t honestly be going after people that just happened to get lucky with an investment, such as a junior mining stock that hit it big time or something like that?…. Someone please add to this. Garth?
Stocks up 160% in four years. What a bear market. — Garth
Yet we’ve had “emergency” rates that whole time. What’s the emergency if we are in one of the largest bull markets in history? Not only that, we’ve followed that up with QE1, QE2 AND QE3. I think most people on here understand that the investor class has recovered. However, for that 70% of the U.S. economy, the consumer, to be reflected in stocks we would need to see top line revenue growth acceleration. That hasn’t happened. What has occurred is companies are manipulating their stock price through historically high buyback programs. Smart move given how flush they are with cheap money. There is no bear or bull market in a traditional sense, only a centrally planned market at this point.
I could accept the idea of America in recovery if I could understand one thing. The interest payments on the $17 trillion dollar debt that’s growing by the day.
If interest rates go back to normal the amount they pay will eat up the budget. So how can they pay down debt or continue with paying less then 2%?
If the rate goes back to 6% America is wiped out. It will need a 40% reduction in living standards caused by much higher taxes and/or much higher inflation.
Please state a 3rd way if there is one. Please…
But in 30 years time a house in upper-upper-uppa-Unionville (aka Barrie) will cost $4 million?
(And the same amount of mutual fund feed paid by bigarider during this time period, too.)
Is continuing globalization the scourge of deflation?
Mish: Deflation Will Return: Europe First, Then US; Global Supply Arbitrage…
http://tinyurl.com/k96dfdw
Marc to Market: Fragile Monday…
http://tinyurl.com/lxscnf9
We’ll just allow global companies to reshape economies worldwide because they know best and wouldn’t just act in their own self interest.
Would they?…
“Those bond funds don’t have anything close to a 4% YTM unless you’re exposing Jenny to severe duration risk.
Good advice in general, but glossing over a point like that make you seem disingenuous.”
“That, of course, is the distribution yield. — Garth”
Garth, I have no argument with your recommendations. But like the other writer, I do not understand why you would quote the distribution yield. That is not what the investor will realize, long term. For bond funds, I don’t know why anyone even looks at the distribution yield, when the YTM is so much more meaningful. Could you explain?
Thanks for the post, Garth. Hope your leg is doing alright. Curious as to your recommendation on a TSX60 and S&P500 ETF versus broader indexes (ie with more smaller caps included)?
Smaller portfolios have fewer assets. The diversification grows as the dollars do. — Garth
The full article on the Saxony Court house auction (from Daniel Dale) is up now:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/01/26/mystery_buyer_nabs_mississauga_mansion_for_62_million.html
I’m surprised that Daniel Dale (City Hall reporter) is the one covering this… where is the infamous Susan Pigg and her RE-pumping info-news?
#112 Bob Copeland
I do believe the general trend in the USA is improving, but your statement is the doubt I have as well….they are fine as long as their debt is serviceable. Anything above 5% would wipe them out! I think rates will be low for decades, they have to be….
Worth reading
“Progress Report on Counterparty Data,” 19 big banks
see Progress Report on Counterparty Data January 15, 2014
http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/banking/2014/SSG_Progress_Report_on_Counterparty_January2014.pdf
Thank Garth for this post.
Some people just need these type of advices to have a precise idea of what could be done in their life.
I live in Surrey. There is a lot of truth in the colourful description of Surrey written by bentoverpayingmytaxes. What that person wrote is true–it’s just not the whole truth. There is beauty here. There are beautiful parks here, like Bear Creek, Green Timbers, and Tynehead. You can also get beautiful views of Mount Baker–which is a cone shaped volcano just south of the border. Most of the mountains in Metro Vancouver are to the north. But Mount Baker is to the southeast and it is the only one in the direction and it really stands out with its almost cone shape. The sun can light up that snow covered volcano in strange ways and create a rainbow of colours. Depending where you are, you also get good views of the San Juan Islands–also in Washington State. Yes, the streets can be scary to walk down. I wouldn’t go for a walk in Whalley at night time. Going to just about any McDonalds in Surrey is an adventure in sketchiness. But I am from East Vancouver and I’ve lived in the Dowtown Eastside before I was displaced out to Surrey by gentrification in Vancouver. So I am used to sketchiness. Seeing people smoke crack outside doesn’t even faze me. Something wouldn’t seem right if I didn’t live in an area that had some level of sketchiness. I am okay with it. Your rental dollar goes much further here and landlords are way more likely to allow you to have a cat. And as sketchy as Surrey is–it can actually be a lot more peaceful than living in Vancouver. You get used to it. More jobs moving out this way too.
