Freedom 35 Blog’s Growing influence
It’s been a few years since the last post featuring mean comments. I hope this time people will be nicer. 😳
Most of my regular visitors have positive and encouraging discussions in the comment sections on the blog. Thanks guys! 😀 But of course it’s also important to hear opposing views to understand personal finance through different life experiences. I’m not sure if you guys know this, but I’ve been told that my articles can rub some people the wrong way. I know – this was surprising for me to hear too.
Over the last few years this blog has been mentioned on different websites and internet forums, often met with some interesting feedback. I’ve gathered some of those comments today to share with my regular readers so we can look at some fresh perspectives, and perhaps learn something new. 😀
Below are comments written by random people online after they have read my blog posts.
Liquid’s Response
Apparently there’s a lot of people who think my writing is stupid. 
Well, I just have one thing I’d like to say in response to all those people.
I just want them to know that I’m very grateful for their constructive criticism. 🙂 One person even compared my writing to the professionals at CNN. Golly. 😀 Maybe I should work as a financial columnist for a large news organization. I think I can help a lot of people who are struggling with money.
I want to know the best way to become wealthy and reach my freedom 35 goal. This means listening to different people’s ideas, so I can become smarter and make changes to improve my existing financial plan. 🙂
Based on the comments above, it’s clear that many people believe paying down debt should be a high priority. This is an unusual idea to me because I think having debt is okay. I currently only have $426,000 of debt so it’s not even that much. I have spent a lot of money over the last few years buying marijuana stocks, trading Bitcoin, and giving loans to private companies. I was recently thinking about buying a new Tesla to replace my old car. But maybe the anonymous internet folks have a valid point. Perhaps I should focus more on debt repayment instead of purchasing new assets.
Paying off my line of credit sooner would lower my monthly interest payments, so that’s good. But I would also have to delay my spending and investing plans, which is bad. I will have to reflect deeply on this and announce my decision later.
In the meantime, if you liked today’s article and missed out on the previous mean comments posts, feel free to check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
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Random Useless Fact:
You must be doing something right if you are not pleasing all the people all of the time.
That’s right. If we are too busy trying to please everyone else, then we are not being true to ourselves.
All those comments reminded me of those dietary recommendations:
– You must not eat any fat; you should not eat carbs and only white meat; Don’t eat the egg yolk; eat raw food only;…
I suppose everyone has his/her own theory, in both dietary and financial plan.
Everyone case is different, and that everyone has to decide what’s right for himself/herself. What works for one may not be the case for others.
Exactly. It seems that many people on the internet are not aware of this, but you can read something you disagree with and then simply move on with your life. 🙂
LOL I like this blog because Liquid thinks outside of the box. I have significant tax deductible debt but I sleep well at night because I’m properly diversified. During the next downturn I might use debt to pick up bargains.
Thanks. 🙂 Worrying about something we can’t control is not helpful to anyone. No one knows when the next stock market correction is, but when it happens we know that bonds will likely go up. We should be fine as long as we are diversified.
Debt can be used, but it must be used carefully. You have so far successfully used it to increase your investments and those investments have increased in value. The fear is what happens when the value of the investments drops. Will you still be able to cover the debt payments? If your answer is yes, then keep doing what you are doing. You have a much higher risk tolerance than I do. So far you have ben rewarded for that. :O)
Waiting for my investments to drop is what a lot of people are looking forward to, including myself, lol. This is one big experiment for me because I don’t know how things will turn out 4 years from now when my freedom 35 journey ends. As Buffett would say, only when the tide goes out do we see who’s swimming naked. I’m pretty confident I am well prepared for the next economic downturn, but until that happens we won’t know for sure if I’m right or wrong.
I have to admit… I’ve always been very cautious of your borrowing approach to invest.. At the wrong time that would have really nailed you… If you had started this in the 2004 or 2005 era… things would have looked very different… But you jumped on a great time and leverage an overall market that have increased over 3 fold the past 3 years was a very wise thing to do. you really had to screw up to not make money in this market since 2009… I think you are still in a higher risk than normal spot… but you have done a lot to diversify as well so given the over all playing field.. I think you will weather the next storm. It has been great watching all of your moves and how things have worked out well for you. I really considered leveraging the market back in 2012 and now.. really really wished I did. But I’ve chosen the other road of having no debt… Well I currently have a $45K business debt remaining, but I am brushing the $1M mark in NW so I feel like the approach I’ve chosen worked to get me here… However, Being… Read more »
Wow. Nice job, Tim. $1 million isn’t what it used to be, but it’s still a lot of money. 🙂 I have many engineering friends who are also doing quite well. I studied a little EE back in university but flunked the course because it was too hard lol. That’s why I became a graphic artist instead. Congrats on accumulating so much wealth. I predict you can reach the $2 million mark in half the time it took you to reach $1 million.
My very non-professional opinion is that it is mostly about cash flow. If you dividend stocks that survived the 2009 crash without cutting dividends and those dividends are sufficient to cover your interest owed you should be okay. In addition if your spare income from your work can cover your payments you should be okay. The percent of leverage you use is not the whole story. The actual numbers matter too. 100% leverage for a guy who owes $50,000 is much less dangerous than a guy who owes $5,000,000 because the $50,000 guy should be able to go to work and cover the cash flow.
