And everyone is assuming that people are going to work hard & pay their mortgages for another 10 years to make back all of that lost value.

That's a waste of effort. Value isnt something you can work to build up, it is perception.

Like I needed another reason to not watch home reno shows.

I'm having fun forecasting with spreadsheets, running standard Japanese interest rates across scenarios assuming standard NZ property yields seems too good to be true. Something is going to go wrong.

Always bet on black.

Whats the hedge made of ?

The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth. Foo'.

Praise Xenu !

Uhhhhhh... no. And no. Chief Seattle.

look at that dumb slunt. like warrior amazon women had perfectly trimmed bangs. psshh.

She's far from a fantasy of mine, but bangs aside, I prefer to see depictions of amazon women with nicely shaven legs and not looking like they smell like a can of tuna that's been left in the sun.

Wholeheartedly agree.

look at that dumb slunt. like warrior amazon women had perfectly trimmed bangs. psshh.

And two tits!

This is a completely unrealistic portrayal.

I'm not sure, did Xena ever claim to be an Amazon? I don't think so, she was the leader of a band of outlaws but not really considered an Amazon..

look at that dumb slunt. like warrior amazon women had perfectly trimmed bangs. psshh.

And two tits!

This is a completely unrealistic portrayal.

Also true! Yet another reason why I prefer the lack of realism!

Goal met 03/15/2010: 100k in net worth! Didn't quite make 12/31/2009, but not bad anyway.

Apple is helping. In at $92/share. Currently ~$240/share.

This year and the second half of last year weren't that great. I dropped under 100k in net worth when I had to purchase my new car mid last year, and things just kept piling on. I decided, with the help of my girlfriend nagging me, to go back to school and finish my degree in CIS. I just finished my first semester back in about 4 years and it feels great to be back in school. The only downside is I took out a student loan. So pile that on top of the car loan, and some credit card debt I accrued over the year (having a girlfriend is EXPENSIVE) and I now have roughly $15,700 in debt.

That debt coupled with some fairly significant drops in my 401K for the year, and the value of my condo and I have been under 100k in net worth for the year.

But! Today, at 11:00pm when my 401K value is updated, I should be at or above 100k again even despite all the negative things mentioned above.

Part of the problem is that this year I really didn't have many goals, financially. My focus was on my relationship. I am proud I am going back to school, but I have fallen back a bit financially.

Three shining lights are Apple, Visa, and McDonald's. 65% gain on McDonald's, 336% on Apple and 73% on Visa. GE is finally back in the positive for me now. 5%. The pharmaceutical company I speculated on was indeed finally bought out and I made a nice chunk on that. I put in a chunk of some of my leftover student loan money into Zynga last week as well.

I also invested in the .xxx domains, and am willing to lose a year's worth of registration fees if they don't work out. I hope to be able to sell at least one of them for a nice amount to a porn company, if .xxx domains take off.

I also started buying first edition books over the year and I have about 12 now, including a signed first edition of both Stephen King's The Stand, and the British edition of Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. I bought myself a nifty bookcase with a glass door to protect them

My goals for 2012 are:

• To pay off my credit card debt by Valentine's Day. I have $3,700 to pay off.

• To add another 1% of my salary to my 401k. That means 11% going into my retirement for 2012. I started at 25, in 2006 at 5% and have added 1% since then.

• To have my car paid off by the 2 year mark of owning it. That is by Memorial Day, 5/30/2012. I have $5,500 to pay off.

Once the debts are paid, I can move onto other things.


THRASH EDIT: Corrected an extra "list" tag that made this appear really odd in FireFox ...

I flipped a property in NZ and made out well.
Then I went all in on a block of apartments in Japan. I'm about $2.5mil in the hole now

bagman, the sad part is that in order to retire comfortably at a decent age you will need FAR MORE than $100k. tack on two more zeros and you might come close.

not that i have so much money to speak of, myself.

our generation is so fucked. we'll all be working until we're dead.

Umm-yeah, really sorry about that.

I'll accept YOUR apology, Mike ...

Our generation is pretty well fucked. THANKS Tru.

Yeah, I know it will take a lot more and that's why I am plowing away, adding 1% more of my salary per year to retirement + the 5-6% firm match. At this rate in 2013 I will max out the amount you can contribute to a 401k per year.  I only started really investing in my future 6 years ago at 25, so I feel like I'm doing ok considering. I have 80% of my 401k in stocks, very aggressive. I feel the pains and gains as the market goes up and down. Lost 70% between 2008 - 2009, gained back that plus 35% by early this year, but now back down to -12% YTD.

I really really don't want to have to work until I'm dead ;(. I don't think anybody should have to.

Then I went all in on a block of apartments in Japan. I'm about $2.5mil in the hole now

Nick, say what?! What's your occupancy rate? Are you taking in rental income? How long do you think it will take to break even on that? Still working on millionaire status by 35?

Kyle, my superannuation receives 20% of my gross salary (10% by me, 10% by my employer), 12% is only going to provide you with the absolute bare minimum to live @ age 65. I plan to increase my contribution to 15% in 2013, assuming that the world doesn't end by then.

I'm not so sure your generation is all that fucked. The trick will be to react to opportunity when it arisies, sort the duds from the good ones, and focus on implementing a plan. It really isnt that hard, the way I see it, just in real estate in the US alone at the minute, the opportunities are there in a big way.

Trick is boys... There is no generation. It's always been the same.

I've lost almost $3/4mil over the last 5 years ...
I'm still just "keeping on keeping on" ...

Amateur.

just in real estate in the US alone at the minute, the opportunities are there in a big way.

do you think US real estate will come back up in value? i'm guessing it will, but it'll take 20 years or so (i think).

i'm really not good with money. i don't follow stocks and such like bagman does. i've had my old 401k in the same stocks/ bond mix for a while now. i suuuuck.

now i'm so broke that i can't afford to save any money after all my bills are paid. my current job doesn't do any 401k matching, anyways.

I used to make great money and blew it on all sorts of stupid shit. Now I make ok money and have at least learned to not blow it, but I'm not exactly able to put lots away now either.

>>do you think US real estate will come back up in value? i'm guessing it will, but it'll take 20 years or so (i think).<<

They will come back up some within the next 5-10 years but you have to understand that the prices just before the fall were extremely inflated and completely unrealistic. Still, right now is a really good time to buy as long as you think the government will remain stable. If not then it's anyone's guess but owning property means you have the right to protect it in any event and you can't be evicted except under imminent domain.

But even then you still get current assessed value.

 If you have a chance to buy from a private owner go for it because you can often get really good deals this way and you don't have to deal with a lot of the crap from financial corporations.

just in real estate in the US alone at the minute, the opportunities are there in a big way.

do you think US real estate will come back up in value? i'm guessing it will, but it'll take 20 years or so (i think).

No. You wont see nation wide recovery. and 90 something % of areas will never see the prices they did ever again.

You can find undervalued property in huge numbers atm.  and you can find them in places that need rentals.  You make your profits from tax deductions until that area starts having growth.

Look at the situations vacant section then check the real estate in that area focusing on bank repos.