Introduce Yourself

Announcements from the Management and assistance with forum software. New to FWF? Please consider introducing yourself
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bowtie
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by bowtie »

Hello all. Late 20s about to get married. No debt, paid off residence, stable income, running out of tax sheltered account room. Found my way here after reading various personal finance blogs and then the Bogleheads forum. I'm happy to say that I fired my big bank "financial advisor" a few weeks ago. Looking forward to learning from you guys.
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scomac
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by scomac »

Welcome bowtie! You might find the Financial Planning sticky useful as you begin your journey into DIY financial planning and investment management. Don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have along the way.
"On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?"
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kcowan
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by kcowan »

And bowtie, we don't bite although we have been known to bark once in a while!
For the fun of it...Keith
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bowtie
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by bowtie »

Thanks! I'll go through the sticky. It didn't occur to me before but preparing to get married also includes preparing a financial plan. I'm glad to have these resources--I'd rather be bitten here than bitten in my bank account.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Shakespeare »

You may also wish to refer to finiki, particularly Portfolio Design and Construction.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
Shine
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Shine »

My computer has rebooted, I have had to register with a new name, and yet remain excluded from this forum...is it just me or something else?
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AltaRed
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by AltaRed »

shine2 wrote:My computer has rebooted, I have had to register with a new name, and yet remain excluded from this forum...is it just me or something else?
No need to re-register. Use same screen name and password. If you have forgotten your password, click on the 'forgot password' and follow the instructions and links. All new registrations require management approvals of first posts. That is to deter spammers and other unsavory types.
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by cedeebee »

Hello, yet another new member to what appears to be a forum full of great information. I've been using the services of alleged financial planners for years and have been underwhelmed with the service and the results. Since none of them are oracles, I've decided to go it alone and will be opening up an account on Qtrade as soon as I decide what I'd like to specifically invest in. Looking forward to learning plenty while here and hopefully eventually sharing, too! :)
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by zhamid »

Hello all,
32 year old single father of 3 kids & 2 cats who's getting back to self-managed investing again. I fairly successfully managed my portfolio for many years using Graham / Buffet philosophy (with my personal touch of course). However, a few years ago I moved completely into index funds and went hands off (even when I was hands on, 60%-70% of my portfolio was index funds). I'll have to rebuild my savings post-divorce slowly (especially considering support payments to my ex), but that's another reason to go back to my hardcore goals-based approach I used to have way back when. Financial goals: mortgage-free by the time I am 45, "able to retire" by 50 (though knowing myself, I wouldn't want to retire).
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by LadyGeek »

Hello,

I'm also LadyGeek at your sister site, Bogleheads.org, and joined to see if I could offer any assistance with finiki. I'll also contribute in the forums if I can.
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Peculiar_Investor
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Welcome to FWF LadyGeek, good to have you on board.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Shakespeare »

Hello, LadyGeek. Nice to hear from you again.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Bylo Selhi »

Shakespeare wrote:Hello, LadyGeek. Nice to hear from you again.
Ditto. In my case it was less than 2 weeks ago and it was "see" as well as "hear" ;) Welcome to FWF.

And thanks for suggesting the Thai place at BH10.
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by mikester »

I noticed on a thread today, someone (Pickles) telling a poster about the "introduce yourself" thread and it occurred to me that I've never posted there myself.

I don't know many people in here - Flights of Fancy is the only person I've interacted with much (and we even had dinner once) and I figured it wouldn't hurt to tell you about myself.

I joined this forum almost five years ago, but have only posted a few times in the last several years. I'm not promising to post more, but I would like to avoid another multi-year absence.

Who am I?

My name is Mike, I'm 43 and live in Toronto with my wife, 2 kids (3 & 5) and work as a computer programmer in the financial industry. I live close to downtown and I like to exercise a lot.

I post frequently at the Canadian Money Forum under the handle "Four Pillars".

Investing style

I'm definitely a couch potato, but I usually end up doing some market timing, because I often can't pull the trigger on a large purchase unless the price has gone down a bit.

I used to be a leveraged dividend investor - here is the thread where I was asking for information on my plan

http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... 7&t=105079

And here is the post where I explain why I ended up wrapping it up:

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/smith-maneuver-quit/

My financial situation

Pretty good. I have a decent amount of retirement savings and I just paid off my mortgage a few weeks ago. I have a good income and save a reasonable amount of it.

