# Sticky  Introduce Yourself!



## FrugalTrader

I thought I would start a thread so that we can get to know a little about the contributing community.

I'll kick things off. I am FrugalTrader (_twitter_), the blogger behind Million Dollar Journey and co-founder of Canadian Money Forum. To say the least, I am a personal finance and investing enthusiast who is on a journey to financial freedom.

Tell me a little about you!


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## CanadianCapitalist

Great idea FT. 

I'm the blogger behind Canadian Capitalist and the other founder of this forum. I've been a finance enthusiast for many years now and am passionate about helping other Canadians in their quest for financial success.

I'm an electrical engineer / software developer at my day job and live in Ottawa with my wife and three kids. I don't get to devote too much time to my other pursuits these days but my hobbies include photography, astronomy, hiking, bicycling, snow shoeing etc.


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## Preet

*Preet from WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com*

I'm Preet and I'm the blogger behind WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com.

I used to be a financial planner and stockbroker, used mostly ETFs and index mutual funds and offered investors the choice of by-the-hour, fee-based and transactional fee structures. Once I realized how rare that was, I realized I had bigger fish to fry. Now I'm working on the institutional (and retail, really) sell-side for an index fund manufacturer.


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## mfd

I'm a 30 year IT professional who is getting married this summer. We own a condo in Toronto. I'm a bit a foodie and spend my time trying to taste new and exotic foods at various restaurants. I also enjoy traveling, sports, and cooking. 

I recently started a blog called My Findependence Day. It focuses on personal finance and I hope it will help focus my thoughts and hash out a retirement plan for us.


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## Jon Chevreau

I'm Jonathan Chevreau, financial columnist with the National Post and author of Findependence Day, a financial novel that was published by Power Publishers in October 2008. See www.financialpost.com/fd

I wrote a non-fiction book in 1998 called The Wealthy Boomer: Life After Mutual Funds, which spawned a magazine of the same name [now defunct but like Zoomer magazine today]. The book also led to an early financial discussion forum called The Wealthy Boomer, which ran from 1999 to 2005. For various reasons, it faded away [see the novel for some hints] and it morphed into The Wealthy Boomer blog housed at the Financial Post web site: www.wealthyboomer.ca.

Apart from a Saturday column in the paper and mid-week ones that may appear in the Post or various Canwest dailies, I do the Wealthy Boomer video interview. Preet has been one of my guests and I hope we can do more with other members and founders of this forum.

I'm new to Twitter [as JonChevreau] and am on LinkedIn. I wish the founders of this forum the best of luck: I sure don't want ever to have to moderate a discussion forum in my lifetime again but appreciate the fact that others are willing to take it on. Done right, you can achieve much good.


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## Tim

Excellent idea FT.

Hi! I'm Tim the blogger behind Canadian Dream:Free at 45 and as you can tell by the blog name I want to be at least semi-retired by 45. Realistic? I hope so, but life happens so if I miss it by a few years I won't be too upset. After all, my other focus on the blog is being happy.

I'm married with two boys and living in Regina, SK.


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## moneygardener

Hello, I am the moneygardener. I just turned 30 and I live in Brantford, Ontario with my wife and 15 month old son. I enjoy personal finance, investing, & following the stock market & the business world. 

My hobbies include the 3 R's; running, reading, and red wine. At this very moment my hobby most days is playing "soccer" in the basement with my son who just does a lot of carrying around balls & laughing.


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## Sampson

*only PF bloggers?*

Hmm... I'll break the trend of PF bloggers posting (maybe this means I should start my own ).

30 year old - married for 3.5 years
Work in biotech.
I enjoy 'studying' PF because I'm sick and tired of getting the same sh*ty returns - and paying for it.

My favoruite past time is photography.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

I'm very happy to be able to participate in these communities. For the most part, everyone is respectful, and it seems that everyone just wants to increase the general knowlege pool - very altruistic.


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## lb71

I am 37 and work in the financial services industry. I do not have a blog, but have been a long time reader of most of the blogs mentioned above. I really don't know where you people find the time to write your blogs.


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## Hodge

Man, I was beginning to feel inadequate without a blog, but I'm reassured by the last 2 posts. Never really had the inclination for it and I particularly despised having to keep a personal journal back in highschool english.

Anyway, I'm a 41 yr old CAD operator specializing in structural and architectural dwgs. I was worried about possible construction slowdowns affecting my work but, to the contrary, our office has seen a real uptick in requests to quote. I think lots of people in the industry are looking forward to the upcoming stimulus spending.

Due to some instability in my personal life as well as saving for a home purchase (closed early last summer), I was heavily invested in bonds and GICs. When the time came, I also withdrew 20 grand from my RRSP mutual funds under the CMHC home buyer plan towards a 20% conventional mortgage downpayment. As a result, I was well-positioned to weather the market crash this past fall.

However, dodging that bullet was a bit of a wake-up call to pay more attention to my finances. This lead me to start reading most of your blogs above and I look forward to learning more from those blogs and this forum.


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## Bullseye

Some here probably know me from RedFlagDeals.com, thanks to my embarassingly high post count there, but for the rest, a big Hello!

I'm a GTA personal finance nut, co-running a finance site (see signature below) with some crazy, off-the-wall, but hopefully useful ideas. 

More importantly, I'm a husband and father of two young boys (2 and 4). Most of my finance goals revolve around my spouse and I working as little as possible now, to maximize our family, friend, and hobby time. Consequently, most of my efforts (and articles) focus on cutting costs, and building passive income.


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## UpNorth

I'm a 31 year old civil servant living in Whitehorse, Yukon but originally from the East Coast. I spent my twenties alternating between working for non-profits, living overseas and attending grad school. My partner and I are getting married this summer, just bought a house and adopted a dog - our newfound 'settled' lifestyle both comforts us and freaks us out a bit. 

I'm here to soak up whatever knowledge I can. I'm a newbie when it comes to financial planning but my partner and I have always been naturals at being frugal. 

By the way, I'm happy to be part of a community that's values my frugality rather than makes fun of me for being a 'Cheap Scot' for not living beyond my means


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## mfd

Hodge said:


> Man, I was beginning to feel inadequate without a blog, but I'm reassured by the last 2 posts. Never really had the inclination for it and I particularly despised having to keep a personal journal back in highschool english.
> 
> Anyway, I'm a 41 yr old CAD operator specializing in structural and architectural dwgs.


Ha...maybe you should start a blog about being a CAD operator.


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## Hodge

Hmmmm.

I think I'd rapidly blog myself out of work. Too tempting.

Architects = Temperamental Divas
Engineers = Socially Maladjusted Geeks

Cheers,
Hodge (Just kidding. Sort of)


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## Canadian Finance

My blog is The Canadian Finance Blog. I started it at the beginning of February and it's been building a good following so far.

I live in Alberta, Canada and am a Financial Analyst for a major retailer. I just got married last September, moving to a new house in May and we are expecting our first child in October!


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## maelstrom

Hi, I'm Michelle, currently at home with the kids, working hard on getting out finances in better shape.


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## Hazelnut

Hi y'all: I blog too but can't call myself a pro in the area of personal finance. I'm a 52 year old teacher and single parent and am going to try to retire early on a reduced pension because I would rather have 2 extra years of retirement than a larger pension. Thus I have put myself on a 5 year plan to eliminate debt and grow my savings. As a single parent frugality is second nature plus I was raised by parents who lived through the real depression. My goal in 5 years is to sell my condo (paid off) and move to the east coast where land is still relatively inexpensive and live a self-sustaining lifestyle in the manner of a Scottish crofter. I blog about my journey somewhat haphazardly in the hope that it will help keep me honest and on-track.
In my spare time I play volleyball, cycle, spend summers at my trailer just outside of Bayfield, Ontario. My daughter has just finished her first year of university & still lives at home. I am committed to paying 1/2 of her tuition each year while she pays the other half by working at the Real Canadian Superstore. Our goal is to get her through her undergrad years without any debt. Unlike myself.
It's been a challenge living on one income but I have always been up for a challenge. I was tempted to buy a bigger home once the condo was paid off but glad I didn't as we've been able to afford other, more important interests instead, such as my daughter's 12 years of highland dancing all over Canada. 
I am finding the forums here really interesting and already am pursuing leads about interest rates and car insurance. I hope to get to know some of you better over the months ahead.


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## Rickson9

My name is Jim. My wife Natalie and I work in the sales industry. We used to live in North York, Ontario but now live in Mississauga, Ontario. We enjoy doing many things together including working out, watching movies and travelling (cruising is our favorite). My personal hobbies include gaming (World of Warcraft) and watching the UFC.

My wife is more athletic and earns more at work than I do. She humours me by jogging 5km 3 times a week with me. She has completed a marathon in Rome, Italy.

I graduated from the faculty of engineering at the university of Toronto but no longer work in that field.

Although we became millionaires in our early 30s, my wife and I live a life very similar to when we were dating and had very little money, except that we travel a bit more now. We live in a townhome (no mortgage) and drive honda civics. We could probably live in a monster home, drive fancy cars and eat out every night, but that would be a lot of work and we're quite lazy people.

My web site is located in my sig and outlines some of my investing experiences over the years. I have been featured on television from Global TV, Rogers TV, Report on Business (ROB) TV and CP24. I have also been interviewed by The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and MoneySense magazine. These interviews can also be found on my website.


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## Cammac46

*Starting over..... LOOKING GOOD!*

Well....about 5 years ago my ex promised to put me in the gutter (we had been separated 3 years), two years later the divorce was settled and 2 months later I remarried to my current loving wife and things are going much better now that I am with a lady with much more common sense than the ex.
Yes, the last 3 years have seen huge improvements with less bills and frivolous spending than the previous 15 year relationship that was a total challenge financially and emotionally. We function as a couple with similar beliefs and it has been great! I have worked in Maintenance for 9 years and that too has been very gratifying as well. 500 co-workers and most know me so it is a good career choice...I will likely retire from this current employer, I am not looking elsewhere as I just love my job!
We love camping, surfing the net, American Idol(haha)and have many other common interests that keep our minds active. We are both approaching 53 and look forward to future successes together and things are really going well in all areas!
I will share with fellow posters here whatever I can to help you suceed with tidbits that truely work! If you have a quetion, feel free to msg me here and I will help you if I can.
Cam


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## Emeth

I am a 29yr old Health Care Aide living out here in Alberta.

For most of my life I was heedless of personal finance blowing almost immediately all money that came into my possession. Then about 3yrs ago I started to realize what a hole I was digging for myself. It took a lot of effort to change my bad habits but I am out of debt and am slowly working towards my goal of financial security.

I am another non-blogger but I have visited many of the blogs mentioned looking for tips.


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## Robillard

I'm Ross, a 27-year-old analyst working for one of the big four accounting firms. I have a blog, but I don't really maintain it. I suppose my own sense of wit and wisdom has taken a few knocks in recent years and I no longer feel the need to prognosticate about current events like I did in past. Presently, I am working on level 2 of the CFA program.

Since finishing university, I have worked a number of jobs in the finance industry. Specifically, I worked as a day trader for 9 months, and later held various administrative positions under temporary with various finance companies, including a brokerage and two fund companies. After living through a personal financial crisis tied to low income, four months of unemployment and scraping the bottom of my bank account, I resolved to get it right and become much more disciplined with my money. 

At times, I do think back wistfully to working as a trader, but I know now that it was not for me. I didn't have the right attitude towards risk, i.e. I was a bit too conservative. I do miss the opportunity to pull off arbitrage trades, and exploit the behaviour of program traders. However, I don't miss the stress and the rare moments of getting steamrolled by the big boys. If anyone has questions about ECNs, dark books, market making or day trading in general, you are welcome to ask me. Though bear in mind that I last did this two years ago.


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## The Baker's Son

*I'm The Baker's Son*

Hello all!

Like many of you I am in pursuit of taking control of my finances and share many of the same attitudes towards money. I also have some unique views and have been encouraged to start a blog. I'd love it if you would drop by and answer the 2 polls to get things started 

Thanks!
The Baker's Son
www.thebakersson.wordpress.com


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## MarcR

Hello,

I'm Marc, early 30's and finally about to pay off my remaining student loans! Both myself and my wife did grad studies which delayed the repayment, but it's been my priority for the past 2 years and will be finished next month! 

Now I need to really start building up my retirement savings and paying down the mortgage 

Marc


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## markievicz

Hello ... I'm Emma, I'm from Ireland and live in Toronto. My main impetus for financial health has always been my dislike of the man and potentially having to work for him forever. I've had a pretty steady and boring financial history to date, but am married to a former financial basketcase and current stereotypical Male Investor who always swings for the fences, which makes things a bit more interesting.

Beyond calculating net worth and stalking JD Roth I like watching baseball and rugby, working out, fiction, travelling back to Ireland, walking around all the fine neighbourhoods in this little city and learning all I can about wildlife/animals. 

I often post badly thought-through and uneducated comments on the excellent canadian pf blogs mentioned above as *guinness416* but I'm off the booze on a health kick at the moment so decided for my username to go with a great woman from Irish history instead!

I'm glad to have joined!


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## ShowMeTheMoney

Hi,
I'm a 45 year old scientist, living in Toronto with my daughter. I have always been interested in matters financial and managed family finances and investments. I love reading investment books, blogs and the financial pages, so all the bloggers here, keep them up! My ex was more happy to leave matters to me, so that money was never an issue, even in divorce. We took a hit financially, as we had paid off our home and I had to buy him out of it, but it was worth every penny (I'm sure he feels the same way!). I'm seeing someone seriously now, and that raises all sorts of interesting financial dilemmas...


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## The_Number

I'm in my late 20s, but I only started my "real job" not so long ago after years in graduate school (and advanced degrees). I first became interested in personal financing when I was around 20 when several of my (older) friends started to talk about retirement saving. Since then, I read quite a few personal financing books and financial/business newspaper/magazine articles, took a course in personal financing, and had sessions with a financial counselor. I have also been saving for retirement with student jobs and (frighteningly small) graduate student stipends, so I started with small positive net worth (even though I'm probably far behind compared to somebody who started working right after undergrad) when I took my current job. I'm looking forward (finally) to be able to "really" save for retirement and work toward a number of other financial goals.

P.S. No. I don't blog.


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## spp_24

I'm 34 years old, living in Calgary with my wife and two young kids (4 and 1 1/2) so life is busy. First moved to Calgary 12 years ago and have worked for a major engineering contractor for 9 years then switched to work for one of the major oil companies 3 years ago. Currently I am working on oilsands projects in the Fort McMurray region

Got really interested in personal finance after reading the Wealthy Barber and continue to read personal finance pages, Moneysense and Canadian Moneysaver magazine regularly. I just finished paying off the mortgage on my home so am not looking to shore up the rest of my retirement finances and perhaps start enjoying more of the good life.


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## Mike H.

Hello, I'm 44 years old, live in Calgary, and have been a financial advisor for 18 years. (Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that until now!) I went right into financial services after getting a B.Sc. from U of C. I'm moderately successful fee-based planner, but not planning on retirement anytime soon, since the youngest of my 4 kids just turned 5 years old.

I have the old Chartered Financial Planner designation, and the somewhat newer Certified Financial Planner designation. Did level 1 of CFA, then abandoned the program when I became convinced that in-depth analysis of individual securities doesn't really add value greater than the effort expended. I believe in weak-form EMT, and mostly passive investment strategies. 

I believe that many investors can benefit from dealing with a qualified advisor; but not all investors nor all advisors.

The world of investment and financial advice is rife with conflicts of interest; but so is every other profession or business endeavor. 

If anyone has questions about my side of the world of retail investment, feel free to hit me up. Don't worry, I'm not out to sell anybody anything. I quit actively marketing about 12 years ago


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## takingprofits

I live in Winnipeg and have been self employed my whole life. (construction, real estate, and currently a web entrepreneur) My home is paid for - I have no debt

After watching my RRSP which was invested in mutual funds plunge in value during the recession of 1982 I vowed to become more knowledgeable about investing. I began devouring books on the subject and began my subscription to the Financial Post - reading fellow boomer Jon Chevreau of course! 

In the mid 90's I began having my RRSP professionally managed using a full service broker and it still is to this day. For enjoyment, I do my own investing for my non-registered investments and TFSA using a discount broker. I am 100% in Stocks and Cash in all accounts. No bonds or mutual funds.


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## Ben

I am 29 and live in the GTA. Married 4 years, expecting a wee one in spring '10. I'm a mechanical engineer. I've spent a bit of time working in other provinces, but mostly here in Ontario.

Debt averse.

Always a fairly low spender by nature, but didn't really wake up to personal finance until I started bringing home a paycheque. Then it became interesting to count it, and see where it was going. Use my own Excel spreadsheet that tracks to the penny and categorizes all spending/income monthly and annually, with projections, etc.

My wife is a "frugal shopper" (her favourite online forum) and saves us a lot of money on the daily expenses. We pay pennies on the dollar for shampoo/soaps/cleaners/toothpaste, etc. For all you single guys out there - find a girl who gets more pleasure from saving money than spending it, and you will do well!

I am a strong believer in getting the basics of personal finance right before concentrating too much on squeezing returns from a small nest egg. Lead a simple lifestyle, spend/save according to your values, understand the difference between your needs and wants, know exactly how much you make and spend, find ways to reduce your spending (and increase income), eliminate consumer debt, build up an emergency fund, pay down your mortgage rapidly, get life insurance and do a will - and after all of that is under control, start to devote some time to the ins and outs of investing. The average person can squeeze a lot more money out of making a habit of doing these things right, than by swinging for the fences right away with involved investment strategies on small portfolios. Involved investment strategies can wait.

I am far from a sophisticated investor. For now, our invested savings are in equity-heavy index funds. When all the debt is gone in a few years, I'll dive into investing education.


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## onomatopoeia

I'm 28 and live in Halifax. I work as a meteorologist, and generally hear a lot of weather jokes. I got married in the summer, have a house and a dog. No kids yet.

I got into personal finance right about the time we got our house 2 years ago, just after we got our mortgage. Kinda wish I'd known what i was doing then, as I would have one of those great p-rates, but my fixed isn't too bad.

Since then I've been trying to get my built up RRSP amount down, making good headway on it, as well as trying to enjoy life without wasting money.

I've always been frugal but just had money in savings accounts and never worried about retirement. over the last few years I've read the major canadian blogs during my night shifts as well as lots of other money-related sites/books. I now max out my companies RRSP match and have joined the company stock options plan, and have my TFSA maxed.

Oh, and I love doing my taxes. Serisouly, I look forward to tax time every year. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

I have dreams of dropping my scientific desk job and learning a trade.


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## Assetologist

*Great Site*

I am in my 5th decade and live on the West Coast having sold our principal residence in Calgary 2 years ago which eliminated all personal debt. 

I support our family of 4 with an enjoyable job and believe that the time and energy spent balancing an excellent life today with future wants and needs is worth it.

My goal is to ensure we have a very strong financial base by the time my 20 year term insurance expires in 14 years.


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## George

I'm a 30-something married guy living in Alberta and working for the public sector (with the commensurate "golden" benefits and pension). I've got two preschoolers at home and have an awesome and supportive spouse who puts up with all the money talk...

I've been an avid reader of PF blogs for years now, and have read almost all of the books on the subject. I'm taking the slow-but-steady road to wealth, focusing mostly on my savings and not much on the stock-picking and investing side of things (for now).

My "big picture" financial goal is to reach financial independence by age 50, using a combination of an early pension and RRSPs/TFSAs to replace my employment income, should I decide at that time to walk away from full-time employment. In the meantime I'm working on automating our finances as much as possible - even though I enjoy thinking about them, I don't want to *have* to think about paying the bills, making RRSP contributions, and the like.


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## Belizean Beach Bum

My love and I got rid of our stuff & retired to Belize just over a year ago. We are now going through the process of getting our residency down here.

Back in Canada I ran my own database consulting company and looked after my own books, payroll & taxes. I just netfiled our 2008 personal taxes which is the first time I didn't do my own taxes by hand.

We live very comfortably on our Canadian pensions and as yet have no plans to touch our RRSP savings. This is probably a good thing because the Canadian dollar has been down as well as the markets; so we got hit twice as hard as most people.

The thing we miss most is not having access to 1-800 numbers and trying to deal with North American red tape via emails and call backs.

Other than that, life is good on the Caribbean!


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## Brad911

I'm 28, an Emerg RN and Investment/Business consultant from London, Ontario

Author of a website titled Triaging My Way To Financial Success where I write about investments, risk, discipline and focus on value & dividend based investing.

Enjoying the recent market volatility as I have a long-term investing horizon and feel that valuations are very compelling for an individual in my position.


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## ccooperberg

Hi,

I'm Chaya Cooperberg and new to the world of personal finance blogging. I have a blog on the new Globe Investor site called Home Cents, in which I explore the world of finance on the homefront. (Btw, FT - I got your comment on GI and appreciate the welcome!) 

I've been interested in all things related to investing and personal finance for some time, beginning with my first job out of school with Investor's Digest. For the past eight years I've been working full-time in investor relations for various public companies in Canada. It's great to see this new forum and I look forward to some good reading!


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## augustabound

Hi, I'm Paul, 34, self employed living with my wife and baby to be, (3 weeks to go!). 

I've been studying investing for a few years now with the help of all the books in the library and now my bookshelf and hard drive, Buffett and Munger are invaluable too. Also been helped by all the bloggers here, emails with Brad about currency and prefs, and the FWF. I always enjoy the Boomers columns in the Post. I have an email buddy taking the CFA who has helped me to "invert" as Munger puts it.

My investment style would be focused value, look for great dividend paying companies selling at a discount and holding a few of them. Now with the little one on the way an RESP would me in the mix soon also.


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## blackjacques

*Rob Gravelle*

Hey everybody,

This site is great!

I'm an IT developer and guitar player. I've written dozens of IT articles for WebReference.com, a few on music, and two on scam artists. You could say that I've become an expert in the latter from direct experience!

Here is my official blurb:

Rob Gravelle combined his love of programming and music to become a software guru and accomplished guitar player. He created systems that are used by Canada Border Services, CSIS and other Intelligence-related organizations. As a software consultant, Rob has developed Web applications for many businesses and recently created a MooTools version of PHPFreechat for ViziMetrics. Musically, Rob recently embarked on a solo music career, after playing with Ivory Knight since 2000. That band was rated as one Canada's top bands by Brave Words magazine (issue #92) and released two CDs. Rob's latest, entitled KNIGHTFALL, was a collaboration between himself, the former Ivory Knight vocalist, and legendary guitarist/producer, Jeff Waters of Annihilator fame. Rob is available for short-term software projects and recording session work.

http://www.robgravelle.com


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## bf230054

Hello all,

I'm Brendan, 18yrs old and live in Vancouver. I currently go to University working on a Major in Psychology and Minor in Political Science. I have always loved saving and investing and seeing your money grow from a young age. I currently only have a TFSA invested to the max in high yield bonds. My goal is to be debt free in life(ambitious I know) So learning as much as I can at a young age should help me when making investing/purchasing decisions down the line.


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## michika

I'm 24 and a recent grad. 

I live in Calgary, and right now I'm trying to get everything on track. I paid my own way through University and have a little personal debt left over from that particular adventure. I purchased my first house recently, and while everyone seems shocked at my monthly payment, I am more then happy to pay it every month for the peace of mind and freedom that I have.


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## Retired at 31

I'm 32 with a wife and 2 kids. We don't work anymore as of last fall. We are debt free and own some private corporations involved in varied activities. These corps are also debt free except for the shareholder loans. We have maxed out rsp's, a healthly resp for the kids and other money in trust for them. We have a growing non-registered portfolio based on value based dividend payers and income trusts, backed up with a "higher than usual" fixed income component based on our age. 

Our position came from frugality and investing. Prior to this past year where I sold a corporation, we'd never made more than 120K as a household. 

I welcome the downturn and hope it lasts. Our companies are holding up great and continuing to repay shareholder loans, which is being pumped into the market as opportunity permits.

Good job on the forum. I've read your blogs and recognize other members here who I follow as well.


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## Jane

Hello my name is Jane, curently in Mississauga but moving to scarborough soon with my 2 kids. I purchased one rental property in downtown after a big fight with my partner, and decided I could raised two kids on my own and be financial independent one day. I was very very happy to find Canandian capitalist personal finance blog and learn many many valuable things there. He is the person to make me realize everyone should invest, and invest can be for anybody! I started my blog at free site and write about my learning journey. I also like to thank everyone that help me with my silly questions!
http://janes2ndopinion.blogspot.com


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## MoneyGal

Wow, it is really great to read through all the bios here!

I'm an early-forties mom of two kids, married, in Toronto. I hold the Certified Financial Planner designation and have worked as an IDA-licensed advisor but no longer do so. I do corporate financial writing, fee-for-service financial planning, and tax preparation, but I do not work full-time. I blog at www.wealthybaker.ca. 

I have a lot of volunteer activites: I'm a Girl Guides of Canada leader, I sit on the boards of two not-for-profit organizations (and hold an executive role at one), and I am going for my black belt in Tae Kwon Do (I'm a purple belt now, so at least another year of hard training to go). I'm also a volunteer historic cook at Spadina House in Toronto. 

I think about martial arts, family finances, being a wife and mom, and cooking, baking and economic self-sufficiency most of the time.


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## Mintycake

I'm in my mid thirties - married, no kids (yet). We live in Toronto. My husband and I both work in the financial sector. I've always been interested in finance thanks to my dad who instilled frugality and hard work into me. Around age 28 I realized I no longer wanted to trade my time for money and sought a simpler lifestyle. We are now debt free except for investment loans, and we own our home free and clear. Thankfully I married a man who is even more frugal than I am and has a keen hobby by watching his investment portfolio and reading financial books. 

Our other interests are travelling, food, long walks for exercise, and just being with each other


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## Kathryn

I'm Kathryn

I'm married with two kids.

I have a passion for personal finance and adult education.


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## The Happy Wanderer

Hello Everybody!

First of all I would like to say thank you to FT at MDJ and The Canadian Capitalist for starting up this forum. It is exciting to see people, especially Canadians taking an interest in personal finance. 

Now a little bit about myself. I am 22 years old and I live in Guelph, Ontario. I work for Canada Post as an RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carrier). I find it hard to believe, but July 1st, I will have been at Canada Post 4 years full time. It doesn't seem like it. Where does the time go? (I know 4 years in comparison to many of you whom have been working for longer then I have been alive is nothing) but for me, it seems just yesterday I was in highschool still. 

I guess I fell in love with finances almost immediately after I graduated highschool. I started reading Canadian Business magazine and Money Sense magazine. Subsequently leading to how I found MDJ. His blog was featured in an article on Money Sense a few years back. During the summer of 2005, my friend and I decided to start looking at buying a property. We purchased a townhouse and closed on the property Nov 10th/05.

And June 30th of 2008 we closed on a second property. It is a townhouse as well, located near the University. Currently rented out to students.

It is incredible what you can learn if you have a desire and willingness to do so. Ironically enough, I used to think my life was fairly boring. But in the past few years, life has taught me invaluable lessons that will stay with me the rest of my days. 

This brings me to my current point in time. I know I am young, I know I am inexperienced. And I know the world awaits me. I do not wish to work for the next 35-45 years. In all honesty, that seems to be a life sentence. I would like to become financially free one day. Actually, my goal, is to 'retire' by 30. Or at least have the option of choosing to live off of my investments and passive income. Perhaps I am naive, but I don't think so. 

From what I have seen in my travels, I know it is possible to retire young. Highly unorthodox, but definitely possible. I have seen some people on this blog and a few others that are retired. I know someone who is 30 and retired. 

I don't wish to come across as selfish or self centered. I know money isn't everything. I have also discovered that material possessions brings you material happiness. Real happiness comes from within. Every single one of us already possesses true happiness. Most of us just haven't discovered how to tap into it yet.


----------



## Squash500

Hi everyone I'm a 46 year old guy from Toronto who simply loves finance. I'm a member of a couple of good financial websites where I've learned a lot of good financial information.

I am a DIY investor who manages his own ETF portfolio in a discount brokerage account. I have been kicked out of so many financial advisors offices over the years that it's not even funny.

I'm the type of guy who likes to question how the advisors get paid. Of course the advisors didn't like my abrupt way of questioning their fee structures.

As a result I became a DIY investor almost 5 years ago and have never looked back.


----------



## OntFA

I'm a 40-ish year old financial advisor based in Ontario (hence my user name). I am paid via fees and commissions depending on the client situation. I don't have a blog and I prefer to stay anonymous. I haven't posted to discussion forums for years but I was a regular on the old Fund Library forums in the late 1990s until it changed hands. When I heard about this forum, I figured I'd dip my toe in and see how it goes.


----------



## solarflashlight

Hi, I'm David, 23 year old university student going to McMaster for Chemical & Bioengineering. love the stock and investment business, thinking about getting a corporation started soon to wet my feet in day trading but right now mainly focused on US equity market in value stocks and M/A or litigation speculative plays, and general recovery plays.

There is a lot of people with great experience and credentials here, hope to learn a lot from you guys and hopefully contribute some to the board as well.


----------



## frdsmth9

Hello Forum Members!

I am fred smith and this is my first forum entry here.. Since I am new to forum community and I feel I am in midst of my own learning curve. I feel sometimes, that I have to learn a lot, hope you guys have patient on me.

Thanks for reading me and giving me your valuable time.


----------



## andrewmoquin

Hey everyone, I just wanted to make a quick post to introduce myself to you on this message board.

My name is Andy Moquin from Buffalo, New York. Glad to be a new member of this awesome forum site. I think I'll enjoy my stay here.

In the meantime, I will be stopping by once or twice a day to make a few posts and hopefully become a part of what seems like a great community of webmasters working together and I look forward of getting to know you all.

Hope to build a great working relationship with as many of you as possible over the coming weeks, months and years...

