“Another one?” she said, as we walked Bandit the hound through the park, listening to my cell ring. “Turn it off.”
I didn’t, of course, knowing Dorothy understands I’m completely devoid of any personal balance. That’s for people who hate their jobs. And Millennials, of course.
But this was a day full of them. Calls from juiced twenty and thirty-somethings from Vancouver to Calgary and Halifax, all wanting me to take their little piles of money and turn them into heaping big piles so, like Firecracker and Wanderer, they could stop working long before any gray hair appeared or the first tat started to sag.
Being relentless little media hounds, tireless self-promoters and reasonably irritating juvenile 1%ers, F&W are former blog dogs who have ascended into stardom. After saving madly, living on air, and investing their five hundred grand (with me), these guys ended up claiming to be the nation’s youngest retired millionaires. They quit their bank jobs, traveled the world, wrote a book, got bored and started a Millennial Revolution site which has now been discovered by reporters tired of writing stories about unrequited house horniness.
The fact Firecracker and Wanderer have eschewed real estate in favour of an early idleness, and are actually of Asian (!) heritage, has turned a lot of newsroom cranks. Without a doubt, you’ll be hearing more of them, as you did yesterday when the CBC ran this story, then did a video piece on the national news.
But back to Bandit, the park and my phone.
It rang a lot. All kinds of people from all kinds of places were in touch with me because (of course) I can double people’s money without any risk while they sleep. Piece of cake. Missing from the media report was the fevered level of saving these two crazed beavers exhibited as I worked with them, the way they Hoovered up every scrap of cash from every source and jammed them into their portfolio ETFs, the insane budgeting they engaged in and the fact they lived on less than the average lichen. Yes, their portfolio did well. Yes, they never pulled back in corrections or got greedy during surges. But it was the totality of the obsession with becoming millionaires at age 30ish that actually got them there.
My callers? Not so much. The liquid assets among 35-year-olds who have been working for seven or eight years is breathtaking. There aren’t any. Instead, all the cash has gone into lifestyle, a soul-sucking condo, or repaying student debt. The kids basically have no idea what an RRSP is, or an ETF, and equate a TFSA with a high-interest savings account at the bank. Investing in a financial portfolio seems to be the fall-back, defeatist position after you’ve failed to live up to your mom’s house lust. In a society drenched in real estate porn, the message of these two rock star iconoclasts, that money – not property – is true wealth, is somehow revolutionary. Weird. But there it is.
Well, as nauseating as Firecracker and Wanderer can be, it’s exactly the message that needs to be broadcast. In an age of peak house, shoveling your cash into a dead-end condo or staggering under an epic mortgage for a slanty semi held together with bug spit, is not a strategy. It’s a financial death sentence. Once markets turn (and they are) real estate can become illiquid and depreciating while the debt placed upon them doesn’t shrink by a single dollar.
So, no, I don’t create millionaires out of latte-sucking entitled kids craving retirement and work-life balance. Stop calling.
$ $ $
Now that we all know Vancouver is pooched, here’s the latest update from housing analyst Ross Kay, brought to you without edit or comment. Looks like the dude called this one.
“Our call that August would be the month where negative sales would be recorded for Vancouver and that that decline could set off the chain of events that would years later be cited as the Tipping Point for Canada`s Housing Bubble popping has arrived. It looks like we were on point after CREA`s press release today.
“I am not going to go into a long discussion on Peak Price and why it happens two times in every Trading Cycle other than to explain in Vancouver Peak Price was recorded for Trade Up Buyers in February of this year. Canada reached its peak for Trade Ups in May and odds are Toronto hit its in that same month. Vancouver in the days since, as of Mid-August, is now off a staggering 26.4% but everyone in Vancouver believes home prices rose in July because that is what CREA told everyone and they all believe it.
“Fortunes are lost and won in a single Trading Cycle and Vancouver is already showing how much damage can be done in only 5 months. Sadly for those who listen to CREA it will take another 7 months before you hear the real truth and by that time much of the damage will already be done.
“I encourage every homeowner in British Columbia and Ontario to seek out some honest advice on their home owning situation. That advice cannot come from a real estate agent. Sure I am biased but then again no one else told you Vancouver would be reported negative in August, in the same month when CREA said sales were up a staggering 17% year over year.”
180 comments ↓
i knew for Lipstick, Hyundai, summer Olympic, diaper rash index but didn’t know for gym index. apparently man visit gym more often when times are tough. according to the article “There is a correlation between the rise of young men fashioning muscular bodies and sharing them online, and the austerity measures experienced by their generation,”, resirch was originally focused on europe but “hold true for us”.
there is no better time than now to start gazibo index, we might be sitting on a gold mine here.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-15/gym-selfies-a-sign-of-tough-times-for-the-economy
——
what say you MF, robots displacing meixcnas.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/sri-spin-off-abundant-robotics-developing-autonomous-apple-vacuum
Wait till their portfolio tanks, they’ll be askin to move in with you and bandit!!!
Great to read out FIREcracker.
I feel like they are on the same frequency as I.
The comments section of the CBC article typical. Rife with misunderstanding. For example, thinking that Div’s are taxed at the same rate as that proletariat T4 Income rate.
No shame. I would do the same locked in a room like that. –member of the inhumane race.
Vindication. Glad my kids listened and stayed out . For my part , I have a modest home with a relatively modest mortgage that will be done in 4 more years – 7.5 years total. Thanks for all you do Garth
Firecracker & Wanderer should be their generations models to emulate.
They knew what THEY wanted, not what their parental units wanted.
I love the independence, the free thought, the dedicated perseverance to get to THEIR goal.
They MADE it too!! Not a pipe dream to be filled “later”.
Who wouldn’t be impressed, they did it RIGHTEOUSLY!!
m64WI
Here’s how Warren Buffet explains bubbles.
http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-explains-how-bubbles-are-formed-2016-3
Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode, “A Game of Pool”…careful for what you wish for, you might just get it (and regret it).
Firewalker and Wanderlust are nauseating (and smug) indeed but hey, when you sacrifice mindless spending for a few years, get lucky in shoveling money when the artificially inflated markets (sorry, Garth, the party will soon pop) with a 2009 correction being artificially kicked down the road….
…you can show off…until now they’ve gone public, exposing their name and everything about themselves.
…A game of Fool (er, Pool)…
So pleased F&W have been picked up by the MSM. Of course the majority of commenters are very negative and make excuses why they could not or would not do the same. Haters gonna hate. They are all missing the point. Money is a tool. Use it wisely and it will enable you to create the life you want. It probably won’t be the same life they have created but you can adapt it. Cheers!
Didn’t wanderer and firecracker save around 850k and the other 150k came from investments? If any of your latte sucking callers had read their blog Dorothy might have had more of your attention. High wages and frugality were the main ingredients of that success story.
This Fall market will be a good indicator as of what is the trend going and price setting, from what I saw in the past two months, listings are slagging and hanging around longer than the normal months, most will argue because of the hot summer month (not last summer tho), and lots of owners pull back or cancel their listing probably waiting for the Fall market to list, we may see a surge of listing in the day after Labor Day and see from there. T dot I am not sure, but Vancity is sure pooched!!! haha
How much should a couple in their mid to late 30’s have saved? I realize it depends on a couples goals but just curious how far behind in my saving goals we are.
Why the panic on this blog for just a few months of data?
Read the CBC piece this morning. Dared to read the comments too. You’re right Garth when you say financial illiteracy is abundant in this country.
Just promise not to turn me away based on my age if I ever come to you for your services. I’ve been reading this blog for too long and am not a bandwagon jumper.
FIRST.
Thats all nice, now please show me the budget that allows someone to live 40 yrs on $30k a year in Canada without being a total frugal cheapskate loser. Rent alone in any safe neighbor hood is going to be min $12000 a year. There goes half your little divi payment.
You cant get your peak earning years back and nobody is going to hire a 50 yr old engineer who hasnt worked in 20 yrs so they only have shot at this.
I’m ready. There has to be a Garth Turner in the US. Can you help a guy out with a reference? Would be greatly appreciated.
Crea should be held liable for publishing distorted information.
The should be responsible like all other financial institutes governing bodies
#3
“The comments section of the CBC article typical. Rife with misunderstanding. ”
Yes, I saw that. Some mind boggling comments there.
My favourite was the person who asserted that the big pile of stocks would diminish in value over time due to inflation.
Uh, buddy, stocks beat both inflation and housing over long time horizons.
I’m still curious about how they saved this much. The article listed them as ‘computer engineers’, but there are precious few such jobs in Toronto. Not many computer hardware companies up that way. Plus high taxes and high living costs.
At any rate, the frothing and venom is kind of funny to watch. You would think that these two kicked some puppies or pushed an old lady in front of the bus.
Just so you know on a fb friend’s website are the following comments
“That was one of the most painfully obnoxious things I’ve ever read, and looked more like an advertorial than anything resembling news.
“People were working crazy hours. There were people getting blood clots and actually like collapsing at their desk.”
Going to have to call bullshit on that one.”
“Ugh. This is the worst. It completely spits in the face of most millennial struggles. I’d so rather hear from someone who did not buy into the system for financial reasons and how they made that work to their advantage. And I’ve been noticing a lot more almost advertorial content like this on the CBC and I don’t like it”
“First came the advertisements, then inevitably come the advertorials.”
To clarify for sure – did you have any influence on this getting on the CBC. I think they saw the couple’s blog and thought it would be a good story
Thank you for your info and preaching financial litteracy and that housing is not the only way.
To further clarify – if a article was written about how much money was being made on housing – it is not obnoxious – and there is no problem borrowing money to make money on tht
Billionaire Soros’ namesake fund doubled down against the S&P 500
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-george-soros-appears-increased-000000923.html
Pic: That dog was left alone and freaked out over a thunder storm. I owned one of those.
First what started to sag?
Going back to yesterday and the discussion about property taxes.
1) Your assessment will always be based on last year’s numbers as the job of the assessment authority and that of the budgeting folks in the city/town/municipality do not blend.
2) That is why your property taxes are set via a mill rate.
3) Doesn’t matter what your property is worth on the open market, if your town needs money all they do is increase the mill rate based upon the assessments they have..
4) In my town the mill rate goes down as often as it goes up because we keep watch over the buggers.
5) Due to property price stagnation my property taxes have remained within $200 for years and years.
