indeed good advice taylor, and defiantly good info. but im yet still confused on what to do in my situation.
i'll probably just end up waiting for prices to drop a little in the mean time.

Seriously dude, if I had $400K it'd be so well invested I'd be taking months off work to enjoy spending the money it was making.

i had a financial adviser managing most my money a couple years ago. He was a pretty good one from others experience, except that he invested right at the verge of the recession, and obviously i lost quite a bit of it.
Then i sort of made the mistake of switching over to CIBC for management. Made everything back.
And now im back at square 1 of what to do.
I thought about stocks, except im not knowledgeable at all with that, and im not sure if i want to rely on a broker with stocks.
So i thought of real estate. Like others have said, and i am asian, this does look like a "safe" route to go. Except now that i think of it, im not sure if i want to take out such a big chunk of money for property when i can pool my money together to try and make more.
Now this brings me to asking, how i can do that?
i know it sounds stupid when u hear of some guy having a big amount of money and not knowing what to do with it, but here i am. and im honestly asking for opinions.

Thanks.

It all depends on your goals and how much time you have

Do you want short term gains or are you saving for retirement?
Are you able to trade everyday or are you planning to buy/hold?
i.e. I am able to keep an eye on the market when I'm at work b/c i am mostly on the computer at work..

im mainly looking for short term gains (15yrs or so)
keeping eyes on the market is the luxury of time that i dont have.

Current real estate trend is up or flat. Where it's going to go is likely down.


While everyone in this city are trying to figure out the next great property to buy, I've already sold it and have been buying up places in the US for cheap - and not in garbage areas like Vegas and remote areas which are not good areas to buy in at all.

The smart money was out of the market in Vancouver a while ago, it's the wantabes that are buying up stuff right now. This includes Asian investors as well as local buyers as well.

While markets have been pushed up because of buyers outside of the country, it's been a bad market for a while. When stocks are at an alltime high, it's when most people are talking about them and want a piece of the action. This is usually around the time when prices start to tank.

This topic has been beaten to death with the local market and has been beaten to death in every other market in every other part of the world, especially over the last 3 years.

The fact is, investing is the hardest easiest thing to do. The basics is all you need to know but the hype causes people to stray away from the tried and true methods.

Prices in Vancouver make no sense at all and the ratios are horrible for returns. If you need a place to live, buy cheap or rent. Hold off on the huge purchases or buying the max you can afford.

With the economy as bad as it's likely to be in the next few years, that's a very bold suggestion to consider.

This is slightly off topic, but taylor, you mentioned that 100K in the bank can easily (and i read 'safely') make a 6% return. If you had 100K, where would you put it to gain 6%?

Lots of Canadian companies pay dividends.

I've politely refrained from giving specific investment advice and will continue to do so. I'm not an expert, and am looking for an expert to manage my money.

I have my opinion on real estate, yet not as many for investments. Give me time, its my new pet project to learn lots more about.

Wise words, especially to avoid people pointing the finger later if it doesn't work as you planned.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-...rticle1590993/

LOL at the "out of nowhere" line, perhaps they should be better informed on the biggest purchase of their life.

They are both elementary school teachers. It is no wonder why kids today have little financial education.

LOL
thanks for that post taylor

If i was in that situation, I would stay in the current condo, save up, and wait for a better time to upgrade...
but I guess they just don't have a grasp of what's happening in the market right now..

They are early 30s, just married, and stuck in a 1bdrm condo when thinking about starting a family.

This is exactly what I've been warning about: people stretching themselves into closets which soon become coffins.

http://www.theprovince.com/business/...612/story.html

Legit concerns of people planning to move in the units?? or flippers now knowing that their investment is not going to profit??

Im going with the last one.

^ ^ ^

Agreed. I'll bet money that they'd be mum about it if they knew they would clean up.

I'm not privy to the actual contracts, but on the outside, these disgruntled buyers are wasting their time. The "issues" they have listed as justification for getting out of their purchase agreements are deficiencies that the developer can correct within the warranty period. It's not like they purchased a unit on X floor with X bedrooms and received a completely different unit on a different floor.

When you move into a new unit, there will always be deficiencies. It's up to the buyer to file them with the developer and follow-up with the warranty provider if they are not completed within an acceptable time period.

I gotta agree. Items such as applicances installed incorrectly and fireplaces not working properly are deficiencies. These kinds of things happen with new condo's all the time. The purchasers need to come up with a deficiency list and bring it up with the developer.