Cheers!
_Andy Rings_


----------



## JasonOne

*Newbie here...*

Hi there everyone. Glad to be a new member of this awesome forum site. I think I'll enjoy my stay here and share useful informations with you guys!

By the way, I'm Jason, from 1weddingsource.com, a wedding planning directory that caters to all the needs of every bride in the USA. The site is filled with useful information and wedding favors for every bride and grooms taste. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.

Looking forward to have a good relationship with you all as well as learn and share useful informations! 

See you around...


----------



## coffeeordeath

I am a 40-year old, married to a wonderful woman, have an amazing 6-year old girl. I teach music at a great school - it is my dream job and although I enviously read about people retiring early I actually want to work until I drop.

Financially I am somewhat like Grover (Sesame Street). Means well, likeable but blissfully ignorant of real life. I have pledged to reform, though, and have been reading financial mags and blogs (started with MDJ, and linked into many others. Love them all, by the way) and and now am trying to soak up everything here.

Financially - have large mortgage, am just in process of converting it to Smith Manouevre through RBC (which holds all our business). Would love advice on that if anyone is familiar with RBC products, btw.


----------



## heyjude

Hello everyone, I'm heyjude, a 50 ish physician from Winnipeg. I'm reasonably financially savvy and approaching financial independence. I'm quite diversified (60% equities, 20% fixed income, 10% cash, 10% alternative investments [real estate, precious metals and venture capital]). I do have financial advisers, whom I trust, but verify. I enjoy reading about finance and economics, which has helped me to make some good decisions independently, and I question everything. My risk tolerance has been moderately high (I did not panic during the meltdown) but over the next few years my priorities will change in the direction of capital preservation as my goal is to be able to retire by age 60. Looking forward to some good exchanges on the Forum!


----------



## Sandip Sen

Hi,

I am Sandip, 54 years old. 
Recently retired from entrepreneuship to become a author.
Wrote a book in Dec 2008 ISBN 1440493332 (see amazon ) that though aplauded by all, I suspect is still not very well understood.
It has several new concepts in risk management and time and resource utilisation, so I decided to explain some of the complexities by a detailed step by step presentation through slideshows in slideshare.net, a popular forum with 8 million page views and now glamourised by the entry of White House presentations. My presentations till date on this Risk Management are as under and I would look forward to valued suggestions / discussions from / with knowledgable forum members on the subject.


Business Risk Management Series ( 954 views in 3 weeks ) ( Top presentation in finance segment in 2nd week July)
http://tinyurl.com/lzokqy


Business Risk Case study Ba 31 ( 1185 views in 2 weeks) (Showcased in the business & managment segment in 3rd & 4th Wk July)
http://bit.ly/LJofP


Business Risk Case study Ba 32 ( 385 views in 5 days) ( Top presentation in finance section in 4th week July )
http://tinyurl.com/lnkv9h


I hope some of you have time to go through these popular slideshows and see new techniques in Risk Management for market based, credit based and operational risk by variance measurement and Predictive analytics.


Thx and regards

Sandip
[email protected]


----------



## TheAliMan

*Ali*

Hi, my name is Ali and I am new to this site. I am a 24-year-old chemical engineer who recently wrote level 2 of the CFA program. I work for a large oil and gas company in a development role. I have been passionate about value investing in its original Grahamian style and its evolution for several years. I also see that Jim Chuong is on here, so I'll be visiting more often


----------



## JC NewGrad

I'm JC. I just turned 28, have two degrees, and I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life :S

While I figure that out, I'm working as an in-house writer for a publisher/news agency in Toronto. I'm happily unmarried and kids are probably only a year or two away for us.

Now that I've got a pretty steady gig, and with kids in sight, I've taken more of an interest in taking better care of my finances and my future, so I started budgeting and making modest monthly contributions to e-series funds at the beginning of this year (in RRSPs and a TFSA). This month, for the first time ever, my assets outweigh my liabilities (I had a hefty student loan) and I feel pretty good about that.

Lots to learn though...

Cheers.


----------



## Jucius Maximus

Hello everyone. I found a link to this site on someone's blog.

Now I'm here to discuss money, finances, etc. I am a nerd, so this is one of my favourite topics!


----------



## krackerjack121

Hi all,

I am 30 year old guy with an interest in finance. During the day I work as a lab rat (rather in a lab) and at night I enjoy learning, reading and talking about personal finance. I really got interested about a year or so ago and have been frequenting a few blogs on here. MDJ sent me over here and I have enjoyed what I have seen so far.

Look forward to talking with you all.

Rocky


----------



## high octane

Hi everyone

I have to say I am really happy to find this site with so many people who understand what a difference you can make with financial decisions. Most people I know seem to just accept the norm.

I took money seriously at a young age, growing up in rural NB with a single mother. I started working at 15 to pay for clothes and sports. By graduation I had a computer, investments, and a car (that insurance bill makes me cringe)

After high school I joined the military and got a degree in comp sci. Now I travel all over to control fighter jets for training and air defense. I’m looking forward to the Olympics next winter 

I’m here because I want to start investing my savings and leveraging. I haven’t found an advisor I trust so I’ll do it myself.

Some day I want to have my own business in the peaceful country, as a mechanic or a farmer or who knows. My passions are motorsports, which means I’ll never be able to retire!


----------



## vlad89

Hello everyone i'm a 20 year old from B.C. trying to learn and figure out the stock market, investing, funds, bonds etc etc. 

I'm new so fairly lost lol. I hope to see many of you around, and hopefully get alot of question answerd.


----------



## harrypaul

*Hello to every body*

Hello,
I am new at here and just want to say hello to all at here


----------



## denisjhon

Hello everyone...
This is Denis Jhon here and i am new here on this forum.
Just wanted to introduce myself... Just found your forum and it seems really interesting.


----------



## Archer of Hamilton

*Steel City Brewed*

Hello,

Well, I'm here to try and keep up to speed with any new developements or ideas that will help me improve my business. From the wide variety of individuals I have seen post, I expect I will get some interesting ideas and feedback from both veteran and rookie investors. I hope that my contributions will be meaningful and helpful.


----------



## Teen Trader

Hi everyone,

My name is David (Dave) and I'm a fifteen year old male living in the Vancouver region of British Columbia. I've been interested in finance since I was seven, and bought my first stocks (through my parents' account) when I was nine. By the time I was ten I had around $3000 in my PC Financial high interest savings account. Overall, my investments in the stock market have yielded roughly a $4000 return, half of which is paid for with my college fund money and the other half being personal. 

I have a blog called 'Teen Money Canada', which, as the name implies, is intended to give financial advice to teens, from the point of view of a teen. If you want to take a look, the link is http://teenmoneycanada.blogspot.com/ (I'll be getting a domain name in the next month or so).

I'm currently self employed as a guitar teacher. I have six students at the moment, each taking one hour long lesson a week at $15, which amounts to $90 weekly, $360 monthly and a yearly income of over $4300. On top of this, I take part in several online money making projects which have proven to be fairly successful for the amount of work I put into them. 

I look forward to getting to know you all in the near future, though I already do know some of you quite well from reading the many posts on this forum, and reading several of your blogs.

-Dave.


----------



## Will

Hey All,

My name is Will and I've been following FrugalTrader's blog for quite some time now.

I've become more interested in personal finance and breaking through debt for the past year due to being irresponsible with my credit cards during my undergrad years.

I've had many "setbacks" in terms of not being fully conscious of where my money was going and didn't appreciate its true value until I sat down and realized how much of a hole I had dug for myself.

Right now, I'm on my home stretch with the low thousands to go. It's been a little over a year since I've started on this journey of financial freedom, but I'll be out of credit card debt by December.

After that.. I'll have OSAP to deal with 

I've been running my website Cheap Date Ideas since January, but only recently have poured my time and energy into this passion of mine in empowering couples to have thrifty, creative and fun dates.

I hope to connect with all you soon on these forums that Canadian Capitalist and FrugalTrader have created - and grow financially and other ways as well.

- Will


----------



## Smac20

*Hello Canadian Money Forum*

Great Idea for a Forum.

I am Stuart McConnachie from Vancouver, BC.

I am the blogger behind InvestingInCanada 

I work as a Commercial Real Estate Appraiser in Vancouver. Since the early 1990's I have been actively learning about the stock market and trading. I have studied and applied many different trading techniques over the years from day-trading to long term fundamental trading.

Other hobbies I am interested in include cooking, wine, hockey, more recently learning about seo.


----------



## Cinderelli

*Hello Canadian Money Forum*

Hello all. How nice to find a forum that has such helpful advice and advisors when it comes to investing. I am a 53 year old guy living in Toronto, who started investing late in life. ( better late than never ) Thus far I have enjoyed reading many posts, and I look forward to reading many more.


----------



## internet13444

I am internet13444, from India, i found this forum through google when i had searched about canadian money, Nice to be here.
Simple interest calculator calculation rates mortgage compound high interest savings account​


----------



## logicfirst

Hey Guys, I m from Calgary, Alberta, 24 y.o male, here to gain knowledge in investing and building my wealth. So far I am pleased with most of the postings, seems like there is alot of mature and knowledgable people on this fourm.


----------



## gatherer

Hello,

my name is Jason. I live in a small town in Southern Ontario. I'm 29 years old and married no children yet.

I've always been interested in personal finance and learning and sharing what I've learnt is something I enjoy doing.

regards,

Jason


----------



## fredos417

Hello everyone. I'm Freddie here from the Savannah. I wish to learn a lot from this forum and I also hope I could be of help in this forum..


----------



## small cap stocks

"I am George, I am from Canada. I am interested in investing in Stocks, Photography and Playing golf
Thanks 
George "


----------



## cmackie

Hi all!
I am 28 and work in Toronto's financial services industry. I've been a casual reader of many of the blogs mentioned here and look forward to learning more and offering a hint or two of my own.


----------



## cboenews

Hi All,

New Here. Excited to join to conversation.


----------



## Bernhard

*Introduction*

Hello,
I am happy to have registered for my first forum ever. I am joining to increase my knowledge of the workings of the financial industry as I am considering opening a home-based financial planning business in one year from now. I look forward to it!
Toni Bernhard


----------



## sweet-jayne

*It's a pleasure....*

Hello there,
So? Where to begin!...I guess I'll do the work intro first..

I'm 26 and have been working in the financial services industry for just about 5 years. I started off as an assistant to a few financial advisors, and decided to change contract and become an independent advisor, 2 years ago. I love the industry and plan to further my career by finishing the cfp program within the next two years. I'm presently contemplating whether or not I should stay where I'm at, or accept a position with a bank. Decisions, decisions!

Now a little bit about my personal side. I'm married and have two children (2 and 5). I'm fairly active, both in doors and out. I absolutely love being a roller girl in our local roller derby team, as well as a paddler for a breast cancer survivors (and supporters) dragon boating team during the summer. Music is a passion of mine as well!

I look forward to posting with all of you and reading the copious amounts of knowledge already held deep within the depths of this board.

xoxox
~Jayne


----------



## John_Michaels

I'm 41, live in Southern Ontario. Married, one child. Education is B.E.Sc. and MBA. I currently work in the Telecommunications industry and saving like crazy due to the nature of the industry  

I've followed this forum for a number of months and hope to continue to learn and contribute.


----------



## Y&T2010

*Hi!*

Hi everyone,

I'm a 26 year old girl from Vancouver who, since about 5 years ago started becoming really interested in how to invest my money and save money. I'm hoping to save enough cashola to buy a home here in the $$$ Vancouver housing market.

I work in the health care industry (public sector).

I recently started a new blog in November of this year and am the blogger behind: Young and Thrifty

I had no idea there was a Canadian Money Forum! I was always checking out Red Flag Deal's "personal finance" section, now I have this forum to check out instead!

I'm teeming with excitement to be able to peruse all of your posts of this forum!


----------



## alton

Hi,I'm new here and really like this forum, it looks like it has a lot of great info.It'll be nice to get to know everyone on here.Thanks.Have a nice time ahead.


----------



## WhiteRockFinancialPlanner

*Financial Planner since 1987*

I've been a Financial Planner since 1987 and now, in my mid 40's I find that those in their 20's and early 30's make most of their decisions based on what they have read and communicated about on line which I know can be a double edged sword. Information and Wisdom are 2 completely separate things and it's those using Wisdom above all else who will eventually thrive. I too get a lot of my info from various sources but a lot of my clients prefer, mainly because of time constraints and because of that are willing to pay to free up some of their time, a very broad contact base have developed trusting advisory relationships in many aspects of their lives (including finances). I'm just here to get a better sense of what is important to you who are reading these posts.


----------



## the-royal-mail

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum which I found through a google search. I had trouble getting registered but that's history now.  I have read some of the other profiles in this thread and am really impressed by the education and intelligence level of posters here. Gives me confidence that I'm dealing with some pretty sharp people when getting financial advice. 

I live in the prairies and am well-educated, employed, single and in my mid-30s. I also spent many years in Ontario and am familiar with the whole GTA thing. Moved back to the fresh air and open roads a few years ago, got a great job and have been enjoying life much more ever since. I consider myself to be good at managing my money but I am sure each one of you would do it differently if you had my circumstances. For my part, my concept is to keep monthly expeditures as low or non-existent as possible (ie. no costly cellphones, gadgets and other monthly obligations except where absolutely necessary), pay bills first, don't go into debt (except for mortgage, car loan and when adversity such as job loss strikes) and then enjoy the leftover $$$ at the end of each month. (I started a thread to get input on what I should do with this leftover $) 

As far as budgeting, I use excel to list my costs for each two week period, add in paycheques, then itemize the costs for the next 2 weeks etc. I usually keep the file a few months into the future and the running total allows me to see how much spare money I'll have next month, how much in 3 months etc. With that, I can then look ahead and make decisions about when I will take holidays, be able to afford that new car or whatever. I've been doing this excel thing for as long as I can remember and the file keeps growing. I don't live in a cave. I have a good fully maintainined car (1998 model) and an apartment I enjoy living in. I have many hobbies that keep me busy and on which I can spend some money whenever the mood strikes.


----------



## buick1957

I'm a 52 year old that needs tip on paying off my debt on my line of credit! I'm not as bad as some people


----------



## montyloree

wow... the who's who of bloggers...

does everybody have everybody's twitter id's

mine is: @montyloree

My main blog is canadian-money-advisor.ca


----------



## montyloree

buick1957... pay you debt consistently... negotiate better rates with your bank... just a quick tip


----------



## kyahgirl

*Introduction...*

Hello to you all. 
I found this forum via the Canadian Capitalist and I'm glad it exists. 

I worked for over 20 years as an analytical chemist and decided to take a package and become a stay at home mom when the opportunity arose. I had my kids fairly late in life and really don't want to miss their childhoods. My husband and I both read The Wealthy Barber many years ago when it first came out and have worked hard at some of the basics of good finance. We are both thrifty and see the value in living simply. 

Last year I decided that instead of taking the attititude that I could just go back to work when the kids are grown (because our savings are not growing much), I would make an effort to become financially savvy and try to do something to improve our position. 

As for interests, I'm a fanatic for perfume, dogs, and skiing. My kids are fanatics for playing hockey so I spend a lot of my time helping them pursue that interest (Interpretation-driving all over Alberta to hockey games and practices!)
I'm happy to see such a diversity of people here, and look forward to learning with you and from you.


----------



## shanti263

Hi to all,

An unexpected illness put me in an early retirement. It also got me started on investing in stocks, ETFs, never bonds. Earlier than that, I only bought some mutual funds and left them. There are so much to learn...and I'm glad I found this forum.


----------



## wesb

*hey*

I’m a financial planner in Toronto, new to posting on these boards, but have been reading for a while. I use this site mainly to gain insight into people’s concerns that I can then parlay into discussions with my current clients. 
Cheers


----------



## moneymusing

Hi everyone,

I'm a bit of a blogger myself (see signature), although the focus of the blog is penny stocks, it's certainly not the only types of investments I have. 

The real value I get from this forum is the discussion about investing techniques, scenarios and ideas for my retirement account. I do find some issues around frugality interesting , but mostly because I think some people take it to the point of killing any fun in life. 

To those people I say life is worth living today just as much as it is tomorrow (or maybe even more).

Cheers


----------



## neeko

*Hi there*

I'm still relatively new to the working world (graduated university in 2008) and until now I haven't paid much attention to the idea of investments. With the amount of debt I've racked up I've been concentrating on paying that down, though I could be doing more. 

I was turned onto a couple of the aforementioned blogs and this forum by my dad. Hearing all the horror stories over the years of my parents switching from mutual fund to mutual fund with no returns I've decided to start learning about taking control of my own financial future instead of letting someone else gamble on it. I hope to learn a lot from these forums as well as many of your blogs. Thank you in advance to everyone who contributes!


----------



## BobbieBigs

Just want to thank everyone for posting such helpful information. Haven't felt the need to post yet since I've found all my answers by using the search function.

I am currently torn on what to do with my money as I wish to jump into the stock market as well as investing in rental properties. Been weighing my options for over a year now and still stuck.


----------



## Happyvdubber

Hi,

I like it here. 

I have no money and no debt. No real investments to speak of. Mortgage poor, I probably live beyond my means but can't figure out how? 32, wife, 2.5 kids.

Lofty goals include freedom 55 and mortgage free by 45.

Greatest frugality accomplishments include paying for beer with used hockey equipment and my '97 Sentra which I bought for $350.

Broke and happy (but not happy about being broke),

Craig


----------



## RichardCooper

*About me...*

Hi all,

I'm Richard Cooper, I’m a former collection industry insider with lots of experience in collection agencies and the practices they employ to collect debt. I have tons of know-how in the debt relief space, including debt settlement, consolidation loans, credit counseling, consumer proposals and bankruptcy. My expertise is in debt settlement programs and knowledge of the collection industry. I have also published several articles on ezines about the aforementioned topics, many of which are on my website as a “debt learning centre”.

If anyone has any questions, I’m happy to help. I'm also new to Twitter [as TotalDebtFree] and am on FaceBook & LinkedIn. I wish the founders of this forum the best of luck: seems like a really good group here.


----------



## HaroldCrump

Happyvdubber said:


> 2.5 kids


eh? Does that mean third one on the way?
If so, congratulations and good luck


----------



## adiaccounting

Hello everyone,

This is an Financial Accounting expert.
Practicing accountancy for small business firms.
Great to be here to share ideas and expertise.

Expecting great time here.


----------



## Jungle

Hi my user name is Jungle. I have an strong interest in personal finance and I think this website is great. I am in my late twenties, just getting married soon. I plan to have a family and my dream is to be retired at age 40 with a net worth of 1M.


----------



## Ionse

Hello,

I just found this forum today and signed up after reading a few threads and realizing the level of discourse on the site. I'm 25, I started investing about a year ago and I am eager to learn more and continue investing. Good to meet everyone and i'll will see you on the forums


----------



## JAV

Hi everybody,

Located in Toronto, I started my own small business (audio/video, voice/data installations) about six months ago.

I'm in my mid 30s and until 18 months ago I made very poor financial choices. With the help of my common-law, we did a complete 180, paid off all our debts (minus the small car loan) and built up large savings. Our plan is to buy a house in the next 12 months or so.

I'm here to sponge off the knowledge of others...


----------



## Taxsaver

JAV said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> Located in Toronto, I started my own small business (audio/video, voice/data installations) about six months ago.
> 
> I'm in my mid 30s and until 18 months ago I made very poor financial choices. With the help of my common-law, we did a complete 180, paid off all our debts (minus the small car loan) and built up large savings. Our plan is to buy a house in the next 12 months or so.
> 
> I'm here to sponge off the knowledge of others...


Congratulations, Jav! I'm also completing my 180. From June, I will be on the path of financial success.


----------



## HappyCat

Howdy! Newbie here. My name is Marie and I'm actually a U.S. citizen. I've always wanted to learn more about Canada's financial state and so far I've learned that you guys do things significantly better and efficiently than the U.S. Kudos to you! My biggest problem is that I overspend. I spent most of my refund on the san antonio patio furniture set from Family Leisure.

Anyhow, it's great to be here. Hope to learn _more_ about your financial state and learn more along the way.


----------



## 72camaross

Hey, 

I'm new here. Live in the east coast, looking to get into real estate and investing. Lots of good stuff on this site, it takes away from my day job!

I'm 25, lots of student loan debt, decent job for the area, live at home with minimal expenses. Looking for a place to start and learn. I have big goals (some may say dreams) and am excited to get started. If you guys have suggestions I'm more then ready to hear them!! 

72camaross <- I like cars.


----------



## kelly7898

Hi , I am a new member of forum. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guys!!!


----------



## Mich

Hi All,

I'm your average early thirty something year old with 2 kids and a mortgage. Living in Montreal, I am the blogger behind www.beatingtheindex.com.

Like many amongst you, I plan on retiring waaaaaay before 65!

Cheers!


----------



## R.O.V.

Hi All

I am in my early 40's, married for 17 yrs and have two children. We both have professioal jobs (not in the financial world) and run a small business. Since turing 40 I have become very focused on becoming debt-free and having a net worth of one million dollars by the time i'm 50. I hope to use the advice and knowledge shared on this site to reach my goals


----------



## alfredthomas82

Hi, my name is Alfred and I am a personal finance enthusiast


----------



## Underworld

I'm 28, and work full time as a Web/Software Developer. I am quickly building up my own company on the side as I have a desire to work towards financial independence.

I'm very keen on personal finance and investing and have decided to turn around our debt and plan for the future. I've been maintaining net worth statements since Jan 2009, and looking back, we have turned our -26k networth into a positive one.

I enjoy reading (educational stuff), photography, hiking, computer games (damn world of warcraft), travel, biking etc...


----------



## hystat

Hi, I am new here and basically frugal and cautious.
I enjoy spending my money on myself and my loved ones, and not giving it away to the system unnecessarily.

I like tinkering with boats and old cars. 

I am 45 and a home owner with a live in g/f and an empty nest.

I have no interest in early retirement as long as I can continue my present job. If it ever evaporates, I want to be secure enough to not have to relocate or make dramatic career changes.


----------



## james_57

*Greeting from (steamy) Ontario*

Hi folks, james here, joined to engage in friendly conversation about the current state of economic affairs, as seen thru the eyes of my fellow Canucks, and to discuss the second half of 2010.

A veteran of web forums (have run a few myself) i'm impressed by the exchange here (good civility, tone etc). 

Not a sophisticated investor, but recently very active in understanding the economic forces at play, ever since the crash of Oct. 2008. (which I narrowly missed taking a hit on)

In Oct 08, I suddenly became acutely aware of the conditions affecting my assets, and began studying things day-by-day. (that was after I sold all the equities in a panic, going to cash). In Mar/Apr 2009 bought back into the equities market, (tsx) and watched spellbound, as markets climbed the _ wall of worry_ until mid-june '10, when i went to cash again. (the BMO quant memo, GO TO CASH', pushed me to sell)

Now sitting 60% liquid (includes some gold metal), and the balance in CDN boring safe utilities, and oil and gas service sector, where i feel the distributions, yield and underlying values might hold up. I have my eye on stocks like CPG, but waiting to see where oil goes (aren't we all). Today, i feel it can just as easily drop to $60 bbl before it lands at $70.

My main interest is understanding (to a point) the marco movements and to understand how this whole global economy functions; in particular as it pertains to Canada, where i plan to continue investing. This means of course understanding the US economy intimately and it's markets, and to some extent the EEC and their sovereign debt crisis too. Therefore i spend a lot of time reading Marketwatch, bloomberg, and a plethora of blogs (Mish's a favourite), and downloading various analysts comments. 

Agree with Meredith Whitney that US RE will drop another 20% and I have been repeating this same thing for 12 months myself. I'm in the a double-dipper camp, expecting a US recession. 

Regard the real US unemployment rate as about 20%, and foresee a coming 20% drop in US RE into 2011, which will set the stage for the next leg down, but imagine it will not be a sudden drop like 2008, but rather a slow grinding down of the DJIA to something like 8,500 to 7,500 depending on the US stimulus, of course. Confidence will ebb this time round (rather than crash) into the Q4, is my feeling.

Looking forward to reading the opinions here, moving forward into this uncertain future. 

james


----------



## Weered

*Hello From Nova Scotia*

Hello,

I have obviously just joined. I am a young financial consultant from Canada just looking to network and learn through conversation. I am surprised there are not more general finance forums around.

Oh well I am here now,

Cheers,

-James


----------



## reneeboyd

*Hi*

Hi I'm Renee!

These forums look very informative. I look forward to sharing some ideas and taking part in the discussions!

See you around the forum!


----------



## kcowan

*Hi I'm Keith*

Just came over here because Belguy, another 50plus refugee, suggested it.

Hope to be able to contribute and participate.

I took early retirement in 2002 and live half time in Vancouver and half time in Puerto Vallarta. I have a small unindexed company pension and so live off my portfolio.

Second wife, two children and four grandchildren, two cats.


----------



## the-royal-mail

Hi Keith, welcome!

The best thing you can do is read and reply to existing threads and take some time to browse through the forum to see what others are talking about. The people who have helped me in this forum are excellent as you may have already seen from any prior lurking. Jump in and participate in any of the existing discussions, as I understand this is an open forum.


----------



## HaroldCrump

Welcome, kcowan.
Are you the same kcowan from the FWF forum?
Nice to have you here.


----------



## kcowan

HaroldCrump said:


> Welcome, kcowan.
> Are you the same kcowan from the FWF forum?
> Nice to have you here.


Yes I am a shareholder over at FWF. But I miss 50plus.


----------



## Four Pillars

kcowan said:


> Yes I am a shareholder over at FWF. But I miss 50plus.


What happened to 50plus? Did it close down?

Not that I ever went there, I'm just curious.


----------



## kcowan

Four Pillars said:


> What happened to 50plus? Did it close down?
> 
> Not that I ever went there, I'm just curious.


They just turned it off one day without any advance notice. Lost a bunch of regular posters and a tremendous storehouse of archives.


----------



## Holenchuk

I am a Realtor from Victoria BC. I am looking for some investment ideas or what ever else catches my eye. Thanks for having me.


----------



## Maltese

kcowan said:


> They just turned it off one day without any advance notice. Lost a bunch of regular posters and a tremendous storehouse of archives.



I wondered what had happened to the site. I was a regular reader of the posts but was never able to post. I joined but every time I tried to post I got a message that I wasn't a member. I thought it was strange that the site just disappeared one day.


----------



## Financial Cents

*Hi*

Hi, I'm Financial Cents. I just joined this forum although I've been a reader/visitor for many, many months now. I blog at http://myownadvisor.blogspot.com/. I'm in my mid-30s and live with my wife in Ottawa.


----------



## Karen

*Recent Widow Who Can Use Some Advice*

I retired at 63 a few years ago (I'm now 67) from a federal government job, so I have a defined benefit pension - my pensions, including OAS and CPP give me a comfortable monthly income, especially because I also receive a survivor's benefit of $1200 (U.S.) from my late American husband's Social Security pension. So I have no concerns at all about my monthly expenses, but I do wonder sometimes if I should be doing something different with my investments. I own my home mortgage-free, and I have about $360,000 in RRSPs and about $300,000 in non-registered funds. I have always been an extremely conservative investor - all my registered and non-registered savings are in GICs, which I know some of you will think is not wise, but I'm one of those people who would have trouble sleeping at night if I was very adventuresome with my money. I will not have to convert my RRSP to a RIF until I'm legally required to at 71, so by that time it should be worth over $400,000. Most of the time I feel like I'm doing extremely well, but occasionally I wonder if I'm burying my head in the sand and not being realistic about cost of living increases over the rest of my life. Another consideration is that health problems keep me from travelling, so that keeps my expenses down too! I guess I'm looking for advice from some of you experts about whether I'm being realistic in feeling that I don't have to make any changes in my attitude towards my finances. Or, if not, I'd appreciate some advice about what I should be doing that will still allow me to sleep at night.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Karen


----------



## Aslan K

My name is Aslan Karimov and I am Financial Security Advisor and Investment Representative with Freedom 55 financial.

I used to work at Bank of Montreal throughout my college years, and decided to make a move to Freedom 55 Financial after graduation.


----------



## xs114

*Am I the first guy from China Mainland here?*

Hi, I'm 30, single, working in education, from China Mainland. 

While searching for ideas on CFP, I find here. I'm trying to learn something about personal finance market in developed area, for nowadays in China the demand for financial management is rapidly booming...., especially for average individuals.


----------



## driver24

As driver24, I am Jeff Gordon, a 65 year old retired Lawyer, trying to keep my head above water in these markets.

While, all the time, hoping and praying, that my adult children don't boomerang back in to my financial life.

Jeff


----------



## Maltese

Karen said:


> I retired at 63 a few years ago (I'm now 67) from a federal government job, so I have a defined benefit pension - my pensions, including OAS and CPP give me a comfortable monthly income, especially because I also receive a survivor's benefit of $1200 (U.S.) from my late American husband's Social Security pension. So I have no concerns at all about my monthly expenses, but I do wonder sometimes if I should be doing something different with my investments. I own my home mortgage-free, and I have about $360,000 in RRSPs and about $300,000 in non-registered funds. I have always been an extremely conservative investor - all my registered and non-registered savings are in GICs, which I know some of you will think is not wise, but I'm one of those people who would have trouble sleeping at night if I was very adventuresome with my money. I will not have to convert my RRSP to a RIF until I'm legally required to at 71, so by that time it should be worth over $400,000. Most of the time I feel like I'm doing extremely well, but occasionally I wonder if I'm burying my head in the sand and not being realistic about cost of living increases over the rest of my life. Another consideration is that health problems keep me from travelling, so that keeps my expenses down too! I guess I'm looking for advice from some of you experts about whether I'm being realistic in feeling that I don't have to make any changes in my attitude towards my finances. Or, if not, I'd appreciate some advice about what I should be doing that will still allow me to sleep at night.
> 
> Thanks for any advice you can give me.
> 
> Karen


Hi Karen, welcome to this forum. I see you haven't received any responses to your questions so I think you should start a new thread and and repost your situation. The folks here are very helpful when asked for advice.