6) Our latest property price increase will show up on assessments next year…along with a mill rate decrease as the town has millions in the bank “for a rainy day”
7) Full services, creek running past the back of my property, 75×150 lot, 3 bed, 2 bath, paved road, good schools in walking distance, close to shopping…less than $2,000 a year. No commute, buckets of spot prawns just show up on my front deck, street lights. Fire/ambulance/hospital minutes away.
We even have a Pita Pit!
8) Did I mention less than $2,000?
“I encourage every homeowner in British Columbia and Ontario to seek out some honest advice on their home owning situation.”
What kind of advice? You mean like “should I stay or should I go” advice? You mean like “bought high sold low and rented and kicked in whatever I had left into an ETF” advice?
Is this advice before or after a 6% prime lending rate is established?
How about advice for quantitative easing/falsified low interest rates type economies?
What “advice” do you tell an Albertan? $30 a barrel because of “market forces” or because the Saudis wanted to kill the competiton?
When you think of Brexit, will Canada have the same gun to its head when it decides on the Amero? Clinton the political whore and Trump scares the Neo-Cons.
This blog can get as goofy as MSM. That’s why I read it!!
isi1217noam
The CBC story on Firecracker and Wanderer has over 1000+ comments, 90% exhibiting the first two stages of grief- denial and anger. Most commenters believe:
1) F&W are lying;
2) their initial 500k came from mom & dad, as no one in their 30’s could possibly save that much money;
3) their portfolio will crash/be spent before they are 50;
4) all of the above
All of the myths debunked in this wonderfully pathetic blog are on vivid display in these comments.
This is what it looks like when greed turns to fear, and paradigms shift…
first
#1, Noname there was a mention of something like that, in my weekend business newspaper. Also the IPO of PlanetFitness – PLNT.US – almost doubled off bottom.
Recessionary stock?
GNC fitness (GNC.US) has falling on hard times tho. But raised their dividend.
I think Goodlife Fitness in Canada should go public.
yeah, you have a million dollar portfolio and you’re forced to live off $40,000 a year.
let’s be realistic here. When you’re looking at somebody’s financial situation, you need to look at their cash flow and their net worth.
This couple has a high net worth for their age, but it’s stopped growing because they’re taking out pretty much all their growth.
In 10 years, they’ll still have a million dollar portfolio and be living off $40,000 a year.
How are these people that we should be striving to be?
If they stayed working and investing for 10-15 more years, they could have had enough assets to possibly make 6 figures in retirement.
Garth always preaches balance. These guys aren’t balanced.
Didn’t wanderer and firecracker save around 850k and the other 150k came from investments? If any of your latte sucking callers had read their blog Dorothy might have had more of your attention. High wages and frugality were the main ingredients of that success story.
———-
Exactly.
Kudos to them but this is not an example of investment savy and frugality – its an example of planning your retirement based on getting big fat wages and salaries that you can then save and top up with 7% growth.
The lesson is you need a big fat salary in the first place to get to that million dollar mark. Try hitting that with the average salary – all the frugality in the world will not get you to the million mark in less than 10 years.
The meme here has always been to invest with a balanced portfolio to get your average 7% returns – not save and scrimp every possible cent. In fact, some posters have commented on their parents million dollar mark and the living a life of frugality and they have been mocked by ALL.
Just saying…
The BEAST for the love of Real Estate has arrived by the Ministry of Truth is one’s greatest FEAR that will trigger the bust. “You asked me once, what was in room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in room 101 is the worst thing in the world.”
– O’Brien, Part 111, Chapter V
You will individually decide your own fate by buying debt to buy a residence instead of selling those tax free dollars, investing wisely, and renting a nice apartment to wait out the storm. Room 101 is your condo or whatever you bought with debt.
Garth, we were the bagged lunch, dinner at home never in a restaurant, camped North America on vacations many years, kind of couple twenty five or so years ago the only person who would acknowledge us was [email protected], hence a modest RRSP number when my husband got the handshake in 2009 along with a package…what to do with the package we wondered out loud to anyone that would listen to us. Finally friends whispered, we have a financial guy, who then let us in the front door of his office! We wanted to save, no one breathed a word of financial education other than stash 10% into an RRSP account…yet…thanks to financial guy, we are VERY confidently looking forward to retirement. We MORE than hit our dream number now and could retire tomorrow if succession planning didn’t mean so much to hubby. I totally agree with Dorthy tonight, is it necessary to answer that phone (email)!
Could you financial planners not give these poor folks a 1 year trial before you say no??? Some like firecracker, and us just need a guiding hand, retirement was in our near future and we were more than motivated to cut lifestyle to very modest for a few years in order to achieve a VERY comfortable retirement.
We even bought a Grey Dog!
THANKS TO HONEST BALANCED FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS, they do more than just organize your finances!
It’s finally time to go all-in in YVR real estate… Buy when everybody is in fear
My Word, in the realm of big money and publicly listed corps. buy backs are the RAGE….makes you wander why bother with innovation if all that is required is a trip to the bank.
Brexit, Smexit now that is a real fishy walk on the wild side. Britain noticed the other island (Australia) and how they dealt with any unwelcome newcomers on their stoop…they shipped them back to their original departure and are emulating the same formula. Britain has already lost their empire so why would they bother getting into a tizzy…they know the drill. Been there, done that and of course, the whole world was anticipating some 19th century Victorian panic attacks. My Word, poor Trump beaten like a rented mule by the MSM.
Lordy, lordy just a smidgen of mercy for the underdog would not be out of place now.
Back to my Brexit theme…Canada is attached to our great neighbor America but our best friend hardly notices us even when we have the three Amigos summit. I mean we have a border of what 9,000 kms. and still the Americans mention Canada maybe once a year max. You know I’m right all you who travel to the states and turn on the TV and never ever ever do they ever ever mention Canada. So getting back to the Brexit thingee…it is a non event similar to Canada and America. We have been attached to our noteworthy best friend now since 1812 when we had our last fisticuffs and now they ignore us to no end and that will be the same outcome with the Brexit. Britain minus the empire has done very nicely and has the same stiff upper lip to continue.
That’s a Cheap hollow core door.
@#33
They crucified Christ at 33 didnt they?
Someone hand me a hammer and a spike.
This couple should keep working as they are in their prime earning years. Their lifestyle is not financially sustainable over several decades.
#33 North Burnaby
No fear yet.
Blog dogs have to expect the media to spin the story so that its compelling to readers and the advertisers who pay.
F&W are doing well but if the article focused on the frugality and saving aspect of their portfolio, nobody would care. Anybody can do it. But the problem is that most won’t. They’ll just make excuses. Saving is (apparently) hard. It’s also true that they’re currently spending their growth. They’re either ok with that or will eventually start earning an income to keep their portfolio growing. Personal choice.
I tried retiring a few times at their age. I couldnt do it. It’s too hard. I can travel for about 2 years and then it all starts to be the same. Kudos to those who love it. People need purpose. Money isn’t a purpose. Neither is travel. My balance is working 25hrs a week consulting for small businesses (100 employees or less) in a niche specialty. It’s enough to keep the juices flowing and avoid completely mind numbing boredom from setting in.
kids also throw a wrench into the picture in more ways than one. Maybe they’ll be smart and avoid that too. Odds are against it tho
@ north burnaby
We have not hit fear yet, people are still in denial. Real estate board is still saying prices are going up. You will know when we hit fear when restaurants and shopping malls go dead. at the moment its business as usual.
“Vancouver in the days since, as of Mid-August, is now off a staggering 26.4% but everyone in Vancouver believes home prices rose in July because that is what CREA told everyone and they all believe it.”
It is a pity CREA can’t be sued for deliberate and misleading info-or can they?
On another note I just saw where my favourite little goldie is up 475% on a YTD basis and they don’t start pouring for another 3/4 weeks.
Ugh Tsur Somerville in as the balance.
Ross Kay: Our call that August would be the month where negative sales would be recorded for Vancouver has arrived.
too bad that Christy Clark didn’t ask him before she enacted the tax on foreigners!
better late than never
I did a hypothetical weeks ago as to which real apartment building I would rent. It was given a 100 year land lease in Toronto for construction by the best and became the gem of Canada. The rent included just everything except parking but 218 spaces were set aside for this building at $150 per month. There is a shopping plaza and even some units have private swimming pools. The walking and transit scores are both 100%, a park to walk the dog, and a restaurant were the bankers dine. I could find nothing negative and tried but nada, Tonight took another look and they jumped the rents by $500 a month as there appears to be a waiting list now. The deals come and go fast for the best and these apartments were all updated too.
My call was we would be down 20% by September. Then 50% by next year. Looks like things are moving down much faster. Vancouver has gone “no bid”. Just wait until the rush to the exits starts in the fall.
Now all those people who were calculating their leveraged returns with 5% down need to look at their loss over the last few months (which will get much worse going forward). Funny thing about leverage is you actually lose more than you started with when things turn. Plus if it is a principal residence no capital loss to claim.
#28 TurnerNation on 08.15.16 at 8:35 pm
GNC fitness (GNC.US) has falling on hard times tho. But raised their dividend.
It doesn’t surprise me that GNC raised dividends, my amazonian viza got “hacked” last month all 100 something purchases at GNC store.
oh the horror…
Jesus after reading those comments at the CBC it’s pretty clear CBC readers have never heard of saving and compound interest.
#16 not 1st on 08.15.16 at 8:15 pm
———————————
I agree. Unless they have a minimum $2,000,000 net worth (or perhaps even $3,000,000) at this stage of their lives they are either delusional (they think they’re wealthy), lying (ok, technically “retired”, but now realising they need to monetize their fame in order to live a half decent lifestyle) and/or working at undisclosed part-time jobs.
I also agree with Garth, the key messages of the article should have been #1) wealth is accumulated through hard work and sacrifice, but also #2) you need millions to retire in your 30s to be able to live a comfortable lifestyle.
Someone should tell these two how much the services of a physiotherapist, eye doctor and cholesterol meds will cost them for when they get old….
42nd!!!
Great post today Garth.
#29 TS on 08.15.16 at 8:36 pm
you are not seeing obvious, many people that did something similar, from “rags to riches” type ot thing, first wht they did was they travelled to to blow some steam off, than went back to what they did before, its just a faze…
So, no, I don’t create millionaires out of latte-sucking entitled kids craving retirement and work-life balance. Stop calling.
Oy. Not all publicity is good publicity! Broke people expecting you to work miracles are exhausting.
Hopefully Firecracker and Wanderer get some good blog traffic and income from all this exposure (if they’re going to suffer through all the jealous, bitter, butt-hurt comments, there has to be an up-side!) And everyone saying they can’t live on 4% of their portfolio a year – they don’t have to. They’re obviously monetizing their story; if successful, they’ll end up even richer.