Smaller portfolios have fewer assets. The diversification grows as the dollars do. — Garth
Cheers, thanks for the reply, Garth. Not sure I understand, though? You can purchase a US (with thousands of companies) or Canadian Total Market ETF (with the top 250ish) for just about the same cost (same transaction cost and just tens or so basis points of MER). So why not take all the diversity right away?
Nothing to do with fees. Start with large caps and add diversification later. These assets are often uncorrelated. — Garth
Garth, Actually I am correct at 3.9 mil, but am just 3 years ahead !
Where HAM comes from:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinese-elite-using-offshore-tax-havens-report-says/article16462097/
Another exclusive listing sold in TO significantly above what the house would have sold for last year. Looks like housing is still hot… people are nuts. The stock market corrected on Friday… but I’m sure it will come back… we are just in a strange time :( nothing you can do about it.
THE FINAL SOLUTION TO REAL ESTATE SUPER DEMAND CRISIS in Toronto has arrived. LISTEN CAREFULLY.
=============================
FEDS go and buy – aka aggressively SOLICIT privately all homes in quality hoods. If already on the market, they buy them outbidding everyone by $100000, just to make it clear. Once gov. stockpiles 100000 houses in Toronto, they start selling low, 50% below purchase price. They continue to buy expensive homes and sell them 50% off. They assure the buyers there is a huge reserve of houses for sale and put them on a waiting list with government guarantees to be paid in gold if otherwise. As a result, competitive buyers stop bidding. PRICES COLLAPSE 50% – we are all back to year 2000 normal in just a few months. THE FINAL SOLUTION WORKED! Konstitution is amended. HARPER IS RELECTED FOR LIFE. Prices of year 2005 are guaranteed forever and gov. swears on national flag – inflation will be kept at ZERO%. Housing demand cools, 200000 jobs are lost in Ontario as a result. All other industries reduce wages 25% since employees do not need money with housing so cheap. Garth is elected Mayor of Toronto and removes the land transfer tax. People are allowed to grow rabbits and chicken in their backyards. The BLOG metamorphoses in a housing ascent BLOG. The prophet talks about how depressed house prices will once again flourish next year, and next year, and so on.
http://www.torontomotorcycleshow.ca/
Hi Garth
hope you are feeling as good as can be .
Jenny listen to Garth .
didnt think that pile would go for that amount.
hope the new owner enjoys it.
http://www.torontomotorcycleshow.ca/
I dont expect you will attend but maybe one of the blog dogs could send a few pics to you as well.
we went to the bike show at the tradex in ‘botsford.
many cool bikes.
the cnc work on the frame member of a small supermotard
made by tm racing was exquisite. the whole bike is made from scratch.even many of the engine parts.
it looked so light it was a wonder it didnt float away.
#112 Bob Copeland — “I could accept the idea of America in recovery if I could understand one thing. The interest payments on the $17 trillion dollar debt that’s growing by the day. If interest rates go back to normal the amount they pay will eat up the budget. So how can they pay down debt or continue with paying less then 2%?”
Bob, I’d encourage you to look into it and answer the question to your own satisfaction. I have, and here’s what I’ve found:
– The headline “$17 TRILLLLLLLLLLLION!!!!” number is a bit of a scare tactic used by gold pumpers, income-support-gutters, and various hangers-on. Some of it is debt that the US government owes itself, e.g. in the Social Security “trust fund” etc. The number you need is net public debt, which is a few trillion lower.
– The Fed is holding $4 Trillion(!) in bonds. Shouldn’t that net out? Subtract another $4.
– Taxes are going to rise. Programs will have to be cut. Maybe defense? Means testing for social security and Medicare? Moderate inflation of 2% will take care of the rest.
The problem is not insoluble. Rich people who don’t want their taxes to rise (only to levels at which the US was a successful country, historically) are lobbying furiously for program cuts. It’s class warfare theatre, that’s all.
Bank made all its money back? No cost to taxpayer?
#99 Smoking Man on 01.27.14 at 12:27 am
Tells me mortals are stupid.
—
SM, I get a kick out of much of what you have to say but this ‘Masses are asses’ shtick has got to go. The real asses are not the commuters at Union Station, but the idiots who get baked out of their skulls on a regular basis and think they can pen novels without even the slightest grasp of Grade 3 spelling or sentence structure. If that’s what it means to be an ‘immortal’ then I’ll sign up for slavery all day long.
I think this will be a deemed disposition…and also a legit RRSP contribution…
You will need a calculator to see if this is a good idea.
p.s. I’m reading Money Road again, does it show? ;);)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/25/vancouver-real-estate-prices-bing-thom-report-andy-yan_n_4665942.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-british-columbia
Que the reg pumpers BCREA, Cam, Tsuar, BCTV, CTV ….
