Laughably bad finanical advice

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For those that are unfamiliar with annuities, here is a quick summary:

1) You pay for the annuity in one lump sum up front

2) You get paid a certain amount of money each month until you die (the amount per month never changes in a basic annuity)

3) Nothing of the initial investment is left over after you die (so if you die 2 months after you buy it, they keep the whole amount)

4) Things that hurt the value of an annuity after you purchase it are inflation and rising interest rates (think of an annuity as a really long term bond)

In summary, you would only buy an annuity in the current financial climate if you thought the follow were true:
a) Inflation is currently, and will be for a long time in the future, very low
b) Interest rates will not rise any time in your lifetime
c) You think you will live much longer than the average person your age/race/gender
d) Which ever currency you recieve your payments in has no chance of going away
 
benjamen said:
1) You pay for the annuity in one lump sum up front
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I had an annuity that I could deposit money in whenever I wanted. But I cashed it out (at a penalty) and bought PMs with it. Unfortunately, I lost all of it in a tragic boating accident.
 
Hahahahah!

I am constantly amazed at how stupid silver owners always take their metal out in their boats, sink the boat and lose their silver.

Perhaps we shoukd all take the Coast Guard "Power Squadron" training? ; - )
 
I read that stupid article twice because they correctly predict that inflation eats up savings (good so far...) but then they advise buying an annuity which is... vulnerable to inflation? Huh? So I had to read it again to see if I missed something. So what is the author's logic?

Thanks for wasting my time Ben! :P
 
No ancona. My screen name has to do with Shelbyville Manhattan. From there you can figure it out. ;)
 
...that's crazy. Anybody surprised that Yahoo is constantly in troubles, maybe they are eating their own dog food, that would explain :rotflmbo:

Suggesting ARM in the current climate - it is suicidal, Jaysus... I will probably take a mortgage soon enough, but one thing for sure, it will be FIXED as hell! And let the money printing continue :agree:! (not to mention, if everything comes as planned, I should have quite sizeable pile of shiny, to accompany me on my travel back to Ireland on a ferry.. Wait a second, did I just said, a ferry travel + shiny stuff in all my loose pockets??
 
Todays comic news story about when a government hands out financial advice:
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=156649&sn=Detail&pid=92730

"Worried that the flow of savings is moving towards investment in gold, India's Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said there is a need to spread financial literacy to encourage people to invest in market instruments and not bullion."

"The time is ripe to motivate our educated upper middle-class to climb from savings mode to wealth generation mode.''

"The government has said it would prefer savings to be invested in ``more productive assets'' that would help boost the growth rate."

:rotflmbo::popcorn::rotflmbo:
 
I lost mine too!!

I can not believe someone else had the same boating accident I did...lost everything.
This is precisely why you should leave all financial instruments in a bank like JP Morgan Chase...
 
hey 69800

we like our small boats here at PMB ...
weird how pm lovers are often small boat lovers with a big sense of adventure (-;

welcome aboard


ps.
ooeerrr post number 663
any suggestions for getting through the big one ?
 
bushi said:
...that's crazy. Anybody surprised that Yahoo is constantly in troubles, maybe they are eating their own dog food, that would explain :rotflmbo:

Suggesting ARM in the current climate - it is suicidal, Jaysus... I will probably take a mortgage soon enough, but one thing for sure, it will be FIXED as hell! And let the money printing continue :agree:! (not to mention, if everything comes as planned, I should have quite sizeable pile of shiny, to accompany me on my travel back to Ireland on a ferry.. Wait a second, did I just said, a ferry travel + shiny stuff in all my loose pockets??
Click to expand...

we tried to refi our Wells Fargo with one home equity loan, they offered a higher interest rate than we are now paying (8.9%). It s a new law in Texas, apparently
. But no worry, they offered to refi at 3.% adjustible. :)
 
I wouldn't sell any of my stack, but on the other hand, 80% or so of the paper went a lot nearer the last peak price, after which it's been dropping pretty hard. I'll wait till it crosses the 50 going up again to repurchase paper gold. Right now, it's kind of playing with the line, like it can't decide.

Any motion is money, you just have to be on the right side. What idiot would trade Phyzz with that vig loss? That would be like Scottrade charging a $100 commission for a 100 lot stock trade - you can't win on that. That's not what it's for.
 
Laughable Offer...

benjamen said:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-...RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3
:rotflmbo::rotflmbo::rotflmbo:

1) Apparently gold is at its peak and it is about to drop, SELL NOW!

2) Expect to get less than spot for your physical gold

:rotflmbo::rotflmbo::rotflmbo:
Click to expand...

RE:#2-As a public service I'll throw myself on the sword(just like hitlery)& be happy to buy anyones Au under spot.
I'll even go further & offer the same for Ag.
Again,This was a public service announcement.

:cheers:

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!!
 
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69800 said:
I can not believe someone else had the same boating accident I did...lost everything.
This is precisely why you should leave all financial instruments in a bank like JP Morgan Chase...
Click to expand...

The really, really scarey part is that apparently folks who are prone to buying PMs repeat the same mistake over and over and over and over (the ones who can swim, anyway).
 
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-really-dumb-money-moves-you-ve-got-to-avoid-164637870.html

This article starts off foolishly recommending safe money market accounts, but the end cracked me up:

"A surprising number of people still subscribe to the flawed and circular argument that bonds, including long-term government bonds, are "safe." In reality, bonds—especially long-term government bonds—are the rare example of a bubble that has been explicitly declared.

The Fed is openly printing money and using it to buy up such bonds, driving up the price and driving down the interest rates, in order to help the economy. There is no dispute about this. It's public policy."

