Hi. I am new and I have a debt problem!

[MoneyTalks]

Hi! I have a debt problem and am working towards removing it quickly. In the meantime I am looking to continue learning:

I have studied the life and times of:

• Warren Buffett - 36 hour audio book
• John D. Rockefeller
• Rothschild

I have also studied some of the monetary system videos:

• The Secret Birth of the Federal Reserve
• Fiat Empire
• Inflation (Publius & Associates 1969 - G Edward Griffin Narrates)
• Zeitgeist

I am working through an Accounting course as well as reading through Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor".

What I am having a really difficult time to figure out is:

Once I'm clear of my debt and able to save a pool of money. Where am I most wise to throw my money in terms of obtaining a great interest rate? In more detail - avoiding risking my principal while receiving an interest rate that is protected from the standard 3% inflationary rate and tax deductions?

I am also interested in more information regarding the monetary system in Canada. Videos, books, names I can lookup, etc. I'd like to learn more about how our monetary system is setup compared to that of the US Federal Reserve.

[the-royal-mail]

Brand new ID and your post leads with a bunch of book recommendations and maybe two sentences asking for help with your "debt problem". This reads more like spam/sales pitch than anything else. It looks like you are more interested in promoting those books than discussing your debt. You hardly seem concerned about the latter at all.

[dogcom]

From what you have read other the Buffett it sounds to me you need to invest in a bunker with guns, gold and fill it with canned food.

Other then this getting rid of the debt is a good idea and then filling up your TFSA with high interest savings until you are more comfortable with the system and read a lot more books like Benjamin Graham as you mentioned.

[Spidey]

As you stated your first priority is to get rid of your debt. After that, you can concentrate on investments. You use the word "interest" but I think what you mean is "rate of return". There are 3 main ways to generate return:
- Interest which is payable on fixed income instruments such as GICs, bonds or bank deposits. To earn interest you lend your money.
- Dividends which corporations pay to stock holders from their cash-flow. To earn dividends you buy equity.
- Capital gains which is the difference between what you sell your investment for from what you purchased it at. You can earn capital gains on either fixed-income or equity.

As for learning more, here is a list I recently supplied someone else:

The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein
Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel
Winning the Losers Game by Charles Ellis
The Future for Investors by Jeremy Siegel
The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William Bernstein
The Investors Manifesto by William Bernstein
Investing for Dummies by Eric Tyson (may want to start with this one - please don't be insulted by the title, it is a good book)
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore
Rational Investing in Irrational Times: How to Avoid the Costly Mistakes Even Smart People Make Today by Larry E. Swedroe

I would also recommend, "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin as it will teach you a different way to think about money and avoid debt.

All these books should be available at your local library.

[humble_pie]

From what you have read other the Buffett it sounds to me you need to invest in a bunker with guns, gold and fill it with canned food.

he doesn't have a tax-free, he's just one of those americans thinks it's 1820 up here but with Mounties everywhere

[lonewolf]

Do the opposite of what the majority is doing instead of learning how to invest think of how to invest. ( there are to many objects & reflective action of to learn it all)

From experience we all have differnt knowledge & understanding of differnt concepts.
You have to develope a method based on the concepts you understand.
If you dont fully understand the concept i.e., think 2+2 = 4.1 or 2+2= 3.9 you will not be successfull investor

Iam not the sharpest tool in the shed so I stick to that which I understand i.e., addition , subtraction, multiplying & division & stay away from the more complex algabra. Even a kid with a ruller will beat the pants off of someone using algabra who has not yet learned addition & subtraction.

[eulogy]

I have also studied some of the monetary system videos:

The Secret Birth of the Federal Reserve
Fiat Empire
Inflation (Publius & Associates 1969 - G Edward Griffin Narrates)
Zeitgeist

Are you sure you're not a conspiracy theorist?

[crazyjackcsa]

I suggest you give me all your money.

[MoneyGal]

he doesn't have a tax-free, he's just one of those americans thinks it's 1820 up here but with Mounties everywhere

I attended part of the Luminato festival here in Toronto last night with my kids, part of the multi-year celebration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812. The event was "The Encampment" -- 200 individual, lantern-lit tents, each depicting visually the life of someone (a real person) alive and participating in/affected by the War of 1812. It was startling, moving, amazing -- and one of the most kid-friendly art installations I've ever been at (that crazy Andy Warhol exhibit of the floating balloons in Pittsburgh is close, though).

I don't often think of what life in Canada was like in 1820...there was one tent that showed an upturned shovel, with the words "gone to plow the fields - family starving" and it told the story of a man with 12 children, all the adult males conscripted into service for no pay (and they had to supply their own weapon!) -- leaving their farms behind and prohibited (by some act from 1808) from returning to his fields near Albany to have his wheat ground into grain. Or there were the tents of the slaves, depicting slave auctions. There was a midwife's tent, with a bloodied crib. There was a tent showing the 8 men hanged for treason in Ancaster (Ancaster!). It was amazing and I'm so incredibly grateful I don't live in 1820 or operate under the delusion that we are approaching anything like 1820 or that strategies borne from that time would bear fruit now.

[Spudd]

even a kid with a ruller

q.e.d.