Its done…..begin the long slide
#111 neo: What has occurred is companies are manipulating their stock price through historically high buyback programs.
———————————————–
It’s not manipulation! Warren Buffett loves companies that buy back their stocks.
It increases the shareholders’ ownership of such companies.
UH OH!
Flaherty just “guaranteed” that 2015 will balance the budget… we all know what happens when F and Harper “guarantee” something on the economy:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=81b4e168-5b2f-42fa-946e-b5f5fafe1542
“We will not run a deficit.”
– Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Oct. 9, 2008)
#21 – Andrew Woburn
OMG. Unbelievable. And another reason why eating at McD’s is hazardous to your health!
#56 – Jan
Check what your marginal tax rate is (for the amount of your RRSP contribution). Don’t just assume it’s 10k tax deferred for a 35k contribution. It could be more or less, depending on your situation (though if you’re at 40% marginal rate you are way overdue for some professional advice/basic learning on this subject.)
#70 – Smudgekin
Yeaaaaah… If he’s wearing a Canada Goose parka, I should be panhandling the panhandler!
#108 – Buy? Curious?
LOL, love your enthusiasm. Though Garth’s sawed-off cast (your prize) may not fare so well in that hot tub!
Beautifully written, Garth, and a very easy-to-understand action plan that involves concepts newbies might find difficult.
I think Alwyn (#17)’s question is meant to determine how small (or poor) a fish is too small to be retaining your services. I wouldn’t have dreamt of calling you with only $35k and an underwater condo (Jenny’s situation).
@ #133 Squatter on 01.27.14 at 12:17 pm
#111 neo: What has occurred is companies are manipulating their stock price through historically high buyback programs.
———————————————–
It’s not manipulation! Warren Buffett loves companies that buy back their stocks.
It increases the shareholders’ ownership of such companies.
—————————–
To add to that: Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway has been buying back its own stock – and he even announced the parameters around the buybacks (when Price/Book falls below 1.2).
I agree that buybacks are essentially financial engineering vs. organic growth or acquisition growth, but many companies will end up better off spending cash on buybacks instead of acquisitions. Some companies will end up ruining their core business by getting into different industries via acquisition, or by simply sucking at integrating the new companies and finding “efficiencies” in the merger.
By the way, your photo displayed property release is already sold out, in 24 hours.
This is current market .
Sorry Garth, love read your blog but your investment advice are way too complex for a investor that only deal with GIC so far. The poor girl probably dosen’t know the diference between a bond and a stock.
I would send her to the orange guy you love to hate put all her money in the balanced streetwise portfolio. Get her grow this money to the 6 figures and in the mean time she should read some book about asset allocation if she want to move to less expensive option with ETF.
Only 14% in fixe income is not a diversified porfolio, by the way REIT and Prefere share are not fixe income, go read some book about asset allocation.
I hear that Caesar has arrived to address his subjects in a stately manner, so am awaiting in anticipation for his dogma on the economy and well being of Canada. He will be blowing a lot of smoke in the coming days, so pay attention; make lots of notes; and sit back and laugh about it all. Welcome to the circus on the hill, as the clown is getting ready for his performance, but he fools me not.
#112 Bob Copeland
Another point, since your question was specifically about the interest payments on the US Federal debt, and what happens if rates rise. The debt isn’t one giant variable rate mortgage, whose interest payments would increase as soon as rates rose. If the Treasury issues a 30 year bond, the payments on it are fixed from date of issue to date of maturity, regardless of what rates do between now and then. 30 day T bills get rolled every month, though. So you have to look at the term structure of the debt to gauge the impact over time of a rise in rates.
Now, that the emerging markets are no longer emerging,
what do we call them now?
Demerging?
Just watched “wolf of wall street”. Sad that this type of behaviour is idolized in a Hollywood movie but at least it may educate the public as to the level of deceitful behaviour in all areas of the financial world. Human greed is a curse which causes people to sacrifice all integrity and grab as much as they can for themselves even if it means screwing others. Your investments are like cocaine to the addicted banksters.
# 17
What sort of fee would Jenny have paid for this advice?
Alwyn
How much did you just pay? — Garth
Likely the same as you paid responding to me – the opportunity cost of (our) time. Regards, Alwyn
I didn’t see this put into the press over the weekend, quietly released after hours on Friday as it was.
“Sales of new homes today will define the jobs of tomorrow, and now is the time for the industry, consumers and government to watch the market, and watch it carefully,” he added. “We are all in this together and we need to work collaboratively to engage in a solution-oriented, fact-based discussion about building quality, complete communities that people in the GTA can afford to live in.”
http://www.bildgta.ca/media_releases_2013_detail.asp?id=936
Of course they use a Franken Index to come up with price changes, and blame supply for low sales…what? I didn’t realize that high rise units were in Short Supply in the GTA. That must account for the 44% drop in new high rise sales from 2011 to 2013.
