Introduce Yourself!

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.

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.

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.

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]

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!