Smart.
To everyone who thinks F&W made their cash because they were highly paid, not frugal, please go read their blog where F says her clothing purchases for the year were socks.
To any newbies coming here hoping to find the path to financial freedom: the path starts with budgeting. When you have a budget you can figure where you can save some money. Once you start saving some money, you can find financial advice on how to invest that money.
I started by having a measley $50 auto-withdrawn into an RRSP twice a month. It has to be auto-withdrawn because if the money is still in my bank account 48 hours later, I will spend it. Now, I’m sure I won’t be eating cat food in retirement. I won’t necessarily be eating steak, but it won’t be cat food. And F&W and Garth have inspired me too.
Go through all of Garth’s old posts. He talks about a balanced portfolio, about running out of money in retirement, fear, the rule of 90, and ETFs.
If budgeting and saving are not one of your best traits, try http://www.gailvazoxlade.com
after the big shock of the new tax it seemed things paused around here.
the 3 listings on my street did sit for a couple weeks, but as of today, all sold. 3 for 3.
just a few overpriced junkers left in the hood. if you want something reasonable in this area, well you are too late, there are zero left.
Has anyone on this blog ever watched”The men who made us fat”?
Some people on the blog sound like it might be right up their alley.
Good to see my Axe Darts partner Ross Kay in fine form swinging the axe.
Mark and Lewenza don’t stand a chance…
M42BC
cost of Government web sites is soaring:
http://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/canada-ca-web-renewal-costs-soaring-with-more-expenses-coming
I maintained the Canadian Soil Information System web site:
http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/index.html
management focus is on creating standards and enforcing them. As a result costs are double what they should be. And good information is not published because it doesn’t follow the standards. Management focus should be on publishing the best information for the least cost.
here’s a comment I posted a year ago:
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2015/01/02/defiance/#comment-342790
and here’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier:
Laurier believed that the burden of government needed always to be kept below the level in the United States, so as to create a powerful competitive advantage for Canada. Small but efficient government, not big government, were to Laurier’s way of thinking Canada’s secret weapon in the competitive struggle with America.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/crowley-a-vision-for-a-prosperous-canada-from-a-century-ago
#44 Context. Found out Morguard’s rental in Yorkville (The Colonnade) has two 5000sq ft penthouse units with private pool. Ancient building though.
Indeed they do. However, I beg to differ, money (the promise of more) is the main purpose on the grand scheme of things. It is both the builder and the demolition man. Of course, this will be soon forgotten in the cacophony of emerging narratives, but it is worth mentioning that, while the conversation is still civil.
The CRTC and the watchdog has just threatened to turn off all internet and television services to all residences in a Toronto condo complex for not playing fair. I get threatened on a monthly basis by my internet server as am using too much broadband. My last billing was for $1.48 as went over my limit. Screw them as just flipped over yesterday my DNS to a free public service which runs 3 million high speed servers worldwide and its faster. My main server can eat cake as am not paying.
Even houses are ideological:
http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-defending-canadas-slipping-sovereignty-again
How much should a couple in their mid to late 30’s have saved? I realize it depends on a couples goals but just curious how far behind in my saving goals we are.
There is no one answer to the question…as they say everyone is unique.
Do you want to go shooting lions in Africa in between cruise ship adventures or are you happy camping with a road trip every couple of years?
My sister is very comfortably retired on around $35,000 after tax income. She owns a small home in Calgary (lol) and travels every second year to somewhere nice. Eats well, dresses well, happy. She doesn’t collect any pensions as of yet, her income will go up then as well.
My wife and I are shooting for $60-70,000 per year after tax income. Before public pensions.
We also wish to leave an estate for our children so that factors into how much.
So, my answer to your question is this: a financial advisor can tell you what to buy, how to invest your money and where but it takes a financial planner in order to take all your lifestyle wishes, all your current and projected investments, etc and tell you what you will need.
Make sure any planner you engage stress tests your individual scenario against all possible factors. How will this look if we have high inflation and low yield? How about a large market correction and modest recovery? What happens if we have a boom, bust, bust situation?
Etc. They have computers, they can do this stuff….never mind planning around the tax situation.
My mother in law has just over $4,000 per month after tax income…her living situation requires $8,000 per month. So buying some insurance against end of life medical surprises while you are young is something to think about…and pay for.
And this is only a partial list…pay a planner then sit down with an advisor and set up a plan to get there.
#1 NoName on 08.15.16 at 8:00 pm
#28 TurnerNation on 08.15.16 at 8:35 pm
We shall call it the muscular compensation index or MCI 500 for short. “Weighted” with planet fitness, GNC and goodlife? as its most prominent and “high volume” stocks.
This probably is because men who are unemployed 1) have more free time to workout 2) have to have other assets besides currency to attract women.
With regards to Goodlife. It’s pretty good. The corporate slogans plastered all over the walls and on the radio/TV’s all day on repeat hover just below annoying, but luckily never reaches that point. Subtle.
Clientele is not bad. Usual mix of douches, packs of young kids hogging equipment, smelly people, weird old guys doing weird stretches/tai chi in odd spots, and everyone else. Not their fault who signs up. One thing is I am amazed at all the housewives I see there. Goodlife seems to have done a great job marketing itself as a gym for people from all walks of life. Bathroom can be a little dirty but again not their fault if the clientele don’t treat it respectfully. And staff seems like they are all volunteer 19 year olds just passing through.
Doesn’t stop me from going at 5:00AM everyday so I can power through my workout like a machine without any of the above characters getting in my way though.
All in all, I would purchase the stock if offered. Seems like a well run company with a good business model.
MF
#199 Bdwy Skytrain
Your post yesterday had more truth than I’ve read here in a long time. Well stated, sir.
The FED will have some hard decisions to make as the PPI services have collapsed by 6% in USA and the intermodal shipping traffic in North America fell by 6.1%.
Further to my previous post…
I know a lot more about business, how to set up, run and make them work than I do about investing for personal wealth. That is why I’m here, mostly.
Any business that prospers has a business plan. Every business that fails either didn’t have a proper business plan or it wasn’t kept current or they deviated from the plan.
If a business plan is so very, demonstrably helpful (and they are) then it stands to reason that if you provide yourself with a investment/retirement plan you will also find it helpful.
After being totally entrepreneurial all my life I’m finally embarking on a retirement plan! At 72, lol.
Luckily for us we passed all our stress tests and it looks like I’ll be able to hunt lions if I want.
Just not in the same year I buy a new car.
But I can, if I want…and that is all you can ask for.
Get a Plan.
Get an Advisor
Work them both hard, like a rented mule.
Gotta say, its fun watching Ross Kay absolutely and utterly own the RE board in Vancouver with his public analysis.
And living on $40k/year after-tax, without the expense of working? Easy. You don’t need a second car (or even a highly reliable car). You don’t need to live in the most expensive city in the country. Your travel plans can be made on the days when flying is at a discount (typically Tuesdays and Thursdays) or even by modalities that come at a discount (ie: train in southern Ontario). Meals can be self-made instead of relying upon the grocery store schlock or take-out.
“Someone should tell these two how much the services of a physiotherapist, eye doctor and cholesterol meds will cost them for when they get old….”
All basically free when you get old. How do you think current retirees, not all of whom are wealthy (especially excluding their houses), survive?
So dumb. Firecracker and WonderMan. Who in there right mind would seek fame.
Nothing wrong with fortune. The value of privacy is so underrated…
My kids alway say, write a book about your life. All the crazy shit you have done..
If I did then I would lose my privacy. That one would be a best seller. It would seem like fiction to most people. I would be called lier. While everything is 100% true.
I’ll stick with drunken Aliens and fiction. And a fake author name.
There is just something great about using the front entrance to a rub and tug without anyone hounding you for autographs.
Go Firecracker and WonderMan.
#56 TurnerNation :- Check out the exclusive bar room on a Thursday night for the oyster feast from 4 to 8 PM at $1.00 each. The building is up to date and the young women there might change your mind as they are in fashion and if your lucky might invite you to dine at La Societe and pay the bill in full. Tip: Read off some poetry by Blake to impress.
#63 Context on 08.15.16 at 10:09 pm
The FED will have some hard decisions to make as the PPI services have collapsed by 6% in USA and the intermodal shipping traffic in North America fell by 6.1%..
……
You can’t make bets on the USA stats till after the election. Machine is all in to make sure Killary Rotton Clinton wins.
A good indication of the USA economy is Canada’s trade balance… And that looks quite shity at the moment.
So yes the stats are down right lies. Globalism vs Nationalism.. And the Globalists have the keys to everything but Trump’s mouth….
Bet accordingly…
Dr Smokey…
That pause was a 30% price drop. Everything has its price where some sucker will buy it if you lower the price enough. Even crack shacks in East Van. Where else can you buy a house for only $1.5 million and get to live next to the only Starbucks in the world that has a dirty needle receptacle in the washroom. If only they could get the locals to use receptacle rather than discarding their needles and used condoms in the parks and streets.
#33 North Burnaby on 08.15.16 at 8:43 pm
“It’s finally time to go all-in in YVR real estate… Buy when everybody is in fear”
Right behind you!
Hah…I wondered if you had something to do with F & W while I was watching the interview…
I found it interesting that they had run the numbers on car ownership, and the necessary licensing/reg/ins costs; not to mention gas and upkeep, into their “retirement” costs.
Strangely (for a car guy) I’ve run a couple scenarios like this…even at my income level, I could just take a third of the year off. Plus, not having to be actually involved in 3 hrs of traffic part of the year would be a bonus. Sometimes I think abolishing cars from my life would probably add a few years to it…
Funny how the things we think are so damned necessary just wind up costing us money, or make us work a whole bunch harder just to keep ’em around.
Last twenty-some years I’ve gotten so used to taking my vacation a few weeks or months at a time anyway; I know when the slow times are and direct my energies (or whatever is left of them) in different directions.
I find for R & R to be truly rehabilitating it’s important to withdraw from the day-to-day hassles, but I don’t need to be in Tahiti…I just let the phone go to message and turn off the TV…and the computer.
FWIW, nice to see a couple enjoying themselves on their terms.
Firecracker defines the term “MEllennial”.
Her “bragging” story almost make me ban Garth’s blog after 8 years of reading/contributing to it.
Context used to be called Old Man as writing is the same. Smoking Miscreant is Old Man/Context as same stupidity. I know this as I pay attention as both are dumb as rocks, as.