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/canadian-dollar-going-down-1430959/23/#post18255361
So ..our idiot lives in Canada, has most of his assets in Canada, is paid in CAD$ and he buys mostly in CAD$. Yet he is happy that CAD$ went down 10% simply because he owns some stocks and he has a vacation property in US (he never misses a chance to mention that).
He is a well known pest on that forum. It is shocking to see how limited his thinking is. He does not realize that his canadian assets and his salary went down with the same amount in real terms.
TSX and Dow are down again.
Time to google Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect.
Ralph Cramdown
“he headline “$17 TRILLLLLLLLLLLION!!!!” number is a bit of a scare tactic used by gold pumpers, income-support-gutters, and various hangers-on. Some of it is debt that the US government owes itself, e.g. in the Social Security “trust fund” etc. The number you need is net public debt, which is a few trillion lower.”
You’re a smart one! Few people know that, least of all journalists…
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current
#3 EagleBay….
” #153 bentoverpayingtaxes on 01.26.14 at 2:10 pm
You’re on a roll. What’s Richmond like?”
First things is…Richmond actually has a waste disposal system……which neither Vancouver or Surrey possess…..kudo’s to Richmond on that point.
I like Richmond…why spend 13 hours on a plane bound for Beijing…when I can holiday in China right here at home. There is nothing left of Canada …it’s entirely Mainland Chinese……The City has made it quite clear that if you are other than Mandarin speaking you are not welcome to apply for work here .
Last time I took a walk through the Broadmoor area looking at some of the houses I built in the 80’s…I was struck by how many houses I could smell the dope being grown….the ventilation pushes the stink out into the streets….frankly I prefer french fries so no accounting for taste among the neighbors…who knows..maybe the neighbors have been paid off? You can’t miss it…I wonder why the police turn a blind eye?
Indians and whites have been displaced by a reckless policy of Mainland only occupation…accidental…I’m not so sure……these people do tend to vote Conservative. However there’s no turning back this juggernaut. The official language laws don’t apply here….so don’t expect to find food products labeled in either official language…..or expect to speak English in restaurants or most shops….it seems a majority of new comers speak no French at all….q’uell domage…even city services say different things to the disparate audiences….obvious political manipulation…but maybe it’s me noticing. Remember it was the Liberals who invented the game of creating ethnic enclaves to subvert Canadian democracy.
The personal crime rate is relatively low in Richmond….most crime is commercial….occasionally the Hillbillies from Surrey send a car load of bat shit white trash crazy meth heads to rob a bank…other than that it is all about extortion in the casinos…laundering money…skirting taxes…..cooking speed…..importing meth chems…counterfeiting and hiding out from the long arm of the law in China for having stolen corrupt millions from the banks and ministries where employment was had through family connection.
If you like Chinese food…..the variety is slim…unless you like the pasty dough of the PRC…Cantonese is becoming harder to find. Very little ethnic variety otherwise.
Planeloads of newbies disgorge at YVR everyday…..many with suitcases full of unaccounted for cash and untaxed finery to sell here….they will underpin the Richmond market as they will not disperse into the outlaying communities for at least two generations.
Canadian Consumer Confidence is fown due to the drop in the $. Good job Poloz! You and your buddy F will find out that a low C$ and the threat of lower interest rates are not going to fix the economy. The might just exacerbate the housing bubble.
Flaherty picked the wrong man gor the job.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-27/canada-consumer-confidence-drops-as-dollar-weakens.html
#99 Smoking Man on 01.27.14 at 12:27 am
50 people get murdered in Toronto a year usually by the gun.
Thousands get murdered by torchure and poverty by a pen and a demented belief system
impregnated by the teacher, the TV and parents who all can not
think critically.
When I see hundreds of people at Union station staring at the TV to see what track the train will be on. Even when unless it’s yellow, it will always be on the same track.
Tells me mortals are stupid. They live in fear, and will only take ques from authority figures. Never tapping there oun minds, there little voice inside the head who’s toungs gave been torn from the root by the machine.
So much to teach so little time.
———————————————————-
Hold on there; are we hearing correctly from the Great Smoking Man? Is this correct?
“So much to teach so little time.”
The antichrist of all teachers of all times wants to teach. What exactly are you going to teach us?
