About Me

Why write about myself and a bit about my background?
- Its useful to know the situation and background in order to provide the context or a frame of reference.
- It will help to trace my journey to the current situation, as well as helping you to map your own course.

- I used to always ask successful people how they started or how they got to where they are today. The answer was always vague, and there was no elaboration at all. It was as if they wanted to keep the secret of building wealth to themselves.  However, after listening to interviews with famously wealthy individuals, I noticed the truly wealthy always share their knowledge to help others learn & grow.

Please read the Disclaimer, Copyright, and Intro pages.

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2008 PROFILE
- Live in Canada.
- I will turn 30 this year.
- Recently married. 85% from our savings & investments, remaining amount as gifts from our parents & relatives. Because both of our parents are single parents we could not ask them for much financial support, but every bit counted, helped, & was appreciated!
- I work in the field of software, in a company continually downsizing since the tech bust. My wife has a low income retail job. Our combined gross income is modest (doesn’t even break a gross of $70k combined).
- I drive to work in a 2001 Honda, my wife takes public transit.
- We have a 2 bedroom condo in the city (not downtown). 25% down (from our savings & investments).
- We hold stocks and other securities, term deposits, GICs.
- We take advantage of RSPs
- We hold real estate investments.
- We do not have credit card debt.
- No children (yet =P). Maybe in the next few years.
- We both have single parents whom are likely to rely on us financially when they get older, or if serious health issues require expensive medication.
- We budget, track our expenses, keep personal spending very low.

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CHILDHOOD YEARS
- Born in the late 1970s & grew up in the 80s-90s, with both parents and siblings.
- My parents both worked regular 9-5 avg middle class jobs.
- We lived in a modestly humble life.  We didn’t eat out much, few toys, no cable TV until mid 1990s, shopped at discount retailers, no allowance, “hand me downs”, etc.
- We drove down once every few years to the States, where I experienced alot by being able to see the differences between the towns & cities. Some were very prosperous, while others where pretty much ghettos and “has been” cities. It definitely made me appreciate what we had. I would say in comparison to much of what I’ve seen in the US we and most Canadians were better off.
- It was a comfortable & decent life.  Neither rich, nor poor.

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HIGHSCHOOL/COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY YEARS
- During highschool I worked for the city parks & rec services as a wading pool attendant & life guard. The pay was better than most jobs available to students, and well worth the extra effort that was needed in order to be qualified.
- This was the first time I had money, and really started to learn the basics of earning, saving, & spending.
- I studied both engineering & commerce in university. 1/3 paid by money from summer jobs, 1/3 by my parents, & 1/3 by a scholarship.
- My father passed away in the later years.
- My mom was also laid off and became a contractor with no company benefits.
- This was bad timing, as it was a period where expenses were high.  I thought alot about our family financial situation & savings alot more.

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FIRST JOB
- Graduated in 2002, a year after the tech bubble had burst. It couldn’t be at a worse time for a technical graduate. I was very lucky to get a job that paid $40k (pre-tech bust salaries started used to be at $65k). Since then salary increases were next to nothing, but at least it paid the bills. Really I couldn’t complain given the economics.
- I bought my first car when I got my job. Public transit was not a realistic option.

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INVESTMENT BEGINNINGS
– My father introduced me to stocks during university, at the time of the tech bubble. I had a large sum (for a student) placed in Nortel shares. I had lost pretty much everything when it burst. It was a very tough lesson, as I needed the money to pay for tuition & some living expenses.
- Later, I incorporated some of my mother’s stock investment methods & started reading the newspaper for stock advice & tips. I had some success & many mistakes. I started to see short comings of relying on the analysts ratings/opinions and in the methods I was using.
- I also started buying & selling items on Ebay to supplement my income. I would look for arbitrage opportunities, and items in demand. The Ebay experience helped me gain alot of useful knowledge about marketplace interactions.
- It was then that I really started to change my lifestyle & spending habits, in order to save up more money to invest.  It was definitely challenging to significantly cut back on discretionary expenses (entrainment, movies, meals out, clothes, etc.).  At times it was a bit miserable, as I saw many other people my age with a much more free and better lifestyle.  I kept reminding myself why I was doing it, and it would be worth it one day.  I started reading & listening to motivational / self-improvement books to help keep me on track.
- One of the financial books I read at the very beginning was Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kioysaki. In general, the different books lead me to realize weaknesses & gaps in my knowledge that I really needed to address (for real estate, stocks, & general investing). I read & listened to audio tapes every chance I got. Continual reading was a key to gaining vast amounts of knowledge I would not otherwise have.