As to F&W as who cares as I prefer A&W. As the F&W story is old news. As is A&W but their hamburgers are better than F&W’s as F&W are likely grass munching vegans as that is as cool nowadays, as.
Please now read on as I carry on about some mindless nonsense as I will come back in a minute as I can then see how brilliantly I post anonymous foolish nonsense as to the comment section of every blog that as yet has not turfed me, as am an arsehole.
Am, however, building a huge underground condom community with sky high virtual edge swimming pools in every unit as each will be penthouse. Will rent as everyone will desire to buy one as I researched on secret realtor underground private website that is only available as to me on late night television on a channel that as no one else can get.
Seriously Garth you’re actually a psychiatrist and this blog is just a tool for treatment of your most mentally ill patients and the public is allowed in so that the patients don’t figure out that it’s just an evaluation tool about how nuts they are, right?
MF for those reasons I dare not set foot inside GL. My work benefits would all but cover the membership though.
No my rental kando gym is quite well equipped. Better than most that I’ve seen.
GL also is a sweatshop by many accounts ( a company gets the union it deserves – see Air Can vs Westjet):
https://nowtoronto.com/news/not-so-goodlife-for-gym-employees-fighting-to-unionize/
#44 Context on 08.15.16 at 9:07 pm
“I did a hypothetical weeks ago as to which real apartment building I would rent. It was given a 100 year land lease in Toronto for construction by the best and became the gem of Canada. The rent included just everything except parking but 218 spaces were set aside for this building at $150 per month. There is a shopping plaza and even some units have private swimming pools. The walking and transit scores are both 100%, a park to walk the dog, and a restaurant were the bankers dine. I could find nothing negative and tried but nada, Tonight took another look and they jumped the rents by $500 a month as there appears to be a waiting list now. The deals come and go fast for the best and these apartments were all updated too.”
Which building is it? cross streets?
Early retirement is highly overrated. Garth sure isn’t retired and he loves his life from the sounds of it.
I’m amazed with the lack of financial knowledge seen in most people here on Vancouver Island. Almost everyone believes that stocks & bonds are a loser’s game & RE is the only way to make money. A friend recently sold all of his family’s RRSPs (major tax hit) to pay off their mortgage. People are becoming CRAZY!
It’s so funny, I’ve attempted to pay Garth a visit at the forks of the credit on several occasions. The delema. The wife jumps in the car.. Change of plan..
Mrs Smoking Man is possessed by the demon of fear of judgement. Any form of a negative feed back loop sends her on a trip to Lala land rage.
What if some other blog dogs were there. Hey Smokey let’s go get some short term rentals… Or who knows what other crazy shit I’ve written on here.
Purely a book marketing ploy. Most of it made up shit to be Man-Spirational.
All those times I’ve said she reads this blog. Well not exactly 100% true.
She has no idea her stable, we’ll providing, upstanding hubby has a set of bat shit crazy typing thumps.
I can’t take the risk. If she losses it, better to hope for thermo nukes instead.
So Garth, the Smokey and Garth selfy need to wait for her to go on a field trip to senica with her sister.
We have no freinds for obvious reasons… One of us is crazy…
Well, good luck with that – you have moved your DNS (domain name service) to a public source. Good for you if you don’t want your ISP deciding what sites you should be able to see. But all you are saving is a few hundred thousand bytes of lookup traffic a month. At best.
Your video downloads will still be measured, throttled, or billed based on the bytes you actually download. Those don’t magically appear on your computer for free just because you looked the URL up on a public DNS.
Let us know how the cake tastes when you see your next bill?
Ouch .. the quote in my previous comment should have been attributed to
#58 Context on 08.15.16 at 9:52 pm
That’s what I get for trying to do fancy HTML formatting here.
#47 mark on 08.15.16 at 9:14 pm
Jesus after reading those comments at the CBC it’s pretty clear CBC readers have never heard of saving and compound interest.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark….this is 2016…..not 1991. There is “not interest” to compound anymore.
Garth,
Would consider writing a post on re-balancing?
It seems very important but gets little attention. Or do I need to be a client for that kind of advice? Thanks as always!
First of all F & W should be congratulated for having an ambitious goal, and the self discipline and focus to achieve it. Yes they had the means, but they still had to do a lot of heavy lifting themselves.
Second, they are rare but not unique. In Canada, we have Derek Foster and Diane Nahirney, who have followed a similar path. There is a blog called Early Retirement extreme, where a man followed a minimalist path to retirement.
Obviously their path is not for the many. Most of us want to enjoy some of the stuff and experiences that life has to offer, that cost money. They have lived life out of balance for a relatively short period of time, in order to have the option of not working for a long time.
They will work – on their blog, perhaps a book, lectures. And if it doesn’t work out? They can go back to work, or to school for a new qualification.
They chose a different path, succeeded, and in the way of the world many are throwing stones. I choose to respect their choice, their path. Not for me but kudos to them.
That dog’s torturer needs to be put down like a savage pitbull.
Does he have a captive sex slave in the other room?
Oh, LAST!
#62 Boom
Bdy Skytrn is a class act for sure!
Never mind he plagiarized that joke from Reddit.
He’s an all around fraud.
The party’s over in YVR RE, get used to it. Realtors: there is nothing you can post here to change the MLS results since Feb. 2016…nothing, the genie is out of the bottle.
What sales happened in your block are irrelevant (i.e., like urinating in the Pacific Ocean and measuring how much the water level went up by).
Zolo, Ross Kay, TD Bank etc. all say it is over, prices in near free fall, inventory up/sales down and it will only get worse. Plan for this instead.
In the next couple of weeks expect Economists to fall over themselves revising RE expectations way down…still to come.
As for F&W, stop being so jealous people…they made it and are trying to rewire an entire generation to generating wealth and not burden themselves with life long unsurmountable debt. Applaud them instead of criticizing them.
Interesting, many posts now turning to Anger vis a vis CREA and BCREA misinformation…soon to come: bargaining our way out of a collapsing RE market, depression as it is too late to bail and finally…acceptance. Human nature never changes and nor to RE Crash dynamics.
Here’s some real-life examples of Vancouver real estate action today.
A townhouse in Port Moody, 2300 sq feet. 1990-ish build. Listed at $570,000 in 2012. Did not sell(!) and was removed from the market. Relisted in April 2016. Sold in a week. Asking $750,000….. paid….. $840,000! No joke.
Here’s the kicker. There were only 2 bids. The second bid…. $735,000. No joke.
Example #2. A good friend of mine, 35 year old guy with 2 young kids, just listed his Lynn Valley townhouse for $810,000 with the plan to move out of Vancouver to Kelowna, in order to capitalize on Vancouver stupidity and get something bigger with some dirt.
It sold for $860,000 in 6 days.
THEY TOOK THE ONLY BID.
Yes you read that right, the only bidder, bid $50,000 OVER ask because their agent obviously advised them to come in hot.
I’m sorry, but if you’re upsizing or buying into Vancouver real estate right now, either you absolutely have to for some crazy reason, or you are seriously missing some marbles upstairs.
“They say they had managed to save $500,000 by working hard and living modestly. The couple was ready to spend it on a down payment — until they saw what was on offer.
They scoped out dilapidated houses selling for half a million dollars, including one Shen decided was possessed. “Whoever bought that house is probably finding lots of bodies under the floorboards. The house was scary.””
FOOLS. With their income and down payment they could have bought a stunning 2 million dollar house with 25% down which would now be worth 4 million. By now they would have paid off about 200k so about 1.3 million debt on a 4 million dollar house. How was renting better again?
Well, bought a house in Langley for $888,000 with $375,000 down. Wife couldn’t stay in a basement suite anymore, and baby is 6 months old.
Guess in 5 years I’ll probably regret it. Maybe?
There’s no real secret to getting wealthy, work at it, educate yourself and pretend it’s not about the money. I trade stocks for a living. I sell my research to a select group of clients who are too lazy to do the work themselves. But seriously, anyone could do my job.
Buy good stocks with long histories of consistently raising dividends. You can start small and reinvest all dividends towards a critical mass where you might want to diversify across the 5 main sectors of the economy, buying the best issue in each. Use a discount broker and pay next to no fee per trade and nothing to set up the online acct.
“Concentration” is the secret, diversification is where you buy more losers than winners. In the long run you won’t be 100% right all the time, but neither are the fund managers or indexes that get to hide their mistakes among hundreds of stocks.
You only need a few 5 to 10 Baggers in your lifetime to make you rich. Look at the history of real Canadian winners like THI ( Tim Hortons) that flew from a $10 stock to a $90 dollar stock in 5 years. GCI Group that languished at $10 and now trades at $64. There are planty of these opportunities in todays market, TD Bank has made a fortune for holders over twenty years. Tck.b has risen over 200 % already this year. Most good gold issues have doubled and tripled.
There is no other means on earth where wealth can be made legally by honest men and women unafraid to spend a few nights a week at the library. I recommend ‘The Intelligent Investor’ by Benjamin Graham as a good place to learn fundamentals and springboard from there.
If a guy like me , coming from nothing, can make millions, anyone can.
Those hoping for a shallow correction in the YVR (and YYZ) real estate markets are the same ones calling for oil to be back to $60 USD next year.
Oil is not going back to $60 USD till 2020, earliest. This was the mother of all commodity booms (2005-2014), the bust will be measured in decades. Unlike the bust in the 80’s, this time, alternatives have critical mass and will dampen demand for crude in the future.
Similarly, this was a once-in-a-100-year RE boom in YVR, in particular. It will probably be 2030, or longer, before prices return to their peaks.
Just look at Tokyo RE, if you need a recent example. Still trading far below 1990 peaks.
In contrast, I expect the S&P to be above 4,000 by 2030, as corporate profits keep on rolling….
#39 WalMark of Sadkatoon
“F&W are doing well but if the article focused on the frugality and saving aspect of their portfolio, nobody would care. Anybody can do it. But the problem is that most won’t. They’ll just make excuses. Saving is (apparently) hard.”
——————————————————————-
Spot on!
Read the blog by Mr. Money Mustache. This is doable, but it requires maniacal saving and severe discipline for several years! And, NO MORTGAGE!!!!!!
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com
Read and Learn.
#73 Investagator Stadanko,
nicely put!
#78 Smoking Man on 08.15.16 at 11:11 pm
It’s so funny, I’ve attempted to pay Garth a visit at the forks of the credit on several occasions. The delema. The wife jumps in the car.. Change of plan..
