My mother is financially retarded - Off-topic

So i'm making this thread to vent..and ask for advice from fellow XDA'ers
basically my mother planned a trip to visit her parents in china for 20days, but she plans to bring 10,000 CAD and spend it on..well she doesn't even seem to have a idea what she is going to spend her money on.. Now 10,000 CAD isn't that much money.. but the issue comes from the fact that my family is paying mortage, my parent's salaries aren't very high..they are just about enough to cover the mortage and save a few hundred bucks a month.. and from what i'm hearing from my dad it seems that 10,000 cad is all there is in the account..so it seems like a stupid move to take out most if not all of the money out of the bank for a 20day trip, not to mention the fact that she already has a place to live in china..
10,000cad is roughly 60922.30 yuan btw
of course i wouldn't be worried if my mother was a bit more financially intelligent.. but there have been a lot of times when she bought fake "brand name" stuff for an extremely high price.. knowing that theres a lot of that crap in china i'm quite worried
so ya..hopefully you guys would give me some inputs on how to talk her out of being an idiot..

Wtf? Suggest to her she might have trouble carrying that much money with her through customs...
That's not a lie either, here you would get stopped with that much cash... And rightly so.
Failing that, what about the risk of robbery? I wouldn't take that much money with me... And I'm presumably slightly larger and more intimidating looking than your mother...
10k is just silly...

pulser_g2 said:
Wtf? Suggest to her she might have trouble carrying that much money with her through customs...
That's not a lie either, here you would get stopped with that much cash... And rightly so.
Failing that, what about the risk of robbery? I wouldn't take that much money with me... And I'm presumably slightly larger and more intimidating looking than your mother...
10k is just silly...
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she told me that i have no say in this since i don't have a job(that is true, in some ways) ..
i'm kinda trying to get her to tell me why she would even want to bring that much money to begin with.. but she seems to be in a locked down mode..-.-
and yes..there are actually a lot of theives in china too.. my issue is that nothing i say get through to her.. i think it could be the fact that she's turning to her 50s that's driving her crazy.. for example
she recently tried to get my dad to invest in some middle of nowhere condos that have not been sold despite being up for sale for more than 2 years now.. i tried to talk her out of it back then with no luck, thankfully we didn't have enough money to invest in that place or we'd be in a lot of **** right now.. but this bringing the entire bank account back home crap seems to get to me, considering the fact that it's entirely possible that she succeed and food/services cost 2-5 times less than prices here(after you convert the currency, of course..)

also about bringing 10grand into china..she doesnt plan to bring cash, but she intends to use one of those overseas transfer service..

Overseas transfer services? That seems like a silly idea. I don't know what the fees are, but even if it's 1% of the transfer amount, that's 100 CAD, which is substantial (to me, at least).
Does your mother intend to give some of the money to your grandparents in China? I mean, it is customary in Chinese culture for the children to support their parents.

ohyeahar said:
Overseas transfer services? That seems like a silly idea. I don't know what the fees are, but even if it's 1% of the transfer amount, that's 100 CAD, which is substantial (to me, at least).
Does your mother intend to give some of the money to your grandparents in China? I mean, it is customary in Chinese culture for the children to support their parents.
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i understand if she wants to give her parents money, most definitely.. in fact i expect her to be giving away most of that money.. but the thing is.. we are still paying for the darn mortage.. we barely save a few hundred bucks a month yet she intends to take out the entire bank(that we saved up, at least).. which sounds very stupid to me..

woo
talked her out of the crap by telling her that she's going through a difficult time and that if she does this we could have the potential of losing the house

Just hope your mother is good at bargaining and doesn't buy american/foreign brand names, cuz that's just stupid.
$1 gets you a reply

Related

What would you do with your money if you win the lottery?