-Insanity 101
-Alcoholism 101
-How to take Pain Killers with your Booze 101
-Creative Spelling 101
-Creative Grammar 101
-Writing without a Premise for Your Story 101
-Insulting people 101 (AKA Talking to Slaves)
-How to Criticize others when you are delusional 101
-Gambling as a Method to Make an Income 101
-How to make Money and Invest in Camel Toes 101
-How to make Money and Invest in Batman 102 (Prerequisite Camel Toes 101)
-How to Map out Casinos 101
-Acting like a God 101
-How to Insult People without any Contrition (Prerequisite Insulting People 101)
-How to Trade Favours
-How to Pick up Women 101
-How to Loose Women 101
–
#89 Ralph Cramdown on 01.26.14 at 11:22 pm
Modulating the economy is the Fed’s JOB.
_______________________________________
wow.. that’s also the Communist Party of China’s job too..
funny that..
#149 bentoverpayingtaxes on 01.27.14 at 1:40 pm
Planeloads of newbies disgorge at YVR everyday…..many with suitcases full of unaccounted for cash and untaxed finery to sell here….they will underpin the Richmond market as they will not disperse into the outlaying communities for at least two generations.
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awww, come on, there’s no such thing as ham!
while mostly correct there are PLENTY who speak fine eng and buy in the west side.
—————
IONA WWTP
but none of their toilets flush directly into georgia st.
you never been to the other side of the airport? kinda smelly sometimes.
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/wastewater/treatment/TreatmentPlants/Pages/Iona.aspx
TREATMENT STANDARDS
The wastewater treatment plant is regulated through an Operational Certificate issued by the BC Ministry of Environment. The treated wastewater that is discharged from the plant is required to meet standards for biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. Discharged wastewater must not exceed 130 mg/L for biochemical oxygen demand and 100 mg/L for total suspended solids. The plant’s daily average was 80 mg/L for biochemical oxygen demand and 54 mg/L for total suspended solids in 2012.
The plant uses anaerobic digestion to break down organic materials from wastewater to produce biosolids and methane gas.
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otherwise thats the most damn depressing description of vancouver one could read – you must be a ton of fun to hang around!!!
maybe winnipeg is calling your name?
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no market murder says the boss – start buying now?
#130 Ontario’s Left Coast on 01.27.14 at 11:58 am
SM, I get a kick out of much of what you have to say but this ‘Masses are asses’ shtick has got to go. The real asses are not the commuters at Union Station, but the idiots ho get baked out of their skulls on a regular basis and think they can pen novels without even the slightest grasp of Grade 3 spelling or sentence structure. If that’s what it means to be an ‘immortal’ then I’ll sign up for slavery all day long.
………………
Let’s peel back the scales of this dead fish argument you put forward.
In your arguments belly lies a truth, you will never see it having no tummy for fish guts.
The simple fact that you can’t deduce or understand I can higher for peanuts one of the millions of unemployed graduests who are out of work and in debt to clean it up and make the book stupid friendly and technically perfect.
You aren’t going to sign up for slavery, you already are one, your post proved it.
It’s like trying to judged Richard Branson based on his ability to shine his own shoes.
Duh….
More fiscal insanity from the Ontario Liberals who (shocking) want to put forward a minimum wage hike – retroactive – in an election year.
Great news for the Ontario economy which will see private businesses laying off thousands to pay the increased wages of those who will remain if this goes through.
On the few occasions I watch TV, there has been an ad for starting up a business in NY state. Tax-free zones, no taxes for 10 years, etc.
You have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to set up shop in Ontario.
And yet the bidding wars continue…
#152 say it aint’ so —
> Modulating the economy is the Fed’s JOB.
“wow.. that’s also the Communist Party of China’s job too..”
I’ll defer to your superior knowledge of the CPC’s mission. Rather than posting a snarky reply, I’d urge you to study some economic history, and compare the old (pre- 1929-1939 Great Depression) gold standard GDP variations in Western countries with the postwar Bretton Woods through today’s numbers. Maybe read about the panics of 1792, 1796-7, 1819, 1825, 1837, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1873, 1884, 1890, 1893, 1896, 1901, 1907, 1910-11 and 1929. Read Bagehot’s classic “Lombard Street” and ask yourself, when Schumpeter and the Austrian economists explained creative destruction, when Herbert Hoover’s treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon, urged to “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system” is that really what you want? Western economies back then were a veritable vomit comet of boom/bust volatility. No thanks.
#153…Bdy S……you say…. “otherwise thats the most damn depressing description of vancouver one could read – you must be a ton of fun to hang around!!!”
I might quote ‘ A Few Good Men’…….” You want the truth?….You can’t handle the truth”.