Mrs Smoking Man is possessed by the demon of fear of judgement. Any form of a negative feed back loop sends her on a trip to Lala land rage.
What if some other blog dogs were there. Hey Smokey let’s go get some short term rentals… Or who knows what other crazy shit I’ve written on here.
Purely a book marketing ploy. Most of it made up shit to be Man-Spirational.
All those times I’ve said she reads this blog. Well not exactly 100% true.
She has no idea her stable, we’ll providing, upstanding hubby has a set of bat shit crazy typing thumps.
I can’t take the risk. If she losses it, better to hope for thermo nukes instead.
So Garth, the Smokey and Garth selfy need to wait for her to go on a field trip to senica with her sister.
We have no freinds for obvious reasons… One of us is crazy…
..
You’ll get there in November when you have to report for work and clean garths toilets when you lose your bet…..
There is a big FOMO going on.
No, not in Vancouver, Toronto… In your ETFs…
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-stock-market-is-about-to-have-a-final-melt-up-2016-8
It’s all over their faces – the look of real freedom.
They own all of their time and by extension, their lives.
This state of wealth places them squarely in a different and far superior realm. One that allows them to think and therefore act differently.
Creating and owning your own business and running it from wherever you are on the planet is nothing short of the ultimate life upgrade.
They rule their lives, not their employers.
They dictate the terms by which they live.
They decide when they wish to get up in the morning.
BRAVO!
How can you tell that a realtard is lying?
Its mouth is moving.
It hasn’t been talking up prices at all, it’s been lying them up, bullying and massaging buyers, instilling panic and FOMO, genetically modifying statistics and parading around as though it actually owns the homes it lists. Of course, a large measure of buyer stupidity helped grease the skids, but realturd arrogance is nevertheless mind boggling.
Build wealth through re (cough) and in many markets, easily pay twice for the place, without taking into account maintenance (especially on the pressed cornflakes variety), insurance……
Build your wealth through saving like mad and investing wisely, and arrive at the same or greater level of riches far earlier, with all of your life time as a bonus.
Quel bonus.
Play your own game.
#90 Argyle Socks
You make total sense to me (anybody that recommends Ben Graham would to that…), for years I’ve been writing from time to time on this blog to say the surest and safest way to get rich it to invest in a portfolio of several individual stocks of some of the best companies in the world. It’s by far the easiest way to own quality assets without having to pay fees that will eat up much of your gains.
Diversification, rebalancing, funds and ETFs are all ways to include losers in your assets, at best it will help reduce short term fluctuations but at the price of losing much in the end.
Unfortunately financial illiteracy is rampant, even predominant.
F & W have no kids…right?
Their whole situation will change in the instant they have kids. Mommy will no longer be so frugal as she will be ready to spend as mush as necessary for the offspring with no compromise.
Trust me, watch how it changes.
with that said though, they did the saving at the right time in their life and will see the benefits of it, kids or no kids, but they should be ashamed in any way if they can’t keep up the same strategy after kids.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday that it has halted the trading of a firm called Neuromama. The NASDAQ listed company has a market cap of around $35 billion with shares valued at $56.25 a share before the halt.
As Bloomberg News noted, the market cap of the company would make it more valuable on paper than Tesla and Delta Air Lines.
The company lists offices in seven locations from Las Vegas to Sydney, Australia. The company has not filed any financial information with the SEC since its quarterly results in January 2014 for the quarter ending in October 2013.
In that statement, Neuromama listed $1,081 in cash on hand and $18.26 million in “intangible assets” as it’s only assets. It listed no revenue and a loss in the previous nine months of $500,811.
http://www.businessinsider.com/neromama-clone-of-amazon-and-atomic-fusion-stock-halted-2016-8
#13 Sebastien on 08.15.16 at 8:12 pm
Why the panic on this blog for just a few months of data?
_________________
Because many here have been predicting this for years and every sign they see points to a massive drop in prices (confirmation bias).
It might be happening, but it’s too early to tell and we could be just witnessing a minor price correction followed by a period of reasonable price stability. Especially given the lack of bank of canada rate increases. I can’t tell the future and those who claim they can have been wrong repeatedly and are just guessing.
Our forum host could forward all Millenial callers to Sub advisor ‘ Smoking man LLP’.
They’d be taking frantic notes like: Always flush used one to avoid paternity cases; join Chairman’s club; steal customer list.
I think the second most important lesson from F&W is the value of a degree in computer engineering and to a lessor extent a STEM education.
Kids invest in a thermos if you want good cheap coffee and want to save like F&W.
#7 Andrew Woburn on 08.15.16 at 8:09 pm
“Here’s how Warren Buffet explains bubbles.
http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-explains-how-bubbles-are-formed-2016-3”
“Price action takes over….” The Oracle is spot on.
Price action took over a long time ago….starting around 2000. Most re is 50% overvalued with TO and YVR a complete train wreck.
RE has become a money sinkhole.
There is no end to these real estate agents trying to flog a property. They are now using a famous buzz word for an association from a recent sale. They are saying this nice property is sitting on a nice leafy lot. I am sure the couple who bought the home in Forest Hill will soon find out the horror of raking leaves.
@ #97 pBrasseur on 08.16.16 at 8:12 am
For 99% of people it’s better to own the market and stick with it, there are too many things to go wrong trying to pick winners. If you want to do the research, and keep on top of it then it very may well be the better option to value invest. Otherwise ‘keep it simple’, there is more value in that than you know.
#72 A Canadian Abroad,
I know the feeling, but look on the bright side.
Garth writes up a pair of clients in his 20 May “Chutzpah” post as if financial advice had made them rich:
The simple facts of the case would have avoided a lot of unnecessary excitement – save $893,414 over 8 years, add $125,000 in investment returns, and you’re a self-made millionaire. Duh.
Nevertheless, their blog gets much traffic, they get picked up by the CBC and become a national story, complete with cute pictures. The road to riches implied by the reporter:
There is much internet commenting, most of it missing the point, but it doesn’t matter, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The bright side: Smoking Man flattens his head against a brick wall in frustration. He’s been keyboarding his fingers to the bone for six years trying to get a bit of recognition and relevance into his life, and Garth’s poster upstarts beat him by a mile.
Stop spending money on RE and lifestyle perks and you too can have a huge pile if cash at your disposal sooner than you think.
When you get to your first $100K it’s an awesome feeling. When you get to $500K you know that $1MM isn’t but a few years away.
You need great jobs to do it ($75K each min) and once you start saving $2-3K each month in the first two years (not counting investment returns and tax returns) you’ll kick yourself for not doing it years ago. Our light bulb went on in 2003 and today, without RE we’really liquid and over the top.
Ah, F & W are good students. Learned the 7 magic words:
“Earn much. Spend little. Invest the difference.”
The following are U.S. oriented, but applies even more so to Canadians.
————–
Why most millennials won’t be millionaires
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000541421
————-
75% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/two-thirds-of-minimum-wage-workers-cant-make-ends-meet-careerbuilder-survey-finds-300311840.html
Juice Box Justin a Soros hand puppet…and heres the proof.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/15/leaked-soros-memo-refugee-crisis-new-normal-gives-new-opportunities-for-global-influence/
#73 Investagator Stadanko on 08.15.16 at 10:57 pm
Context used to be called Old Man as writing is the same.
……………..
Priceless!!! 10/10!
As. Good stuff. As.
As. Dark Web.
As.
#103 maxx :- There is one condo building in Toronto with an ownership that could care less where the market ends up. Its filled with multi- millionaires and the elite of the city. Not much sells there with nothing to rent and the young and old live together. Lots of young women have big money and just north to the right is where they hang out to party on any given night.
#69 BS on 08.15.16 at 10:51 pm
#53 bdwy sktrn on 08.15.16 at 9:25 pm
the 3 listings on my street did sit for a couple weeks, but as of today, all sold. 3 for 3.
……
That pause was a 30% price drop.
…………..
Now you are telling jokes. Funny.
I will get the sold prices today. Still think 30 off is right?
These are 1.5m asks. 30% is 450,000. That’s a LOT of dollars you will be off by. Huge error. Huge. As. Huge.
In fact in the midst of a market slammed by a large and unexpected new tax, wanna bet all of them went at ask or over?
Could you be further off if you tried like mark? (well I doubt anyone could be) but you are giving it the old college try. Good for you.
https://www.biv.com/article/2016/8/blue-collar-immigrants-take-hit-tax-realtors/
Karen Kerr, a realtor with Sutton Group West Coast Realty who has multiple listings in Surrey, said she had a deal fall apart because of the new foreign buyer’s tax – though no money was lost – and since August 5 when the tax came into effect, everything has gone quiet.
“It’s like the switch has been flipped,” Kerr said. “All the buyers are waiting to see if the prices are going to come down. I’ve had two calls for showings in the last two weeks. It’s just gone completely dead.”
#12 CREIT on 08.15.16 at 8:12 pm
How much should a couple in their mid to late 30’s have saved? I realize it depends on a couples goals but just curious how far behind in my saving goals we are.
_________________________________________
Mid 30’s – 250-300K assuming returns are going to suck for decades yet. That will result hopefully in near a mil by 65. Tough one to do for the average working stiff over the last decade.
I agree w/ a lot of these folks. Stocks are as unbalanced (OK maybe less) as the housing market. With many indications screaming “sell”, IMO stock portfolios are not safe anymore. If you look at the world economy, $200 billion of money being pumped into its guts every month is very much like another “asian” investor buying a ridiculously over-priced property in BC, same approach, LITERALLY! So I won’t defend either approach at this point. What I would do instead is to diversify my wealth as much as possible so if (when) one goes south, at least I have a few eggs left somewhere else. I would also buy some gold since the same Chinese investors would go after gold when they stop buying houses. Follow their mentality and you know where’s the next bubble!
University grad faces $84K foreign buyers tax on Langley, B.C., townhome
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/property-transfer-tax-chinese-student-1.3719106
Jing cobbled together a 10 per cent deposit on the $560,000 property by borrowing from her parents in China. She said they in turn borrowed money from friends and family.
But last month, 12 days after Jing signed the purchase contract, the B.C. government threw a wrench in Jing’s Canadian dream when it levied a 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign real estate buyers in the Vancouver area.
Jing is not a permanent resident in Canada, so the tax adds $84,000 to the home’s cost, something she’s certain she can’t afford. But if she backs out of the deal, she would lose her deposit of about $56,000.
“Now, I can’t go forward and also can’t go back.”
Her mother cried when Jing called her parents in China to tell them about the tax. They had no more money to lend her.