----------



## MoneyGal

Another suggestion to Karen to make a post with her specific questions. I totally missed this set of questions and have lots of thoughts to add to the mix.


----------



## Karen

*Thank You!*

Thank you Maltese and Moneygal. I realize now that I posted my questions in the wrong place, and I'll make a new post in a more appropriate thread.

Karen


----------



## OhGreatGuru

Karen said:


> I retired at 63 a few years ago (I'm now 67) from a federal government job, so I have a defined benefit pension - my pensions, including OAS and CPP give me a comfortable monthly income, especially because I also receive a survivor's benefit of $1200 (U.S.) from my late American husband's Social Security pension. So I have no concerns at all about my monthly expenses, but I do wonder sometimes if I should be doing something different with my investments. I own my home mortgage-free, and I have about $360,000 in RRSPs and about $300,000 in non-registered funds. I have always been an extremely conservative investor - all my registered and non-registered savings are in GICs, which I know some of you will think is not wise, but I'm one of those people who would have trouble sleeping at night if I was very adventuresome with my money. I will not have to convert my RRSP to a RIF until I'm legally required to at 71, so by that time it should be worth over $400,000. Most of the time I feel like I'm doing extremely well, but occasionally I wonder if I'm burying my head in the sand and not being realistic about cost of living increases over the rest of my life. Another consideration is that health problems keep me from travelling, so that keeps my expenses down too! I guess I'm looking for advice from some of you experts about whether I'm being realistic in feeling that I don't have to make any changes in my attitude towards my finances. Or, if not, I'd appreciate some advice about what I should be doing that will still allow me to sleep at night.
> 
> Thanks for any advice you can give me.
> 
> Karen


If you have not already done so, open a TFSA with some of your non-registered money. Even if you only invest it in GIC's, at least you won't be taxed on the interest.

I don't like suggesting to people that they invest outside their comfort zone. If we weren't stuck in such a long period of unusually low interest rates, I would tell you to stick with what you makes you comfortable and keep it in GICs. But since we are, you should continue to educate yourself about some of the more conservative equity alternatives, and see if you can't persuade yourself that some of them can meet your low risk tolerance.

You have over $600,000 to play with. See if you can convince yourself that: a) If x% of this didn't pay me any income in a given year, it would not hurt my budget; and,
b) if x% of this dropped in market value in a year, but could be expected to recover in 2-3 years, it wouldn't cause me to lose sleep, because I have no need to spend the principal for several years (if ever). 

Then you might be able to bring yourself to say "yes, I can take a bit more risk with x% of my portfolio". It's easy for me to say "Sure you can", with a DB pension, no debt, and a healthy portfolio. But you are the one who has to sleep at night.

Off the top of my head, try looking at RBC Monthly Income Fund and TD Monthly Income. Both well-rated, no-load funds, combining a mix of conservative equity and fixed income. (The RBC fund is slightly more conservaive of the two). Reasonably tax efficient, with a mix of interest, dividends and capital gains. Some of the banks are also marketing cash-flow portfolios funds with varying amounts of equity in them. 

You are going to have to convert that RRSP to either a RRIF or annuity in a few years. RRIF is the preferred method for confident DIY investors. But if you have very low risk tolerance you might be a candidate for annuities, if the rates have improved by then.


----------



## Karen

Thank you so much for your advice, OhGreatGuru. Even though I've just joined the forum, I've been lurking here for a few months, and I've been so impressed with how willing many of you knowlegable people are to share your knowledge with those of us with less experience.

I have invested the maximum amount in my TFSA for each of 2009 and 2010 - my usual GICs, of course!

My bank gives me a good bonus on my GICs, so I don't do as badly as you'd think from the posted rates. I haven't received less than 3.2 percent over the last couple of years of low rates, and most are around 3.5. I know it's pretty pathetic by many people's standards, but, on the other hand, I continued to make my little bit of interest when many of my friends and relatives were worrying themselves sick when the stock market crashed.

My main concern is whether or not I'm being naive in thinking that, barring a real disaster in the country's financial situation, I have enough to last my lifetime if I simply stay in GICs. On the other hand, I'm sure life would be more interesting if I took $100,000 and invested it in the types of things you have suggested. I note, though, that they are both income funds - is that a good idea when I don't really need the income at this stage? The reason I ask is that my income is right at the stage where, if it increases, I will start losing some of my Old Age Security, so I thought it would be wise to leave the money invested until I need it.

The reason I've become such a coward when it comes to taking chances with my money, in case you're curious, is that my ex-husband, to whom I was married for nearly twenty years, was a mining promotor and was completely irresponsible about money - he talked millions but never had a dime to his name. When I finally left that marriage I was forty years old and starting over again with nothing. My job at the time had no pension plan, so I found one that did and became a bit obsessed with making up for lost time with savings and RRSPs. My second and third marriages (I've been widowed twice) were happy and my husbands shared my attitude towards money, so we did well, but I suspect you are right and it's time to put the past behind me and become a little more adventuresome with a portion of what I have.

Thank you again for your willingness to share your knowledge. I think, in the future, I will switch to another thread, as Money Gal and Maltese have suggested.

Karen


----------



## Karen B

*Hello!*

Hi everyone! I My name's Karen and I'm a university student in Vancouver. I don't study Finance, but for some reason I've become really fascinated by it over the last little while. I was really excited when I found out about this site today. I look forward to learning a lot!


----------



## Seth

Good Day everyone!

My name is Seth, 

I'm a longtime lurker first time user / poster on here...

In the past I've worked as a Financial Advisor (hated it) but hung onto the lessons learned...

As of late I've taken a more aggressive approach to my investing playing penny stocks and purchasing income properties...

I've come here to learn the best way I know how, to emulate those who have successfully accomplished what I am trying to achieve.

I look forward to posting, sharing in your risks and rewards and wish you all health, wealth and prosperity!


----------



## Ethan

Hello everyone. My name is Ethan. I'm 25 and live in Regina SK with my girlfriend and 2 cats. Big fan of the SK Roughriders.

I have a finance degree from the University of Regina, did 2 coop terms with an investment firm and have been working as an auditor with a big 4 accounting firm since January 2009. I passed the Canadian Securities Course in 2008 and am currently in CASB module 3.

I bought my first house on July 1. To afford a house in Saskatchewan's hot real estate market, I bought an infill house in the downtown area with a basement suite. Living downtown means I can walk to work and avoid lots of vehicle expenses as well as parking fees. My basement tenants rent pays half my mortgage.

My portfolio consists of am investment in a real estate joint venture, I've maxed my TFSA contributions for 2009 and 2010 (holdings are TD, ALA and CWI.un). I hold an index fund in my RRSP account, although will be looking to buy bonds once yields become more attractive. I have been investing since I was 13, although I had to sell off most of my investments so I could make a 20% downpayment on my home purchase to avoid CMHC fees.

Looking forward to having more money to invest now that I'm done university, own a house and am working full time.


----------



## HaroldCrump

Awesome, Ethan, that's a great introduction and welcome to the forum!
It sounds like you are well on your way to a sound financial situation and doing everything right.
It is uncommon for someone your age to have maxed out TFSA, RRSP and non registered investments.
It's great to know that you have been investing since a early age - wish I had done the same and had the wisdom at 13 that you had.


----------



## Four Pillars

Welcome Ethan - it sounds like we can learn a lot from you.


----------



## the-royal-mail

Hi Ethan, welcome to the forum. You've done very well for yourself. By all means join in and check out our existing threads. I am sure you can shed a lot of light on our discussions!


----------



## Ethan

Thanks everyone.

Investing early didn't end up providing the huge benefit I was hoping for, because those investments lost ~25% of their value. It did pique my interest in the subject and lead me away from mutual funds. I don't need to pay fund managers 2-3% annually to underperform the TSX.

Getting into real estate has been interesting and I'm learning lots on this forum related to dealing with tenants and debt structuring. I learned about cash damming in this forum, and I think thats a great idea. It is something I'll be looking to implement in 2-3 years when I plan on buying my second house.

Cheers


----------



## bpcrally

hi all!

I'm 23 and looking to start things out right financially. Right now i have a low paying position but I took it to gain experience in my field. For my age the position is fairly good, but unfortunately the pay is fairly low. 

I rent a cheap room in a townhome, I own a car and am a huge car guy (which is too bad because I always just want to dump money into the car or the track  ) I did however manage to buy my car and pay it off within 11 months ($20K car, 12 down.. then just hammered the rest).. I always hunt deals (big fan of redflagdeals) and stretching my dollar as far as i can! 

I almost have no knowledge of what to do with my money, but i hate the idea of debt so I want to prepare for that day down the road when it comes time to buy a house. 

I dont have much saved and it's fairly difficult to save after all of my expenses. but i'm keeping ahead and debt free. I was lucky enough to be able to live at home while i went to school and avoid loans. 

I've been browsing for a couple days and finding some interesting advice, so i thought I should join and introduce myself.

Look forward to chatting with all of you


----------



## myk50110

Greetings to all,

I'm a newcomer to Canada who just found this excellent forum.

I'm a 35-year-old female married to a Canadian citizen.

I'll be posting my questions soon so bear with me 

Kind Regards!


----------



## Jayde

Howdy

I've been dabbling in stock and options trading off and on for the last 2 or 3 years. I'm in the process of paying off a pretty substantial debt so I haven't had a lot left over to invest.

I'm hoping to get more involved in it over the next few months though. I'm glad to have found this site to bounce ideas off people and learn different strategies


----------



## TRitch

*A bit in despair*

Hi all,

I've just joined this forum as I am making an effort to get some financial order to my life.

I am a 40 year old teacher paying into the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan. I am married with no kids but we have thought about having one at some point. My wife isn't working at the moment and we have some commitment to help support her mother.

I have been feeling a lot of despair recently and hope to find some good information and advice on this forum.

Thanks in advance.

Trevor


----------



## jamiechese

Hey everyone!
My name is Jamie and I live in Collingwood, Ontario and am currently taking a year off. After that I plan on heading off to college or university (whichever I get accepted to). I am currently trying to save as much as possible for my education with a HISA TFSA and hopefully soon by doing some low risk investing. 

I am 18 and yes still with parents, brother and my insanely wild black lab puppy for the year off, currently working in the service industry as a Server Assistant. It is really good money as I do "in-room-dining" which is very decent tips. Although my job is seasonal so at the moment I am pretty bored.

I joined CMF in the hopes to learn more and more about finances and financial freedom! Currently I have learned quite a bit and hope that I can learn lots more and maybe even help a few people along the way with the things I have learned!


----------



## alphatrader2000

I am AlphaTrader2000. I have been a professional trader and I have been in the financial industry from buyside to sellside in different capacities.


----------



## BarryD

*Hello*

Barry here. I've been lurking here for awhile. I enjoy reading different opinions and have learned lots. I thank you!

I'm 48 have a pretty good job, not married no kids. I've been trying my best to find the balance between paying the mortgage down and RSPs. So far so good and I finally grew the stones to start playing the stock market a bit. Lots to learn!


----------



## tendim

G'day group.

I'm not sure what happened but my other account ("tendim") has been banned from the site -- a bug maybe? Can some kind admin help me out?

In the meantime. My "real" online handle is tendim (minus the "g" ). I'm a project manager by day, and a photographer, dragon boater and car enthusiast by night. I live in the Toronto and have just recently started taking a serious interest in investing.

Cheers!
-tendim


----------



## olivaw

*Introduction*

Hello All, 

I'm a 52 year old IT professional who is hoping to be in a position to retire in four or five years. It will be four years if I can stick to my savings goals and earn at least 5% pa on my investments. So far, so good. 

My company doesn't have a pension plan. I plan to start taking CPP at age 60 (unless the CPP rules change)


----------



## mrpresident

*Hi there*

My name is Rob, 46 years old . Stay home dad with two kids. PT investor with al lot of interest in capital preservation.


----------



## Casper

HEY THERE FELLOWS . . . 
My name is TALHA and i am 24 years of , doing master's in information technology .I love web surfing and among those people who are addicted to web and proudly say that " WEB IS MY DRUG " .
I will try to be as regular as possible . . . 
Thank you very much for accepting me to be the member of the community , i am really very happy to be the member of the community . . .


----------



## benlin910

my name is ben and i am new here, its my pleasure to join this community to find some information and good friends here.


----------



## Pinhi

Going to be 50 next year - yikes! Where has the time gone - working for the federalies the last 20yrs, basically for the promised DB pension. Trying to learn some of the nuances of investing for our 2 girls. Very good forum indeed.
Name is Arun


----------



## LondonHomes

*New Member*

Hi there!

I figured this thread would be a great place to make my first post on the forum. I am a new member here but have been lurking for a few weeks now and finally decided to join.

I am from London Ontario and involved with real estate here. I'm joining as my resolution for 2011 is start creating more wealth.


----------



## RealizedReturns

I've lurked here pretty much since the forum was launched and have only just started posting recently. Figured I should introduce myself.

I'm a young professional engineer working & living out in the prairies. I am quickly approaching a state of zero debt and looking towards investing more and more of my income to build my wealth.

I have been a long-time reader of many of the blogs here and have also started my own personal finance blog:

http://RealizedReturns.com


----------



## Aiken

hello . . . 
my name is talha , i am 24 years of age , i am here for some money related issues help . i love web surfing and making good friends from around the world .
forums are really good way of gathering and sharing information to a related topic . and you can have like minded friends from there too .
i am not referred by anyone but found it through MIGHTY GOOGLE . . . 
thank you for accepting me as a member of the community,i'll be honest and regular . . . !!!
that is enough from me now , if you want to know something more , plz feel free to post and ask . . . !!!
have a nice day . . .


----------



## rnp56

*Hi from another new member*

After lurking fow quite a while, I will introduce mystelf.

I am in my mid-50s and my wife and I live in the Niagara area. I would describe our lifestyle as relatively modest. We have managed to accumulate a fairly healthy financial portfolio which I would say is mostly due to a combination of preferring saving to spending and the good investment choices outnumbering the poor ones. We have most of our investments with a fee-based financial planner but I also handle some on my own through one of the bank discount brokeages.

I enjoy reading all the discussions on the board and hope to be able to provide some worthwhile contributions.


----------



## Plugging Along

*Coming out of lurking*

Hello,

I have been lurking on this site, and some other money/finance sites, and have finally decided to get an account. 

I'm 36, married with 2 young daughters. Both my S/O work full time as professionals, have a consulting business, and a few other business ventures on the side.

I came from a very successful family of entrepenuers, and financial sucessful people, and have been trying to follow in their footsteps. Much of the success I have had has been due to riding off of their coat tails, and having them coach me somewhat along the way.

I'm pretty with family, work, consulting, and business, but still always reading the posts, and writing the occasional one. I hope I'll be able to contribute a fraction of what I have been learning.

Looking forward to chatting more!


----------



## GlenB

Hello all. My name is Glen and I am 54 yrs old with not much in retirement savings. I recently pulled all my money ($24k) out of my financial advisers business as it made absolutely squat in 8 years. I am now trying on my own through TD Waterhouse. My pension so far would be $24,000 / yr including CPP and old age. My wife does not have a pension. To say the least we are not in a good position financially and I am hoping to at least build something for us. I recently lost my job through restructuring also so things are tough. I am hoping to pick the brains of people on this site as I do not have the know how on financial matters. Anyway...I'm sure you will see me around and it is a pleasure to be part of this forum.


----------



## Rox

*Haroldcrump & Humble_pie*

Found the thread below posted by Haroldcrump that dated back to October 20. 2008. He said he is an FT, FT means Foreign Talent.

http://forums.canadianbusiness.com/thread.jspa?threadID=16281&tstart=0

Looks like this Haroldcrump is not an original Canadian too.

Look around that forum, he has many postings there.

Had a hunch that him and that barking dog Humble_pie is one and the same, since Humble_pie should be that Singaporean : investmentmoats or Drizzt.

Google the names, they will pop-up nicely. 

Yours again,
Rox


----------



## CanadianCapitalist

Rox said:


> Found the thread below posted by Haroldcrump that dated back to October 20. 2008. He said he is an FT, FT means Foreign Talent.
> 
> http://forums.canadianbusiness.com/thread.jspa?threadID=16281&tstart=0
> 
> Looks like this Haroldcrump is not an original Canadian too.
> 
> Look around that forum, he has many postings there.
> 
> Had a hunch that him and that barking dog Humble_pie is one and the same, since Humble_pie should be that Singaporean : investmentmoats or Drizzt.
> 
> Google the names, they will pop-up nicely.
> 
> Yours again,
> Rox


FT = Full time, as in full time employee.

I've already told you that Harold and humble pie are different people posting from different Canadian locations. Your attacks on other members in this post are totally uncalled for. Further infractions of forum rules will result in a ban.


----------



## marina628

I can't remember if i introduced myself but I am 43 years old married with two kids.I am self employed and own my own online business .
I joined the forum to learn more on investments .We earn $xxx,xxx a year ,My husband and I have lots of 'stuff' but really have to increase our savings and retirement.We pay cash for everything including his high priced passion for cars.If he called SUZE Oran she would take a fit on him lol


----------



## humble_pie

hello Glen and mrs Glen, and welcome to the forum.

i am sorry to hear some of your story. I sincerely wish you both a good & rewarding new year, and i do believe it will turn out much better than a view from here, right now, might suggest.

when you feel ready, perhaps you might like to move out into the discussion forums. There are many on this board who will be happy to try to assist you.

in the meantime, might i say that switching your savings to tdw is an excellent move. Won't you please guard these funds carefully, not hurrying into any investments until all is pretty near clear as a bell. It will be necessary to keep management costs for these funds as low as possible. Many on this board might suggest td's e-funds as ultra low-cost investments. I just mention them for now so they can reach your radar screen. They are not necessarily the best way to go.

again, very best wishes in 2011. I'm glad you've come to the forum.


----------



## marina628

Hi Glen , 
Sorry to hear about your situation and I am sure it is not easy to lose your job at this stage of your life .My brother in law lost his job with Nortel at a similar age and of course lost quite a bit of his retirement when the stocks went bust.It took him 2-3 years to find a new job that he was comfortable with but he seems to have gotten on track now. 
Keep your chin up and you came to the right place as there are so many helpful people here as I have learned for myself in the last month that I have been here.


----------



## GlenB

Thank you humble_pie and marina628 for your kind words. My greeting wasn't meant to enlist sympathy yet I will take it.  My chin is high and I know I will be employed sooner rather than later. My main concern is our retirement savings and how to raise it to a level that we can live such as we do now. That is not high on the hog neither. Anyway I will definitely be reading everything trying to learn. I did post in a thread regarding Questrade which I had never heard about. Thanks again for the warm welcome and I am sure I will learn lots along with meeting some very nice people.


----------



## Alaric

Glen - that's an unfortunate to hear, I hope things will pick up for you. While 8 years is a lot of time to lose, at least you decided to pull out and take matters into your own hands....as opposed to just hoping he will perform better.

I'm Alaric, I've been a longtime reader of this website and am working within the banking industry. I've started my own blog dedicated to business graduates http://www.businessgrad.ca to help consolidate career information to recent/soon to be business graduates.


----------



## The-Tax-Man

*Hello!*

Hi there,

Been lurking around for some time. Finally decided to get an account. I'm 31 years old, as you can probably guess by my screen name, I am a tax collector. In the past six months I have been reading and learning everything I can about investing. I have a plan, which I will be looking for input on in the near future. I'm lucky in many ways regarding pension, lifestyle, and choices that I have made that will hopefully allow me to retire early. Not that I hate my job, but lets just say, i'm not very well liked.....

Anyways, great reading on this site. I look forward to learning and contributing.


----------



## marina628

Hi
Just for record I don't hate you ,My business paid $17,000 in HST this year and we personally paid personally $56,000 in income tax in 2010.I am happy I have a job and a great earning level.The people that hate you don't declare their true income ,or live too well on self employment income then get caught when they do taxes.
My friend just did her taxes this morning and said she got screwed by taxes because she has rental income this year to report.She spent it and now have to try to find the cash to pay her tax bill lol.


----------



## The-Tax-Man

marina628 said:


> Hi
> Just for record I don't hate you ,My business paid $17,000 in HST this year and we personally paid personally $56,000 in income tax in 2010.I am happy I have a job and a great earning level.The people that hate you don't declare their true income ,or live too well on self employment income then get caught when they do taxes.
> My friend just did her taxes this morning and said she got screwed by taxes because she has rental income this year to report.She spent it and now have to try to find the cash to pay her tax bill lol.


I should have clarified, property tax collector!


----------



## michaelmc

Just found the forum, very nice to see lots of activity on it!

I'm currently trying to muddle my way thru Current and Capital Expenses on my condo. 

I'll be posting a few questions in the proper sub-forum soon.


----------



## Juliette

*Hi from California*

I am 39 and work as an office worker for the State of CA. I am teaching myself about ways to save more, invest money and be more frugal since I want to be able to be financially independent within the next 10 years.


----------



## petea4

Hello,

Found this forum after searching: where to buy silver in Toronto?Gave my very young nephews silver maples for Christmas instead of plastic toy junk. Great forum, as it has opened my eyes to money management.


----------



## LBCfan

*This is me*

Hello all,

I'm a western Canuck retiree (since 2007). I like to run my own portfolio and have been lucky enough not to have to touch my registered funds since retiring. Actually, I think I won't touch them (other than $2K/yr) until forced to.

I just stumbled on the site while surfing. Though I might give up lurking and post something sometime.


----------



## kcowan

LBCfan said:


> Hello all,
> 
> I'm a western Canuck retiree (since 2007). I like to run my own portfolio and have been lucky enough not to have to touch my registered funds since retiring. Actually, I think I won't touch them (other than $2K/yr) until forced to...




You might want to investigated a higher withdrawal if you are under 65!


----------



## Kim

*Guess I should have introduced myself earlier...*

Updated from my 2011 bio to read: 

40 something stay at home mom of 2, who looks after the family ranch ( cattle and horses )
Still learning and although I tend to stray from financial interests and get busy with other facets of life I find I always come back to money.

Really enjoy this forum and am glad to see a few old names and a bunch of new ones. 

I have a feeling I am going to drive you all bonkers with my silly questions but if it's of any consolation you are helping


----------



## tiler12

Hello im new around here. Love this forum finally created a profile.


----------



## Alfred

Hi All,
I am a newbie.
My name is Alfred. I am 32, married and 2 years old daughter.
My hobbies are surfing on net and watching TV.


----------



## longd

Hi, I'm new here. I'm living in Toronto, looking for how's money works....


----------



## I'm Howard

Retired senior Exec, DIY for many years, Graduate Economist,Very early retired, spend half the year down South, always an opinion on something, do not always say what you want to hear which accounts for why I no longer post at a couple of boards.

Low tolerance for stupidity, and all those Ex Pats who i warned to dump the pound at $2.25, now it's a $1.59 , told you so.


----------



## Maybe Later

Hi all,

I'm 36 (thought I typed 32 first - and I also find it hard to act my age), married with two kids and a bit of a procrastinator - hence 'Maybe Later'.

I have recently decided to take a more proactive, rather than reactive, approach to personal finances and found this forum after reading the MDJ blog. 

I've been in what I usually term as a 'real job' for six years now after a lot of post-secondary education and I feel like we have some catching up to do.

I'm less interested in pinching every penny until it squeeks and more interested it making reasoned choices about life, money and day-to-day finances.


----------



## greeny

Nice thread!

Hi everyone,

My name is Julie and I´m living in wonderful canadian city Toronto. My job presents my lovely dream from the childhood. I´m a realtor in Toronto. If you´ll need to help with your house that you can check my website and write me your request. And why nickname greeny? Because green is my favorite color and I´m an environmental style of person . 

Best regards

Julie


----------



## Beleriand

Hi all, 

I am a newbie on CMF. My name is Lorne and my working agenda is a life insurance. I´m really looking forward to comment the other threads. Don´t forget all: take it easy!


----------



## kasmca

New here. Just saying hi.


----------



## AndrewSchultz

Just saying hi! I'm Andrew, and I live in Buffalo, NY. I'll fully disclose that I'm a real estate agent here, but I'm more interested in helping educate investors on the Buffalo/Niagara region.


----------



## J3ff

*Hello*

Hi everyone! Just joined the forum today. Lots of great stuff on these forums. Looking forward to participating in the active discussions particularly around investing!


----------



## Beatrice Goods

*Hello*

Hi, I'm a 35 year old housewife, teacher and artist. I love connecting with others online and thinking about resourceful ways to save money and think about the future.


----------



## HaroldCrump

Welcome Beatrice.
Saving money is our passion here, and you will find many like-minded folks.
Check out the Frugality section of the discussion forum.


----------



## Barwelle

Well, after 21 posts here, I decided to make my mark in the introduction thread. Not that many people read it, I'm sure. I also noticed that alot of the people didn't make it past 30 posts! Here's hoping I get to there and beyond.

I'm a 21 year old Albertan, working in the construction industry but going travelling to Europe this summer (2011) for 3-4 months.

In the last year or so I've started to take a serious look at my financial situation and goals. Most of my savings have been going towards this trip, but I've been saving 5% of my paycheques for a retirement fund, which I will now be putting into TD e-Series funds until I have enough to make more involved investments. After the trip, I expect to start saving up for buying some farmland, a house, or duplex to rent out.


----------



## Kim

Hey Barwelle, I see you have made it past 30 posts and you would be surprised at how much of this forum gets read. Have a safe trip.


----------



## DanFo

*absorbing info*

I'm Dan,
32 from southern ontario. I'm just starting in the investing world and have been reading up on various strategies to figure what will be best for me.. the site seems like a good pool of knowledgable ppl and I have enjoyed the reading thus far


----------



## I'm Howard

DanFO, the appropriate strategy will be dictated by your objective, what do you wish to achieve and within what time frame?

Millionaire status is easily achievable by all, some do it in forty years, others take ninety, time and compounding. 

Pack your own lunch, skip Tim Hortons, don't drink or smoke, put the money into assets that will grow.


----------



## Barwelle

Kim said:


> Hey Barwelle, I see you have made it past 30 posts and you would be surprised at how much of this forum gets read. Have a safe trip.


Thanks Kim! I won't be on here much while I'm gone of course, but in the words of Arnie, I'll be back.

This'll be my 40th now. Glad to see another relatively new member still going at it!


----------



## Rainyday

*Hello from Kelowna*

Hi, 

My name is David and I discovered this forum while looking for information on mortgage and investment finance options. I'm the big 50 this year and have worked as a Heavy Duty Mechanic for 30 years.

Wise spending and careful living over the years will enable me to retire reasonably soon and in reasonable comfort.....hopefully! Please see my current dilemma as posted in the main forum and perhaps someone might offer some insight as to how to resolve it. Thanks for having me in.


----------



## KaeJS

Welcome to CMF and congratulations on an earlier retirement!


----------



## cathrine

*Introduction*

Hello guys, I an Cathrine Turnbull. I just joined your Community after signing-up for this forum. I am here to sort out my dilemma and queries. Thank You.


----------



## calrest

Hi everyone 

I am David from nice canadian city Calgary. I´m a realtor of course in Calgary and I have to say that I love my job! This forum likes me and I´m looking forward to discuss with many great topics. Maybe some questions for me?


----------



## Echo

*New User Intro - Echo*

Hi everyone, my name is Robb Engen and I'm the 'Echo' behind the Boomer & Echo blog. I started the blog with my mom (a 20+ year employee at one of the big banks) back in August 2010.

I live in Lethbridge AB with my wife and 2 year old daughter. We are in the process of selling our home and building a new house to better suit our growing family.


----------



## Barwelle

Good to see you here Robb/Echo! I've been reading your blog!


----------



## Echo

Hi Barwelle, glad to see another Albertan here. Thanks for reading and I look forward to chatting more with you here on the forums.


----------



## MegaMom

Hello Everyone!

My name is Sasha and I am from the east coast of Canada. Thoguh I'm a bit of a late bloomer as far as completing post secondary education, I have recently graduated from college with a diploma in marketing. 
While I am not currently employed in the financial sector, I would like to gain as much knowledge and experience as I can, in hopes that this will make me an asset to the marketing department of a financial company in the future.

I was happy to find this forum and am very appreciative of everyone who has posted there blogs here  I now have LOTS of reading to do. 

I have one lovely 4 year old and am also currently 6 and a half months pregnant so I have a bit more spare time now that my activities are limitied by my swollen ankles


----------



## WesternPIKE

Hello Everyone

My name is Patrick, I'm a 20 year old Western student living in London, Ontario. I was previously pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering but have decided to "switch out before I fail out" and am moving into Financial Modelling and Globalization in September. 

I also work full time at a major Canadian bank. 

In the short term, my goal is to graduate debt free. Thinking further ahead, I would like to a) have a large enough passive income that I am not reliant on an employer by the time I am 40, and b) stay as healthy as possible so that I can live the 40-60 years looking and acting like I'm in my late 30's.


----------



## rheajakosalem

Hi,

My name is Rhea Jakosalem and I am working as a consultant at a prestigious mango farm. I am new here and I am looking forward to get to know interesting people here and learn something new in this forum. I am married, no kids yet and I am workaholic.lol I have a best friend named Allaine Megan Moncatar, who suggested this forum and she said I will know a lot in this site. Thank you


----------



## budgetsense.ca

*New member from Vaughan, ON*

Found this website through a google search and I am amazed at the wealth of information and resources available here. And frankly, I am surprised I hadn't found it earlier.

I work in IT and Banking, and like to discuss issues related to technology, finance, economy, politics and more.


----------



## the-royal-mail

Welcome to all our new members! That's quite a diversity of backgrounds you are coming from. Hope you all get a lot out of the CMF experience.


----------



## jmlz1987

G'Day all,

I've been lurking here and there for the past few weeks or so, and found that all-around, this forum is is great!

