I've said before that I'm not trying the write the Great Canadian Novel here but on occasion it's nice to know that someone is reading. Feed-back is a gauge of readership. I receive emails from readers as there is a link to my email address on my profile. Some readers provide feed-back for all to see by adding a comment to a post. These are always welcome.
Recently a couple of young guys posted comments to specific posts. Now, you ask, how would I know an anonymous comment comes from a young guy? Have a look at the comments of December 28 under the post Old Guys Getting $crewed... More recently, on January 21, a reader suggested I may be fibbing about historical deposit rates of 8 - 9% with his comment to the Orphan Fund(s) post. So, what's the clue that these comments came from young guys? Simple, all of us old guys remember the interest rates of the eighties and nineties as mentioned in my responses to these two comments.
Yes, most of us remember mortgages with interest rates in the low to mid teens, or even higher for a brief period in 1981. Those who were actually able to save bit, do remember investing in 60 month GICs that paid 8, 9 and even 10%. A common annual RSP contribution was to simply buy an new GIC at the going 60 month rate. Yup, back then, we all knew the rule of 72. The rate of interest received divided into 72 reveals when your money will double. A deposit invested at 10% would double in 7.2 years...and double it did...throughout the eighties and early nineties.
It goes without saying these extremely high interest rates did as much harm as good. Borrowers got clobbered while dept free savers happily doubled their money with absolutely no risk. Different times to be sure.
Recently a couple of young guys posted comments to specific posts. Now, you ask, how would I know an anonymous comment comes from a young guy? Have a look at the comments of December 28 under the post Old Guys Getting $crewed... More recently, on January 21, a reader suggested I may be fibbing about historical deposit rates of 8 - 9% with his comment to the Orphan Fund(s) post. So, what's the clue that these comments came from young guys? Simple, all of us old guys remember the interest rates of the eighties and nineties as mentioned in my responses to these two comments.
Yes, most of us remember mortgages with interest rates in the low to mid teens, or even higher for a brief period in 1981. Those who were actually able to save bit, do remember investing in 60 month GICs that paid 8, 9 and even 10%. A common annual RSP contribution was to simply buy an new GIC at the going 60 month rate. Yup, back then, we all knew the rule of 72. The rate of interest received divided into 72 reveals when your money will double. A deposit invested at 10% would double in 7.2 years...and double it did...throughout the eighties and early nineties.
It goes without saying these extremely high interest rates did as much harm as good. Borrowers got clobbered while dept free savers happily doubled their money with absolutely no risk. Different times to be sure.
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