The Fed’s shifting perspective on the economy and its implications for monetary policy
Ben S. Bernanke
Monday, August 8, 2016
At note 4, a cute little fulcrum embedded at the very end of the piece, after blah blah, blah blah blah…………:
“hysteresis”.
The economy is what it is……not what it should be, or could be, but because of a time lag……………?
Gee, golly, gosh, who knew?
Anyone care to dissect the composition of hysteresis as it pertains to the economy?
Anybody have a link where the Ross Kay quote came from? I’d like to read more about it and can’t find it.
My email from him. — Garth
Instead of doing the contrite nice boy thing because of your lousy behavior and other poster’s wanting you banned, have the balls to go to AA and get some help. Your wide range of knowledge regarding every subject under the sun is a smokescreen you use to avoid your own problems of being a raging alcoholic. Stop being such a pussy!
The Washington Street Journal reports 1000 cargo ships with a combined capacity to haul 52 million tons of cargo will be beached and cut up for scrap metal this year. New ships on order for 2016 will be 293.
Wow… The comments on the CBC story. People even attack them for not having kids!! You can feel the envy
When I first discovered this very useful (though not daring enough – ETFs? – OK, but you can do better if you are willing to manage your own portfolio) blog, I pointed out something that might end up becoming universally known in the coming few years:
That being, the “system” we live in, where we are told work hard, go in for the long run, be a good employee and pay off your mortgage in 25 years and look forward to a “golden” retirement, is an elaborate set up, designed to benefit about 1% of our population at the expense of everyone else.
The cardinal piece of equipment that this “set up” system relies on, is the notional amortization mortgage. This makes it possible for a person to “qualify” for a five year loan, at an interest rate and a payment plan applicable to a 25 year loan. In this way, everyone can afford a house (and everyone needs a long term job).
This creates the following situation: We have the “middle class” working for 25 years, paying interest and taxes, for the benefit of the upper classes.
This is not a coincidence. It was planned. The entire consumer economy was planned. It all benefits a small group of individuals at the top.
So yes I understand what Firecracker and the Wanderer have discovered. I discovered the same thing too some time ago. We are supposed to spend our lives “working for the man”, working hard, putting in our years, as a good citizen should. This is a load of hoey. What everyone wants to (and can) do, is make the man work for you. You can own the man. As these two have done, and are doing.
Way to go
Have we hit bottom yet in YVR?
I understand printing companies are working overtime making “Foreclosure” stickers to put on For Sale signs..
Can I finally leave my musty basement suite, after being here for over eight years?
The sound of the kids (teens now) running around upstairs is killing me.
Such an incredible response everyday – can’t keep up. Best blog in Canada. BTW, I am a digital nomad wannabe so I actually joined a Tech Meetup group of the same name. I want to see what these types are all about. Intrepid reporter with trench coat, will travel…. and report back.
On another note, housing makret corrected? Reminds me of a joke. So, the B.C. government, the Chinese government and the Ontario government walk into a bar…. – as the joke goes, it’s lame but each of the above have sounded the alarm bell to stop the housing market from continuing in an upward spiral. Adam Smith is shaking his head somewhere. Back in the good old days of Mackenzie King, they would just call the new tax what it really is – a Chinese head tax. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Waiting for the Komagata Maru II to pull up to the Port of Vancouver on a “real estate cruise”
It takes a lot to call off the bulls in a market. We everyone says it’s over…..it ain’t over. It’s a lull. A manipulation that most individuals, had they been able to pull it off, would be in jail for.
Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury. Perhaps we could tax that and fund our pension plans….
When you are IN the housing market it really doesn’t matter if your home goes up in value… so has everybody else’s. If everybody else’s home decreases in value so doe yours.
For First Time Buyers… I know many, many, many (including myself) who bought at the very peak of a market who today have no regrets. That does not means fools should rush in.
Real estate is not an speculative investment per se. You buy a home, a shelter. Someday you have a lot more equity than you started out with which provides you security. If you outgrow your present home, or want to downsize you are selling and buying in the same market not to make money but to have a more appropriate shelter. That benefit of a more appropriate shelter is going to cost you something either way and so it should otherwise there is no incentive to change.
I believe we are approaching a peak. Many I speak to think otherwise. They could be right. I could be wrong. Really at the end of the day, for the kind of real estate I sell and who my clients are… it’s not going to make a big difference either way.
SHIFT happens, learn to ride the tide.
};-)
@116 Victor:
Why is she buying a home to set “roots” when she is on a 10 years “visitor” visa?
Trudeau should just lift the borders.
The above noted picture has some reality to it as my attorney friend from the US retired early in life and is living in Mexico. He bought a pup last year which is a Golden Retriever and the first thing he did was to tear all the furniture apart. Next he found the automatic car door opener to chew on late at night letting in two horses that in the morning were found in the pool. This never ends but just one more. The dog removed his wallet one night from the dresser top and went down to the pool courtyard removing $1,000 USD and chewed the bills into small pieces which were found scattered about the next morning.
Oh and if you’re like myself and you enjoy having a “pied a terre” in Toronto but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, you could always do what we do, which is search out downtrodden looking, rough-ish houses with good bones in “not so prime neighbourhoods” that we feel will “gentrify”.
If you are right, then you end up paying cash for a nice old pile of bricks, with no mortgage, that turns out to be located across the street from this:
http://www.thecrosstown.ca/node/526
Pretty little train, runs straight to both ends of the Yonge/University line, and we also have a UPX stop and the Go train, plus a ton of busses. We like transit (but try purchasing a house walking distance to a subway stop – you need to start selling body parts).
#116 Victor V on 08.16.16 at 10:44 am
University grad faces $84K foreign buyers tax on Langley, B.C., townhome
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/property-transfer-tax-chinese-student-1.3719106
Jing cobbled together a 10 per cent deposit on the $560,000 property by borrowing from her parents in China. She said they in turn borrowed money from friends and family.
————-
How the hell did she get a mortgage?
GNC.US stock is in play today. Looking for a suitor. Up 5%
Whereas, local fitness play turned flabby with debt handles.
PSG.TO
“Globe says investors body-checked by Performance Sports
The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that investors lopped almost half the market value from the maker of Bauer hockey gear after the company disclosed it is reviewing its books and may default on its debt. The Globe’s Jeffrey Jones writes that ..”
^ From Stockwatch.com
#97 pBrasseur the surest and safest way to get rich it to invest in a portfolio of several individual stocks of some of the best companies in the world. It’s by far the easiest way to own quality assets without having to pay fees that will eat up much of your gains.
Diversification, rebalancing, funds and ETFs are all ways to include losers in your assets, at best it will help reduce short term fluctuations but at the price of losing much in the end.
Unfortunately financial illiteracy is rampant, even predominant.
Well yes, a smaller number of stocks means you can get a higher return. You need a surprisingly large number of stocks to avoid the probability of a catastrophe though. Established companies do fail. Owning entire markets is the only way to invest. Everything else is degrees of speculation. If you believe over the long run economies grow, then by owning the entire stock market you capture that growth. As an added benefit, you can get on with life without worrying about about maintaining your stock portfolio. I mean, to each his own, but I know what I’d rather do with my time.
“I’m completely devoid of any personal balance. That’s for people who hate their jobs. And Millennials, of course.”
Thanks to the slow Canadian economy I’m sure there is tons of millennials out there that crave to work and retire early, but simply cannot due to lack of opportunity created by workaholics like GT.
Unfortunately the only hope any of us have is scraping every penny, and investing in rock star portfolios provided by the great folks at Raymond James.
Nobody mentioned this article yet?
Lenders to shoulder first 10-30% loss of mortgages? What?
I bet Mr. Turner will have the next article about this…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/ottawa-mulls-risk-sharing-option-for-lenders-in-hot-housing-market/article31422162/
Things are starting to get interesting with the foreign buyers tax. Even if there is more to the story, this speaks directly hastiness behind Christy Clark’s new tax:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/property-transfer-tax-chinese-student-1.3719106
Blaming others for our own systemic issues is just gross.
University grad faces $84K foreign buyers tax on Langley, B.C., townhome
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/property-transfer-tax-chinese-student-1.3719106
Jing cobbled together a 10 per cent deposit on the $560,000 property by borrowing from her parents in China. She said they in turn borrowed money from friends and family.
But last month, 12 days after Jing signed the purchase contract, the B.C. government threw a wrench in Jing’s Canadian dream when it levied a 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign real estate buyers in the Vancouver area.
Jing is not a permanent resident in Canada, so the tax adds $84,000 to the home’s cost, something she’s certain she can’t afford. But if she backs out of the deal, she would lose her deposit of about $56,000.
“Now, I can’t go forward and also can’t go back.”
Her mother cried when Jing called her parents in China to tell them about the tax. They had no more money to lend her.
————-
My Canadian kids cry when they see that they cannot buy real estate because of foreign capital like this…..can I please get a news story?
#76 Vanreal on 08.15.16 at 11:06 pm
Early retirement is highly overrated. Garth sure isn’t retired and he loves his life from the sounds of it.
——————————-
Won’t disagree that early retirement is overrated, however early financial independence is not overrated. You get to choose what you do and who you do it for (though I think Garth is crazy to keep this blog going by choice).
Story time:
A friend recently “retired” from a start-up. He’s always lived frugally, doing contract work as he travelled the world. He got roped into a startup in YVR, and it did well (which meant he did well, as he had a significant stake). So he disappeared to a warm beach for a few months to unwind and take his time at finding something interesting to keep him occupied. No rush, just peruse his options. Surprisingly he went with a big US company (didn’t think that was his style), but managing/developing a new product (which does sound like him). Didn’t blow any money on RE or cars etc. I don’t think he even splurged on a new laptop.
Having interviewed with the same company, I know they make it worth your while monetarily if that’s what will push you into joining. The difference being it’s easy for him to pick up and start somewhere new (no RE, few possessions). Between the family and house etc it’s a lot more difficult for me to take a leap no matter how juicy the offer is. For him, getting paid well to do something he wants to do is just icing on the cake. If it doesn’t work out, he can just leave and find something when it suites him (since he’s not feeding a hungry mortgage and loin fruit).
It’s not the lifestyle for everyone, but for some it’s living the dream. A tech vagabond of sorts.
#69 BS on 08.15.16 at 10:51 pm
……
That pause was a 30% price drop.