I've been interested in investing for a long time now, and just recently came to the conclusion I want to make it my next full career move. I am currently enlisted in the Canadian Forces and have been for the last four years. I recently put my request to release in (after much thought and deliberation) which can take upwards from 3 to 9 months, depending on administration issues.

My plan is to obtain a position as a CSR at TD Canada Trust, and work my way up into TD Asset Management or Waterhouse. Exactly where I do not know yet, but through working as a CSR in the industry and taking a part-time BComm program should help find my way.

My portfolio that I hold now is < 5k$ and mostly 60/40 equity/fixed. I hold all my funds through TD and they all happen to be TD funds as well. Until I build that portion of my portfolio (through monthly contributions through PPP) up to 10K I won't be looking for serious aggressive and growth strategies. The account is my TSFA after-all. I made an error there where I started both a discount brokerage and mutual fund account, and now have the value split up between both. (Mutual fund account will prevail due to easier liquidity without service charge for withdrawals)

Holdings are MFC081 (seperate RRSP) / TDB972, TDB162 and TDB887

Taking advice said here and on other forums, I purchased a revised edition of "The Intelligent Investor" and am currently digesting this. At times the information is long and drawn out, but after I re-read it a few times I believe I will have a good idea of what concepts are presented.

I would like to meet similar like-minded people here around my age group (< 25 yrs) who share my passion for markets, economics and financial analysis. I do hope to learn a lot through the online discussion of various topics, and one day hope to contribute back as I gain knowledge. 

Thanks for listening!


----------



## miltiadiss

Hey everyone,

My name is Miltiadis and I currently live in Montreal. I'm 27 years-old and working as a site engineer for Hydro. My career is about to take a huge spin: I'm getting into tech and couldn't be happier!

I've been a long time reader of both CC's and FT's blogs; they are a great source of information!

twitter: miltiadiss


----------



## Jeebs

Hello everyone,

My name is Niall (Neil), I'm 30 and I'm in the Navy, living in Halifax, N.S.

I've always had a personal interest in all things financial however I started off my adult life making all the text book mistakes.

I'm focused on paying off all my debts and building my financial knowledge and doing things right so that I can be secure in my financial future.

I have 2 dogs and a live in girlfriend.


----------



## Sharma999

*sharma999*

Hi: Everyone!
I’m 63 year old/young semi-retired real estate agent from Toronto, I love this web site, especially CC and FrugalTrader, If CC were a financial adviser, I would have opted for his services, a reservoir of good information.


----------



## kerik68

What a great site and I am so glad to have stumbled upon it........I've been reading tons of posts this long weekend.

My name is Keri, age 43. I started being interested in all things financial about 20 years ago (after making a ton of mistakes). Someone recommended reading The Wealthy Barber to me and I was hooked. My husband is not at all interested in finances but is very good at following whatever plan we come up with together. He jokes that if he were in charge of the money, we'd be living in a tent. He's the spender; I'm the saver. He has come a very very long way in our 22 years of marriage in how he views money.

Together we raised a very financially literate daughter who is currently in university going into her 3rd year of engineering. I went back to work a bit over two years ago after being a stay at home mom to help pay for her education. We had saved a fair amount in RESPs but it won't cover all the expenses. She is a serious saver and has contributed to her own expenses in spades. I have to admit that I wish I knew at her age, what I know now about money.

The only debt we currently have is a secured line of credit and I plan to work like crazy to pay it off in the next few years. 

I still have a lot to learn and hope to do just that, here on this site.

Cheers!


----------



## allen21

*Hi all!*

Hi,

This is Allen. I just joined here! I'm working as a financial adviser at Toronto.


----------



## SpiritSentient

*Hi everyone, nice to meet ya!*

Hi CC, FT, and all the gang here at Canadian Money Forums. It`s really refreshing to see everyone so enthusiastic and empowering about financial freedom.

My name`s Jason, I'm a Toronto-based entrepreneur and I have multiple projects going on:

PowerAndBeauty.org - Helping people launch their visions/projects/brands on the web.
TryThisToronto.com - A Toronto food-review blog with powerful fresh perspectives.
SpiritGamers.org - A gaming community for the unbelievably fun game League Of Legends.
RockYourLifeTools.com - Tools for personal growth and expansion.
Evolved Clothing - On the back-burner.

It's a total pleasure to be here, and I'm excited to connect!


----------



## TomF

Hi, everybody.

I joined these forums about a week ago but never made an introductory post.
So here I am.
I originally came to these forums with a question about an Austrian bank (and haven't received a single reply yet); however, now that I am here, I thought I'd stay a while. I am very interested in money, finance, and investment. Watching the US Debt Ceiling debate going on right now is very fascinating. Whatever happens, I think America's time as the preeminent world power is over.

I am not rich, so don't do a _lot_ of investing, but do have a few discount trading accounts with a few banks. And RRSPs with a couple banks. Beyond that, I read a lot about what is going on in the world of finance and economics.

Interesting times we live in.


Tom


----------



## Gman_01

A good-day to all!
Stumbled on this site, been reading for a while and thought I would take the plunge! 
Pls be nice lol!


----------



## malcolmwent

*Hello*

I've been following this forum for a while and thought I'd finally sign up and start contributing to the discussions. I'm in my early 30s and I live in the GTA. I am a avid market watcher and a casual investor.


----------



## mind_business

Hi everyone. Thanks to Canadian Capitalist for helping me out with my registration problem. I've enjoyed reading through some of the recent discussions. This is a great resource for the novice investor. 

A little bit about me - I've been a bit of a financial hack for quite a few years. I'm currently 45 years old, married, without kids (just two Jack Russell Terriers  ). My goal is to be in a financial situation by the time I'm 55 to retire ... if that's what I still want to do at 55. I work for a great company here in SW Ontario that has a decent Pension Plan. I will have 30 years of service by 55 when I can take a full retirement. Now I just have to work on bridging the lack of CPP and OAS for a few years.

I find myself increasingly reading through financial, especially retirement, type articles. I'm a bit of a spreadsheet nut with financial calculations, and budgetting. I've always used Quicken to track my financial progress.

Looking forward to the discussions, and hopefully can contribute a bit of advice as well.

mind_business


----------



## Liquid Independence

*Hiya*

Hi, I'm a 20's something guy living in Vancouver BC. I've been doing graphic design for 3 years now. I like to take a risky approach to all my investments and my goal is to reach financial freedom one day and retire early. I look forward to getting involved with this forum.

by blog: www.freedom-thirtyfive.blogspot.com


----------



## Jutzi

*Hello!*

Hi all,

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this site. I'm a new investor just starting to actually accumulate some money to the point it might be worth investing instead of buying all the newest and latest toys that catch my eye! I'm a 34 y/o construction worker, married, both have decent jobs but no real savings to speak of so the time is here to get our ducks in a row! I look forward to asking alot of dumb questions and learning!


----------



## JamesRaymond

*Great to meet everyone*

Hello all, I'm James and I am a proud personal investor. Having followed this forum for a couple of years now, I am excited to finally jump on and contribute. My interest in personal finance dates back years ago to when I was a teenager - watching the movie Wall Street just addicted me to the topic of investing and (at the time) trading.

At university, I received a business degree specialized in finance. But, I became very turned-off upon being exposed to the type of activities the typical stock broker undertook - it seemed much more about 'selling' and 'cold calling' than truly building wealth for investors. Since, I have learned more about how their incentives push them towards high turnover, and I realize that not going into the field was the better choice at the time.

But I am back now with the hope of helping others begin their journey towards becoming a confident personal investor. I have recently started my own site (http://learnhowtoinvestonline.com) where I will provide guidance from what I have learned, the successful investors and strategies I follow, and what some of my own struggles and learnings have been. I am no expert, and I am thankfully not a 'professional' (a dirty word now to me). But I do hope to be the 'Personal Investing Prince'.

Looking forward to sharing and growing with many of you here,
James


----------



## A320

*Greetings!*

Hey Everyone, 

New to the forum. Some good info and insights here. Having a littel difficulty getting acquainted within the forum though. Started a thread, turns out posts have to get approved. My initial thread got through, my replies don't, days go by.

I have read through ALL forum info, FAQ's, etc and can't find answers to my questions. I can't even send a message to an admin as I don't see that option anywhere nor is it possible when clicking on their usernames.

I'm an avid forum user in general but am I missing something here? Can someone please help? Is there a grace period for new users before all posts instantly go through?

Thanks again!


----------



## Rommel

Hello everyone!

First off I'd like to thank the community for a wonderful financial site dedicated to helping Canadians make the most of their money and allow members to explore a DIY approach with confidence.

I'm a new DIY investor but have lurked here for over a year. I aim to get the most out of my money by appreciating the insight of veteran investors. My step-father is the most successful investor I know at a personal level but even at that I bet the insight offered here is something he could learn a thing or two from.

I am 27 and world in the Oilsands. One day I hope to day trade and work with the market to become successful on my own instead of working long hours. I'm a family kinda guy and so this might be a great opportunity to be closer to my family and work at the same time.

Thanks again all! We are blessed to have such a wonderful tool and community forum here.


----------



## Gunstar

*Greetings*

Hey,

I am a mid 20's male from Alberta. Currently I work as a Manager for an oilfield services company and have been with this company right out of high school. I finished my Business Administration Diploma at nights and am currently working on my Bachelors of Management. Finance class in college got me very interested in the markets, and I set out to find information on how to make my fortune.

I have been following FrugalTrader's blog for the last year or so, and decided that I too would like to hit a million dollars of net worth by 35. As it stands I am right around the $150K mark, so I still have a ways to go.

Looking forwards to prospering with you all in the future.


----------



## mybulgingwallet

*Hello*

Hi everyone:
It's nice to read all of your intros. I'm in BC. I've invested mostly in dividend paying stocks and lately I've been dipping my toes into high quality bonds because interest rates will remain low and markets will struggle for the next little while. I'm mainly invested in stocks, bonds, and GIC's, and I'm avoiding the crazy real estate market in greater Vancouver and on the island. 

Oh yeah, I also write a blog to help people save money and find freebies at grocery stores and retailers. The site is mybulgingwallet.blogspot.com


----------



## mich123

*Great Site!*

Hello, my name is Michele and ever since I joined in May '11, I've been re-inspired by all you bloggers to achieve financial freedom at 45 (or around there)

I'd like to say thank you to Canadian Capitalist for creating this site and I admire the drive you have to bring the knowledge of money to us.

I am 27, I live in the GTA and am in IT. I've always been interested retiring early, and have always been pushing my friends to start thinking about money. Alas, they are not as interested as I am, so it is definitely amazing to have found a site like this and converse with like minded people. 

I hope to learn as much as I can in investing.

Cheers!


----------



## SimplyInvesting

*Hello!*

Hello Everyone,

My name is Kanwal Sarai and I am the blogger behind Simply Investing. I created Simply Investing to help people learn how to invest responsibly and successfully.

I live in Ottawa with two kids, and am passionate about value investing, travel, hiking, yoga, photography, aviation, and cars.

Thanks to Canadian Capitalist and FrugalTrader for giving people a forum to talk about my favorite subject "money"!

cheers,
Kanwal


----------



## calgaryimmigration

*Hi*

Hi all,

My name is Russ Weninger and I am a lawyer, notary public and commissioner for oaths located in downtown Calgary. I also practice other areas of law, such as immigration law and provide notarization and commissioner for oaths services. Currently, I am trying to learn Korean and Japanese.
I find the discussions here very interesting so I hope to get friendly discussions from here. Thanks and see you around.
Thanks,
Russ


----------



## Impatient_Tortoise

*Hiya*

Hi everyone!

In fairly new to the DIY investor thing. It's always been something I've kind of dabbled in and had a hobbyist interest in it.

Now I'm looking at building up and maintaining a decent bank roll to trade for a rainy day and ultimately as a nest egg as well.

There seems to be a lot of great info and experience on this forum. I'm always looking to learn. And it looks like there's lots to learn from people here. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute meaningful points to these discussions eventually as well.


----------



## zidane

Hello,

I'm in my early 20's and I'm currently attending school in pursuit of a business degree. After 2 years of full-time work and money being spent wildly; I realize that I have to learn to control my spending, have a budget and a plan for the future. Luckily for me, there is an abundance of resources available including this great community.


----------



## mickeyj297

*Newbie investor getting out of real estate*

Hi all, I am a realestate salesperson and have a small heating and airconditioning company, I enjoy travel, skiing, fishing, golfing. I have decided to start planing and investing for retirement. I have assets but have not yet started any rrsp's or tfsp's. At 55 years old I now have to seriously get involved in my retirement planing so here I am.


----------



## RussianRocket91

Hey everyone,

I'm a 3rd year York University student (yes, I do know how to use a fork  for those of you that know what I'm talking about hehe). I've always been fascinated by stock brokers and trading stocks in general, I read a few books on investing and got started about a year ago. I stumbled upon this forum not too long and I must say I really like this website!  

Good luck to everyone on their path to financial freedom! haha


----------



## myk0

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking this forum for about a year now and finally decided to make an account. I'm 22 and was a York University student just like the poster above. I got a BBA majoring in Finance and Operations Management and will be starting my career at the end of the month.

I am really interested in retiring early, and have learned a lot already from the people in this community. Best of luck to everyone in reaching their goals =)

Cheers,
Mike


----------



## RoR

I'm a Financial Advisor in Ontario. Did my CFP a few years ago and plugging through the boring CSC course right now. Trying to find more ways to connect with people outside of just co-workers to talk about finance, stocks, etc... And learn something along the way here that I might see but wouldn't otherwise go out of my way to read up on.


----------



## Chris.m

I should probably introduce myself, 

I'm a 19 year-old 2nd year Business student at SFU in Vancouver BC.

I used to work doing reno's and painting, so that's how I have my bankroll.

I've gotten lucky trading stocks through my dad in the past, but now at 19, I opened my own trading account and can trade much more easily.

I'm really fortunate to have found this forum as a wealth of knowledge like this is very hard to find (for free...).


----------



## RedRose

It's time I came here to introduce myself. I've been posting for a little while. Asking lots of questions.
I was recently widowed and had a ton of financial stuff to sort out.
I am also approaching retirement and learning lots from people on this site too. They are so generous to share their experience and knowledge.
It really helps to ask questions and get many perspectives so you can look at your options.


----------



## Sasquatch

*Introduction*

Greetings to all,
I've been reading this forum for a while and finally decided to join in on the fun. There are a lot of interesting, knowledgable folks on here.
I'm 65 years old and my wife and I have been retired for the last 5 years, actually 8 years for her.We have one grown "bungy cord" son. We both took the early reduced Canada Pension at 60 and both of us are lucky enough to have fully indexed, defined benefit pension plans for life, with a reasonably priced health- and dental care plan thrown in for good measure. We also each have private RRSPs which we really don't need for our daily living expenses. 
We built our second house 14 years ago on a large property and we own 2 older vehicles ( 7 years and 8 years old) and I also have an 11 year old motorcycle (my baby).
We are completely debtfree and have been since we retired. 
For 43 years we have never spent more money than we have made ( mortgage was the only exception) and we always managed to save money for expenditures like cars, which were paid for in cash.
As far as we are concerned, there is no economic or financial crisis. 
We have not paid any banking fees of any kind for the last 13 years and don't intend to start now. We are able to save 20% of our gross pension income every month with no particular sacrifices on our part. I guess the "spend less than you make" mantra has become deeply ingrained.
All in all we are very happy in our retirement and hope for continued good health, not counting the little aches and pains that come with the years.
I'm looking forward to being a member of this forum and will contribute whatever I can.


----------



## braydn

Hi everyone, I've been reading this forum for awhile and I don't know why I haven't registered sooner! My name is Braydn, I'm 24, live in MB and work as the assistant manager at a busy parts department. Married for a little over 2 years and live in an apartment. My wife is a massage therapist, and we're both full-time. I find it it amazing how little money it seems that we see go back into our pockets/savings, despite the fact that we both work full-time and the car is paid off. When we tally the numbers, we constantly ask "where does all our money go??". The answer is obvious: trips, entertainment, clothing, etc. But it's so difficult to keep track of everything! I want to get our finances solidified and stable. I'm looking forward to gaining more wisdom from all the fine postings I've seen on this site so far. Glad to be here!


----------



## Sagetology

Hi, I'm Alex.

I'm a business student at the University of Regina. I started my investment journey on March 15, 2011 (Yes, I know the exact day), and I haven't looked back since. 

Although I'm finally starting to take some serious finance classes, I still consider myself a massive noob. That's why I'm glad I found this place.


----------



## baker3232

Hi, I'm Don, 56 from Nova Scotia and retired last Sept. Now semi-retired working 2 part-time jobs. Started investing about 18 years ago, completely DIY and have beat the markets substantially ever since. Started off doing the Mutual Fund sales course thanks to a friend in the banking industry, read every book the library ever had on all topics of finance and investing and taxation, then took the CSC on my own, just for its own sake. Married 2 kids, single income family always, and would have retired earlier if not for cars, maxima/audi/infiniti. But you have to have a hobby. Except for the cars we live a very frugal lifestyle. You do not need to make a fortune if you don't spend a fortune. This year is my first year of lower income due to retirement and I hope to place myself in the position of paying no income taxes, and completely legally. There is certainly a wealth of information on this site, have gotten some great tips already and looking for more.


----------



## Bullish

*New*

Hi everyone,

New guy here. My name is Steve and I live in Ontario. Been lurking here for quite some time and finally decided to sign up. I really enjoy the different insights on investing here. I'll have many questions that will hopefully spark some good discussion! I'll save my financial story for another thread but retiring early is the name of the game for me. Looking forward to getting things started here!


----------



## JustAGuy

May as well introduce myself too.
Name is also Steve, and I've lived in Nova Scotia, Ontario, currently living in BC, and have also lived in Australia. Work in feature film production and am still learning grow my net worth and being rather intoverted not sure what else to add... but I am keeping a journal in the appropriate part of the forum which I intend on updating once a month.


----------



## gimme_divies

Hey all, been reading this forum for years now and have slowly started posting more, so I thought I'd share a little more about myself. My name is Matt, I'm 30 and I've been married for 5 years and have an 18 month old son. I live in Ottawa and live a very nice, simple life. Both my wife and I work for the Federal Government and have been slowly but steadily advancing our careers. I just completed my CGA designation and work in finance and have always been good with numbers, so personal finance and investing is a natural hobby for me. As we are blessed with two "gold-plated" (for now anyway) pension plans and good job security, I do not worry too much about our personal financial situation, focusing mostly on paying down our mortgage and keeping debt low while trying to maintain a balanced lifestyle. Other than that, our finances are pretty ho-hum - which is probably a good thing. I also manage my mom's retirement portfolio using a classic dividend growth strategy, hoping to provide her with a steady income stream for many years. I find it incredible the amount of knowledge in this forum and have ready so many great posts from some very intelligent and wise people. Hopefully I can become a valuable contributor as my own knowledge continues to grow.


----------



## donaldmc

Hi there, I'm Donald i'm glad that i learn and found a new knowledge here. Thanks for such a great forum.Keep it up!!


----------



## mart

*Hi!*

Hi, I'm martin, 38, married with kids, a house and currently paying high fees to a financial advisor which is why I'm here.. I want to change that!


----------



## CDNKMC

Hello, my name is KC and I'm a relatively new CA but have been in public accounting field for 5 years with plenty of tax expertise. I'm 29, not married but do have a wonderful boyfriend and live in Northern Ontario (a transplanted Southern Ontario girl). I stumbled across this forum researching for investments and have learned a lot of things along the way. I hope to contribute to the forum especially with taxes but am definitely focused more on investing savings as I would like to be a DIY investor in the near future. Nice to meet you all!


----------



## TorontoRentals

Hi, I'm new member of this forum. I think I'm will gonna gain more knowledge regarding real estates and everything from here  :chuncky:


----------



## Earth and Money

Hi Everyone!

I'm newish to the forum. I've posted here a few times in the long ago past under a different name that I use in everyday life, but I've created a new account to represent my current venture into the foray of personal finance blogging. After reading and learning about personal finance for years through blogs and platforms like Canadian Money Forum, I launched my own blog about a month and a half ago so that I can begin to share and put into action some of the things I've learned.

The blog is called Earth and Money - The Two Things Worth Saving. The goal of the blog is to talk about personal finance and living a low-impact, environmentally sustainable lifestyle. I don't believe that those two things are mutually exclusive and I hope that my blog will help to show that over time.

OK, so I'll wrap this up. I hope to become a regular contributor here over time and to get to know many of you in the process.

All the best,
Earth and Money


----------



## kaede77

*Hiya*

Hey there, just signed up yesterday...so glad I found this forum! Im Kaede, currently living and working in Dublin Ireland-hoping to move back to Canada with the hubby by end of the year!:chuncky:


----------



## ghayoor

Hello everyone, 
We are doing our rental--property--business in the Canada. We have a number of satisfied clients who are enjoying their life by our prestigious services. We are proud to pay our humble services to our potential clients.


----------



## HaroldCrump

^ Let's all join hands and sing : _Die, Spammers, die_


----------



## donaldmc

I'm glad that i have seen a lot of new friends here. I'm Donald and it's really a great pleasure to be in this forum. I hope i'm welcome also here.


----------



## Jim9guitars

*Just Joined*

I just found this forum while looking for answers on an airmiles issue, it looks interesting so far. I'll post my airmiles question in an appropriate section later, I'm a 57 year old truck driver/hobby musician that is starting to get more serious about money.


----------



## mybulgingwallet

*Writing from B.C.*

Hi everyone:
Nice to read your intros. I work in the lower mainland and enjoy chatting with other people who are interested in improving their finances and budgets. Always interested to hear your thoughts on the economy, investing, etc. Oh yeah, I also write a blog to help people *find coupons and save money*.


----------



## TomF

mybulgingwallet said:


> Hi everyone:
> Nice to read your intros. I work in the lower mainland and enjoy chatting with other people who are interested in improving their finances and budgets. Always interested to hear your thoughts on the economy, investing, etc. Oh yeah, I also write a blog to help people *find coupons and save money*.


Hello, "mybulgingwallet".

Welcome to the Canadian Money Forum.

I live in the Lower Mainland too. Interesting blog. I notice you made a post about Krispy Kreme US. How is that relevant to Canadians? I happen to like Krispy Kreme donuts. Too bad the only store in BC is out of the way. They put it on the wrong side of the bridges. It is not worth going out to Surrey for donuts. Whoever decided to locate the store there made a real bad business decision. It is like locating a store on Centre Island in Toronto, but none in Toronto itself. And they have the franchise rights to all of BC and are asking too much for anybody else to open up a shop. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were trying to sabotage Krispy Kreme's growth in BC.

In any case, all the best to you.

See you around the forums.


----------



## Nick1357

Hello,

I had decided to join the forum today and discovered that I had already registered back in 2010... I guess I have been creeping on this forum for quite some time, haha. Anyway, I figured I ought to introduce myself proper.

I'm a 28 year old single engineer. I've an interest in money (who doesn't) and the idea of early financial independence.

I've spent the last year or so refining my spending habits and increasing my savings rate after the miserable state my finances were in a couple years ago. I've always been decent with money actually, but through a not so great girlfriend and other life mishaps my savings had mostly all disappeared as of two years ago. I got into reading sites like Extreme Early Retirement and Mr. Money Mustache, which are great sites btw, and now have my lifestyle minimized to a sustainable point that I'm quite comfortable with and I have been happily maintaining that for about a year now.

So, now I am working on two things. One is to increase my earnings and the second is to put to work the money that I have been accumulating. This is my main thought with this forum. I have been following various sections of the forum since at least 2010 apparently with a special focus lately on the investing side of things. So, for the few comments that I will likely make (I am more of a reader than a commenter), you will probably find me there.

p.s. I often tend to be a little on the wordy side. Apologies.


----------



## definemeatall

*Hello*

hi guys... im am a newbie here in this forums. 

well, to tell you guys, i am a call center agent for Equifax. by revealing this, i know i'll be damn here in the forums but i rather face the harsh reality in here... 


hope to help you guys...


----------



## Tucker

Hello... just signed up , with the help of my son , looking forward to getting involved.


----------



## Spudd

Welcome! Look for a post called "eight with weight" - it's a list of recommended books for beginners.


----------



## getchanceandluck

*Hey everybody*

Hey everybody I'm another new guy. I'm 23 and from Nova Scotia and I'll be returning to school in September. I hope to learn from and help other (whenever I know what I'm talking about of course :encouragement: ) people on this site.


----------



## nomad_bmo

Hello,
Been lurking here off-and-on for a little while, as I'm always interested in additional streams of income. 
I've been a full-time daytrader for quite a few years now, and run some other little projects on the side. 
Looking to network some and rid myself of the social isolation that this job brings


----------



## A320

Welcome to a fellow day trader!


----------



## Zadok

*Introduction*

Hello everyone,

Great to be here. My name is Zadok, in my early 20s, and just outside Toronto.

I'm super interested in finance and economics, but I don't know where to start! It all seems like a rabbit hole type of spiral of potential paths of sub-studies. My main interest would be investments, banks, and being consistently up to date with what's going on in the world of finance, both in Canada and globally. However, I would really like to know as much as possible in every area of finance. My goal is to be financially independent but have the knowledge of a financial advisor.

Does anyone have any ideas on where I would get started? Let's imagine I'm brand new to the idea of finance, I just learned what money is, and now I want to understand the industry. :biggrin:

Also, I am not in school, nor do I currently plan to go to university, so all my learning will be via self-study. Though, I would like to take some online courses in economics and finance come 2013.

All the best,

Z


----------



## Harp

Hi everyone.
I am 35 living here in Oakville. Never did anything about finances, budgeting, etc. When I wanted something if I never had the cash I would use good old credit.

However, whether I have matured, changed or call it whatever U want but I am tired of not giving my finances priority so I have come here for encouragement, inspiration, assistance and a kick in the trousers at times.

nice to meet everyone! :encouragement:


----------



## 512peers

Hello all. 

I have found anew an interest in financial topics. Of course, being Canadian, the Canadian economy interests me. In particular, its real estate sensitivity. I also suffer a morbid fascination with the situation in Europe... it's like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. Can't look away, but you know you should. 

For my age, I'm fairly risk-averse and conservative (at least, in terms of traditional risk-tolerance profiles). My current portfolio is a mix of cash, bonds, REITs, and only a couple of stocks. My position is mostly cash as I tend to concur with analysts who are presently very bearish on the outlook of the world economy. 

I do not affiliate myself with any political party but I am inclined to have libertarian opinions.

Lookin forward to some thoughtful discussions!


----------



## needmystarbucks

*Hello!*

Hi everyone! I am a 26 year old who is a new graduate looking to learn how to invest my new hard earned dollars now that I've paid off my student loans. Hope to pick up some tips from you all!


----------



## zinneken

European looking to invest in canada, and on this forum for help how to manage the currency risk in long term production investment.


----------



## goldeneagle

Hey Everyone, 

Another new guy here. 34 years old, finance executive in the GTA. Pretty good investment knowledge. Have known about the site for some time and finally thought I should join and become an active poster. Hopefully I can add some value and learn a few things as well.

Cheers.


----------



## pianoman8849

*New From Nova Scotia*

Hi. I'm a retired public servant, just having retired at the end of June. I'm 63 and have 27 years of service with the federal government. Just awaiting my first pension cheque now. 

With the present budget restraints, workforce adjustment and affected letters going out to federal employees, I couldn't have found a better time to get out of the public service.  Many of my former co-workers are quite envious of me as they now work in a worrysome environment, not knowing what their future holds as federal employees.

Being newly retired, I stumbled upon this forum while searching for retirement information and statistics. I will probably have questions and I just want to say hello and thanks for the opportunity to participate..

Rod


----------



## Feruk

Hey guys, new here, seems like an awesome forum. I'm from Calgary, background in Oil & Gas. Moderately experienced investor looking to meet intelligent investors and share ideas.


----------



## Decado

Hi everyone, 

I'm 22 years old, in my fourth year of electrical engineering @ university of Waterloo. I'm just getting started with investing and am interested in learning from the community here and sharing ideas, especially with regards to buying/selling options.


----------



## PillowRage

Hello, I'm a 26 year old electrical engineer in Manitoba. Just started out with investing last year, and now I've been planning to move into some couch potato index funds away from the mutual funds I'm currently in.


----------



## steakman

Howdy from Fort Mac...knee deep in the Oil Sands. Which by the way is a naturally occuring oil spill and we all are just trying to clean it up ok.!


Im a 35 Year vet of the Welding Trade, Journeyman welder - Welding Engineering Technologist & CWI Level II Welding Inspector. Recently incorporated and working typically 21 days in 7 days out on various facility, infrastructure & pipeline (yes - Enbridge too.!), projects in NE Alberta.

Great forum with some very knowledgeable people..

Thanx,

Theo


----------



## Dopplegangerr

Welcome steakman (love the name btw)


----------



## brew

Hi everyone,

I found this site through Million Dollar Journey after searching for investment options. I'm a 24 year old electrical engeering student from Waterloo and I'm just starting my investment strategy. I'm sure I'll have some questions in the future!


----------



## longinvest

Hi everyone,

I've been reading these forums for some time, now. I made the jump and finally registered! I invest with a very passive couch potato strategy. I'm always looking to learn new things.


----------



## Quattrorocket

As a very new member I figured this was a good place to start. I am a Sales Director for one of Canada's big 4 Insurance companies and work with advisors and their clients for product solutions to Financial Planning needs. I also am a licensed CFP and have a small group of my own clients that I do mainly insurance work with. I've been in the business for about 16 years and thoroughly enjoy the problem solving and people/relationship side of the business. I dont blog or write publicly anywhere, although I am thinking about changing that as soon as I figure out what this "free time" thing is people keep mentioning to me :biggrin: I look forward to learning and contributing.