My writing

I write a financial blog - moneysmartsblog.com which is mostly Canadian personal finance and also the occasional article at blogthority.com on blog topics (ie how to make more money blogging) and self publishing.

I wrote a book about RESPs, creatively called The RESP Book. The title says it all. ;) I'm planning a TFSA book, but it seems to have stalled after finishing the first draft.
Last edited by Peculiar_Investor on 07 Feb 2014 07:04, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: replace old domain name with www.financialwisdomforum.org to reflect new domain name effective 19-Jan-2014
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augustabound
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by augustabound »

Congratulations on your mortgage, not an easy feat investing with a young family and paying off your mortgage.
.....................................and welcome to FWF. :wink:
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Pickles
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Pickles »

Mikester, glad to know more about you! I've got a question for you: what prompted you to start posting more frequently recently (and did you still read the forum over the years that you weren't an active poster)?

Also, thanks for the links to your blog.
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by mikester »

Thanks for the welcomes.

@Pickles - I did check in once in a while to read a bit, but I would say I mostly wasn't reading here.

As for my motivations for posting here more frequently - I really like participating in forums, but I find that my interest comes and goes for different forums. I guess I figure I should give this one another shot.
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StuBee
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by StuBee »

Well... Welcome Mikester... Now I am a bit confused... For some reason I always thought that you were the Mike associated with the handle "Yielder"... I recall in the past accessing dividend information that Yielder used to supply on another website... Now, by looking at the username list, it appears that "Yielder" no longer exists... I always thought that he was one of the knowledgeable ones.

Would it be indiscreet to ask where "Yielder" has gone...
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augustabound
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by augustabound »

StuBee wrote: Would it be indiscreet to ask where "Yielder" has gone...
I seem to remember him posting about a year and a half ago that his posting days were nearing an end.
Sadly, Gummy also bowed out around the same time.
"Whenever I'm about to do something I think, would an idiot do that? And if they would, I do not do that thing." - Dwight K. Schrute
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Shakespeare
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Shakespeare »

Yielder left for health reasons.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Peculiar_Investor
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

But he hasn't totally left the building ... http://www.finiki.org/index.php?title=S ... et=yielder
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Gosso »

Hello!

My name is Gosso. I have been on this planet for 27 trips around the sun, (sorry -- I've been watching a lot of Carl Sagan lately :) ) no kids, wife or gf. I make decent money as an engineer.

I used to visit this forum frequently as a lurker when I was first learning about investing (six years ago). So I must thank everyone here, since you have all been a great help on my understanding of this crazy financial game. Eventually I drifted away from a Bobleheads investing approach and was convinced that junior gold miners were the secret to success and early retirement. Then 2007-2008 happened and I was down 70%...lesson learned...but I did hold on for the rebound and ended up with a 10% average annual gain, but I'd hate to see the standard deviation on that investment strategy!

I now follow more of a Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio approach and I am very happy with it. I realize most of you are thinking I'm crazy for having over 50% of my portfolio in gold and long bonds, but I have gone through enough mental gymnastics to convince myself that I'm in the right strategy. I may revive that old Harry Browne thread on here, and we could hopefully have a fun discussion regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.

I normally post over at the Harry Browne forum, but since I'm the only active Canadian I kinda feel like a black sheep. So to balance things out I thought I'd be a black sheep over here as well :)
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Pickles »

Welcome to the forum, Gosso! I see you have already got some help, here with long bond information. The FWF is a great place to get inf0ormation quickly and to test ideas. No doubt as time goes on you'll get feedback on your investment strategy, too. :D
Regards,
Pickles
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northbeach
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by northbeach »

Darn, you do like like Carl Sagan. :o

Enjoy your journey. Looking forward to share your insights into the financial universe.
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Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Gosso »

northbeach wrote:Darn, you do like like Carl Sagan. :o

Enjoy your journey. Looking forward to share your insights into the financial universe.
Thanks for the welcome northbeach and Pickles!

I'm in the middle of watching the tv series Cosmos for the first time, and I'm quite enjoying it. Most of what Sagan talks about we already know, but he has such a wonderful way of explaining things and bringing it all together that I cannot help but smile. Science is fun!! :thumbsup:
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