————————–
got the report from my ‘guy’
solds since the july 25, about when the tax was announced. the three on my street
1. ask 1.5 sell 1.7
2. ask 1.488 sell 1.55
3. ask 1.45 sell 1.675
30% drop anyone?
total number of sales way down.
of all results in a 1km radius of 1st and comm (11) i get just one sold under ask. just round the corner. just sold.
ask 1.788 sell 1.75.
thing is, it’s an extra small lot. good location but it is 2/3 the size of a std lot (going for 1.5mil – see above). funny thing is that , while the inside is very well renoed, the outside was dilapated , decomposing wood siding 20 years ago when i first saw it. it remained untouched and left to rot since then. last month it was splashed with the very thinnest , lightest coat of white right over the rot. no prep. must have watered down the paint as the old faded color shows through plenty. not a real paint job in any regard. a few new flowers and presto-sold a rotting pile of boards.
the ask was stupid high. they missed it by less than a couple kias. after the tax.
prices remain firm here in eastern van wasteland. very firm.
Donald Trump says he isn’t running against crooked Hillary Clinton anymore, he’s running against the crooked media. This comment was in response to a couple of scorching articles by The New York Times and the AP over the week-end that featured off the record interviews with people inside the campaign making it clear that it’s in chaos with Trump himself having serious mood swings and refusing to listen to anyone. This seems obviously true judging by the “low energy” desultory performances in Florida on Friday followed by his highly agitated behavior in a rally in Connecticut on Saturday after the articles were published online. By Sunday he was refuting the notion that he’d ever agreed to follow the advice of his small cadre of political advisers, tweeting like Popeye: “I am who I am!”
Just loving it. It is like watching trapped animal,Some animals will just go into a catatonic state and just die. These are usually prey animals that do this. Trump thinks he is a predator.
People have three responses to stress:
Fight
Flight
Cover in place
Trump fits into none of the above he just keeps running in circles and sniffing the same spot he just pissed in.
#92 Zen Headspace on 08.16.16 at 6:49 am
#39 WalMark of Sadkatoon
“F&W are doing well but if the article focused on the frugality and saving aspect of their portfolio, nobody would care. Anybody can do it. But the problem is that most won’t. They’ll just make excuses. Saving is (apparently) hard.”
——————————————————————-
Spot on!
Read the blog by Mr. Money Mustache. This is doable, but it requires maniacal saving and severe discipline for several years! And, NO MORTGAGE!!!!!!
__________________________________________
…and good paying jobs.
That’s the cornerstone on which both FC+W and Mr. MM have built their early retirements. Mr. MM also benefited from hot job and real estate markets to boot.
That’s why there will be no Millennial Revolution – they are overall too brokeass to save much over the cost of living. Few make the coin needed.
Some young couple needs to take this to the next level. Say a couple that each makes 17.00/hr – or about 71K per year. What can they do with their cost of living, taxation, and income fronts to get out of the work force asap. How extreme could they go? How long will it take, and what have they got to live on after retiring? A story like that would leave little excuses on the table for most everyone else.
Jing is not a permanent resident in Canada, so the tax adds $84,000 to the home’s cost, something she’s certain she can’t afford
———————-
that’s a whopping 100/week extra.
if you can’t figure that out , and you just got out of school , you should not have a house yet.
further WTF is u of sask doing handing out masters degrees (in public admin!) to clearly non-fluent english speakers –
“If I don’t want to study, work and live in Canada, this disaster would not happen to my family.
“I hope there is somebody could tell me what I can do.”
shame on sask u for not insisting she get her english up to a level where she would have a chance of landing any job in her field.
The CBC happily prints RE stories that are suspect.
Check out Jane Armstrong’s “University grad faces $84K foreign buyers tax on Langley, B.C., townhome” on the CBC homepage. While I may want to feel sad for this poor girl, I have to wonder which bank in Canada would lend her 90 % of the house money as a fresh graduate living in a Burnaby apartment with 3 other pals. Does she have a job? Wher will the 2000 dollars a month come from to support her new Canadian lifestyle? The CBC needs to provide a few more answers.
#120 Context on 08.16.16 at 11:54 am
The Washington Street Journal reports 1000 cargo ships with a combined capacity to haul 52 million tons of cargo will be beached and cut up for scrap metal this year. New ships on order for 2016 will be 293.
—————–
aaaaand the new ships are on avg 4 times larger?
what are you saying?
I have one more dog story which is current for the love of dogs. The attorney had to make a 45 minute drive to see his dentist and cannot leave his dog in the car as will trash it, so calls the maid to come over to do a few things and watch over the dog. He arrives back at his gated estate hearing the maid screaming and rushes up to the second level which is flooding with water as the dog is taking a shower. He rushes to turn off the main valve. The dog found a protruding pipe out of the wall as when built could be used in the future so the dog played with it and broke it off. Needless to say a plumber was called, and the owner never spanks his beloved pup. It needs to be trained but there are none available in his area.
People do not even have the faintest clue of the money and its sources coming onshore.
Lots of these buyers may not even have the money they are putting down. In china its customary to get money from family and friends and local agents, not the banks – its called shadow lending. Vancouver’s price increases are likely all built on a house of cards that will start folding in China some day and reverberate here.
Comments here suggest that FC+W will need to live on $40K for the rest of their lives. I am sure this is not the case. They seem way too intelligent not to want to build fulfilling, and probably lucrative, careers at some point.
What they have done, which is so admirable, is that instead of tying themselves to a grinding mortgage for a box on a postage stamp, is that they have created some space for themselves to explore, to be creative and to contemplate what they want to do with the rest of their lives.
It seems highly unlikely that they will live the rest of their lives they way they are now. I am sure that as they get older and perhaps want to do things like have kids, they will change their lives accordingly.
Good luck to them.
market value of $35 billion???
August 15, 2016
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions/2016/34-78570-o.pdf
http://wallstreetonparade.com/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-15/a-35-billion-stock-was-just-halted-on-manipulation-concerns
#118 Clayton on 08.16.16 at 11:39 am
Anybody have a link where the Ross Kay quote came from?
——————-
here’s an oldie but a goodie – is this guy the peter schiff of predictions?
“ So as it turns out the peak of the real estate market in Canada was April 8th 2012, as posted here on Greater Fool.
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2013/05/29/a-downward-spiral/
ross , ross ross, you cutie you!
#120 Context, how bout some more context.
Could it be that the 1000 ships being scrapped are old and small compared to the 293 being built , which are larger, much larger. Context is a funny thing.
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b099151e141db8bf0778db84d38a1c1c579a541/0_0_956_975/master/956.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=1ca073c0610703ac5a54518dbf57f5bf
#137 Bdwy Sktrn – what street in eastvan is this?
#148 rosie :- The context should be self-evident as 52 million metric tons of cargo as a composite for 1000 ships were taken out of the shipping market to be scrapped. The new ships ON ORDER in 2016 were 293 so do you know how many years it takes to build a ship of size, let alone 293 of them?
Ace of Hearts…..”which is search out downtrodden looking, rough-ish houses with good bones in “not so prime neighbourhoods” that we feel will “gentrify”.
——————————
bingo.
this was the gist of my first ever comment here back 6 or 7 years ago.
it remains as the best RE advice.
only follow if you want returns 5-10x that of the firecracker variety.
#149 fleabitten monkey on 08.16.16 at 3:21 pm
#137 Bdwy Sktrn – what street in eastvan is this?
————————
comm dr hood – think 1st/venables N/S; comm/nanaimo E/W – just north of “broadway station”
So why aren’t Trump supporters buying up cheap properties in Detroit? Trump says he will make Detroit great again. That should be a queue to his supporters, yet I’m afraid they will never be able to contemplate beyond Trump’s slogans.
#150 Context on 08.16.16 at 3:38 pm
#148 rosie :- The context should be self-evident as 52 million metric tons of cargo as a composite for 1000 ships were taken out of the shipping market to be scrapped. The new ships ON ORDER in 2016 were 293 so do you know how many years it takes to build a ship of size, let alone 293 of them?
—————————–
4.6% increase in capacity(tonnage) expected for 2016 – so i guess the new ships are larger and coming faster than you think. (although it is a smaller gain than previous years) but a gain nonetheless.
blog dogs sniff out BS with ease.
Re: CBC article. She is not a pernanent resident. Why should we feel sorry for her story? And how is she qualifying for half a million in mortgage as a university grad? Regardless, that is too nice of a townhouse for a new grad. Climb the ladder like the rest of us Canadians.
“Looks like the dude called this one”.
If I said everyday it would snow, I would be wrong many times, and correct some of the time. This is the epitome of Ross Kay and his housing peak predictions every year.
Love the topic of the day: “Obsession”
I’ve been ‘deleted’ for making any comments on go*d (unless I refer to ‘those’ types as ‘bullion-lickers’), but it’s OK apparently to talk about dogs etc.
Well, how about ‘pigs’? Cute as ever when young and every much as intelligent as dogs (if not more).
Yes, many would say that I’ve been ‘obsessed’ with making good bets in the markets (ie. ones that make $$). For years I scoured the internet and came across a plethora of websites all too eager to take my $$’s. Most were/are undoubtedly scams and the rest just a whole lot of useless information (like BNN).
Long story short, I decided I’d try to emulate the very best…whatever that meant. After a lot of trial and error (and losses), I realized I needed to be a …. ‘pig’! Why? Well, I came across this, which completely changed my thoughts and approach:
**********************************************
“Most professional investors preach diversification. But Druckenmiller says he’s successful because he’s not afraid to concentrate his bets when he really believes in a trade. He calls it “being a pig.”
The first thing I heard when I got in the business, not from my mentor, was bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered.
I’m here to tell you I was a pig. And I strongly believe the only way to make long-term returns in our business that are superior is by being a pig. I think diversification and all the stuff they’re teaching at business school today is probably the most misguided concept everywhere.”
**********************************************
I think this time I’ve met the necessary criteria to not get deleted. My post is about ‘obsession’ (topic of the day), and pigs (a four legged creature much like a dog). :-)
#146 jess on 08.16.16 at 3:01 pm
market value of $35 billion???
August 15, 2016
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions/2016/34-78570-o.pdf
http://wallstreetonparade.com/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-15/a-35-billion-stock-was-just-halted-on-manipulation-concerns
—————————–
seems like the greasiest of the greasy, fradulent essentially 100% criminal operation to bleed suckers.
hope they do time. i’d be staying off of US soil if i were behind this con job.
shit like this gives ‘stocks’ a bad name , however undeserved.