----------



## TheGreenGainer

This is my first post here, although I have been lurking for a while. I am 37 years old and work as a welder in Ontario. Currently, my investments consist of a property I own, (a vacant lot in the sticks) and the house I just bought with my wife. I am here to learn from and enjoy the community. In the future I hope to start investing in the stock market, and build something towards our retirement. I have much to learn about all of the topics here and look forward to meeting you all. 

PS My wife may also post here under this identity on occasion, incase I don't seem like myself; I might not be!


----------



## Spudd

This one worked.


----------



## Davage

*Greetings from new member - Davage*

Hi Everyone,

This morning on the news, I've been hearing repetitive news stories about Canadian Personal Debt levels and how high they are. That prompted me to do a google search for Canadian Financial Forums and this forum popped up on the top of the list.

I am a firm believer in the teachings of US talk radio host Dave Ramsey. For those who haven't heard of Dave, he has a daily talk show (Monday to Friday) that focusses on debt reduction (elimination), and personal fiscal responsibility. I believe that it is important to have a rainy day emergency fund, and I also believe that it is important to save money long term. 

I look forward to doing a lot of reading on this forum and participating where I can.

Thank You for hosting this forum.


----------



## james4beach

*Hi everyone*

Hi everyone,

I quickly wanted to introduce myself. I used to post on the forum at canadianbusiness (previously moneysense) but it got ruined by spammers.

I'm a small investor and most of my interest is for personal and family investment (almost 100% of it in Canada). I'm also an independent bond fund manager, and provide investment research consulting. I don't work for any bank or investment house. My claim to fame: keeping my clients far away from asset backed securities and Fannie Mae bonds back in 2007, as my analysis showed that Fannie Mae would collapse.

I specialize in risk, and some people would say I'm ultra-conservative. My personal opinion though is that there's far more hidden danger in the markets and investment vehicles than is commonly known, so I don't think I'm being "conservative" -- just prudent.

Cheers, and looking forward to many discussions here!

James


----------



## Benja

I was looking for a Canadian finance & investing community and this place seemed good. I'm a young investor, 21 years old, but have been following the markets for a few years, and have already built up a decent portfolio. I look forward to making this site a regular visit and learning new things from other members on this board!

Ben


----------



## thundershock

Hi everyone,

I want to introduce myself, I'm a long time lurker and I found a lot of great tips and opinions in saving money and investments. I'm currently in university for finance and thought I could pick up many things to help my finances and continue building my portfolio. Hopefully I can contribute and take in a lot while I myself carry on my studies.


----------



## Ag Driver

I better do a quick intro here. I'm a 24 year old Ag Pilot from Ontario. Currently I'm debt free. In short term I'm looking at a mortgage and renting out a few rooms. I am also just starting to learn and invest in the market. I'm now getting into a happy financial situation and looking for better ways to control my money. I will probably fire up a money diary on this forum and see if I can get some feedback and direction!


----------



## A320

Ag Driver said:


> I better do a quick intro here. I'm a 24 year old Ag Pilot from Ontario. Currently I'm debt free. In short term I'm looking at a mortgage and renting out a few rooms. I am also just starting to learn and invest in the market. I'm now getting into a happy financial situation and looking for better ways to control my money. I will probably fire up a money diary on this forum and see if I can get some feedback and direction!


Greetings from one pilot to another! :encouragement: You'll find this forum is a good resource for Canadian investors with plenty of witty and intelligent people on here offering their wisdom. In the last 18 months since I've decided to educate myself and gain financial freedom I have learned that there is plenty to immerse yourself in if you're really interested in markets and global economy. I can offer some good book titles if interested although I'm sure there are threads already on this topic.

Good luck in your endeavors.


----------



## Ag Driver

Thanks A320! I've been lurking for a little while now and this does seem like an active and informative place with relevant Canadian content. I look forward to the insight and how to avoid poor-pilot-syndrome.


----------



## 1sImage

Hello everyone. New to money, housing, wills, planning, stocks. Its all new to me an my woman. 
Its very exciting, lots of stress come along with money, buts its been 1 year so far and 2 months since receiving old money. 

Thanks for all the help, an looking forward to asking questions an learning lots more.


----------



## Celso

Hello Everyone,

I´ve been lurking for a while and decided it was time to introduce myself. I´m 39 and work in the Architectural Visualization field. 

I found the forum while researching another topic, and after some reading i decided to try my hand with the Couch Potato portfolio. Needless to say i´m still very green when it comes to investing, but i hope that with the help of the forum members i can improve my knowledge and set some realistic goals.

Celso


----------



## none

*New member!*

Hi Everyone!

I've pushing 40 and just finally getting my finances in order. By that I mean actually showing more than a passing interest in them and really taking control of them and having a long term plan.

I've been interested in the index approach to investing for a while but only now have done the reading and am sufficiently convinced that over the long term that it is the optimal method for investing funds (taking into consideration how much effort I actually want to put into my finances).

I'll be posting my couchpotato portfolio in the next few days and I hope I can get some feedback from people. I THINK I have it pretty much figured out by I'm still a novice at this.

Glad to be aboard.


----------



## mark.goldmanning

*Mark Goldmanning - At your Service*

Hello there!

My name is *Mark Goldmanning*, I am a _financial consultant_.

So as you know I am pretty educated in the field of finances, I have a busy career but I am hoping to spend some time on this forum and help others!

Maybe I'll learn a thing or two from the members on this forum while I'm at it as well? :encouragement:

Thanks,

Mark Goldmanning


----------



## bjthebuilder

I'm bjthebuilder, 39 years old, married , 2 boys and one more on the way. An engineer by trade, who now works managing projects.

I did my Canadaian Securities Course years ago just to educate myself, love hockey, the outdoors, photography, and investing.


----------



## coptzr

Same story as most...lurking on here for a while, finally got registration complete so I can post threads and replies. Hello to all.


----------



## Hawkdog

Well, i missed this thread so better late than never!

I am a 41 y/o male. I have Bsc in Natural Resource Science. I currently work in the mining exploration industry. I have a common law spouse, 13 years and going strong.
We are what you would call "DINKS", both of us have mgmt positions. We are not super cheap, but we are not frivolous either. We take a nice vacation every year around FEB.
This year we are going to New Zealand, the two previous trips were to Colombia and Panama for Bird watching excursions. We have no debt other than our Mortgage.

This site provides a wealth of information and a super good knowledge base, I found the site from one of the member's blogs.


----------



## TomF

Hello, "Hawkdog".

Welcome to the Canadian Money Forum.

Small world! I grew up in Houston, B.C., but now I live in the Lower Mainland.
The Smithers area is beautiful; it is one of the nicest small towns I know of. That, and Salmon Arm. Pretty, has some amenities, overall, a nice town.
I would love to go back there--if only there was work.

Well, all the best to you.

Hope the New Zealand trip is good.

See you around the forums.


----------



## Hawkdog

Hi Tom!

I lived in Houston for a couple of years and my spouse now drives everyday to Houston for work, small world indeed!!
Smithers is beautiful! I first came to the valley to do a 3 month contract and that was in 97!

thanks for the warm welcome!


----------



## nortel'd

*Hello from Northern Ontario where the winter of 2013 is the last I plan to deal with.*

I have been following and stealing/taking advice from this FORUM for some time. I occasionally post at the FWF and used to post under a different ID on the forum at canadianbusiness (previously moneysense). 

In 2006, I along with many income trust investors were “nortel’d the truth” by the conservative government. 

I am in my early 60s, live in Ontario, plan to retire Jan 2014 and relocate to the Prescott/Cardinal area (to be close to US gas stations and grocery stores), spend 5 months a year in Florida, and God willing keep my good health and mind well past 92.

Since July 2003, I have been a DIY investor. I am a conservative investor and do copious amounts of research before I invest in dividend paying CDN and US corporate stocks, income trusts, limited partnerships, Closed-end fund of funds, preferred shares, bonds and GICs. My portfolio is split 50% fixed income and 50% equities. The one and only vice I will quietly admit to ... every morning between 6:00 – 7:00 am while I workout on my stationary exercise bike at top speed and tension, I watch reruns of BNN’s “Market Call Tonight”. 

Cheers to all :encouragement:


----------



## blueeyetea

*Hello from the Nation's Capital*

Hello everyone, 

I'm LPC and I've been lurking for a while soaking up all the advice. This year, I'll be celebrating my 25th anniversary working for the same company and looking forward to retiring in 6 years. My husband, older than I am, has been retired from the same workplace since 2010. By being here, I hope to continue learning and share some of what I've learned along the way.


----------



## Dogger1953

Hi All

I'm a newbie to this forum, but I also participate actively on 3 or 4 others websites. I worked with Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) programs for over 32 years, and have recently retired from the government. I've joined this and the other forums, in an effort to share my knowledge of the CPP and OAS programs, especially around the calculation of CPP benefits. I'm currently working part-time at a national retail hardware store (is that enough of a clue), as a transition to full retirement (whatever that might be). 

I've also recently started my own business, called DR Pensions Consulting, where I will be concentrating on providing detailed CPP calculations to assist in retirement planning decisions, and also to assist in credit splitting situations.


----------



## Beaver101

Welcome Dogger1953, I'm sure alot of CMFrs appreciate your presence here. Cheers! :encouragement:


----------



## Greenback

*Noob alert!*

Hello new guy here.
Been lurking around for a while, time to poke my head up.
I need to make some financial decisions and feel like I've fallen in the deep end of the pool! :distress:


----------



## Ponderling

*Ponderling checking in*

Married, wife and I in mid to late 40's. 2 kids who still are willing to be involved with us - ie not quite teenages. 

Life in the burbs, single detached home. 2 cars. No vacation properties or time shares or expensive sports or other hobbies

Long time saver and investor, and overall rather frugal. Going to the birary and loading up on books to review and read during the week after work is actually a nice time for me. 

I am active at other online forums, so I thought, why not a money one too.
At work I am viewed as one of the guys to ask his opinion on queries relating to personal finance issues.

Project manager and professional engineer at an infrastructure related consulting engineering and planning firm. Work and keeping my staff well deployed is a pretty full on experience. 
Wife works full time at an insurance industry job. 
Then kids needs, - school projects, swimming lessons, and their and our involvement in the local Cub and Scout troops. 

We are also involved in 2-3 communuty theatre productions per year. Nice frugal hobby. All of your time for a fixed period of time and little of your money, and actually no time to spend it elsewhere. Nice project management experience, but in a fun way, when I am the producer, or lead a backstage production function. Wife and oldest son tend to be on satge more. 

I am a partner at the company I work at, so a good stock buying opportunity exists. We are a CCPC. I must buy a certain amount to have a stake in the management bonus pool. The stock over the last 10 years has spun a 3.5% dividend, and a generally smooth price apprecation. With reinvested dividends it has returned 9.45%. No commissions to buy or sell, and a strong demand for the holdings of those selling on retirement or stepping back from full time responsibilties. Only downside is lack of diversification, and most of our clients are public sector, who sometimes do not have the budgets to advance the projects. 

The usualy GRSP's at work.

The usual 2 rrsp and 2 tfsa's and an resp. All with no unused contribution room. 

Non registered account has started to grow seriously since the mortgage got paid off, about 5 years ago. 

For 4 years prior to that I held our mortgage in my SDRSP as a proxy for bonds, which at the time were doing nothing. 
After a while the trust fees were eating into returns, and the stock market was turning around after 2008, so we paid off the mortgate. 
While it lasted it was an immense wealth builder. 

We worked overseas for 3.5 years and saved a ton of money while our company paid all the overseas bills, and we made sure that we had no cost here while we were gone. 
So when came back to Canada we bought our first house, a modest 1800 sf 40 year old sfh close to my office for about 300k in 2003.
We had enough investments to cash in that the initial mortgage was for $140k. We worked on paying the principal off in 15% prepayments each year prior to setting up our own SDRSP mortgage.

Now we are looking at how soon we can make early retirement happen, or at least less than full time employment prudently happen, so we can get on with doing more fulfilling things with the balance of our lives. 

You will soon note that I am not the greatest typist, and sometimes I forget to run the spell checker on my posts. I started work drawing plans in the days before all was CAD, so my uni typing skills were mostly lost.


----------



## birdman

Recently joined forum.
67 yrs young, married, 2 grown children, 2 young grandchildren. Retired just after turning 56 and love every minute of it. Wife worked raising the children but did do some part time stuff after the kids left home. 
I spent my working years in the financial service industry in numerous capacities. The only problem in retiring early is you often wonder if you will run out of $$. So far, so good and our plans are on track and we pretty well do what we want. Hobbies include racquet sports, hiking, camping, hunting, fresh and salt water fishing, travelling and of course looking after our home on .70 acre. We also ski and have a small ski condo. 
Financial issues I am interested in are asset diversification, stock diversification, and more recently starting to think about estate planning and how to protect my my assets whenever, and if, we ever go into a government sponsored care facility. I would not like to pay the government 80% of my income up to a max of $6,000. pm for care. The only way around this is to reduce income but it has its drawbacks as well. 
Lots of interesting posts on the site and I visit it several times a day.


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## RBull

Welcome and thanks for the help in the other thread. I too work PT for a hardware chain while transitioning to full retirement. 



Dogger1953 said:


> Hi All
> 
> I'm a newbie to this forum, but I also participate actively on 3 or 4 others websites. I worked with Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) programs for over 32 years, and have recently retired from the government. I've joined this and the other forums, in an effort to share my knowledge of the CPP and OAS programs, especially around the calculation of CPP benefits. I'm currently working part-time at a national retail hardware store (is that enough of a clue), as a transition to full retirement (whatever that might be).
> 
> I've also recently started my own business, called DR Pensions Consulting, where I will be concentrating on providing detailed CPP calculations to assist in retirement planning decisions, and also to assist in credit splitting situations.


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## RBull

Joined the forum a while ago but missed introducing myself until now. 

53 years young, married, no kids. Spouse is a retired professional for a year+. My career was with private and public corporations in middle management, self employed entrepreneur, most recently work PT for a hardware chain outside sales division while transitioning to full retirement. 

Live outside small village on 3 acres oceanfront, totally gutted, renovated home we recently moved to from city. 3 cars, hobbies mostly fitness, outdoorsy, cars, home & yard projects, read, beer & wine makers etc. Enjoy a bit of travel and some R&R. Have been a DIY investor for nearly 25 years. I participate in a few other automotive and financial on line boards.


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## NorthKC

I'm a longtime lurker but am popping up to get into the discussions. I'm a CA and a public accountant with her own practice (opened up just a few months ago, yay me!). 

I'm looking to get into the DIY investing and am appreciating the valuable insights from the average Canadian so far!

Not married and have no kids but have a fabulous boyfriend of a few months! 

Nice meeting you all!


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## B-W

*Greetings from a completely confused enigma?*

Hey-oh.

At this time, I'm a 50-year-old single and dependent-less 'weird' (ex-boss' assessment. Said with office-appropriate love in her voice, of course) ex-Federal Civil Servant who saw the writing on the wall recently and left my m'eh-OK-but-no-room-for-advancement job after 7 years in Vancouver, BC.

With a family history of dropping dead before or pretty soon after retirement age at 65, and a varied work and experience background (the Feddie time was the most 'usual' and income dependent), I've just never really thought of anything like 'retirement' or 'RRSP's or 'pension' or 'mortgages'. 

And now I'm faced with what what to do next, finance-wise, since I just don't seem to fit neatly into many financial planners' boxes and I get anxious and overwhelmed when excited people talk about exciting finance scenarios.

Looking forward to reading and hopefully being gently plied from the ceiling when discussing :::gulp::: finance stuff.

H'oh, boy... .


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## Sprucegum

*First Post*

I have been lurking since December. That's when I decided I am old enough and maybe even rich enough :rolleyes2: to retire. I will be 65 this summer and will stop work a week before my birthday :biggrin:


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## audio

*Introduce yourself*

I am a lover of simplicity, holding only a few investments at a time, just enough to give a reasonable amount of diversification without it becoming di-worse-ification.:biggrin:


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## warrdogg

*New to Forums*

Hi y'all. Thought I would introduce myself. I am not new to MDJ as I have been reading / learning as much as I can from the blog for a few years, however I am new to the forums. I didn't see the forum link button for years. Sheesh! 

I have been investing since the early 90's. I have only recently decided to drop my longtime MF advisor and look into ETFs. I have been reading (lurking) as many posts as I can trying to learn as much as I can. I still have some reservations about going it alone as a DIY investor. I think it's not my lack of knowledge, but I have been under someone elses direction for so long that I need the confidence to go it alone. I just finished the book Count On Yourself by Griffiths. I am sick at all the money I have been losing to MERs, management fees, trailer fees etc for all these years.

I am 46 years old and have 12 years left until retirement. I have a DP that will pay me 50% at 58 years old. My RRSP and TFSA maxed out and also a non-registered account. I am looking into ETFs and dividend paying stocks.

I hope to learn more and ask the occasional question. Thanks.


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## Tomaszdk

Hello everyone.

I think I posted and disappeared a little while ago. Apologies for that.

I'm 31 years old. I'm a recent MBA grad (finance focus) at my first post grad job. I'm working in the agricultural industry as a project coordinator. Not the dream job but hopefully that will come I'm certain of it. I've done a variety of things in my past (web developer, training material author, grunt work, landscaper, the lists goes on) all of which have taught me many things. 

At the moment I have no money to invest (just student debt to cry about) but hopefully with the wisdom of present company I'll be able to make better decisions as I go forward. 

I'm very impressed by both the knowledge and the humility of the posts here and I'm inspired to be not just a better manger of my money but also a better person. 

Best regards and see you in the forums!


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## Pvo

*Intro*

Hi All,

New member here.

Brief intro - I'm 26. The fiance and I own 2 houses, one of which is a rental. We own both our cars and a motorcycle. Minimal investments at this time other than the rental property. A few grand in TFTA's and we max out our work rrsp's each year.

We're getting married in a month, so that has put a bit of a damper on our savings for this year, but we are looking to get back on track after that.

For work, I'm a communications consultant with a focus on online/social media strategy, community management, content creation, branding and engagement. I also do auto detailing at www.ckautospa.ca.

Looking forward to some great insight from the site!


----------



## Hoperty

*Hi everyone*

Hello,

I've been reading this blog for awhile now. Interested in mutual funds and index funds but passionate about real estate, especially as an investment. I recently started a blog that lists sales incentives, special offers and discounts being offered by developers on new homes and condos in the metro Vancouver area. http://blog.hoperty.com/. The goal of the blog and related website is to make purchasing a new home easier and more affordable. I look forward to any feedback you may have.


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## AudiS4

*Hello and introduction*

Just wanted to post and say hi to everyone. I'm 37 and am for the most part an index etf investor. I've got a lot to learn, but over the last 12 months (since I started handling my own money) I've done reasonably well. I realize that isn't too great of an accomplishment in current markets, but it helps me learn. Looking forward to getting involved own the board,

Chris


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## aB01

Hello All,
Blog frequenter, and forum lurker for several months now. 
I'm 29, freaked myself out this year about finances. Made some small mistakes, and starting to correct them.
Plans are indexing in my wife's accounts, and DRIP-ing in mine.


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## Jon_Snow

Audi S4 isn't a bad ride, but I prefer the RS5.


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## AudiS4

It depends what you want between those two cars. For me other than the R8, the S4 is the best Audi on the road.


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## mcoursd2006

It took me a while to read through all the introductions, but finally, it's great to meet all of you. I've been on this board for a few years now, but mostly reading the wealth of information and advice. Great forum.

I'm Mike, 43 years old, live with my beautiful, stay-at-home wife and my three young children. We live in modest townhome in the suburbs of GTA, but we do not have a mortgage, and haven't had one for five years now. I have a DB pension from my work, but have been diligently putting away money for my wife's spousal RRSP, our TFSA's, and our kids RESP's. We have not plans to have my wife go back into the workforce. She's been off work since our first child was born, 12 years ago, so we figure we'd need to be putting away as much as possible since she isn't going to have much in the way of CPP. I dismissed my financial adviser back in 2007, and like many of you, I have been buying ETF's for all the accounts.

We are quite sensible when it comes to spending, and since burning off the mortgage, our savings rate has been in the neighbourhood of 50% which I think is pretty impressive when you consider that we have a single income. I consider my life to be very blessed, with a wonderful wife and three smart, very active children, and we are all in relative good health. Everything else is just bonus. 

I enjoy reading the posts here, especially in the frugality section. I'm not a stock picker, so I tend to stay away from the investing and stocks section.


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## Captain Cook

*Hello*

Hello to all,

A little about myself ... happily married for 15 years, in my early 40's, my wife is a CGA and works as a Financial Analyst, and we have 3 very active kids.

I've been an avid DIY investor for years now, but only really got serious about it 5 years ago, and generally consider myself a Buy & Hold Dividend investor. I am involved in a few other investment related forums, subscribe to the Canadian MoneySaver, and attend a local Share Club.

As for my educational and employment background, it's quit diverse and covers a range from Architecture thru to Mechanical Engineering, and now day to day operational management of manufacturing & installation services company.

I'm currently enrolling into a part-time post graduate Financial Planning Services program, with the hopes of at some point making a complete career change ... time will tell.

As for my user name, I'm a related decedent of a famous explorer from Britain and often been given this nickname over the years ...

Cappy


----------



## bayview

Welcome Everyone! Hope you all have a blessed time time sharing & learning in CMF.


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## Pluto

*(opinionated) financial bio part 1*

Hello,

I'm recently retired with a Defined BP. I'm divorced and happily unmarried ever since. Other than that latter comment, I'll stick to an opinionated financial bio. 

The Beginning:

In 1982 I found myself just out of university, burdened with student loans, no job, and in the midst of a recession. My education was not in economics or finance, so I had no idea really, what a recession was. The job search was a lesson in learning to accept rejection and plod on. Finally I landed an entry level government job and hung on for dear life. My education had nothing to do with finance, or economics, but I figured, having landed a job, it was about time I learned and hopefully avoid such pain in the future. I did as much overtime as possible to pay off loans, and frequently visited book stores to buy books on investing. I ended up with a huge pile of such books, through which I learned to read and understand the business pages of the Globe and Mail. A whole new world opened up. I started going to the library and reading the stock advisory service subscriptions. Two of my favourites were the Money Letter, and Value line, although there were many other worthy publications as well. I was eager to get started, but only had 1000.00. I didn't want to pay the big commissions, so I got an account at one of the discount brokers, intending to rely on all the information I got at the library. Apparently brokerage firms wanted a minimum 5000.00 to open an account, but one of the investing books I read said if you don't have it, lie on the form, so I did. (I never lied again). 

Black Monday: How I was saved by the Night Nurse, and learning to take the hint from the pros

I kept adding savings to my initial 1000.00 and about 4 years later, in August before Black Monday, my account was approaching 30,000. Although I had hoped to do better, as 1/2 of the money was savings, I didn't think it was bad. By Friday before Black Monday, my account was down to less than 25,000.00. I was worried, but frozen. Martin Zwieg's very very worried look on Louis Rukeyser's show kept reappearing in my memory that weekend. He always looked worried, but this time he looked worse than worried. I found that disconcerting, but none of the talking heads said the S word, so I didn't plan on doing anything. On Sunday night a nurse at work told me she and her husband were shorting some of the big stock exchange indexes. She explained why. I was even more worried. On Monday morning I phoned my broker and told him to sell everything. He did. At the end of it, my account was valued about what I had saved all these years. How discouraging. The bright side was, had I not sold everything, I would have lost a huge chunk of my savings too. In the following days, the anguished looks of all the talking heads predicting further market losses and the permanent end of the financial world as we know it was seared on my brain. On the next Rukeyser show, Zweig explained he would not use the S word out of fear of triggering panic, in stead he tilted his strategy to protect on the downside, and viewers have to take the hint. From that I learned, never hope for or bank on a sell signal from a pro; you have to take the hint from what the good ones are doing, not what they are saying. After that, I never took the media literally, and always read between the lines. I went to the library and got newspapers starting at 1920 and read business articles that caught my attention up to the present, but I paid particular attention to the 1929 - 1933 period. It struck me that nothing changes, only the date and the names, and when it comes to knowing when to sell, you have to take a hint in order to avoid the worst of the panic. 

To be continued......(due to my verbosity and I can't post the whole thing due to too many words)


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## Pluto

*Pluto's (opinionated) bio continued*

After Black Monday (or What about just buying a house?)

I couldn't bring myself to get in there buying again for over a year. The post crash anguished looks of talking heads and their of prediction further losses had me frozen. I kept waiting for the next leg down that never happened. It was a great lesson in contrary investing - sell some or all when you are happy with the gains, buy at the point of maximum pessimism. I had the idea in my head, but I hadn't acted on it. 

During my year or two of fear, I considered the financial status of some people I knew who, like myself had average income, but unlike me no RRSP, and no stocks: their net worth was way better than mine as they had bought houses during a time of maximum pessimism, namely, '82 - 85. It occurred to me, I should do the same, but it wasn't as exciting, so I didn't at that time. Eventually I got back into stocks with purchase of The Lowen Group and a couple of others. Before long, it seemed, I was back on track. I ended up selling Lowen group shortly before its demise in Alabama, but the scary thing was I didn't sell because my mojo was working, I sold because I was ready to buy a house. It was almost pure luck. I didn't just want to live in a house, I wanted to combine it with investing: That meant a house with a rental suite. I emptied my RRSP and I threw everything I had into a down payment, and got some tenants. What a good move. I was controlling an asset that was almost 5 times the money I laid out, the rent was paying the mortgage and a chunk of the land taxes, my personal part of the house was better than anything I had previously rented and lived in, a percentage of my expenses was tax deductible, and because I was renting out less that 50% of the property I would still get the tax free capital gain upon sale. I did hit an air pocket with a bad tenant, but the pluses far outweighed the negatives. Eventually I sold it for more than twice what I paid tax free, and I lived there for an average 350.00 per month that the rent didn't cover. Not only that, because my housing was so cheap, I could save faster to get back into stocks. 

This is not a real estate vs stock thing. They are both good in the right context. However, for young people, just starting out with a normal income, I say forget the RRSP. Learn about all types of investing and if you have the mind set for being a land lord, make the house with a rental suite a priority. By all means, while you are saving for a house, buy some stock to help get the down payment and get some experience, but get into a house at your earliest convenience. Once you get that underway and under control, then go for the RRSP, stocks and bonds. Even if you do not want to be a landlord, make buying a place to live in a priority over stocks and the RRSP. My opinion is that a house with a rental suite is is better that a RRSP, mainly due to the leverage and the tax free capital gain. 

In my younger days I was too fascinated with trying to hit the grand slam home run in stocks, and the RRSP. I would have been better off getting the house with the suite first, then putting some resources into stocks. One thing that held me back was not feeling confident in handling tenants. However, the discovery of land lord associations that provide support in the form of better leases, credit checks on applicants, forms and education, and a hot line to call for advice, is what made me more confident. 

Technical Analysis:

In the beginning, I shunned technical analysis and believed it had no merit. Adam Smith, in his book, The Money Game, likened TA to stone age drawings on a cave wall and I believed him. However, my beliefs were challenged by someone I met who swore by it. I bought a technical analysis software program and fooled around with it. I never abandoned fundamental analysis, but I gained a respect for technical analysis. I found that after that I never bought a stock without looking at its chart, as they do in fact contain valuable information that can augment fundamental analysis. In my opinion, most technical indicators are fluff, but not all. For those interested try the way O'Neil, founder of Investor's Business Daily, incorporates technical analysis into fundamental analysis. For a while I used his approach almost exclusively, and bagged a few stunning trades. One of my most memorable ones was CYD breaking out of a very rare High Tight Flag. It doubled in 2 weeks. (I had another one that looked like a high tight flag that dropped like a lead zeppelin, so beware.) O'Neil's appraoch takes daily, if not hourly attention, however, so it won't suit everyone. In any case, my opinion is O'Neil is one of the more sane among those who use technical analysis. Some swing traders claim they only use TA. I was always too scared to try that, but in retirement, I might try a bit with a small amount of money. I should mention as well, and using Warren Buffet as an example, technical analysis is not necessary to be a very successful investor. The successful investor recognizes quality, and then doesn't over pay for it, and then keeps it as long as it is still quality. As long as you don't pay too much for quality, you don't need technical analysis, and you don't need to time the market. The toughest thing for me in the beginning was selling a high flier. Once I had a good one, unrealistically, I wanted it to be good forever, so I usually held on too long, and ended up selling after it pulled back 20% or more and started to consolidate. TA helped me to recognize the climax, and to sell into that. It is impossible to get the exact top, but if one gets within 5 or 10% of the top that is really good. 

Fundamental Analysis:

This is without a doubt essential. Those who shun it are either crazy, or a very rare and skillful breed of swing trader. When considering a stock, I always look at return on equity in comparison to others in the industry. I value it higher than the over rated and often misused p/e, but I don't ignore the latter either. ROE is a big hint of quality. Warren Buffett never bought a low p/e stock with a crappy ROE. 

The end game: 

After getting my real estate operation going I have been out of stocks for about 1/2 the time. I didn't feel the irrational need to be in the market all the time, because, after all, I had the rental income. I try to buy when the talking heads are very fearful. That means having a short list of stocks ready - ones that will likely survive, but with enough volatility to make a nice capital gain on the recovery. I try to sell them off in bits and pieces on the way back up and then go into a short bond etf and wait for trading opportunities. (One of my favourite sell signals is when I get tempted to brag about my paper gains, and/or I hear other people talking about their gains. That usually signals some kind of top, if not the top. At those times I try to sell some, but I still struggle to sell, and often wait too long.) Presently, recently retired, I feel the need, maybe, for a different type of investing, but I'm not sure. I kind of want income that I can hold through thick and thin. But I like the excitement of a high flying trade, and I like bottom fishing when the talking heads are frightened, and the market is allegedly on its way to zero. I'll probably do a mixture of all three. I'm in a period of transition and considering winding down the real estate rental part, downsizing, and tilting my investing to dividend and other types of income. 