Everything I’ve said is 100% true and accurate….that’s the depressing part. When I blog/tweet about these things I get spammed by those who hate the truth from being actively disseminated…..Police…City Hall.. Public Relations departments , Tourism lobbies. But…people know it to be true….its impossible to miss the social engineering, the poverty, the drugs, the crime, the sewage outfalls, the stench along the waterfront, the lack of culture, the obvious propaganda, the kids lined up at the side door of the Gospel Mission…..etc etc etc . Oh….but we can celebrate the multimillion dollar bike paths for elites to glide by and throw nickels to the poor…can’t we? Oh yes…lets keep our eyes uplifted on the pictures of the pretty mountains…..oooooo…ahhhhhh….nothing wrong here.
There’s a reason, despite the constant propaganda to the contrary about Vancouver being the best place on Earth, why Vancouver consistently polls as the loneliest, least friendly, least likely to meet people, most depressing, most number of people suffering from mental illnesses, highest poverty among seniors, children and working poor, highest paid civil servants per capita, most polluting ( 800 million liters of raw sewage every single day) , highest suicide rate, most unaffordable…etc etc etc …..because all these things are true and our elite leadership is desperate to disguise the fact to keep the gravy train rolling for themselves. People don’t like to accept the truth….because it’s depressing……the elites are counting on people turning a blind eye. Salaries at City Hall and among union elites are five and ten times higher than the average citizen….that’s whats depressing.
The only thing that went up last year was the stock market.
53% of families earn less than $30K per year, 100,000,000 on gov assistance, higher amount of folks out of the work force than ever.
Obama care will kill what’s left, and the fines against banks are increasing, the leverage continues to grow, and all what caused the financial problems has not been fixed, only massive unprecedented printing.
You are living the American dream garth, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
Garth, or anyone that can explain
it was mentioned that Jenny’s now $45000 would grow tax-free in her RRSP, wouldn’t the growth along with the initial investment be taxed at her tax rate when the funds would be withdrawn from the self directed RRSP?
#155 Ray Skunk on 01.27.14 at 3:20 pm
Tree huggers don’t get it. They love McWynee.
I’m starting to think Whodat on lib payroll. A intentional sabatour.
Ontario will be a waste land if Wynne wins.
DELETED
the great compression
Congressmen Call for Hearings on Risks of Rental Securtizations
Posted on January 27, 2014 by Yves Smith
“Josh Kosman documented in The Buyout of America, private equity fund managers pull so many fees out of their portfolio companies that they make money even when a business collapses….
read what Mark Takano, a Congressman who represents communities in California’s Inland Empire has to say.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/congressmen-probing-private-equity-landlords-squeeze-tenants-risks-rental-securtizations.html
..but many of the PE landlords look a lot like slumlords. be one of the worst property managers.
#154 Smoking Man on 01.27.14 at 2:28 pm
#130 Ontario’s Left Coast on 01.27.14 at 11:58 am
SM, I get a kick out of much of what you have to say but this ‘Masses are asses’ shtick has got to go. The real asses are not the commuters at Union Station, but the idiots ho get baked out of their skulls on a regular basis and think they can pen novels without even the slightest grasp of Grade 3 spelling or sentence structure. If that’s what it means to be an ‘immortal’ then I’ll sign up for slavery all day long.
………………
Let’s peel back the scales of this dead fish argument you put forward.
In your arguments belly lies a truth, you will never see it having no tummy for fish guts.
The simple fact that you can’t deduce or understand I can higher for peanuts one of the millions of unemployed graduests who are out of work and in debt to clean it up and make the book stupid friendly and technically perfect.
You aren’t going to sign up for slavery, you already are one, your post proved it.
It’s like trying to judged Richard Branson based on his ability to shine his own shoes.
Duh….
———————————————————-
Smoking Man lets peel back the scales or your own argument! (Look above) Spelling and grammar are important for the huddled masses. We all have to convey our thoughts and imagery efficiently and practically. Your clusterf$%k idiom is ineffective here on earth. You are wasting valuable time by not learning to communicate effectively with your adversaries, clients and your associate’s in commerce. Unless you are one of the deviates that stay cloistered in the dark shadows and only communicates by grunts and nods, then do us all a favour and speak one of Canada’s two official languages. Pick one it’s easy we have French and English. You can learn the write and spell and even if you can’t, use a spell checker and grammar checker. For crying out loud it’s so dam easy to use, especially if you are the genius that you claim to be. A true genius would embrace technology and utilize it to the utmost for whatever your sinister purposes are. By the way if you have total dependence one of the unemployed graduates to scrutinize your verbiage how do you know they will be able to comprehend what you are attempting to convey in the first place. We all have to presume at what you are trying to get across every post.