#153 Dual Citizen In Canada on 08.16.16 at 3:48 pm
So why aren’t Trump supporters buying up cheap properties in Detroit? Trump says he will make Detroit great again. That should be a queue to his supporters, yet I’m afraid they will never be able to contemplate beyond Trump’s slogans.
………………………………………………………………..
Blah, blah, blah, I’m gonna make America Great again, I have really big ideas that many, many people like. I have to say. Many people say I’m great! “You know what? I’ve made billions and billions…” “Listen, I’ve made a lot of money…” “Look, I’m worth $10 billion…” “I don’t know what will happen, but it will be interesting.” “Many people have told me”…………………..
The garbage just keeps spewing out of his mouth.
#155 Self Directed on 08.16.16 at 3:58 pm
Re: CBC article. She is not a pernanent resident. Why should we feel sorry for her story? And how is she qualifying for half a million in mortgage as a university grad? Regardless, that is too nice of a townhouse for a new grad. Climb the ladder like the rest of us Canadians.
———————————-
point noted. and there is generally wide support for the new tax from mian street.
but this clearly illustrates the difference in cultures wrt RE.
go all in RE with ALL the family money the moment the kid steps out of school. China and india are very very crowded. both are huge sources of cash to 604, even if just a downpayment. one surrey east indian friend is much younger and sitting on 3 places, prob 4+mil. rents easily covering bills. equity growing 500k/yr
in their family selling land is about equal to wet humping a sacred cow at the dinner table, grounds for immediate disownment.
the bank does not care who gets the mtge on the place, if mr chan or mrs singh shows up ahead of you (and they will), well …thats why some east van houses go for over 2m
#150 Context
Sounds like one of us is prone to truthiness. Mind you, I provided a very nice chart with pictures of big boats.
#154 bdwy sktrn :- There are many factors in ship building but won’t bore you with it all as it takes a technical mind. In June 2010 a contract was awarded to Daewoo in South Korea to build a ship with a cargo capacity of 48,000 tons. It left South Korea completed December 2014.
For years I scoured the internet and came across a plethora of websites all too eager to take my $$’s. Most were/are undoubtedly scams and the rest just a whole lot of useless information (like BNN).
Long story short, I decided I’d try to emulate the very best…whatever that meant.
———————————-
by that definition the very best (buffett) is a pig, as he does not diversify.
brk.b – there is your entire portfolio. (shhhh -but don’t tell garth, he’ll be pissed!)
now you can go boating/fishing/hiking/copulating/etc.
heat wave coming for van – time to get out on the ocean:)
What has been going on in the Van RE market has been merely a long fetish like absurd foreplay leading to an assured and painful anti-climax guaranteed to follow. Just like what the U.S., Japan, and Europe recently went through. RE perversion.
#NaughticalMischiefDenouement,Or… #CommanderYanchus… #LivesToFondleAnotherDay…
[ColonialTimes] – Yanchus’ Troubles All Behind Him As Commodore Buck Inveigles Court Martial, “We have to ensure that our people receive the best leadership possible.”
A senior Canadian naval officer who was alleged to have groped the buttocks of an American coast guard sailor was found not guilty of all charges on Monday…
The prosecution had alleged that Yanchus:
• disobeyed the lawful command of a senior officer, the captain of HMCS Calgary
• conducted himself in a way that would prejudice good order and discipline
• engaged in drunkenness.
During the court martial, Yanchus took the stand and testified he had no memory of even being in the seamen’s mess… Testimony from enlisted sailors varied widely…
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/former-officer-on-hmcs-calgary-found-not-guilty-in-court-martial-1.2323412
just let warren do the work, word on the street is he’s good at it and seems to be doing it only for fun.
…
my dad is a very top level bridge player , over christmas visit he casually mentions a table with gates and buffett that he played in some tournament, he says they seem like nice guys!!! (he is in the bridge club with the one and only trailer park superintendent mr jim lahey too!)
They were saving $120,000 a year between two people. Most people don’t even make $60,000 a year. Basically you need to making top tier taxable income in order to save a 1 mil in 5 years?
#116 Victor
I think it is risky to buy a house where you are not a permanent resident. It opens you up to all sorts of risks, such as what if you leave the country and are not re-admitted.
And I strongly believe the only way to make long-term returns in our business that are superior is by being a pig
———————–
right my ‘play’ money is in 30% costco stock and 70% oil and gas stocks (bought low)- how’s that for diversification!
the rest is boring balanced.
I must admit, I have 90% of my net worth in income generating well purchased real estate and I would not change a thing. It is in my opinion that real estate is NOT the gamble Garth makes it out to be. I feel investing in equities is where the real gamble is. You are betting your equities go up, I don’t need my RE to appreciate. My rental properties generate income, but as we know RE does appreciate. Garth made the following statement when comparing RE to mutual funds, stocks etc. and I quote
“with the average Toronto house over the past decade. In 2006 that house was $351,941. Today it’s $756,546. Big capital gain which, less selling commission, equals 97% over ten years. Meanwhile a balanced, conservative portfolio (40% fixed income and 60% growth assets) inside an RRSP over the same period of time, averaging 7.1% annually (including the credit crisis years) would today have increased by 96.7% . So is housing “the top performer”? You win, George. By 0.3%.”
REALLY? That $351,000 house most likely would have been bought for 25% down=about $90,000 plus close costs of say $5,000 = $95,000. So you made about $400,000 on your $95,000 which is almost 4 x not to mention you now probably only have a mortgage of about $150,000, meaning your gain is really closed to $600,000!! As far as your argument about taxes, one could get this house re-appraised at $756,000 and take out 75% tax free without even selling the asset!! C’mon Garth, you should know better! Let’s see if this one gets posted.
#164 Freedom First on 08.16.16 at 5:07 pm
What has been going on in the Van RE market…/// Just like/// what the U.S., Japan, and Europe…///
……………………..
yeah ‘just like’ those places, if only they were the coveted object of desire of some place with well over 100x more population. (is there a country on mars with 50b people?)
japan was 100% internal, usa mostly so also.
van is not and until china and india crumble to dust (ie never) we go , wait for it…., uppa uppa uppa.
#24 Metaxa
——————
Do you line in Parksville too?!? ;)
sorry, line should be live.
#162 Context on 08.16.16 at 5:02 pm
#154 bdwy sktrn :- There are many factors in ship building but won’t bore you with it all as it takes a technical mind. In June 2010 a contract was awarded to Daewoo in South Korea to build a ship with a cargo capacity of 48,000 tons. It left South Korea completed December 2014.
—————————–
now you are using the vreu playbook?? just quote irrelevant info from years gone by, which has no bearing of the point at hand.
that being ; cargo tonnage , FLOATING, on the water, of the earth, completed, not in construction, by daewoo or woohoo or yahoo, is increasing this year by 4.6%
why so confused. it’s a simple point.
and why did you go away as old man and come back as context – ‘a man is only as good as his blog handle’
#168 Lea :- This shows one that neither her lawyer or the real estate agent did a proper job of advisement, and if such was the case sue them.
#170 randyman on 08.16.16 at 5:34 pm
You are betting your equities go up, I don’t need my RE to appreciate.
Stocks do not need to appreciate either.
Just hold it long term, and ‘get paid while you wait’ with dividends.
Make sure you purchase dividend paying stocks though.
#170 randyman “….real estate is NOT the gamble Garth makes it out to be. I feel investing in equities is where the real gamble is…“with the average Toronto house over the past decade. In 2006 that house was $351,941. Today it’s $756,546. Big capital gain which, less selling commission, equals 97% over ten years. Meanwhile a balanced, conservative portfolio (40% fixed income and 60% growth assets) inside an RRSP over the same period of time, averaging 7.1% annually (including the credit crisis years) would today have increased by 96.7% ”
So, since 2006, you haven’t paid any mortgage interest, transfer tax, property tax, performed no maintenance at all, used no electricity/gas/water and incurred no additional expenses including seller fees. Minus the stress of renters/selling the property and unforeseen items.
After you do THOSE calculations, then post the real gains.
#106 Herb – Good points.
RE: #151 bdwy sktrn:
“this was the gist of my first ever comment here back 6 or 7 years ago.
it remains as the best RE advice.
only follow if you want returns 5-10x that of the firecracker variety.”
Agreed 100% with that. Capital gains from doing this are ridiculous. Like 25% or more per year. Beat anything I’ve ever been able to accomplish in the stock market.
What people have to avoid is buying at the top of the market in “prime” neighbourhoods, with big mortgages and the hope that the prices will go higher.
What is happening, is no one is selling, because they all are afraid they’ll never get back in again. So you pay a premium price.
With my two buildings, I didn’t even have a bidding war. No one wanted them. I just walked in, offered asking and below asking (in Toronto!) and walked away with both of them.
Then they decide to build a brand new “mobility hub” LRT station, UPX station, go station, across the street. You just sit back and watch the prices go up.
#177 Canadian abroad
“So, since 2006, you haven’t paid any mortgage interest, transfer tax, property tax, performed no maintenance at all, used no electricity/gas/water and incurred no additional expenses including seller fees. Minus the stress of renters/selling the property and unforeseen items.After you do THOSE calculations, then post the real gains.”
Yes I have paid mortgage interest, property tax and performed maintenance but electricity/gas/water is paid by the tenants. However, after these expenses I still have positive cash each month. Remember if you buy the RIGHT real estate you profit 3 ways. 1. positive cash flow each month, 2. mortgage pay down each month ( your tenants are paying YOUR mortgage ) 3. Appreciation ( history shows RE appreciates over the long term ) Not only that I get to depreciate the buildings even though they are going up in value and I have the advantage of leverage. As far as seller fee’s, are you referring to if and when I sell? My plan is NOT to sell. I own 46 properties on Vancouver Island and my plan is to keep them long term. You are right, if I DO sell there are sellers fee’s and I will have to pay some tax, but I can re-finance and pay NO TAX on the equity and draw out. As far as the stress from tenants, it’s all about tenant selection! I carefully pick my tenants and have had very few problems. The markets are so tight, I have an over abundance of supply. I can pick and choose. Most ( 75% ) of my properties I bought for less than $60,000 with more than 50% FOR LESS THAN $50,000 and they now rent for between $825 and $950 per month. And those deals are still out there. My GF recently bought a 2 bed condo in Duncan BC on foreclosure for $43K and after a $3,000 sweat equity renovation over several weekends, rented it for $800 per month and had it re-appraised at $70,000. You may do alright with your paper assets but for me, it well chosen RE any day.
[…] scrap of cash from every source and jammed them into their [stock] portfolio,” he wrote in a blog this […]