What brought me to this forum is partly to find out what is on the radar of income investors as I haven't really been paying much attention to investing for the last 3 years. In mid 2008, I didn't own any stocks. When the debacle came, I was way out of touch and had to scramble to get my buy list ready. I threw everything I had into buying on the worst days between October and March. After that I gradually lost interest and sold off what I had bought in bits and pieces. Most of it is gone now, and once again, I am out of touch with the market.

I believe DIY investing can benefit greatly from a community such as this forum. Although there is no substitute for learning through books, and personal experience, books don't have the interaction and immediacy that an active forum provides. Besides, I'll never forget how I was saved by the Night Nurse on Black Monday. An amateur saved an amateur. Back in those days any community was literally word of mouth, and if you didn't know anyone into stocks, there was no community. These days, with the internet and forums, its different as communication with others of similar interests is very easy. 

I didn't really mean to make this so long, but I noticed that some introductions were by young folks who were just getting started, so I elaborated on my adventures and opinions a bit in the hope the young folks might be stimulated and thoughtful about their financial goals and priorities. 

Pet Peeve:

Talking Heads, Gurus, and other advisors: When they are wrong, I don't blame them, even if they influenced me. One of my pet peeves is to hear or read smearing type criticism of those with the guts to advise and opine publicly. "Cramer's always wrong" I read in a forum years ago. That type of comment is defamation, and I find it very annoying. Cramer's real name and charming smile is all over the media, while the sleazy sniper hides behind a user name. If an investor chooses to follow a talking head, that's the investors choice. And if some trade goes south on the investor, that's the investors responsibility. For my self, I find talking heads stimulating and very helpful in helping me make my own mind up. And once I act on my own mind, I own it which ever way it goes.


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## DayTek

Hi all!

I am 28 years old. I am happily married to my husband of almost 5 years. We've owned our own home for 7 years and after a wedding, some home upgrades and a few trips, we still only have our mortgage and no other debts! All on middle-class incomes too! Our secrets - Budgeting, saving, will power, 1 car and nothing on credit. My husband lost his job 2 years ago and has been bouncing around ever since, but we've still done well. Not investing the way we want right now, but hubby does have some RSPs and I contribute to a good work pension. We are fairly conservative investors, but we're still young and learning the game. Paying down our mortgage is our most important financial goal during our 20's and 30's.

I've worked in banking since I was 19 and have enjoyed my career. Have stayed in the Customer Service role, but hope to find my calling in another role eventually. Recently considering an assistant role, so we'll see what opportunity lies there.

Looking forward to the advice and opinions this Forum has to offer.


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## kcowan

Pluto said:


> Pet Peeve:
> 
> Talking Heads, Gurus, and other advisors: When they are wrong, I don't blame them, even if they influenced me. One of my pet peeves is to hear or read smearing type criticism of those with the guts to advise and opine publicly. "Cramer's always wrong" I read in a forum years ago. That type of comment is defamation, and I find it very annoying. Cramer's real name and charming smile is all over the media, while the sleazy sniper hides behind a user name. If an investor chooses to follow a talking head, that's the investors choice. And if some trade goes south on the investor, that's the investors responsibility. For my self, I find talking heads stimulating and very helpful in helping me make my own mind up. And once I act on my own mind, I own it which ever way it goes.


I read a study about Cramer being right 48% of the time. So slightly worse than flipping a coin. But at least he is a performer and not an analyst.

I followed the talking heads on BNN and their picks and concluded that their value was in the discussion not their picks.


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## nobleea

*Introduction*

New poster here, long time lurker.

I am 35, married for 4 years, and happily living in Edmonton. We are expecting our first child in March so big changes around the household. I work as an engineer for an oilfield services company and my wife works as a teacher. We both have part time jobs as well, myself a wedding and family portrait photographer and my wife as a group fitness instructor. We are avid travelers (getting close to 40 countries visited), but that will no doubt be put on hold next year.

In addition to travel and experiences, I am big in to personal finance, war history, and architecture/home design. Once our mortgage is paid off (next year), I hope to get in to a bit of residential infill development. We are doing the Smith Manoeuvre right now. In addition to the readvanceable mortgage/LOC, we have a new car loan which will also be paid off next year. We don't carry balances on credit cards and every spare penny we have is going against the mortgage right now.


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## kcowan

Welcome Evan
It sounds you have things together. Happy investing. I spent 8 years in Edmonton as an engineer with teacher wife and 2 very young children (2 and 0 to start). The kids still call Edmonton their hometown.
Keith


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## Silverdart

*Hello everyone, I'm here from Kitchener Ontario*

Hi there everybody. I just came across this site a couple of days ago and figured I'd become a member.

I'm firmly entrenched in middle age (53) and leading a pretty ordinary life, though I'm now divorced and live on my own.

I've had the great good fortune to be able to quite literally travel the world and am making plans to do it again but visit different places. More warm weather travels are coming up as the wintertime evilly creeps it's way across the Canadian landscape.

Although I'm pretty good at household-level budgeting and money management, I'd like to learn more about investment and tax saving strategies.

I'm looking forward to virtually meeting the group here and getting started!


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## Echo

Welcome nobleea! Did you used to comment on Million Dollar Journey? I recognize your name and a bit of your story. How's the photography business going?

And welcome, SilverDart! Lots of great discussion here on investing and tax savings.


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## blade9876

*Hi All, from Saskatchewan*

Hi everyone, just joined the forum the other day. I am starting to go through some of the posts and am hoping to keep track of the ever changing economic picture. I am 55 and have been investing for around 30 years. Lately with all the debt issues in the U.S. I am looking for different investing options and perhaps even for a safe place to preserve capital if there is a real crisis in the future.


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## nobleea

Echo said:


> Welcome nobleea! Did you used to comment on Million Dollar Journey? I recognize your name and a bit of your story. How's the photography business going?


Yes, you bet that's me. Still read MDJ every week and chime in once in a while.
The photography business is going well. It's a matter of how much time I can commit to it. Weddings can be lucrative, but they are a big time commitment, both in shooting and editing. I've been averaging 20-30K in income per year with photography. A nice little side business. People always ask me when I will start to do it full time, but there's no way I could match the income potential, security, benefits, etc of an engineering job. There are some portrait photographers that make high 6, low 7 figure incomes, but I am not and will never be.


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## Echo

nobleea said:


> Yes, you bet that's me. Still read MDJ every week and chime in once in a while.
> The photography business is going well. It's a matter of how much time I can commit to it. Weddings can be lucrative, but they are a big time commitment, both in shooting and editing. I've been averaging 20-30K in income per year with photography. A nice little side business. People always ask me when I will start to do it full time, but there's no way I could match the income potential, security, benefits, etc of an engineering job. There are some portrait photographers that make high 6, low 7 figure incomes, but I am not and will never be.


Sounds a lot like blogging. A fun hobby, a decent side-gig, but a terrible idea to do it full time.


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## northernguy

Hi all. Some of you might remember me from the old Moneysense forums (different handle there, believe it was jmackey, though that was some time ago). It's good to see there folks are still contributing and providing for an open forum for discussion. I'm not sure why I've only lurked here from time to time over the past few years and not signed up, but here I am. 

I am 33, have been living in Ottawa for the past three years, but originally from St. John's, NL and lived in Yellowknife for five years before I came here to Ontario. I'm an avid cyclist, an aviation observer, married and two kids (five year old twin boys) and a baby girl on the way in December.

Life has changed a fair bit from my days on the moneysense forum when I had a huge amount of disposable income living in the north before I had kids. Nonetheless, I remain a public servant (eg. pension), diligently pay down the mortgage and invest what I can that's left. I have given up some of my frugal ways in the name of balance, but I still have my moments!

When I left Newfoundland I rented my home there and later sold it. I'm presently considering getting a rental down the street from our current home in Ottawa so you'll likely see me lurking around in the Real Estate forum for the most part.

Anyhow, glad to be here and to introduce myself.


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## Janus

Hi everyone,

Very excited to join. I've always been a bit of a saver, but after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad recently I've been particularly motivated to get ahead.

I'm a professional investor in my late 20s and I recently moved from Toronto to Hong Kong. I won't be out here forever though, and I'm eager to keep investing in Canadian and US stocks. On top of that I'm looking to buy a rental property at some point in the next 5 years in Toronto, and given that I know nothing about real estate I figure this is a good place to start. 

I'm here to learn, to stay cognizant of saving, to read motivating stories and hopefully share some of what I know about equities.

Cheers,

Janus


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## NotJustDreaming

*Great to be here!*

Hello! It never occurred to me to look for a Canadian personal finance forum. This is a great place to find! All these years I’ve been missing out... And I read Canadian Capitalist via email updates. Maybe that’s how I missed it.

This is my second time writing this out as I lost the first one by brushing my mouse sideways. 

I’m 43 and my husband is 44. We have three kids, ages 12, 11 and six. I’m the CFO in our family and I love doing all the financial planning. I’ve certainly made some bad decisions though.

I started investing in 1997 with RRSPs at our financial institutions. Investor series TD mutual funds and credit union Ethical Funds. Not much expertise at that point but I did read the Wealthy Barber so knew to max out registered investments, have a 10% fund for wants, and use no load funds. That was pretty much it. Once our kids came along we opened RESPs and contributed $2500 per year each to get the maximum CESG. We also lucked out by buying our first and only home prior to the housing boom and managed to pay the mortgage off in 10 years through accelerated biweekly payments and an annual lump sum. That was thanks to the TD mortgage broker who did the paperwork. 

So we were doing okay in a fairly oblivious way. Sometime around 2005 we sought out a financial advisor for help with an imminent buyback for my husband’s pension. We made it clear that we wanted no load and needed the bulk of the cash in the near future. At the time I think we had about $100K. He moved that over to pretty much the same asset allocation in pretty much the same funds except they were advisor series so higher MERs. And they were DSC! Wow. He told me they were not front end load so he wasn’t lying. But... it still stings. At the time, I didn’t really know what the DSC was. Fortunately it was only the TD investments that ended up going that way as Ethical Funds wouldn’t allow it. Insert bad name for him here. 

Shortly after, I started reading about what he’d done. Looking back I should have put in a complaint. Anyway, fortunately I was focusing on getting rid of the mortgage, otherwise we would have had a lot more tied up.

And that started my crazy interest in personal finance. I found a few blogs - Canadian Dream, Canadian Capitalist, Get Rich Slowly and the Simple Dollar. I pretty much exhausted the library’s selection of personal finance books. 

I’m comfortably settled in couch potato investing and have almost everything in the TD e-series funds. My intention was to move them to ETFs but I haven’t managed to get around to it. 

We live well below our means saving about 60% of our income for several years now. Yet in our opinion we live a pretty stellar lifestyle. Though I think we’re fairly high income so it is not a chore. Our living expenses are under $36K. This includes subsidizing my mom a bit. It does not include vacation/travel and my husbands pursuit of education. It does include piano lessons and camp and all other wants though. No mortgage payments though so that’s all spending. I don’t include the travel and education because we could give that up if necessary.

I’m interested in early retirement. We both have DB pensions (mine with the municipal government and my husband with the military). I’m happy to give mine up though when my husband receives his at 47.

Great to be here!


----------



## Mechanic

*Hello from Alberta*

Hello everyone. Moved to Alberta from the UK in early 80's and slogged away since. Been self employed since around '85. Always had the "Freedom 55" dream and focused on becoming as debt free as possible in personal and business life. Unforeseen circumstances caused liquidation of my business over the last 2 yrs since around 55 and I have been slowly adjusting to retirement. Happily married 35 yrs with 2 grown up married kids and a couple of grandkids. Not sure at this point whether to take the money and run or get back into something else. Have been trying to learn the investing landscape and have won and lost a few in the last 2 years since opening an itrade account. As I gained knowledge I transferred our rrsp's from a mutual fund company after discovering we were in the worst for us, best for them funds with everything they did for us. Found this forum and read some interesting posts so thought I would join even though I have limited knowledge.


----------



## CanadianCapitalist

Welcome northernguy, Janus, NotJustDreaming & Mechanic! Wow, so many people from Ottawa here on CMF!


----------



## crabbygit

*Hello*

Self employed semi retired. Dabble in photography enjoy forum discussions, law and finance and politics.


----------



## SmartBoy

Hello, I am a 35 year-old physician who lives in Saskatchewan - I used to post in the Financial Web Ring forums a long time ago during residency but since I've been in practice I have just been lurking on these forums for the most part. I have always enjoyed the challenge of achieving financial goals and doing it in an educated and independent way. I paid off my first mortgage (granted, only $115K) in less than three years, and I have been completely debt-free ever since. I am trying to strike a balance between spending and saving, and understanding how best to invest in a long-term "hands off" manner as my life is too busy for me to spend a great amount of time monitoring my finances. I previously used to index with E-series funds and subsequently iShares ETFs but more recently have started to build a portfolio of dividend-paying blue chip stocks that I have no intention of selling, and my time horizon is decades. I like being able to "set it and forget it". I'm looking forward to participating and meeting lots of interesting people here!


----------



## icon

Hi,

I've been browsing the forums here for a short while - they're definitely a great resource - and decided to sign up for an account. I'm in my early 30's, on the west coast, and have been investing on my own for the past 8 years or so, mostly following a passive/index investing style. I look forward to joining the discussions.


----------



## PatInTheHat

32 year old poker player. Spent the last several years trying to get a firm enough knowledge base to able to manage my investments.


----------



## goose7201

Hi all!

I'm in my late 30's and and happily married. My wife and I are enjoying the benefits of home ownership (and related headaches) and being debt free.

After becoming somewhat disillusioned with investing in mutual funds, I became a DIY investor by opening up my first brokerage account in early 2008. Of course, this was just in time to have my trial by fire when the proverbial hit the fan in Oct 2008. I've been doing my best impression of a sponge ever since, trying to soak up as much personal finance and investing information I can get my hands on and implementing the various viewpoints into a strategy that works for me.

There appears to be a significant number of good people here with a wealth of knowledge. I look forward to the exchange of info and ideas with everybody here. Hopefully, I will be able to add something of value as well.

Cheers!


----------



## capricorn

*hello*

Hi All,

very happy to be here.

I live in Ottawa with my wife and 2 kids at home. 

I am changing jobs in january next year and in the process had to move my RRSP from Manulife to TDW. 

So, around 250K in cash in TDW RRSP but I am still not able to pull the plug on allocation as I keep on thinking that equity market is too high. Learning first hand about emotion while investing. Well, eventually I hope to use couch potato (as my trading knowledge is minimal) and allocate the funds this month.

goal: mortgage free (over 190K left), kids education supported (at least the undergrad degree) and greater than 1M besides the primary residence at 55. 

I have very much liked the level of discourse on this forum. Kudos to the members and the administrators.


----------



## Nuke

Hi
I am fairly recently retired, still a few years to go until all those age 65 benefits though. I am fortunate in that I receive a Provincial pension and additional health benefits after 36 years of employment. I have some money in RRSP that I plan to cash in over the next few years once my wife retires this spring before we have OAS, CPP. Over the years we have maximized her RRSP contribution and mine, normally as spousal. We do use a financial advisor, and I did have her investments moved to more conservative several years bAck in the early downturn stages (contrary to the advisors recommendations...we have since switched advisors). Have been browsing the forum for a while and am interested in properly managing her RRSP dollars as well as some significant non RRSP funds we have accumulated and eventually inheritance funds.
Btw...was associated with emergency management and radiation protection, hence the Nuke handle.


----------



## malarcus

*hello*

Hi to all,

I am a divorced dad that thought for the last 20 years that my DB pension would carry me thru retirement.

I had to start over 2 years ago due to my divorce and thanks to this forum and MDJ, I am succeeding in putting my finances in order and I could start saving to compensate for the loss of some of my pension.

I hope one day I will be in a position of not only taking advices from you guys but able to help others.

Have a good journey!


----------



## fcyloh82

Hi All,

I am very happy to be part of this knowledgeable and helpful community. 

Currently in my early 30's, I am trying to turn myself around to be more prudent (and patient!) with my finances and continue to enrich myself with the know-hows to further my financial goals. I really enjoy tracking my money and learning how to invest. 

As far as investing goes, I dabbled in the stock market without understanding the associated risks. I know much better know and will beginning my journey to financial stability, predictability and success! 

I hope to contribute to this community in the near future.


Cheers!


----------



## BID-LOW

*Bid-low*

My Name Is Dale 31 I am A BCAA Tow Operator In British Columbia with my wife and two kids. Other then my wife and kids my second biggest passion is Investing, ever since I placed my first trade on NewGold Ticker NGD @ .96 in the 2008 crash and road that puppy all the way up to $12.50 per share I am now Hooked On stock investing! Hands down easiest money i have ever made! If you looked at my bell PVR you would see dozens of recordings of BNN Business news network Market Call and Market Call Tonight… Some of the stocks I have also made money on in the past are Canadian Solar (CSIQ) Bank Of Montreal (BMO) Robex Resources (RBX) Taseko Mines (TKO) I do not own any of these now. I do not currently have a Blog But I am considering up loading portfolio updates to my youtube channel in the future Youtube name (Thinkford)


----------



## mahmood

Hello all, it's great to be able to join here. I live in Alberta and am a Chartered Accountant at one of the national firms.


----------



## saskstu

Hi, I'm SaskStu

We currently live in Saskatchewan and I am rapidly approaching a second retirement. Completed a 30 year career in the military and rolled that experience into the private sector. Now with 40 years employment behind me I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying my grandchildren (and their families):chuncky:


----------



## Gimme the Green

Hi there,

Loooong time lurker, have been reading on here for a couple years now. The site has been a wealth of info as well as a great link to other blogs and sources of knowledge. I have made the switch to couch potato investing and have been quite happy doing it. My reason for signing up now is because of my wife. She is finally taking an interest in her investments (mostly gics) and after harping on her for years, she is ready to get serious. Frankly I wil be looking for advice now that both of us are finally on the same page. The old tfsa vs rrsp, mortgage or investments, index investing, stocks.......... you know the drill!


----------



## iRes

*Newbie*

Good day,

What an awesome forum you have here!

I am a single 32y/o physician from South Africa. I have spent some time working on cruise ships after completing my studies. Most of my work is performed in General Family Practice, and Emergency Medicine.

My application process to go and work in Alberta is pretty much done. I am very keen to start over in a new country.

I'm pretty clued up with the politics and economics in South Africa, but lack knowledge on the Canadian legal and financial set up, thus my joining the forum: hoping to get some help.

If you have some questions on South African politics or economics, I could give an opinion (coming from a doctor....) nonetheless. 

Regards,
iRes


----------



## PrairieGal

iRes said:


> Good day,
> 
> What an awesome forum you have here!
> 
> I am a single 32y/o physician from South Africa. I have spent some time working on cruise ships after completing my studies. Most of my work is performed in General Family Practice, and Emergency Medicine.
> 
> My application process to go and work in Alberta is pretty much done. I am very keen to start over in a new country.
> 
> I'm pretty clued up with the politics and economics in South Africa, but lack knowledge on the Canadian legal and financial set up, thus my joining the forum: hoping to get some help.
> 
> If you have some questions on South African politics or economics, I could give an opinion (coming from a doctor....) nonetheless.
> 
> Regards,
> iRes


Welcome iRes, we sure do need more doctors here in Alberta. It is almost impossible to find a family doctor here in Lethbridge. My Dad still has to go to a doctor in the town he moved from 30 minutes from here because no doctors are accepting new patients. Which part of Alberta are you moving to?


----------



## banjopete

I'll say hi, glad to have found this place as it's been a great service to my knowledge base. I'm a professional forester (RPF) from Edmonton Alberta and work mostly in energy related projects. After goofing around for years in my 20's I went back to school at 26, moved to alberta, finished more school and started fresh faced into my "career" at 32. I wish I could have spoken to myself 14 years ago but such is life. 

Two years later I'm debt free and trying to fill up my rrsp and tfsa room before my lovely wife wants babies from me! I'm looking to work as much as I need to, and hope to have my income replaced by investment returns as soon as manageable. 

I'm also looking for golf buddies (frugal ones!) in and around Edmonton so if you golf and have room for one more pm me. We can spare our wives (or husbands) the never ending finance talk.


----------



## Tinman

*hello from the new guy*

Hi all,

37, live in Kitchener. New investor. My father in law got me interested. He had a large portfolio and managed his trades using VectorVest. I visited him weekly as he showed me the ropes. He passed away in June and I took over his VV license. I did 3 months of sandbox trading w/ success, and started for real in October. Current portfolio is up 10.89% since that time. Current strategy is the long game, looking for long term dividend income.

Who else here uses VV, curious to know what other programs folks are using out there too.

Other:

Avid poker player, avid small business/entrepreneurial stuff (although currently not doing any of my own small business stuff) I used to run a very successful retail website from 2001-2006 until I sold it. 
I also do websites, kind of as a hobby, if anyone wants help along those lines, let me know - I do most stuff free of charge  

Avid craft beer fan. Current local favourite is "Boneshaker" made by Amsterdam brewery out of Toronto. Very, very hoppy brew.

Professionally, I work in the tech field, recently given South US as my territory (my new role doesn't start until April 1st) and my contract says I'll be spending "at least 50% of my time" in my new region. Wife and I are playing with the idea of moving south. Big bump in pay from my current role, w/ the price of housing in Florida, my wife could choose if she wanted to work or not. I could live anywhere as long as I'm within a reasonable distance to a major airport.

Looking forward to getting to know the folks here.


----------



## thepitchedlink

*New to the Forum, Hello*

HI everyone , just joined up. Married with 2 kiddies, I'll be looking for advice about ETF's, RESP's, RRSP's...you know, trying to get out of the rat race just a little bit earlier..
Thanks 
Pitched


----------



## FiveCardCharlie

*Me*

Hello,

I've been watching the forums for a little while, reading the posts and seeing all the feedback. The community seems very helpful and insightful.

I have just started investing for myself, having been in the Mutual Fund trap for years and paying high MER's with little benefit (in my eyes).
I'm looking at a 20-25 year horizon for retirement and also have RESP's for my children.

I'm hoping to gain some knowledge on stock/ETF investing, DRIPs, Value investing..... a long list I guess

I've read "The Lazy Investor" and "Rich Dad Poor Dad". I've thought of reading "Beat the Street" - any thoughts on other 'beginner' books?

Thank you.


----------



## Inukshuk

Hey all!

I've been a lurker for a little while. Thought I'd take the plunge and sign up so I could offer my two cents when deemed appropriate. I am no means a financial expert - I've been doing it DIY for awhile. My mother was a fee-only financial planner, so I picked up lots of tips from her. I have no debt, except for my mortgage so she must have instilled some of her expertise in me.


----------



## canucked_up

*Quick reply before I introduce myself*



FiveCardCharlie said:


> Hello,
> 
> I've been watching the forums for a little while, reading the posts and seeing all the feedback. The community seems very helpful and insightful.
> 
> I have just started investing for myself, having been in the Mutual Fund trap for years and paying high MER's with little benefit (in my eyes).
> I'm looking at a 20-25 year horizon for retirement and also have RESP's for my children.
> 
> I'm hoping to gain some knowledge on stock/ETF investing, DRIPs, Value investing..... a long list I guess
> 
> I've read "The Lazy Investor" and "Rich Dad Poor Dad". I've thought of reading "Beat the Street" - any thoughts on other 'beginner' books?
> 
> Thank you.



"How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street: Golden Rules Any Investor Can Learn". A small, fairly quick read that won't put you to sleep. Pretty uncomplicated investing with some slightly advanced options thrown in. I highly recommend this for anyone, especially those that want to keep it simple. Kind of like me.


----------



## thepitchedlink

*Hello everyone....*

Hi Guys and Gals, I guess this is the place to intro yourself
Well, the Pitchedlink lives in BC, married with 2 rug rats, 41. I've got a decent amount of $ invested with one of the big, expensive firms.....looking at getting it out and becoming a couch potatoe. i'll be snooping allover for info in the next few months

Pitched


----------



## canucked_up

*I wish I knew then......*

Hello,

I've been on this "Million Dollar Journey" for 20 years or so. I have been fairly apathetic about it until the last few years. I have also been mainly invested in mutual funds all this time. Finally made a move early last year out of my anemic group of funds into a self directed rrsp group of funds that outperformed the old by miles(31%vs 13% average return. Yeah, I know you shouldn't check x-investments. I had to have affirmation of my move.). The fixed income side of my portfolio in the last years has been mainly HISA's and GIC's and seems that will remain so for the time being.

Now that I have done some reading/research, I know that the Correct and Logical next step in the process would be to move into etf's. I must now convince myself that I am really *not* an extraordinary fund/stock picker:rolleyes2: and that I was just riding a nice wave with a bit more luck than some. It seems that the hardest part of investing(especially for me) is keeping emotion out of the equation. As strange as it sounds, I would say I handle unfavorable investing situations better than positive.

The biggest challenge for me going forward, will be to create a new source of income. I was a successful, self employed tradesman that has been fighting a progressive disability for the past 9 years. It has finally come to the point that I am pretty much house bound when it comes to a career. On the bright side, I can certainly survive on my current income and I still have the spirit to tell myself it's not enough to just survive.

I look forward to being part of this community. There is always something, somewhere to be learned and I expect being among all of you 'like minded' people and sharing some of your experience and perspective will help my journey, just as I hope I may have some small influence on some of yours. 

Randy


----------



## barney_rebel

*99883284 96*

Hello -

I was googling about auto-insurances policies and I stumbled on this site. After lurking around and seeing all these useful topics, I decided to register.

Glad to be here!
.B


----------



## Money We Have

I fired my financial adviser a few years back and since then I've been DIY

Last year I reached out to Preet Banerjee and I was part of his podcast, since then I've written some guest articles for boomerandecho.com, myownadvisor.ca and canajunfinances.com

Well just last month I decided to join the blogging world and I've started my own site moneywehave.com

I'm a media guy during the day (well technically night). I'm a Director with CityNews in Toronto

You can follow me on twitter @barrychoi


----------



## Edgar

Hey,
So, Im a 21-yr Uni Student studying economics. Obviously, this closely aligns with my program, but I know very little and thus want to become well informed. I'd consider myself to be frugal, and I work about 60 hours a week half the year, 25 hours a week the other half, so I typically have some untouched cash, and thus Im looking for ways to spend it productively. Anyway, Im pretty clueless, so Im looking forward to learning some things and hopefully one day contributing in an effective manner.


----------



## CPA Candidate

I'm a 34 year old scientist turned accountant. I completed a B.Sc and worked for 9 year at a biotech firm in various roles. In 2012 the company did a major downsizing and I was affected. There were little to no job opportunities in my field so I decided to switch course and pursue my interest in accounting and finance. I'm currently a regional accountant for a large packaged ice company and take courses through the CGA program for eventual entry into the Chartered Professional Accountant program in fall 2015. In my first full year I won national and provincial awards for my academic achievement and took home $1500 in prizes. I have completed three courses on financial accounting as well as economics, finance, statistics and law. Currently taking introductory and advanced management accounting courses for the next 6 months. I expect to complete my designation by 2017 which seems like a long time off, but I know it will fly by.

The great thing about my accounting program is that it is fully paid for by my employer and have I worked full time from the very beginning. It's a lot of work but I enjoy the subject matter and learning is accelerated when you combine the theoretical and practical simultaneously. I also get to work with a half dozen designated accountants and enjoy asking them a ton of questions.

Back in 2012 I took control of my investments from my family's adviser and sold all my mutual funds. Now I maintain several ETFs and about a dozen stocks. I enjoy taking educated risks and investing has become a passion of mine in only 2 years.

An interesting and amazing fact about me, I don't own a cellphone, never have. I also own a 550hp supercharged 2006 Mustang GT and I have never received a speeding ticket in it.


----------



## ashin1

Hello,
I am a 23 year old lab and x-ray tech working full time + overtime and call, on the path of financial freedom at an early age! Right now i'm utilizing my time and modest income to help me reach my goals of being financially free before the age of 40. 
Right now I love to read blogs like Dividend Mantra, and anything written by Derek Foster! I am excited to see and read form all the other wealth enthusiasts on this forum board! happy savings!


----------



## NauticalDisaster

*NauticalDisaster*

Hi everybody !

I have been lurking and reading finances forums for a while, and was happy to find one for Canadians ! Here's for my little introduction : I am a 28 woman, I live in Québec, I am working on my ph.d thesis but will enter the job market (for the first time) within the next months, as I just started job-hunting. I'm also a Tragically Hip fan (thus my nickname). 

Money has always been a source of stress in my life. I've made my way into University by myself, paying all my tuitions and expenditures away from my parents' house, and working hard to get a scholarship that would allow me to pursue my way into a master's degree, then ph.d. However, prior to getting those funds, I had gathered a few K worth or debts already, and a breakup with my ex in 2012 (with whom I've been a total of 9 years) has brought even more debts (= buying a car, being on my own with no furniture other than my computer and my desk). At this point, I was so anxious about money that I refused to look at how much I owed. I've always been one to live rather frugally and shop thrift stores instead of buying brand new, but even with those saving tips, I still didn't feel my finances were under control. Then, at age 26, I finally met a nice counselor at Desjardins (they change my counselor every year, damnit !) who finally took time to explain to me how interest rates worked and how they affected my finances. She helped me plan a solid budget, taught me how to think of credit strategically (ex.: putting the balance of my car on my student credit line (4.5%) rather than paying off the car loan @ 9.99%). I saved hundreds of dollars doing this, and it allows me to pay it faster. As a result, two years later, I have now significantly improved my credit score AND I have tackled about half of my debts already. I'm on my way being completely debt-free (22 months or less depending on my income).