Gayed: Something is ridiculously wrong…
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/something-is-ridiculously-wrong-2014-01-27?mod=wsj_share_tweet
US retailers late to the Canadian Consumer party?…
Hudson’s Bay to sell flagship Toronto store in $650-million deal Add to …
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/hbc-to-sell-flagship-toronto-store-in-650-million-deal/article16516753/
Retail commercial real estate is over-built and over-leveraged. (US)
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan14/CRE-deadwood1-14.html
And…. now we have official Bitcoin/laundering arrests:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140127-709257.html
(and, it dropped 6% soon after: from $1020 to $960)
http://www.taxjustice.net/2014/01/27/show-trial-swiss-whistleblower-elmer-now-9th-year/
tax expert (and TJN Senior Adviser) Professor Sol Picciotto says:
The main legal charge against Elmer is that he breached Swiss banking secrecy laws which make it a criminal offence to reveal secrets obtained as an official of a bank. The main part of Elmer’s defence is that the information (which he admits he revealed) came from an affiliate of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands, which is separate from its Swiss parent and therefore not governed by Swiss law.
Switzerland’s efforts to use Swiss laws to go after secrets revealed elsewhere contradicts the underpinnings of Switzerland’s own liberal use of offshore principles to help corporate and other tax cheats. For example, the Swiss tax authorities claim that profits earned by foreign affiliates (such as in the Cayman Islands) cannot be taxed in Switzerland, under the widely used ‘separate entity’ principle. As Picciotto notes:
“That is the essence of Elmer’s case, and is why the prosecutors are finding it hard to nail him.”
People still lining up in the GTA? Sooo 2010
#158 happity on 01.27.14 at 3:59 pm
”The only thing that went up last year was the stock market.”
There is a great deal of denial and disillusionment in the real estate market (mainly Vancouver, Toronto and some other bubble areas) and stock markets at this time.
One must tread with caution going forward and not be too overweight in any one sector. I personally believe there is no better time than now to have that 5 to 7% of your portfolio in precious metals given the uncertainties going forward and the levels of the U.S. markets which are very likely to correct a minimum of 10 to 15%.
Looking back at our own TSX which hit 10,000 for the first time in March of 2000 because of the Teck bubble which peaked around 11,400 a short time later and which accounted for 45% of the TSX at that time, one has to wonder how it could not have been recognized that a major bubble was about to burst. Today I believe Tech sector is around 1.8%. The Financial sector appears to me to be over priced by about 5% which would amount to a 650 point drop in the TSX but would likely be nullified by a rise in the materials sector.
The materials are lagging and likely to be the next sector to shine along with Tech. We could see bank stocks correct back 10% from current levels at which time I will be jumping back in. Right now the mid cap mining shares and some seniors plus uranium to me are the places I would put some venture monies (play money) into. That strategy has worked well for me over the years. My main portfolio is well diversified with 70% equity 30% fixed income and rebalanced a couple times per year. My average MER is 1.1% and I have access to a Financial Planner and can purchase, switch between funds, and rebalance at no extra cost. I have been with the same company for over 20 years and very pleased with the results. Last year 12.7%.
#156 Ralph Cramdown on 01.27.14 at 3:34 pm
Western economies back then were a veritable vomit comet of boom/bust volatility. No thanks.
____________________________________
yes. we’re SOOOOooo… much better now..
Sub prime mortgages
Banking collapses
Stock market bubbles
Housing bubbles
Commodity bubbles
Wars
Poverty
Perpetual inflation
yes.. .we’re SOOOoo much better off thanks to the federal reserve.
fake classes -/scandal big time sports
You are going to do academics and then play sports …not so much
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/15/3535977/former-unc-player-ties-counselors.html
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-27/university-of-north-carolina-apologizes-for-fake-classes-promises-real-change#r=rss
FIFA for the game for the world really ….LOL Is there a World cup for disgusting behaviour ?
25 Sep 2013
migrant workers forced to work for no pay for example 600 men share two kitchens
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2013/sep/25/qatar-migrant-workers-world-cup-host-video
corruption timeline
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/29/us-soccer-fifa-timeline-idUSTRE74S2CE20110529
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/soccer/fifa-backed-study-following-corruption-scandals-stresses-value-of-sports-to-swiss-economy-231598211.html?device=mobile
#163 Teaching Smokers on 01.27.14 at 4:34 pm
Just think, if ever you were to accidently cross the lane, slander someone, said something suable.
People with precise command of the English language and a history there of would be in trouble.
In my case, that’s not what I meant.
Look at my posts.
Mortals, schooled Mortals is all I’m thinking.
Smoking Man always ahead of the herd and the curve.
Think the falling dollar is an unplanned event? This is simply the first phase of Harper’s strategy for 2015. Interest rates aren’t going up. Housing prices are.
Now is the time for taking on more debt.
http://www.poletical.com/harper-and-interest-rates.php
# 95 Learntopark
Thank you, I’ll have to look into these – I’m27 and just figuring my way around this stuff
#160 Smoking Man,
cut it out! You are persuading me to vote for Wynn …
WOW – 1 MILLION Dollars.. Just like Dr Evil on Goldmember.
