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



## MoneyTalks (Jun 23, 2012)

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.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

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.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

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.


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

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.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

dogcom said:


> 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


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

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.


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## eulogy (Oct 29, 2011)

> I have also studied some of the monetary system videos:
> 
> The Secret Birth of the Federal Reserve
> Fiat Empire
> ...


Are you sure you're not a conspiracy theorist?


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

I suggest you give me all your money.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> 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.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

lonewolf said:


> even a kid with a ruller


q.e.d.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

wolf it's picturesque how you keep getting back in here every time you're banned.

i'm curious to know, do you use a new IP addy every time ? or somel kind of universal anonymizer that works past the moderators ?

see, your shenanigans are proving to us that AI still doesn't beat the human eye. You're the newbie who spells ruler with two ells.

to be quite honest i can recognize you even before you start with the spelling ...


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

Spudd said:


> q.e.d.


Humble_pie, you were right, from the beginning.
Of course, lonewolf is referencing his final,* ridiculous*, Buy your kid a ruller? thread, that he started, as jet powder, where he was finally banned.
It's only a matter of time before lonewolf starts his third thread, titled, "Oil?".

The where's Waldo (newbie) game continues. 

user newbie (banned) = user moneyisfornothing (banned) = user jet powder (banned) = user lonewolf (soon to be banned)


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> he's just one of those americans thinks it's 1820 up here but with Mounties everywhere


Reminds me Tom Russell singing: _She drank Canadian Whiskey_
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kehHgzL8JU


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## MoneyTalks (Jun 23, 2012)

Spidey said:


> 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.
> ...


Thank you Spidey! I'll look into a few of the books you recommend right after I finish through Ben's book. 

I am still interested in learning more about the monetary system. You can classify me as a conspiracy theorist if that lets you sleep better at night. I like knowing more about the bigger picture of what's really going on. Inflation is in existence for a reason, there's no denying it. If you have any additional reading material to list, please let respond.

I haven't browsed through this forum as much as I should have before making a post... but seeing as really only about 20% of the responses were actually useful, I suppose it's safe to assume that the majority of posts if I decide to read through them will be the same. Any usernames that make particularly great posts that are worth tracking down and reading, please let me know.

As for keeping my debt problem to myself and not disclosing it, that's a choice of my own. Although I would like it to be gone in as short a period as possible, which I am doing.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Moneytalks the first step is to be a man or women and to reply even in the face of criticism because this is a on line forum after all so it is not really that big a deal. And by the way to all newbies we can't reach through our computers and bite you so don't fret so much about what someone says and go ahead and post what you want to say.

Moneytalks I absolutely believe that the world is controlled by the elite, Fed, Plunge protection team and so on but what can you do about that. Don't forget these very same people if they get the control can push inflation or deflation or a combination of both of them. With large sums of money or endless printing press they can and will manipulate investments as they see fit. So if you believe high inflation is a go and so does everyone else then they can just raise interest rates and destroy anyone holding commodities as example. Yes we are in a huge debt and probably the end of fiat currency time here but debt can be destroyed with inflation and the defaults caused by deflation as seen in the 30's.

You must also know in your research that the US dollar should now be zero yet people still flock to it so how can this be. The US dollar is the reserve currency used for all transactions like buying oil or borrowing US dollars to buy commodities. So when you sell any of this stuff pay back your debt you need US dollars to pay back the US dollars you borrowed. US dollars is also a huge liquid currency that can absorb almost any amount of cash flow that almost nothing in the world can match at this time. 

I should also add that anything can seem irrational longer then you can stay solvent, meaning even if you are right you may not make it.


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## Young&Ambitious (Aug 11, 2010)

Crash Proof 2.0 by Peter Schiff is one I'm currently reading and seems like it would be up your alley.

Shell Shocked by John Stephenson is my next read, again may be of interest to you.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

I only posted as Jet powder & lone wolf.

My apology for not being good @ explaining my self, Iam often misunderstood I failed 2 grades by grade12 & much of my concontration is on typing , even though Iam not the brightest guy here I can still keep it simple & make money in the market Iam differnt then most but it came in handy in 2008 to make money hand over fist when everyone else was losing money. 

All I had to do was simply draw a 2 lines on a chart & understand how price has behaved in the past when a precise pattern developed. 

All it takes is to draw one line for the neck line of a head & shoulders pattern which many investors use & are successfull with. The more advanced of intellect might find a presion ratio compass a better tool.


I do not always use picture perfect words or have the best spelling. Yet I can tell by talking to someone if they will be financially successfull by the words they use to describe money or when they use the word "need" instead of the word "want" before they buy something that is only a want. 


I hope you guys keep me on the site & try to focus on concepts & thier exact meaning instead of my spelling.

If anyone still wants me gone please private measage me & I will leave.


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## corezz (Jul 10, 2012)

If you are risk adverse then definitely just stick to maxing out your TFSA, if you havent done so. There are banks in Canada that offer 3% for tfsa which is pretty descent considering most GICs are at 3% too but lock you in for xx # of years. You can also check out index funds. Diversify..diversify...diversify. That way it can keep up with inflation and follow the market. Right now the market is pretty lousy but consider it a bargin because prrices are so low.


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