But entering the job market at nearly 30 years old makes me anxious too, because although my debts are getting cleared, I literally do not have savings. I was so busy trying to pay off what I owed, like my parents had taught me, that I never really focussed on savings, thinking I couldn't afford it and that it wasn't a priority. However, right now, like any people my age, I'd like to purchase a house eventually, and I would also like to secure my future (retirement). I'd like to learn more about investments and I am hoping this forum can teach me how to begin. Right now, it looks so complicated and it scares me ! But I really want to increase my wealth as I get older, not necessarily to be ''rich'' (although that would be nice), but mostly because I want a certain quality of life (retiring early, living frugally but travel once a year) and the peace of mind of knowing I have other assets. I do not want my house to be my only investment. In order to do so, I need to educate myself better about finances, and although I'm just a rookie, I already know how empowering its feels to have control over my money (not the other way around, like it used to be) ! So here I am, ready to learn from other people's experiences and advices. 

NauticalDisaster


----------



## Marguerite Gilmore

Hi, I am Marguerite Gilmore. Growing with my own business. CToption helps me a lot...


----------



## SiennaMartin

*hello friends*

i'm new here :smilet-digitalpoint welcome me :apathy: i'm very happy to be there:biggrin:


----------



## rford

Hello all,

I am 28 years old and from Toronto. I am heading back to school for an engineering technologist diploma (then later, bridging to a degree) in either January or September 2015.

I will be receiving an inheritance of 10,000 + an additional 1,300 (and another 40,000 + whatever the yield is in four years time) that I have made from the principal from the estates investment in the SteadyHand Founder's Fund. In the next few days I will be receiving this money and I will have to decide where to store it as I will inevitably need it for tuition payments starting on either January 2015 or Sept 2015. I have joined this forum to gain investment knowledge and to figure out my route. 

I have been toying with the idea of placing it in a high interest tfsa, such as tangerine or starting a tfsa and investing in one of the investment funds that tangerine offers and let it grow until I need the money. Ultimately, would like to try and come even with inflation until I am ready to access it. 

As for 4 years down the road, I hope by then I should have garnered enough knowledge by being a member of this forum to have a plan in place for what to do with the next installment of the inheritance.


----------



## globaljohnny

*Hi*

I am johnny thomas from Melbourne who wants to be inclined in the world trough words. I am a professional mover and currently I am handling a family business which was passed unto me. I search the world for personal experiences to be shared and also I want to help people from all my knowledge.


----------



## athwds

*Hello!*

Hello! Been reading the investing forums lately and decided to join. Be forewarned that last time I spend so much time reading about investing, the market crashed in 2000/2001.


----------



## Ruger

Hi all, 

I came across this site while searching for money forums. I'm 25 and living paycheck to paycheck even though I have a pretty good paying job (which I hate with a passion but oh well). I'm really trying hard to change both my financial and my work situation. I've made alot of mistakes in the past financially and now I'm learning from them and moving on. 

Hoping to pick up some tips on this board. 

PS What's with the human verification and moderators needing to approve every post? None of my recent posts have shown up and the verification each time is annoying.


----------



## B.Clark

*A curious guy from calgary*

Hi! I'm Brian Clark from Calgary, Alberta. I'm working in a construction service company in Calgary. Still single  A blogger and as well as a traveler.


----------



## OneEye

*Hi*

From the sunny West Coast - Will have Real estate questions and will answer as much as I can. 

Thanks!


----------



## Connie Merrow

Hi I am connie. I am from USA. I am new in this site. This site is great. I love trading.


----------



## pjarches

*Hello! Newbie here!*

Just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Paul and binary options trading is my game. I'm extremely new (only at it for about 3 months) and hungry for knowledge. I got into trading options because my best friend has been doing it for about 8 years and he figured it was time I started making some money like him. At this point I'm trading at http://www.onetwotrade.com while learning as much as I can...so here I am


----------



## newuser

*Hello!*

Hi! I'm new here!

Does this post show up?


----------



## etfstrader

*Test*

I'm new to this board and getting frustrated that I can't post anything on here. I don't get any reply from admin either :upset:


----------



## alexasmith

hello everyone, i am newbie


----------



## alexasmith

*New Here*

Hello!

I am new here


----------



## rsyl

*New user*

Hey all,

I've been creeping on the forums for a while, I tried to make a few posts but they never seem to go through.

Maybe I needed to introduce myself.


----------



## draemelius

Hi Everyone! 

I'm a 30 year old non-canadian now living in Canada. As a relative newbie to this country (I'm originally from the U.K.) I'm still discovering some of the idiosyncrasies you have around personal finance, especially in comparison to the many idiosyncrasies that exist in the U.K. 

Like almost everyone here I'm aiming for financial freedom, but not at the expense of a fulfilling life. I hope to learn a lot on this forum!


----------



## andrewlmiles

Hi Everyone,
I am Andrewlmiles.


----------



## rford

Hello,
I am 28 years old. Reside in Toronto.

Have an inheritance that I received this year and will receive the majority of the sum in four years from now, so I am here to learn as much as possible to invest it correctly.

Thanks!


----------



## TheVigilante

Hello,

I'm always looking for new ideas and viewpoints on investing and stumbled across these forums and thought they looked very promising. I started investing about 15 years ago in mining stocks as a side interest to my career (formerly a mining engineer). I now focus on value stocks across all industries and play around with the odd speculative stock.


----------



## Emjay85

Hello,

My name is Matt I am 29 years old. Have been creeping for some time now and have wanted to add input numerous times so I bit the bullet and signed up. Great info around here.


----------



## Delusional?

*Oi*

Hello


----------



## Davis

*G'day*

I've been reading for a while and registered to post a question, but four days later... nothing. I'm 49, spouse and are planning to retire in two years to travel lots and lots, and I'm wondering how snow birds and other part year residents handle filing tax returns. I don't want to have to plan to be here every April. (Not planning to become non-resident.)


----------



## Davis

*Trying again*

I'm trying gain to introduce myself. I'm 49, and planning to retire with spouse before the end of 2016 so we can travel the world. I am hoping to be allowed to post questions and participate in discussions, but it kind of seems like walls have been put up to keep newbies out. I will keep waiting and hoping.


----------



## Maple518

Hi, I've been lurking the website for a few months now and thought it was time to join! Hope to meet some interesting people and concepts while here. 

Nice to meet everyone.

Maple


----------



## wendi1

Hey, John.


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion

Quite a number of new members to welcome all of a sudden: nho82, Neha, TheKing, Sparky, jamesmunger, mitcgeof. Five joined on Dec-22 and one on Dec-23, only 1 post each so far but I'm sure that will grow as you find topics of interest. Four of the posts in taxataion, one General and one Real Estate. 
I imagine the extra search topics and conversation generated just before Christmas and the looming income tax season will help drive a few more targeted ads as well.
Anyway, welcome to CMF.


----------



## PuckiTwo

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Quite a number of new members to welcome all of a sudden:


I believe the reason is because the cmfadmin encouraged newcomers to post here their introduction. "It would make it easy to accept them". That was in the midst when so many people, among others a friend of mine posted that they couldn't get any answers and couldn't get approved. I asked some questions?
I am not saying these are spammers but it seems to be a new way to accept new members. Anyone who is seriously interested in CMF - welcome to this fabulous forum.
And you are right: there are more of them in taxation - if you go back a few weeks there was also a bunch of newcomers in taxation, most of them one post.


----------



## WiseOwl

Hi everyone,

I go by the moniker WiseOwl and am a tax accountant. I write the blog AskATaxAccountant (http://www.askataxaccountant.ca). Hope to be able to contribute value to the site. I generally like to encourage people to dig in and learn about our income tax system in Canada as income tax is generally the biggest expense a Canadian will incur. The more you know about the topic, the better prepared you will be to discuss with your accountant/advisors in setting up a plan to meet your personal finance/wealth goals.

Cheers,
WiseOwl


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion

WiseOwl said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I go by the moniker WiseOwl and am a tax accountant. I write the blog AskATaxAccountant (http://www.askataxaccountant.ca). Hope to be able to contribute value to the site. I generally like to encourage people to dig in and learn about our income tax system in Canada as income tax is generally the biggest expense a Canadian will incur. The more you know about the topic, the better prepared you will be to discuss with your accountant/advisors in setting up a plan to meet your personal finance/wealth goals.
> 
> Cheers,
> WiseOwl


A very welcome addition from our perspective! Thanks for the link as well, we are voracious browsers and readers (we only hope that some of it sinks in).


----------



## iputinwork

*New Here!*

Hey everyone, I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself.

I'm in the GTA and have a few businesses (all online, all serving mainly US customers) and wanting to learn more about Wealth Protection and building proper company structure.

Looking forward to meeting everyone here!


----------



## Gnote

*Hi!*

I've already gotten many, many answers here to my retirement questions. This is truly a great site. Thanks for 'being there' for us Canadians!

Gnote.


----------



## 299889

Hello CMF!

My name is Cody, I'm 17 years old and I wanna get head start on finance and want to be very well off for my age starting now! 

I look forward to the many discussions, questions and answers this website and the people on it can provide!

-Cody


----------



## kcowan

You may find the average age bit too high. (You and my granddaughter are the same age!) So keep an open mind and contribute to our knowledge of how your generation thinks about many issues.


----------



## Terminator

Hi everyone, just wanted to say hello and look forward to discussing topics on investing! Cheers!


----------



## gold bull9

hello everyone, im a mutual fund investor, with 3 years experience, i look forward to learning more, and helping where i can!


----------



## Guban

gold bull9 said:


> hello everyone, im a mutual fund investor, with 3 years experience, i look forward to learning more, and helping where i can!


Welcome gold bull9! I think that you will find that most people at cmf are generally anti-mutual fund, with a few exceptions: TD efunds immediately come to mind. Here's hoping for a few of your insights as to why you are using mutual funds.


----------



## kcowan

You will find that most of our focus is on maximizing your net returns. If a mutual fund takes 2 or 3%, then you are not being well-served.


----------



## axelis

Hello CMF, 

I am in my mid-30s, married with 2 kids. Came to Canada in 2005 with 4 pieces of luggage, no knowledge of finances whatsoever (did not even know how credit card worked), and less than $10k (but a job). Ten years later I've learned a lot through reading, asking questions, talking to lots of sales people (read "financial advisors"), making mistakes and learning from them... I'm hoping to learn even more here, and also contribute/help others when possible (seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people here).

My portfolio is primarily in MF (last few posts show that this may not be the most popular option here), TD eSeries for the most (and then some more exotic for diversification). I have few stocks (had more but it has not worked well for me, seems like I am not very knowledgeable and disciplined at stock picking), which have in most cases lost value (the ones that did not I sold)... and until last month we also had invested in a direct mortgage (just got discharged), and currently I am looking for another. Also for this year I intend to try alternative investments (exempt market) - which my first few posts were referring to but unfortunately were responded to not very positively

Still have a mortgage but the goal is to have it paid back in the next 5 years (on track for now).


----------



## Guban

axelis said:


> My portfolio is primarily in MF (last few posts show that this may not be the most popular option here), TD eSeries for the most (and then some more exotic for diversification). I have few stocks (had more but it has not worked well for me, seems like I am not very knowledgeable and disciplined at stock picking), which have in most cases lost value (the ones that did not I sold)... and until last month we also had invested in a direct mortgage (just got discharged), and currently I am looking for another. Also for this year I intend to try alternative investments (exempt market) - which my first few posts were referring to but unfortunately were responded to not very positively
> 
> Still have a mortgage but the goal is to have it paid back in the next 5 years (on track for now).


Welcome axelis! Don't let the negative tone, necessarily discourage you. Just because people think that they are correct, doesn't necessarily mean that they are. I look forward to you posting about your experiences with alternative investments.

I don't recall a thread about direct mortgages, don't know a lot about them, and am interested in your experiences. Perhaps you could start one that details what happened.


----------



## kcowan

TD eSeries is a great way to start. And holding MFs for exotic coverage is nearly essential. Well done.


----------



## axelis

Thank you. I just opened a thread in the real estate section.


----------



## jackrabbit000

*Hi CMF*

Just thought I would say hello. I basically invest in stocks, mutual funds, ETF's and just about evrrything else.


----------



## CannabisInvestor

*CannabisInvestor*

Hello there. I'm a Canadian investor within Toronto investing in all things Cannabis on a legal level. I am not interested in the black market rather I would like to build legitimate Cannabis companies bringing not only jobs for a new industry but also create this new industry as it should be.

I'd love to speak with investors and connect on a level we all can agree on, making money.

I am interested in making money as you all are as well. This is a new industry that we need to invest into right now and if we don't we allow the profits to fall from our feet. 

I look forward to speaking with you.

-CannabisInvestor


----------



## MarkCT

*Investor in Montreal*

Hey all, I'm new to this board which I found on Google while looking for Canadian personal finance forums. 

I'm currently living in Montreal but moving to Toronto soon. 

I'm interested in retirement investing and offshore real estate.


----------



## Guban

MarkCT said:


> Hey all, I'm new to this board which I found on Google while looking for Canadian personal finance forums.
> 
> I'm currently living in Montreal but moving to Toronto soon.
> 
> I'm interested in retirement investing and offshore real estate.


Welcome to the CMF, and welcome to Toronto when you get here! I think that you may find our lower provincial taxes to your liking. There's lots posted here about retirement investing, but not as much about offshore real estate. Especially looking forward to any of your posts in that area.


----------



## crystalrows

*Hello to everyone from Richard*

Hello, I am Richard, I am from Ontario and now relaxing in Middle East, small online business owner


----------



## maxbenoit

Hi , I am a new member of forum. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guys


----------



## devankline

Hello,
I am new at here and just want to say hello to all at here


----------



## designinvest

Newbie here - 40 years old WAHM with 3 young kids married to a money-wise husband. Paid off our mortgage with 1 M in investments. Researching ways to generate more income with confidence and retire comfortably in the next 10 years.


----------



## BRADYYC

*Great Idea!*

Hey, great idea for a thread !

I am a 31 year Project Manager/Entrepreneur living in Calgary. I grew up in Halifax and made my way out west when I turned 18. I have a creative mind and am always looking to meet new people and talk about investing and new ideas. I recently launched a rental website https://rentza.ca/ and hope to make it my full time job some day. 

Happy to be apart of CMF and I look forward to reading many influential posts! 

Brad


----------



## BRADYYC

Hey,

I am a 31 year old living in Calgary and am a Project Manager/Entrepreneur. I currently work in the oil and gas industry and also run a small rental website. 

I have only invested in Real Estate in the past. I am always looking for more ways and great ideas to generate extra income.

Brad


----------



## GreatLaker

Hi CMF. I have been lurking here for a couple of years and joined last year. I am the type that thinks and researches a lot before asking questions so… I don’t ask a lot of questions. 

I started an indexed portfolio with TD Direct almost 4 years ago and gradually added to it including my TFSA, moving funds from ING Streetwise. Last year I moved all of my long-term retirement savings to TD Direct using ETFs and GIC ladders, allocated to accounts according to the Finiki tax-efficient investing principles. All of the ETFs are low-cost, broadly diversified, non-hedged funds like HXT, VUN, XEF. I keep fully invested (right now I have <1% cash) and use TD Balanced Index or HISA (TDB965 and TDB8150) for short term holdings and DCA contributions. RRSP and TFSA are both maxed, and have always been except for when I bought real estate and when I took time off for graduate school.

My favourite investing books are The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein, and the Real Retirement by Fred Vetesse and Bill Morneau. Least favourite investing book is Money, Master the Game by Tony Robbins.

I am mid 50s and plan to retire in a couple of years. My investing strategy is to keep a broadly diversified, low cost, low tax portfolio, generally avoiding higher cost investments and segment funds. All my ETFs are Canadian domiciled, but on my list of items I might do is switch to US ETFs in my RRSP to avoid withholding taxes. Another might do item is add a component of Canadian dividend stocks, but right now I don’t have the interest or time to do a quality stock selection process. I use Retireware software for financial planning.

Thanks to everyone here for enabling my learning process, which I look forward to continuing.


----------



## RBull

GreatLaker said:


> Hi CMF. I have been lurking here for a couple of years and joined last year. I am the type that thinks and researches a lot before asking questions so… I don’t ask a lot of questions.
> 
> I started an indexed portfolio with TD Direct almost 4 years ago and gradually added to it including my TFSA, moving funds from ING Streetwise. Last year I moved all of my long-term retirement savings to TD Direct using ETFs and GIC ladders, allocated to accounts according to the Finiki tax-efficient investing principles. All of the ETFs are low-cost, broadly diversified, non-hedged funds like HXT, VUN, XEF. I keep fully invested (right now I have <1% cash) and use TD Balanced Index or HISA (TDB965 and TDB8150) for short term holdings and DCA contributions. RRSP and TFSA are both maxed, and have always been except for when I bought real estate and when I took time off for graduate school.
> 
> My favourite investing books are The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein, and the Real Retirement by Fred Vetesse and Bill Morneau. Least favourite investing book is Money, Master the Game by Tony Robbins.
> 
> I am mid 50s and plan to retire in a couple of years. My investing strategy is to keep a broadly diversified, low cost, low tax portfolio, generally avoiding higher cost investments and segment funds. All my ETFs are Canadian domiciled, but on my list of items I might do is switch to US ETFs in my RRSP to avoid withholding taxes. Another might do item is add a component of Canadian dividend stocks, but right now I don’t have the interest or time to do a quality stock selection process. I use Retireware software for financial planning.
> 
> Thanks to everyone here for enabling my learning process, which I look forward to continuing.


Welcome. This place will be a great resource for you. I'm in a similar boat. Retired about 9 months ago at age 55. 

Good luck with your goals.


----------



## 1980z28

Join in 2010-03-04

will retire in 2 years at 56


----------



## Darren

*Hello all*

Hi all. I am new to this forum , and admit that I have ended up here out of a feeling of taxation desperation. I have been on long term disability for about seven years. Here comes the tough part....
I have just come from H&R Block, after filing seven years worth of tax forms ( T4's ? ). I owe a LOT of money to revenue Canada. My experience with H&R Block was not too pleasant, as I have a number of unanswered questions. To make a long story short , I understand and accept the last 6 years worth of assessments , but the year farthest back ( 2007 ) has me baffled. In that year I am told that I owe about 7 times as much tax as the other, more recent years. My income has not changed over those years. I am in the early stages of fixing this problem and paying off what I owe , but I have joined this forum to help me along. I am still too overwhelmed to do much more than say hello ( Hello ) but as I gather more info I will become more active. My first question is this : can I expect somebody at my local Revenue Canada office to help me through this quagmire ie answer questions etc?
Thanks, and hello from PEI.
PS- I will be thankful for moral support too.
Darren


----------



## Spudd

Hi Darren! Do you still have a pile of snow out there in PEI? 

You will probably get more helpful replies if you post a new thread in the Taxation sub-forum. I don't know the answer to your question but I didn't want you to go unanswered.


----------



## Darren

*Thanks Spudd!*

Hi and thanks for the tip Spudd. I will do as you advise and create a new thread ( after I have "collected my thoughts" on my situation ). 
I really appreciate your reply.
Yes , as I type this , we are in the middle of anouther snow storm! Freaking snow just keeps on coming. All traffic is at a standstill , and visibility is very poor. I don't think we have had this much snow since the early 1980s'. That said , it will surely make us all appreciate spring when it gets here
Thanks again Spudd!

Darren.

PS- cool user tag you have !


----------



## iampreis

*Q re:Last Wills*

hi, i'm new here.
because of, uh, new medical discoveries, i am preparing my will.
after frustrating talks with my lawyer i have questions.
found a thread "Lawyers vs DIY kits" - posted my question ... and i have no idea where it went.
so i will re type my question (into a file, and cut and paste when i'm done, so i won't have to do it yet a 3rd time) 

... but where should i post it?

thanks


----------



## Beaver101

iampreis said:


> hi, i'm new here.
> because of, uh, new medical discoveries, i am preparing my will.
> after frustrating talks with my lawyer i have questions.
> found a thread "Lawyers vs DIY kits" - posted my question ... and i have no idea where it went.
> so i will re type my question (into a file, and cut and paste when i'm done, so i won't have to do it yet a 3rd time)
> 
> ... but where should i post it?
> 
> thanks


 ... Hi, you're probably going through moderation, hence, your posts had disappeared. Perhaps you can send a pm to the mods- (hint: send to cainvest -he's really good/quick) (or if they see you here before that and let you in, you can re-post in that thread "Lawyers vs DIY kits"). Welcome aboard.


----------



## pensionplanner

*Testers Wanted*

Hi!

First, a little about myself (my favourite topic):biggrin:

I'm a former accountant who switched from full time to contract work about 10 years ago. Moved from Ontario to BC 7 years ago to get away from the snow and cold. Loving it here on Vancouver Island!

Not much contract accounting work around, so after getting a little concerned about running out of money, I developed a spreadsheet to calculate CPP, OAS, GIS, pension income, and taxes to give me a better handle on our future finances. Long story short, even assuming no other income, we'll be OK. I then thought "Hey, maybe others would be able to use this." So I expanded it to include: PRBs, Disability, RRSP and TFSA contributions/balances, RRIF withdrawals, interest/capital gains/dividend income, Survivor Benefits, tax effect by province (using actual tax brackets, rates and credits), mortgage calculator (and more).

Okay, here's the deal. I am looking for people to test this thing (Single or Married); go through the Lessons in the pdf Manual and let me know the good, the bad, and the ugly (on the product, web site and price). As you can probably tell by my user name, I have called it the PensionPlanner.

Here's how to get it at no charge and be a tester: go to http://eepurl.com/bh9YIL

Thank you for your help.
Ivan


----------



## damaaster

*Another noob*

Hey All,

New here as well. 31 year old from Winnipeg. Married, no kids. Have always been interested in personal finance and the stock market. I've been actively investing in mutual funds (RRSP) since I was about 18 - but just recently got into the addicting habit of direct investing via my TFSA.

Just stumbled across this board as I was doing some research on a few stocks, and it looks like a great place to hang out and learn a few things every day


----------



## SeanOConnor

*Hey Everyone!*

Hey!

My name is Sean O'Connor, and I am with Canada's first peer-to-peer lending company, Grouplend. Although I've always been an active reader of Canada's personal finance blogs, I am now looking to get more involved with the community. Through diligent budgeting, my wife and I have started to stop the financial bleeding over the past few months, and have started to rebuild our savings (we recently purchased a house, and have our second child due any day now). I hate everything about any company that operates in the payday loan space, and I feel sick to my stomach any time I hear of good Canadian people being lured into these predatory products.

Looking forward to joining the community and starting to jump into these discussions!

Thanks!

Sean O'Connor


----------



## raidm1988

*search marketing services*

want to know how to lift search marketing services? Tme
http://buypermalink.com/_se1604995284/Searching_search_marketing_services.html


----------



## Arizona

*Hi*

Hi everyone,
Just want to say I'm glade I found these forums. You guys are a great inspiration and I wish you all the best of luck in all your investments.


----------



## NewAt40

*Ready!*

Hi All! 

I'm a 40 year old JUST starting on my path to financial freedom. I'm blessed to be just months shy of total debt freedom and will have some money to work with to make this happen. I'm looking forward to learning the ins and outs of how money and investing works so I can fully utilize this debt free opportunity.


----------



## DiazJenkins

*HI*

Hello i am Diaz, Blogger, Entrepreneur and content writer.


----------



## janetimps

*Hi*

Hi i'm new to here


----------



## ohsmarketing

Hi, I am rob ohs owner of ohs marketing.ca.I am real estate realtor with highly experienced team.


----------



## sandiegohardmoney

*Introduce Youself!*

Hi Everyone

Greetings!!

My self George Kengott from California U.S.A . I am new here in canadian money forum. So anyone want to become a friends.

Thanks
George


----------



## iamanewbie

*I am new here in Canada*

I will be in Canada for few months. I am from India. I am here for my sister's marriage! Looking forward for some help fro you people out here!


----------



## murumanie

*hi from Yellowknife*

Hi Everyone from Yellowknife.
I have reading athe forums for awhile thought it was time I started to participate 

I have been living in Yellowknife the past 3.5 years and my wife and I initially came up here to save a bit of money but its getting harder to do that...everything is getting more expensive up here! I am getting pretty tired of living in the North, I don't mind the summer but winter is depressing and too cold and I want to move back to BC. My wife is probably more tolerant than me but I have been up in the north for 4 years before she lived up here.

My wife is studying in the college up here and so we are living on a single income which is the main reason keeping us here I guess. 

Our goal is save up some money and go back to live in BC, we like Vancouver Island.


----------



## andyc48

FrugalTrader said:


> I thought I would start a thread so that we can get to know a little about the contributing community.
> 
> I'll kick things off. I am FrugalTrader (_twitter_), the blogger behind Million Dollar Journey and co-founder of Canadian Money Forum. To say the least, I am a personal finance and investing enthusiast who is on a journey to financial freedom.
> 
> Tell me a little about you!


i retired at 55 years and spend about 6 months a year in costa rica.i love maths , financial forums and info. on of course,

how to make my limited pension stretch to cope with the never ending increases in cost of living ,etc.


----------



## DanKent1234

Hey guys, I'm new to the forums. Registered a while ago but just started to contribute. I run an investing website and want to share my love for investing/trading with others. Hopefully I can become a key part of the community here.

Edit- Thought I'd add a bit more to this. I'm from Calgary Alberta. Currently own two properties, one being a rental condo. I'm a journeyman electrician and was a professional poker player for the better part of 4 years. I still play off an on when I can but decided to return to work. I will more than likely venture down that route again, but that's for a later date.

Studied IT development at red deer college, and have a huge love for web design.


----------



## renrealty83

I an Renaissance Realty Real Estate Consulting services industry. I'm very happy to be able to participate in these communities.


----------



## ngoclinhtran

*Introduce Yourself*

Hi everyone !
I'm Ms.Linh, I come from Vietnam and
Nice to meet U.
Follow me at tam thất bắc


----------



## DesertRose

I'm a recent graduate from university in 2014. I formerly studied in a biomedical program at the University of Waterloo, but realized that it was not what I wanted to do with my life. Switched to a finance degree, now I'm on the hunt for a career job that can give me strong growth potential for my future. I'm in my late 20s now and I feel like I am a bit behind in terms of career. It feels like at least half my friends are settling down or already married(SIGH). I do have a blog but I haven't found the time to work on it lately. Life is complicated and full of ups and downs, but I'm an optimist. I believe in working hard and things will work themselves out. I'm single(If it wasn't obvious), I mostly study for more certifications/credentials these days. Currently live in Ottawa, and trying to make new friends(Emphasis on 'friends' not acquaintances). Well, that's my little blurb about myself


----------



## vfurnier

*Howdy Im vince, some questions for you guys, love the help, thx*

Howdy,
Im Vince, Id like to say to the owners/creators that this is an awesome forum!
I have so much to learn.....
I have some questions, heres my story.
Im 35 and have the goal of retiring in 5 years.
The financial part of my plan seems to be in order, I was wondering more about the actual day to day. It seems like that i would get bored after a while. How are you guys planning for what your going to do?
Is there any good books/information on this?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks again!


----------



## TomB19

I'm Tom. I joined this forum in 2009 under a different, but extremely similar, screen name but was never given write status. I recently created this account and was given write status within the last few weeks.

My strength and interest is with real estate. I've been investing since the late 1980s and have done OK but, as I get closer to retirement, I need to be stronger in the subject matter and have learned quite a bit from the locals here. Thank you to all for the good reading.


----------



## peterk

What's with all these one-hit wonders?


----------



## TomB19

peterk said:


> What's with all these one-hit wonders?


Are you referring to people who read extensively and enjoy the content without spamming their opinion around like Puerto Rican boner pill salesmen?

Perhaps they, like myself, come here to gain knowledge but don't feel like they have much to share.


----------



## Carmela Stacy

*Hello!*

Hi, I'm Carmela i just joined and having a nice time here. I hope we can share interesting interesting insights as we get along in this forum. Thanks!


----------



## knownasgem

*Hi Everyone*

I just joined the forum today, so really looking forward to reading up on all the posts and getting some great investment advice. I have been interested in learning more about investing for several years now, have read books and articles and follow a few online blogs.

I'm happy to be here, and will try to make value-added contributions to the forum.

Cheers!


----------



## Canadian Glass

*A rather odd fish...*

I have been self-employed (pronounced "Starving artist") since 1993, lampworking borosilicate glass. This is not the corner of the internet folks who know me would expect to find me, but here I am...


----------



## Spudd

Welcome! Sounds like an interesting career.


----------



## Canadian Glass

It's easy to make a small fortune blowing glass. Simply start with a large one.


----------



## Nerd Investor

Hello everyone,

I don't think my first post stuck so I'll try again. I've been reading the forums for a while and finally decided to register. I'm an accountant by trade who has branched off into financial planning. Looking forward to contributing to the great discussions here!


----------



## streethunch

*Finally woke up*

Hi All, I'm finally getting to that fun age where I woke up and said I have to get much more involved in my savings. I came across this forum and have been reading lots, it's a great forum. I really like the posting of portfolios so much that I started making a web site for people to post them to where the portfolios will be easily accessible and people can keep them updated for people to follow over the years. Anyhow, looking forward to the forum.


----------



## PoorDad

Hi,
I'm rather new to all this stuff (at least in the sense of needing to know more!) and I am pleased to make your acquaintances. I look forward to learning lots of great info and sharing!


----------



## Brilliant

Hello everyone!

Just your average Canadian investor looking to network with other Canadian investors. Hopefully I get to pick your brains, as well as give you guys some good advice as well!


----------



## pvtmcnab

*Hello from pvtmcnab*

A friend talks a lot about this forum so I thought I pop in and check it out.


----------



## mrPPincer

hey mcnab, welcome to CMF!


----------



## nikunj_4

*Introduce*

Hi, I'm Nick i just joined to possibly improve my investing skills


----------



## HaroldCrump

Welcome to the forum. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your investing goals, and what areas you are seeking improvement in (debt management, personal finance, savings, stock selection, etc...)