Add 6 zeros 000,000 to that and you will begin to come close to the terrorist and drug laundering the New York (Just Us – not Justice) Banks have done and have been fined (not jailed) 100 BILLION for doing so.
YAWN
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#165 T.O. Bubble Boy on 01.27.14 at 5:23 pm
And…. now we have official Bitcoin/laundering arrests:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140127-709257.html
(and, it dropped 6% soon after: from $1020 to $960)
Have you been to Vancouver lately Garth? Deleted? Really? I’m pointing out that Govt LIES and its deleted?
#161 World According to Garth on 01.27.14 at 4:30 pm
DELETED
#162 Jess
thank you for that link re: the PE landlords (a la Blackstone and others who swoop in and buy properties all cash and then turn rental housing into just another securitized nightmare)
I see the recommendations on this blog for people to buy in to some of these funds but I believe they are the very height (depth?) of immoral. Yes, you can get a temporary return and I know that for some people that’s all that matters, but it’s really like paying the jailer to build the leg irons he’s going to turn around and use on you.
Everyone ought to read that article you linked to before they invest.
#156 Ralph Cramdown
I’d urge you to study some economic history, and compare the old (pre- 1929-1939 Great Depression) gold standard GDP variations in Western countries with the postwar Bretton Woods through today’s numbers.
I've read enough. And the result of selfish Keynesian monetary policy is this. Chart
So what do you now Ralph? Print more money to devalue the dollar (your assets) in order to equalize currencies, or do you taper and let the other 6.5 billion people on the planet to go to hell? The former would cause some domestic capital to flee, but, can be indigenously managed to an extent with capital controls; while the latter is likely to cause exogenous shocks that are out of your control, having major repercussions throughout global bond markets, making the 2008 GFC look puny.
Don't read too far into it Ralph. There isn't much left to central banking other then keep smashing rising currencies with the hope of reaching equilibrium some day. Video
That's all central banks will do because it is the only thing left they can do. They know they can't win against math, so the best policy to is keep calm and make sure everyone doesn't freak out, until the day.
#159 joe calgary on 01.27.14 at 4:21 pm asked:
it was mentioned that Jenny’s now $45000 would grow tax-free in her RRSP, wouldn’t the growth along with the initial investment be taxed at her tax rate when the funds would be withdrawn from the self directed RRSP?
That’s the way RRSPs work. The $45000 will grow tax-free in her RRSP and then will be taxed at her tax rate when the funds are withdrawn from the self directed RRSP?
If it so happens that her income is very low when she withdraws, she may not have to pay any tax since her tax-rate may be zero. If it so happens that her income is very high when she withdraws, she may have to pay a lot of tax.
In either case the growth will be tax-free. Only the withdrawal will be taxed.
Best Time In History is Today
It’s hard to believe that people don’t see how lucky we are to live today rather than at any time in history.
Best time in history to be born was today, tomorrow will be better.
Standard of living in the world and in Canada and in the U.S. has never been higher. GDP per capita at record highs, check the figures.
If you are not doing better than your parents, perhaps you did not properly play the hand you were dealt.
Life is still a competition.
Standard of Living…
Just compare today’s houses to those of 30 years ago.
The houses are bigger, mor luxurious and fewer people live in it. That’s called a higher standard of living.
What about the food? Most people are buying better groceries and also eat out more. Look at how stores have mushroomed there past 30 years. We are buying licke crazy. That is a higher standard of living.
Look at cars, prices have not gone up in 15 years, quality is MUCH better. Anyone remember the rusting junk of the 70’s? This is a higher standard of living.
More cars per family… more of everything per person!
That’s what I see all around me. I am 53 and living standards are way higher than when I was a kid in the 60’s.
Far more TVs and channels… it goes on and on.
Re: #142 Son of Ponzi on 01.27.14 at 1:18 pm
Submerging
Of course it has nothing to do with the emerging markets at all.
“Or, she ignores me. Billions do.
But I’ll not stop trying.”
….And I guess that’s what I admire most about you.
154 smoking man
—
Wrong you are, oh deluded one. Self-made and answering to absolutely no one. I guess you could say, however, that we are all slaves to your useless ramblings on this otherwise thought-provoking blog. Shouldn’t you be hitting the old liquid slave about now, son?
You aren’t going to sign up for slavery, you already are one, your post proved it.
It’s like trying to judged Richard Branson based on his ability to shine his own shoes.
Duh….
—————————
Classic
Garth
Why do you not monitor idiots like bentoverpayingtaxes
#149 from taking your site to his nazi loving level ?
Comic relief. — Garth