So when starting building wealth leverage is much less dangerous than later on in the game. But basically consider various cash flow scenarios and see how you would hold out 🙂
Good points, Steve. In my also non-professional opinion, people can afford to take on more financial risk earlier in life because they have less to lose. But over time we de-leverage and reduce risk as our focus changes from growth in the beginning, to income stability and capital preservation in the later stages of our lives. Investing can be a long road. And it’s important to prepare for all the bumps along the way. I like how you mentioned that dividends can be used to cover debt expenses. That is the reason why the majority of my stock portfolio is filled with dividend growth stocks like TD, RY, ENB, and others that didn’t cut their dividends back in the 2009 recession. My total dividend income has grown to $12,000 this year. Additionally I earn about $8,000 a year in interest from fixed income investments such as bonds and business loans. Meanwhile the total interest expense on all my debts is $14,000 a year, less than my total passive income. As you say, cash flow is super important. Which is why I have structured my finances so that even in a 2009 style market correction, my loans can still be serviced.… Read more »
Haters gonna hate.
That is all.
How’s the new job going?
Is it same industry as your longest job?
New job is going well. It’s located in Yaletown so I have to dress like a hipster everyday in order to fit into the scene. It’s the same line of work as my longest job. Speaking of which, that company I use to work for recently closed down. Over 100 people lost their jobs. 🙁 It’s a good thing I was laid off from that company many months ago. I’ve worked at 3 different jobs since then and I plan to stay where I am for at least the foreseeable future. I assume trying to find a new job now and competing with everyone else who’s newly unemployed would be much harder.
They are harsh critics because your “plan” isn’t replicable. It relies on 1) a rising stock market, and 2) falling interest rates.
Eliminate/reverse one, or both, of these factors and your “plan” fails.
Stocks make up only 1/3rd of my investment portfolio. The S&P/TSX Composite dropped by about 30% from a high in Aug 2014 to a low point in Jan 2016 before bouncing back up. Despite the poor performance in the Canadian equity market my net worth went up about $120,000 over that period due to a consistent savings rate and increasing value of other asset classes.
The Bank of Canada started to increase its benchmark interest rate in July last year. Rates have been raised 4 times so far. Nevertheless my net worth has climbed about $180,000 since the beginning of this tightening cycle, partly due to strong returns from foreign investments. And it was during a volatile period in my career where I got laid off, lol.
My strategy is to manage a diversified portfolio and take advantage of financial leverage whenever there’s an appropriate margin of safety. 🙂 It’s not directly correlated to the stock market or interest rates.
It’s not?
Think you would have been as “successful” or even thought about your “strategy” if interest rates were 12% and there was an equity and RE bear market? Probably not. You’re a one trick pony who won the right place-right time lottery. Maybe. We’ll see in 30 years…
I don’t know how my finances would be if economic circumstances were different. I just do the best with what I have. As Gandalf once said, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. 🙂 It would be quite fascinating to see a bear market in real estate and stocks, and interest rates rise up to 12% from its current state. I’ve never seen that before in my life lol. 😀
I suppose Tiger Woods should hand back his money and trophies because he was in a golfing generation with no other legends.
I suppose Warren Buffett should resign and hand back his earnings because he lived in a time with a stock market, increasing flow of information and family/friends with whom to create wealth to begin with.
I suppose Steve Jobs shouldn’t be revered because he happened to cross paths with Steve Wozniak.
I suppose that Liquid has a relatively fully functioning body and mind. Really Liquid shouldn’t be using these assets at all or the internet for research. He should just purchase a dog and allow the dog to make the decisions.
With any strategy there must be luck and an ability to make the most out of the situation presented to create a positive outcome. That is what I Liquid’s approach doing.
Have you thought about leaving Vancouver?
Greater pastures in Alberta. You could rent or sell your place in Vancouver and get something larger in Edmonton or Calgary.
I wouldn’t mind living in Calgary and get to see the Stampede every year. I still prefer the milder climate in Vancouver though. It’s possible that I can retire in Alberta with a lower cost of living. But there are more jobs in my field of work in B.C. so I will stay here for now. 🙂
I think you have to look at personal finance the same way you look at game plans for sports. Some teams win with very good offences & others win with really good defenses. The key is knowing your teams strengths and weaknesses, the other teams strategy, and being able to modify your game plan accordingly.
Honestly, I’ve lived both lives!
I’ve been the mega saver that was scared of debt & paid everything off. (Great defence)
I’ve been the highly leveraged guy who’s comfortable with “good” debt because the return is higher than the interest paid on it and the resulting cash flow has been great. (Great offence)
What made me change was the low interest environment we are living in!
It sounds like you’ve seen it all. 🙂 Having both strong office and defence would be ideal. Luck can play a big part in success, but I believe we create our own luck. Opportunity plus action leads to results. And opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.
The good thing is there are opportunities in every market. Right now borrowing money to invest still makes sense to me. But when interest rates are higher, it will be a good time to sell those investments to buy debt and other fixed income investments to take advantage of rising rates. The more expensive it costs to borrow money, the more investors make on money they lend out. 😀
[…] About once a year, Freedom 35 Blog puts together a bunch of negative comments about his blog from various anonymous internet folk. They’re pretty funny. Nice to see he’s got a […] financialuproar.com/2018/09/29/saturday-linkfest-30-or-1-its-complicated/
They are just jealous. You have increased your net worth in leaps and bounds and have trouble looking for the grey in their black and white picture 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Thanks Gen Y. 🙂 A healthy dose of skepticism is good, but when someone becomes too skeptical they miss out on seeing the opportunities available to them. Have a good weekend.
Stick to your plan… you are doing fine. Debt can be a tool if kept in check and understood as you do. In the end you do this for you, and only share your experiences, and really that is all that matters. Cheers to your successes and learning’s so far. I’m certain your life is far less stressful than many of the commenters. The shape of your curve defines how well you are really doing, and to be honest, yours is very smooth – Cheers
Thanks Phil. Stress can lead to health problems. Having one’s finances in order can relieve a lot of stress and improve one’s lifestyle. That’s why I’m working harder now, so I can retire early like you and not have to stress out anymore over losing a job facing a major car repair. 🙂
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