Comment on Possible bank run happening in Canada
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 3 years agommmhmmm. I was thinking about it. My rate is 1.8% locked for 5 years. Rather than pay it off, I am going to dump all my cash in some more fixed assets (housing) for next 6 months. I feel it will be a better return with those assets than paying off the 1.8% rate.....
....will move all my new savings from Q3 this year to a stock portfolio and some gold..... and keep ~3000 $ in bank/cash for emergencies.
I am not a great investor, but I think I am keeping my savings inflation proof this way
goldenballs@wolfballs.com 3 years ago
I used to have a mortgage, losing the house was a blessing. You pay so many layers of rent-seeker money, you are paying off fuck all and left with fuck all at the end of each month, and we were on 70th centile typical professional wages, but SE England is excruciatingly expensive.
Now we live in Asia, costs dramatically lower, and neglible tax, work offshore, can save, buy gold, invest in commodities and buy a post-crash cheap house. I feel like everyone trying to get on the housing ladder after 2000, is being tricked into metaphorically doing gay porn, being raped for all the wealth they create.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 3 years ago
Yes, but only partly. The physical problem is location. If you want to live rurally, prices are dirt cheap, probably similar to what it was 20 years ago. On the other hand urban prices have skyrocketed. The great rural urban migration will just keep making it worse, because land is a limited resource.
Asia is the same. Its only cheap if you live in an underdeveloped area. Prices in Metropolitan hubs in India and Japan are much higher than NY. China surprisingly lags behind these two, but it will catch up. Singapore is a special regulated market. Hong Kong is the worst. Other than that, if you live outside of these areas, you will find it cheap.
Urbanites will have to live in ze Pods and eat ze bugs. Its Physics/Economics, regardless of what Herr Schwob wants
goldenballs@wolfballs.com 3 years ago
Yes, but fuel & transport is a bigger proportional cost in rural areas, for obvious reasons.
Fuel and land costs have rocketed across Europe. Only the east might be comparable to North America now Sure, houses might be cheaper in rural areas, but that has been changing in desirable spots. Some places doubling as relatively wealthy urbanites drop cheddar on all the nicest places, and don't integrate with the locals.
China will not catch up, its facing a generational housing crisis that wipe millions out, and a couple major demographic crises (ageing population, and gender imbalance), that already started the deflationary decline - China is heading for something like Japanification, unlike India, which is growing.
In rural SEAsia, many small necessary costs (food, transport) are higher than in the centre of large cities, i have direct recent experience of that. There are of course affluent or touristy enclaves with elevated costs and associated better infrastructure.
If you want to live cheap in rural indochina, you will be pretty bored, just cheap beer, leftover women, and weed - which may or may not conflict with the sustainability of your income stream.
I don't envy future urbanites, and push my kids to learn tech and make a business. I am of an emigrant mindset, the old world is eating its own young to sustain its decaying models.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 3 years ago
There's been so many tradeoffs, its hard to complain overall. Would you be willing to exchange today to go back in time 20 years ?
Increase in technology is a huge plus, as long as you cut yourself off from the oligarchs. Consumer goods are much cheaper today. That's raised living standards a lot. Fuel is too expensive now, but DIY solar is cheap. Biggest expense is labor cost of installers. Instead, its easy to DIY - electricals all plug and play.
That leaves transport. Its too expensive. I use public transport, and have large deliveries, delivered from the shops. A small electrical car for occasional short city trips would work, but for regular long distance hauling, you have to pay for expensive petrol. No good solutions.
Now, living 1 hour drive from a Euro urban center is workable. Land for a proper home is affordable that far out, and you can make occasional trips to enjoy city events. Having a general peaceful life outside the city isn't bad at all :)