- Around the same time I met someone around my age at work. He wanted to invest in real estate & read many books. It got me interested in other investment books & serious about real estate.
- He introduced me to MLM / network marketing. Knowing very well what those were, I still felt I needed to see one from the inside & find out exactly how they work. However, I learned that it was not for me, and most people should approach them with ALOT of caution, until they understand them & how they operate.  The majority of them are also scams as well. But from a business point of view, it is useful to be able to recognize them & other similar operations, and AVOID them.
- A year later, after educating my self enough, I took action and the first real estate investment was made. I began to learn the ropes of real estate investing by doing & trying to apply what I learned.
- I experienced what felt like a lifetime of lessons in a few years. Money was made & lost, a lot of time & effort was spent, trial & error, good experiences & very unenjoyable ones as well.  Nothing was more educational than experiencing it for myself. I’ve now done more real estate transactions that most people will ever do in their lifetime.

- My last investment in real estate was in 2004/2005. The prices of real estate were getting too high (generally) to become profitable. Financing was also becoming more difficult to obtain as a consequence.
- With no more thoughts of acquiring real estate investments in the short term, there was more free time for further education. However I remain active with my real estate investments, and also serve as an advisor to the board of directors in a privately held company that holds commercial real estate.
- One audio tape was an American university course on US economic history (I forget which university, but its well known). I picked up Intelligent Investor & other books.
- The combination of what I read from Kioysaki, the US Economic History course, and the Intelligent Investor  had the largest kick-starting effect.

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2007
- In early 2007 housing was peaking, and the stock indexes of the world were frequently pushing new record highs. For housing, the indications of a downturn appeared even earlier (late 2004) as the prices skyrocketed. But with real estate things moved slower.  The knowledge that I had accumulated over the years from reading, made me suspect that the housing bubble was finally about to burst (nearly 3 years later), along with a major decline in the stock market. The classic economic signs were present (jobs, declining growth, inflation, prices, costs, mania/hype, etc.).
- I expressed this notion to try and warn people who were not familiar with financial knowledge.  Some accepted it, while most did not take it very seriously. The downturn in the stock market came much sooner than anticipated lead by the housing bust in the US (summer-fall 2007).  It was and is terrible for many of individuals who lost their life savings in a blink of an eye.  But for others it is definitely one of the largest opportunities in our lifetime.
- Lack of knowledge & emotions made a lot of people close their ears before even taking a minute thinking about it.

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TODAY
- My experiences have made me realize that all the information needed to create wealth is out there.  You just have to learn it & use it conservatively in confidence. In the age of information, this is easier & quicker than it ever was before.
- Investing is for those willing to further educate themselves and seek knowledge. Hence the 95-5 rule. 95% of the worlds wealth is held by 5% of the people in the world. Only 5% are willing to take time to learn and seek knowledge.  Why not be part of that 5%?

How do I know that putting time & effort into investing works?
- Because today, there is no way my wife and I could have all the things we have had right up to now, based on our meager salaries.  It was possible, due to our commitment to start investing years ago.   However, this works only if you are willing to sacrifice short term gratification/reward, putting in a little bit of effort to plant all the seeds now, and then watch them grow over time.
- I hope you find my past, present, and future experiences & knowledge helpful in your own journey.

Thanks & Happy Investing!
The Investment Blogger