----------



## flusty

long time lurker... just finally signed up


----------



## Ih8Money

*residing radamor*

As above, somewhat of a lurker for a few months as my father had cancer and recently succumbed to it.
Now I'm stuck with a line of credit on the house (1/3 of the value) of the house. So basically I'm screwed and looking everywhere online now to get some info in regards to keeping probate fees limited, trying to keep the taxes down and move on in life.

I was interested in the market 15 years ago for a little bit, but lost interest as time went on and lost interest more so after 2008. I simply don't trust corporations, the markets and bankers. LOL
Oh well~~~


----------



## Justin604

Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker and finally took the plunge to sign up. I am a 28 year old man who works in financial services and lives on the west coast of Canada. I have a strong passion for business, and more specifically finance and capital markets. I began investing when when I was 19 at the recommendation of my father who started me in mutual funds and after a year of following the markets I naturally graduated to a self directed approach. After completing my BBA, I would like to complete my CFP and CFA designations. I have a value approach to investing and am a true believer in capitalism.

I look forward to contributing my knowledge and insight to this forum and hope to learn many new skills in the process.


----------



## Twixer

Hi, there

I guess I developed interest in capital markets due to lack of other forms of entertainment in rural Nova Scotia. I have degree in stochastic processes and have done a lot of research on noise cancellation. That has been very helpful. After all, picking stocks comes to removing market noise and identifying business trends. Looking forward to share my prospective with the community.


----------



## harrygallo

*Harry from Canada*

Hi I am harry, I have some queries about applying Canadian citizenship. I hope I can get solution to all my queries from here.


----------



## liquid_ice

*Hello*

Hello,

I think this forum is very interesting and useful. I'm looking forward to take part in interesting discussions.


----------



## MDavey

*New member!*

Hello!

My name is Matthew, I'm from Toronto and am 24 years of age. I went to school for music as a percussionist and decided to switch to a more profitable trade... I am now an elevator technician and earn a steady income. I still do have a passion for music and am able to afford creating music and songwriting on the side!

I started getting into investing about 2 years ago after finding "The Wealthy Barber" on one of my parents bookshelves in the basement. After dusting it off, I read through the book in less than a day and fell in love with the philosophies of David Chilton. That led me to start saving money and investing into small stocks and mutual funds as I read more books about the investing lifestyle and market. As I studied away, I ended up buying my first home that summer (just before my 23rd birthday) with the dividends earned and saved money. From there I started to update the house more and renovate the basement as I took in two tenants to pay off the renovations (a 3 bedroom house to one person? why not get others to pay off the expenses , right?). So here I am, sitting in my basement - almost a year and a half after the closing of my first home, posting my hellos!

I am currently seeking a general mentor/s for investing. I currently turned back once again to reading through my investing books - but of course nothing helps more than speaking to people opposed to read words on a page! I very much look forward to meeting everyone here and posting regularly and hopefully contribute some of my little knowledge that I have learned over the past two years. 

I am now looking to invest in my second property within the next six-eight months and have been debating what to do... Invest in a condo in Toronto, or a house elsewhere to live in and renovate (likely what I did in my first home). I currently have tenants lined up for this house for April 1st, so I will be an "official" landlord and not just a roomate! Very excited!

Thank you in advance for welcoming me into your forums!


----------



## mordko

*Hi*

I am Mordko; just hit mid-40s and figured it's about time to put a bit more effort in our investment. 

Have a decent defined benefit pension from work but a bit of extra wouldn't do any harm for me and my wife. So, I've just read a whole lot of books on the subject of which Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor was the favourite. Reading books doesn't make me an expert, so looking to learn more on this website. 

Invest mostly in ETFs with the following target splits: Canada - 6% (XIC; still below this target, but will get there by the end of this year); US - 25% (VTI, VBR); UK - 11%; Other developed - 17% (e.g. VPL, Japan, Europe); Emerging - 22% (e.g. VWO; another one I am loading on right now); Fixed income - 15%; Assets - 4% (VNQ, CCX, PPLT). 

As you can see, the strategy is to buy a tiny fraction of the world and go a bit overweight in assets that are beaten up. 

Look forward to interesting comments/discussions on this forum.


----------



## spirit

Hi. I have been on this site for about 6 years but just got motivated to post on this thread. I must say I have enjoyed reading all the posts. There are so many young people here....so good to see that you are starting to take control over your finances and become educated on all the ways that there are to grow your investments and also those temptations out there that could derail your plans. Just being aware is a huge step in the right direction.

My name is Mary and I am a semi retired teacher in Alberta. I started working as a waitress when I was 16, discovered that I loved working and that feeling has kept me out of a lot of trouble. I worked hard, put my self through university, married a great man, had 2 children and was a substitute teacher for many years.

When the downturn hit Alberta in the mid 90's my husband retired from being an electrician, looked after our teenage boys, and I went back to work part time.....I eventually worked my way up to full time, earned my masters in education and ran smack dab into that economic hurricane of the big recession of 2009. I had let my husband look after the finances but when the markets crashed I started to panic. I was thinking of quitting my job but the idea of losing my source of income along with our investments was too much to handle. 

I started watching BNN, read every article on the financial crash, joined this forum and started educating myself about finances so that I would never be floundering like this ever again.

Well, it is 6 years later, I discovered that my husband was even more conservative than I had thought, our finances gradually recovered and then some but more importantly, I became a true partner with him for our investments. He told me that now that we make joint decisions he feels the pressure on him to manage the money is gone. Two heads better than one type of attitude.

I am still working part time by choice, and I feel that we have made the best decisions for us, with the best information we had at the time. I have learned so much on so many topics from the people here on this forum. Thanks to all of you for your great advice and astute opinions.


----------



## humble_pie

MDavey said:


> Hello!
> 
> My name is Matthew, I'm from Toronto and am 24 years of age. I went to school for music as a percussionist and decided to switch to a more profitable trade... I am now an elevator technician and earn a steady income. I still do have a passion for music and am able to afford creating music and songwriting on the side!
> 
> I started getting into investing about 2 years ago after finding "The Wealthy Barber" on one of my parents bookshelves in the basement. After dusting it off, I read through the book in less than a day and fell in love with the philosophies of David Chilton. That led me to start saving money and investing into small stocks and mutual funds as I read more books about the investing lifestyle and market. As I studied away, I ended up buying my first home that summer (just before my 23rd birthday) with the dividends earned and saved money. From there I started to update the house more and renovate the basement as I took in two tenants to pay off the renovations (a 3 bedroom house to one person? why not get others to pay off the expenses , right?). So here I am, sitting in my basement - almost a year and a half after the closing of my first home, posting my hellos!
> 
> I am currently seeking a general mentor/s for investing. I currently turned back once again to reading through my investing books - but of course nothing helps more than speaking to people opposed to read words on a page! I very much look forward to meeting everyone here and posting regularly and hopefully contribute some of my little knowledge that I have learned over the past two years.
> 
> I am now looking to invest in my second property within the next six-eight months and have been debating what to do... Invest in a condo in Toronto, or a house elsewhere to live in and renovate (likely what I did in my first home). I currently have tenants lined up for this house for April 1st, so I will be an "official" landlord and not just a roomate! Very excited!
> 
> Thank you in advance for welcoming me into your forums!



a warm welcome to you, Davey.

as spirit says just upthread, the range & depth of talent among the young people in this forum is amazing. Including the not-so-young as well, of course.

i take it your original equity investments were liquidated so as to put the $$ to work in your current home-soon-to-be-investment-property?

now you'll be working on your 2nd real estate investment property. At the age of 24, how amazing is that. 

it occurs to me, as a counterweight to 100% RE, might you consider building up a TFSA with a few top-quality common stocks, REITs being the only sector to totally avoid since you're already nicely done in real estate.


----------



## Mukhang pera

*New to site*

**


----------



## NetworkGuy

hey all, been browsing for a while. Started investing in e-series and vanguard etf's. Since I started 2 months ago I have had unexpected car bills come up so I gotta wait until my mid march to start doing auto transfers to my TD and Questrade accounts but then I will be contributing roughly 20% to rrsp and tfsa. Well see you all around.


----------



## Mukhang pera

**


----------



## MK6

Hi

New to this forum.
I have been on car forum's for the last year, and realized that there was tons of useful information on it. 
There are some people out there who share their knowledge very well and I really appreciate it. 
Since, I was also interested in finance, I started looking for a forum, and here we go. I have to say that some people here seem to know a lot about financial advices.

I hope to increase my knowledge here and share my experience in the futur.

Bienvenue sur le forum à Mukhang Pera and Networkguy!


----------



## Justme39

*Hi sorta new here*

Hi, new here.. well I did have another name but it was no longer valid so registered again. I'm from Ontario, Canada..


----------



## camrich

*Hey*

Hey everyone, pretty new here and hoping to get some tips and hopefully share some knowledge


----------



## RentGera

Hi everyone!

I've been following your forum to absorb the great knowledge you guys have in real estate and investing. I hope I can contribute to return the favour!


----------



## jman

Hello Everyone!

Just heard about this forum today and I immediately joined. I am in my late 20s and I currently want to learn and start investing soon. As a newbie to investing, I hope to learn as much as I can and eventually be good enough to contribute back to the community. Thanks!


----------



## ThisGuyNelson

*Introduction*

Hello everyone,

My name is Brett Nelson, I'm a 19 year old investor and personal finance enthusiast. I don't have a financial education background (I'm a Communications and Publishing student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver). I'm starting a blog myself aimed at explaining personal finance and investing in layman's terms for the everyman. I look forward to sharing and learning from everyone here!

Brett


----------



## longtail

Hi guys. 

I'm new here and I hope I will find a fresh info here


----------



## melvinderby

Hi all. I am new to this forum.Looking forward to meet you guys


----------



## nate5

I'm very happy to find and being accepted in this awesome forum as a member


----------



## Flanders

*Hello - new to the forum*

New to the forum - looking to better educate myself, as well as, keep myself honest(dedicated) to taking responsibility for my financial future.

Cheers


----------



## carol palmer

*Introduction*

Hi there,
I am carol, a newbie here. Hope to have a wonderful journey here


----------



## Holland

Hi there, 

I have been reading this forum for a while and I look forward to participating in the future!


----------



## Holland

Hi everyone, 
I look forward to participating on this forum


----------



## Holland

Hello everyone, 

Nice to be part of this community


----------



## DigginDoc

Hello to all.
Doc here. My username reflects my hobby in retirement. Metal Detecting. Now I have to find good advice to invest all the treasure I find. :biggrin:
I have been an avid reader of the site for years and enjoyed it. Still learning lots in my old age. I am 70 shortly and my wife 71. We are in the trading down stage and will ask a couple of questions soon. Thank you again for all the great information.
cheers
Doc


----------



## mayallen

*Hi all*

Hi all my name is May and I am happy to be here and learn a lot


----------



## SonHawk

*introduction*

Hi there!!!


----------



## Rotaryboy23

Hi Folks! My name's Mike. 28 yr Male who's tired of living just over broke! Looking forward to some advice and discussions!

Username is related to my favorite moneypit. my 1985 Mazda rx7.
Living in Rural Manitoba.


----------



## Shanline

Hello,

New guy here. Just opened my account few days ago. I would like to say hello to all. Hope you are quiet well? 

Thank you so much!


----------



## DHACK_23

Hi Everyone,

I go by the profile name DHACK_23 as you could see, I'm a student looking for advice on how to build capital. My Main goal is financial freedom so I could enjoy this beautiful place we call earth.


----------



## Shanline

Welcome to all newbie here. Enjoy your stay here. Great place to learn. lol


----------



## pixy_101

*New investor!*

Hello, I'm new to investing, I have a bit of cash and i want to learn to invest and make more money. 

I find my saving account doesn't make me enough cash

i'm from canada


----------



## loveforlife

Hi everyone . !!!


----------



## MoneyB

*Long time trader, first time forumer*

Gotta start posting to get that cred, as per unwritten forum etiquette. Looking forward to share info and find new stocks


----------



## pereira

Hi everyone


----------



## Brain007

Hi this is Brain Chris Manager at Promotional USB Drives Canada. I'm a computer science graduate and simple human beign. I believe in heping others and peace. I love humanity and want equal rights for all human beigns wirldwide. 

We at our Business site, provides great oppertunity to business community to grow more telling them about latest marketing trends. we fel best for all domestic as well as business societies. I hope i'll be keep trying to help others.

Cheers 

#Brain


----------



## Dilbert

Hi everyone, I'm a 59 year old sales executive who is itching to retire in the next few years. I started seriously investing about ten years ago and now I'm hooked on it. 

Also I'm very interested in all the FI blogs and sites, I wish they (and the internet) were around thirty years ago!


----------



## saraedward

*introduction*

hello,
everyone my name is sara edwards.


----------



## saraedward

*service*

we provide to home free.


----------



## doitwithsam

*Introduction*

Hello All,

I am Sam Galloway (HomeLife/ROMANO Realty Ltd.), 416-786-4519, Real Estate Sales Representative. For more details about me you can visit at doitwithsam[dot]com


----------



## PSG

*Hello Everyone*

A newbie here starting to like this forum, hope I can learn a lot from all of you. More power and Happy Holidays.


----------



## Jerm

*Hi people*

Hi there, 

I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to register! I'm living up in Yellowknife, NT. 

I've been interested in PF for the past few years and I'm looking forward to joining the awesome discussion that goes on here.


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion

Jerm said:


> Hi there,
> I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to register! I'm living up in Yellowknife, NT.
> I've been interested in PF for the past few years and I'm looking forward to joining the awesome discussion that goes on here.


Welcome to CMF. It can be a bit overwhelming at first but if you read often enough you will see a thread of common ideas as well as the less common.
At -27deg C and snow, its a safe bet you aren't outside washing the vehicle today.


----------



## Jerm

Nope, I'm at home this morning with a crying baby. I feel like I'd have more luck trying to wash the truck at -27c than putting this baby to sleep right now...


----------



## OutofBounds

Hi, 

27 year old guy here from Grande Prairie. I'm slowly getting my feet back under me after a major financial mistake that cost me $20,000. I'm hoping I can learn alot here so when as I get my finances built back up I don't make stupid mistakes again.  

The money diaries are very inspirational. I may do one down the road, but I'm no where even close to where alot of you folks are. LOL


----------



## chaseadam

*Hell All*

Hi Everyone,

I am Adam chase, a financial advisor signed up for discussion on Fiance topic.

I see the great discussion on different-different topic, so hoping for better experience


----------



## sagarsridhar14

Hey all you lovely people, 

I am Sagar from Toronto, Canada. I am a huge blog enthusiast, a financial investor and software developer. 

Recently I started my financial blog - personalfinancefreedomdotcom Do checkit out and please post your comments it helps me grow as a person. I am seriously very passionate about sharing my knowledge financially. I have been investing since early age and got into blogging recently. 

Many thanks and god bless you all .. keep investing !!


----------



## dwyanec

Hello everyone! Hoping to learn more things aside from learning to handle finances and investment. Looking forward!


----------



## NielsJensen

*Hello*

Hi, I'm new here too!

I work with consumer loans, where I advise in the development of IT systems that optimizes the customers ability to find the best loans on the online market. The market is increasingly demanding cheap cosumer loans, that we try to provide them with. The goal is to make the loaning process as quick and simple as possible for our costumers! At Moneybanker, the costumer enter requirements to a new consumer loan, then the page will automatically find the loan that meets the customer's requirements. 

Anyway, I look very much forward to contributing to the many threads on this site - and let myself be inspired by you! 

Have a nice day


----------



## henryschwab

Hi everyone, Henry here.


----------



## cdntech

*Late Comer to DIY Investing*

Hello All,

I'm a late comer to the idea of DIY Investing. Started out the usual route when I was younger dumping money irrationally into mutual funds and not really paying attention to what my RRSP's were doing. I skipped several years contributions while raising a family but have come back to investing in earnest. 

I've been reading lots of articles and books on investing in the past several years. I finally took the plunge into individual stock picks in the past few years by obtaining an initial company share and adding to it via the transfer agent. At this stage of my life, I don't expect to be able to retire financially independent on my dividend portfolio however I would like to supplement my retirement income via the dividends I am earning. 

I suppose my children will reap more of the rewards from my investments than I will, but it will be nice to help cushion my retirement even just a little.

Thanks for reading.

JR


----------



## matt72yard

*New*

I am Matt from Toronto.

I am getting my finances in order very late in life -- I am in my 40s. I have zero savings. Yet, I have a decent job. Just frittered money away.

I want to change that, but investing is not an interest of mine; I am not in this for fun. Want to invest some $$$ without paying fees, learning to do it all myself.

I tried to sign up for Quest trade to get started with $1000 invested to learn the ropes, but the questions to register were too complicated to even get started. I do not want to go to a bank and get screwed paying someone else to manage stuff. I am registering here hoping to get simple answers to jump in.

Wish me luck!

Matt


----------



## Spudd

matt72yard said:


> I am Matt from Toronto.
> 
> I am getting my finances in order very late in life -- I am in my 40s. I have zero savings. Yet, I have a decent job. Just frittered money away.
> 
> I want to change that, but investing is not an interest of mine; I am not in this for fun. Want to invest some $$$ without paying fees, learning to do it all myself.
> 
> I tried to sign up for Quest trade to get started with $1000 invested to learn the ropes, but the questions to register were too complicated to even get started. I do not want to go to a bank and get screwed paying someone else to manage stuff. I am registering here hoping to get simple answers to jump in.
> 
> Wish me luck!
> 
> Matt


Good luck! You might like to try Tangerine for investments, they're excellent for beginners.


----------



## Bill G

Hi, I'm Bill G.

I live in Toronto and have been here for 10+ years. I grew up mostly in Ottawa and lived/worked in Calgary for 10 years after University. I'm 43. Long-time follower of finances - read the Wealthy Barber, Peter Lynch "Beating the Street" (and others) and "Worth" magazine (any body remember that one?) in my early 20s. Self directed investor, have refocused my mutual fund portfolio to ETFs in the last 5 years. Cheers!


----------



## JosephV

Hey all,
I am Joseph Venne from Toronto. I'm an nuclear engineer and I am hoping to change my career. So I hope to meet people from different societies and get some great opinions and suggestions for my career.


----------



## LXG

Hi, I'm Linda from Calgary. I went through a separation last year, and I'm trying to figure out my finances and taxes as a single mom, rather than as a couple with kids. I've been doing DIY investing, of the Couch Potato variety, for the last several years, but recently branched out to buying a few individual stocks to balance things out, since I felt the ETFs I had were weak in certain sectors.


----------



## Ghazel

Hi,

Names Girish, I have a diploma in Business-Accounting, just finished a BA in Psych and am working on a CPA designation. Switched careers after 10+ years in Hospo. I had some mutual funds for a couple years and got into value investing with my own portfolio last year. Pretty happy so far with the results. Looking to share some analysis and discussion with other investors.


----------



## mitchelleipper

Hi there, My name is Mitchell Eipper. I am new to this forum.


----------



## Barrysharf

Hi,

I'm *Barry sharf* from Old Brookville, NY. I was working as an entrepreneur in the home medical equipment industry and also have been active investor in real estate & other small business. I love to write & share about business funding, merchant cash advance, direct lending, financing and working capital loans. 

Please let me know how does this forum work?

Thanks

Barry


----------



## joetheneighbour

Hi,

I am a 27 Year old millennial, after reading many financial blog I have decided to start my own financial journey. I have started a blog call slowlybutwealthy with a friend to track our progress. This the first forum I have joined since starting my journey. I grew up in Toronto but have since moved away from Toronto for work. After moving away from Toronto I have very little desire to come back to Toronto after seeing the options that rest of Canada offers. Also the house price in Toronto is way too ridiculous, the average income in Toronto is not even close to keeping up with house price.

I am very excited to begin my journey as well as joining this community.

Thanks.


----------



## TommyFx

*i'm only human*

Hi there!

I'm newbie on this forum but I have been trading in forex from 9 years


----------



## conceptiontellez

*Im new here*

hello im conception been an online marketer for many years now focusing on mailing using aweber im still new to this

hope to make new friends here


----------



## Danielvalerio506

*Hello! New in the forum and don´t know how to set my signature*

Hello!! 

I am new!! I am trying to set my signature can somebody tell me how? Thanks!!


----------



## jean-denis

Hello there!

I'm Jean-Denis and new to this forum. I'm a software developper and I live in Quebec City.
English is not my native language so sorry for your eyes :] but I'll do my best!


----------



## xtthew

*Introduction*

Hi,

My name's Matthew and I just thought I'd through a quick line here to get myself rolling on the threads. It's been a while since I've been in a forum, but I've taken a keen interest in personal finance after observing the do's and don'ts for a few years. As I started working in a position that required me to handle the cash-flow of a busy company, I began reading books on how to help me improve. I stole the book "The Wealthy Barber Returns" of the owner's desk on day because he never reads his books and that one has sat there for over a year without being touched. After reading that, I decided I was going to start being more involved with my personal finances.. and it's only been 3 months so far, still paying off my debt.. but I'm liking it.


----------



## alex_mercer

*Hi*

Hello,

I'm Alex and I work as a Sales Manager for a Toronto-based company. 30 years old, diabetic but I love sugary stuff. I invest on my body.


----------



## Blondelive

*Hello*

I'm a new member here. Pleased to meet you all ^_^


----------



## againcome

Hi
I am Greg.


----------



## againcome

hey


----------



## Lawrence101

*shocktrader?*

Excuse the corny title, The names Lawrence ,ive bin nearly a lifelong electrician and electronics enthusiast from childhood up. My other interests are photography, painting (art type) and business . Ive recently (~a year ago) took an interest in the stockmarket and trading, yes a complete newb but im enthusiastic and want to learn as much as i can. Up to this point ive only paper traded ,TC2000,TradingView ,NinjaTrader and HTMW are some of the platform im familiar with. Tomorrow i have an appointment at CIBC (my business banking provider) to open my very first real trading account. Wish me godspeed.

P.S. BTW any others here from the east coast area?


----------



## james4beach

Welcome, Lawrence. You might be interested in this recent thread
http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php/122586-Starting-out-with-mostly-day-trading


----------



## cwhitebn

Hi there, so I've been on this site for a couple months but thought I should actually introduce myself. I'm a 29 year old guy in Nova Scotia, originally from Newfoundland but moved away about 7 years ago. I've been interested in money and investing for years and about 3 years ago started investing in mutual funds. I have my own house with a small mortgage, no other debt, while also going to grad school to further my career. I earn a decent income in health care that lets me save quite a bit of money on a regular basis. 

I enjoy reading, travel, visiting Newfoundland to spend time with family and friends when I'm not busy with work and school. Here's to learning as much about investing as I can and sharing ideas with everyone. 

Cheers!


----------



## Oliviadavid

Hey, I am a new member, wanted to greet you all.

Thank You..


----------



## Oliviadavid

Also a warm welcome to other newbies


----------



## amitdi

there was a competition thread for estimating future prices of SP, TSX, gold, etc. many of the forum members participate. i am trying to find that thread. anyone know?


----------



## Passiv_Team

Hi there,

My name is Brendan, I just thought that I'd drop you all a line to say hello. 

I'm originally from Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean island. If you ever visit there hit me up I'd be happy to provide you with some cool sights and food recommendations. 

I'm a huge buffet fan and I got into investing after taking a course on "Value Investing" during my MBA. Given that I don't have time to research stocks, I decided to become an index investor. However, I'm always on the look out for great companies at undervalued prices.


----------



## Wanderer

Hi, I'm a 23 years old, with an interest in finance. I love trying investments. For example, I got a couple of dollars in bitcoins during the summer, they are worth almost four times their initial value. I have experience with mutual funds, but a lot less with other kind of investments.

I studied in chemistry, and I'm finishing my first contract after university. I'm considering studying in another subject to be able to work closer to home. 

My hobbies are very artsy, and I love music, painting and everything DIY.


----------



## Gordo99

*I'm back...*

Finally got my account reset (Thank you to cmfadmin). Used to post under Gordo99 but fell off the map a couple years ago when the site changed hands. 

Have been reading this site for years and gained much so will be nice to contribute again the odd time now that I am able.


----------



## Metaz

Hi, My name is Metaz. I'm 23yr. I was working with my family and i'm jobless right now and searching job. I enjoy reading, to spend time with friends when I'm not busy with work. I'm not busy anymore so i can spend my all time with my friends.  Here's to learning as something and share if i know something.
:black_eyed:


----------



## freebird

Hey folks.

Just a 35 y/o Vancouverite saying hi!


-Jon


----------



## TomB16

freebird said:


> Hey folks.
> 
> Just a 35 y/o Vancouverite saying hi!
> 
> 
> -Jon


Hello to you, Jon.

... and put on some underpants, will ya!


----------



## Tucker96

*Tucker96*

Hey I'm the new guy.
I'm a huge Patriot fan..if you talk Eagles, can't hear you #5rings..


----------



## luckyone

*New member introduction*

Hi there, by way of an introduction, my wife and I are both ex-pats from the UK. We've lived in Canada for 28 years. We're considering retiring to the UK (are we nuts?) and we'll be looking for any advice on RRSP's/RRIF's and getting the funds over to the UK, along with deemed dispositions and HMRC reporting funds etc......Thanks in advance for any upcoming feedback. :joyous:


----------



## eminem

*Introduction*

Hey
Kittykatty here. I'm from Toronto. I run a cafe with my sister. It's high time for me start saving money. I'm hoping this forum will help me out with the queries I have regarding the same.


----------



## potato69

Hi Everyone!

Long time reader first time poster!

With this massive run up in the stock market and Trump doing such a great job getting the economy back on track I'm ready to finally jump into investing! Looking forward to advice.


----------



## wildbill7145

*Hello!*

Just found this forum and I'm sure there will be a boatload of information on here for me to peruse. Over the next short while, I'll probably be mostly searching for stuff related to completing income tax forms in Ontario. I'm a self employed house painter and I've been doing my own taxes for years. Hopefully correctly! For the first time I'm going to be doing my elderly mothers income taxes. Definitely going to need some help with this.

Anyhoo, thanks for having me.


----------



## mike0shores

Hello! Thank you for starting this discussion 

I'm an engineer who is very passionate about technology. I might have limited knowledge about financial services, but just a thought, I believe that funding employers in different industries could be very helpful for job seekers. I know some non profit organizations which are doing so by offering government funds but I think specifying more funds or supporting such organization would be very helpful!


----------



## garthburlingham

*Journey to Options Guru*

Hi All:

My first posting. New to the whole scene. Must get tutorials on navigating through this site.

I am a 69 former HR Exec who wants to fully retire next year. I have read four books on Options and have scoured
James Cordier's The Complete Guide to Selling Options twice. I intend to paper-trade over the next six months and 
will probably learn with the Think or Swim platform. 

I intend to take mentoring from anyone with options experience and might make this my default community.

Thank in advance for any help in both options and navigating through this site.


----------



## Tea Lady

Hi All,

I am a 69 year old widow with a large portfolio mostly in RRSPs and it is all equities with about 150K liquid.
The majority of the fund came from my deceased husband DB Pension which I took as a lump sum. 

I too am a novice at investing and look forward to reading and joining this community.

I am unsure which to take the RIF or LIF as I am coming close to the mandatory withdrawal with big tax implications.


----------



## infidel

*Hello everyone*

Hey, I'm a 38 y.o Albertan who had been lurking in the shadows for awhile. Decided to finally join and post.


----------



## mailman

*introduce yourself*

Hello I am retired postal worker. Hope to find useful information about retirement as well as general investment ideas.


----------



## ArchViz

*Greetings*

Hello everyone,

I am a 45 year old self employed from Toronto. I enjoy reading the forum and finally decided to post.


----------



## kcowan

amitdi said:


> there was a competition thread for estimating future prices of SP, TSX, gold, etc. many of the forum members participate. i am trying to find that thread. anyone know?


Search for 2018 Predictions. You will find 2019 Predictions around December.


----------



## neufeldjones

*Hello Everyone*

Hi this paul Jones from Kelowna

I am new here


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## cowolter

*hello all*

Hi all !I've lived in Canada for 5 years where I completed a Masters in Marketing and worked for 3 years. Now I'm searching for a job that would send me anywhere in the Canada) I like hiking, camping, gardening and nature
Cheers, Alex


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## humble_pie

cowolter said:


> Hi all !I've lived in Canada for 5 years where I completed a Masters in Marketing and worked for 3 years. Now I'm searching for a job that would send me anywhere in the Canada) I like hiking, camping, gardening and nature
> Cheers, Alex



welcome to the forum Alex

those are my fave activities too although i don't camp any longer, i've grown too fond of fresh clean sheets, hot showers & the occasional ice cube in summertime (van camping is not real camping imho) (i'm talking wild camping w nothing but a tent & tiny one-burner fuel stove if u are lucky)




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## mzkee11

*newbie*

I enjoy posts about deals and financial tips. I am here to just share my knowledge and also learn along the way!

Looking forward to fruitful exchanges!

:cocksure:


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## jannes

*Hello*

My name is Janes from England and i'm a newbie to this forum. 
looks like a very busy forum with loads of info from people around the world. will pop in from time to time


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## Ullmaj3

Hi, my name is Alain and i am new here, its my pleasure to join this community.


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## LearnFast

*New Member self-introduction*

Hello fellow members!

I want to start by saying "thank you" - I stumbled across this site in my search results the other day when I was trying to figure out what type of tax hike I would face if I move my Permanent Residence from Alberta to BC. The discussion gave me a lot of information, and I appreciate the fact that, as a non-member, I was allowed to see it and follow the links that the members suggested. 

I decided to join because I'm going to be retiring one year from now... and I have a small DB plan and a horribly underperforming DC plan that is mostly Canadian TD-ETF's. Yes, over the years I could have rebalanced it to include more US and International ETF's, but I didn't. 

I'm not sure that now is the time to buy more International, or what the proportions should be, but I hope to learn. Fast.  I'll try to figure out the appropriate forums in which to pose my questions.


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