"The only reason to buy such bonds in any quantity is to gamble on a 1930s-style depression and world-wide deflation. Such bonds are a gamble, not a safe haven."

:rotflmbo:
 
I wanted to see if there was a bit more buzz about silver in the UK at the moment.

So I went onto moneysavingsexpert.com which is the biggest 'independent' money site in the country.

So I click on savings and investments...

Good news, in the top 5 stickies is the 'Silver discussion threads on forum'

I click on it,

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3086530

Hi everyone

As you know the Forum Team's removed threads discussing investing in silver.

If you're unsure why please read the very last paragraph of this Forum Rule FAQ:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sit...qs#wrongadvice

Please don't post these on the forum in future. There are investment forums available that are much more appropriate for this kind of post. Reporting this "higher up" isn't relevant as Martin sets out the rules that he asks people to abide by if they're going to post on our forum.

If users continue to post on the subject, whether directly or trying to circumvent it by using other terms, the Forum Team will unfortunately have to take further steps.
Click to expand...

There is no sticky about any other savings topic or any other investment being not allowed.

So it looks like you can talk about literally everything on the largest independent money forum in the UK regarding any type of savings and investments - as long as it's not the worlds most enduring form of money!
(Literally nothing else is 'off-limits')

Makes me think even more that silver will be the 'dam-breaker'
 
Yeah, the fiat bugs have a religious fanaticism about gold and silver being taboo subjects. Denninger doesn't like it discussed on his market ticker forums either.

You either buy into the fiat gestalt or they don't want to hear from you.
 
To be fair to money saving expert, they are actually a site about cost control & coupon clipping etc - all investment discussion is banned, the topics you see about it actually relate to finding discount brokerages for sharedealing etc - not the shares themselves.
 
I just spent a few minutes browsing around there and was intrigued by the sheer quantity of absurd regulations and requirements imposed on British subjects by government. The tone of conversation is definitely quite different from here.
 
Ok fair point RealFinney, haven't visited them enough to know.
Still funny that in the savings and investments section of the forum that the only topic off limits seems to be silver.

Edit: Just clicked on the first post in the forum and the poster writes this -

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4529037

I have been looking through Martins advice and am thinking if I am QUICK (as in go in to the bank and apply) .. I could Withdraw that money (from Co-op ISA)
and put £2500 (the min) into Martins recommended Santander 2.5% Easy Access ISA.
Click to expand...

(Martin is the founder & editor of website)

Im no expert but personally I would be advising people to run a mile from Santander! (Spains biggest bank)

(Also he has his money in a co-op atm which is similar to credit unions in the US so prob safer there than a traditional bank and definitely safer than a spanish bank imo)
 
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...I don't know if it is just me usual paranoid self, but:
  1. all companies are here to make profits. The bigger the profits, the better.
  2. if the company doesn't obey pt #1 above as their deepest religion, they are going out of business, sooner or later - because OTHERS do obey it as religion, and therefore they will put them out of business
  3. it also applies to banks (surprise, surprise!)
  4. The higher interest bank is paying to YOU, the depositor - the more harm it does to their profits. Ie, successful banks, would HATE to give you a high interest rate, they want to give you AS LITTLE interest on your savings, as they possibly can get away with, while still retaining customers.
  5. if they give you a high interest rate, it is because they HAVE to. They are either a) a newcomer, who needs to be agile, aggressive, risk-taking, needs to pay their share in blood, sweat & tears before being able to reap the fruits of their hard labor, OR b) if they are established bank (SANTANDER) - they are HAVING TROUBLES ATTRACTING DEPOSITORS otherwise, and are FORCED to do, what they really hate to do (and it puts additional pressure on their earnings - having to part with more money to pay interest to depositors)

ERGO: I would stay miles away from ANY established bank, who offers more competitive interest rates to depositors, than the market in general. They are either:
a) invented a secret sauce, allowing them to make more money (unlikely)
OR
b) are either in troubles attracting depositrs (=funding their fictional reserves), OR poorly managed (they have enough depositors, yet they are WILLINGLY giving them higher interest rates, than they need to)

Of course, everyone's appetite for risk/reward is different, and your mileage may vary.
 
I use "too good to be true" as a kind of indicator to get out and put my money back in the bank on trades. Because it almost always IS too good to be true...if you hang around.

The trick, of course, is knowing what constitutes that. It's different in different cases.
 
Inflation is running hotter here in the UK compared to the US -thanks to us winning the currency war and killing ourselves fastest- the fudged government CPI is 2.7%.

It's pretty fucking crazy when a "too good to be true" rate from an insolvent foreign bank is...still a negative real rate of return by even the fantasy land figures they cram down our throats.
 
RealFinney said:
It's pretty fucking crazy when a "too good to be true" rate from an insolvent foreign bank is...still a negative real rate of return by even the fantasy land figures they cram down our throats.
Click to expand...

...welcome to the ZIRP world - but fret not, it is all for "our own (and greater) good". /Sarcasm off.

But I remember Reggie's piece, maybe a year ago, about Spanish banks - they were fucked already back then, and the beauty of the situation was, that Spanish government was "bailing them out", with money borrowed from ECB, so the banks would in turn... buy more Spanish government bonds... :rotflmbo: Speaking of the definition of insanity and "circular reasoning works because circular reasoning works" :rotflmbo:

So, in case of "Satander" Bank, it most probably IS too good to be true, and I just suppose that despite all the "restructurising" and bailouts, they still have troubles funding their required fictional reserve ratio, thus doing everything they can, to get depositors on board. There was huge outflow of depositor's money from the Spanish banks over the last year(s), I haven't read anything more recent on this, but I suppose, nothing has changed fundamentally, so it is hard to imagine to me, why these outflows would reverse recently.
 
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