Title says all..Please post your ideas
hmm, i would buy few ppc's (and i can assure u iphone will not be in them), give some to charity..take a world tour..buy myself a car
btw, what would you do ?
ather90 said:
hmm, i would buy few ppc's (and i can assure u iphone will not be in them), give some to charity..take a world tour..buy myself a car
btw, what would you do ?
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He won't tell, it's like the Italian Job, he's going to use everyone else's ideas !
Not really haha. I don't play the lottery....I got everything I want
You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...
JimmyMcGee said:
You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...
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great man. GREAT man.
i think id buy ppcs, a couple cars, and maybe a BIG house
I'd travel with my friends and see the world, then I'd use the rest to make other people happy too. I'd have a lot of paintball, airsoft and real guns and a huge yard.
Also I'd have a midget. With a tuxedo.
i wd buy a PS3 a realllyy large TV and some nice games for ps3
I would donate half to my favorite charities, secure my kids education, pay off all my debt, buy my wife some nice clothes and jewelry, and have an investment firm manage the rest.........
Oh who am I kidding, I'll end up blowing it all on hookers and alcohol.
First, Pay off debts, put away more than enough for my children's education, buy a really nice large house on the lake, Boat, 1963 Corvette Stingray for myself and a four door jeep for myself for winter driving,and whatever vehicle my wife wants and do lots of travelling. I would also set up my parents and mother in law for a very comfortable retirement which I would insist should start immediately (they hate their jobs) I love my job, So I would continue working
JimmyMcGee said:
You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...
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you have a friend whose name is Asadulah?
if I win the lottery, I would invest half of it in convincing my mom to name my new-born brother Asadullah...
please don't ask me about the second half
i would do nothing and keep living like i was b4 i won. I'd put the winning away for a rainy day.
Keeping it simple, b/c the more complex your life is, the less happy you will be.
First of all, build my house on my beautifull land!
Then, do a looong travel with my wife to Asia
Help this communty with a laaarge donation
Buy me a new Land Rover, and the rest on some SECURE investment, maybe buying gold... as any currency seems to be secure on this days.
Pay off debts, get some cars, some clothes, some tech.
Put money away for college
Buy nice house
Buy nice car
Take out 1mil for personal spending
Leave rest for my future children and in case I ever want to invest in a booming company or buy stocks in coniditions such as this when they're dead just so they can rise later and be worth millions! lol
zeezee said:
i would do nothing and keep living like i was b4 i won. I'd put the winning away for a rainy day.
Keeping it simple, b/c the more complex your life is, the less happy you will be.
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Hmm. As much as I would like to agree with you on that, and my mom and dad say the same thing if they won the lottery, I think that is soo untrue. Right now you are thinking it is impossible to win the lottery, that is why you say that. If you had actually won a 10mil lottery, I can guarantee you wouldn't be saying that. Even though I don't know you all too well, I don't believe ANYONE could do that. Just my personal opinion. Maybe you're those 1 in 10 million people who is able to just reject the urge to spend money when you have an abundance of it.
Pay for College lol and enough computers to get me threw the next few years lol with verizon boradband cards of course
j77drummer said:
Pay for College lol and enough computers to get me threw the next few years lol with verizon boradband cards of course
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SH*T!!! I would buy VZW just for aggrivating me, then sell it all to Sprint !
First I would pay off all of mine and my families debt. Then I would deposit it all in savings accounts. Then I would continue working for one year. Then I would live off of the interest it gained. This way I would never spend the money. And my children and grand-children...etc would never have to work. There would always be a secure income for them. I would also buy Life insurance to equal the amount, so that when I die, the money would double.
Yeah-Right!! I'D PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR!!
I would pay off my debt and invest in the company I work for. I would try to keep working because I honestly love my job!

one year on.. do you think the economy is better?

what are your thoughts?
p/s If you are interested in forex, you can go to this website for forex guides and EUR/USD views.
www.TheGeekKnows.com
The articles are simple to read and understand.
I am not a pesimistic person, but at least on my country, the economic recesion is far away from see the light...
Hard times correspond to working harder!
the economy is getting worse and worse every day in every country i think we should go to space and make new countries now
I'm proof that the economy is in the dumps.
At home enjoying time with my little ones...
HotJobbing, Craiglistin', Careerbuilding, Indeeding, sleeping...
Aaaahhhh....this is the life...
2 months and counting...
No rush.
Simply stated, the economy is getting worse.
Creditors are becoming more stringent as are people with expendable capital.
We're in for the long haul.
Worse. Read up.
Oh look!!! I'm ranting!!!
leobox1 said:
what are your thoughts?
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Sorry...but what do you mean by "One year on?" This situation we're all in has been brewing since 2006...it's just the lame terminology of what a recession is (a widespread decline in the GDP and employment and trade lasting from six months to a year). I worked with the building trade (provided tools and equipment) and we could see the slow decline in building around the last quarter in 2006. This was a sign that there was something going on...and of course the 5 year mark on ARM loans for homes was just a nail in the economic coffin. People being given homes that banks knew they could not afford--lying--err..."Underwriting" assets to inflate a person's assets so they could get a bigger loan. So...here we are with
-people living in apartments,
-working hard to get a condo or a townhouse for $120K in 2000,
-smiling in 2002 at the inflated equity their $425K home currently has,
-Using said equity to purchase a $700K house at ARM and paying only $2K a month
-Realizing that the 5 years is up and that their loan has now skyrocketed to $5K a month
-Not being able to afford such a payment, $300K in equity down the drain...
-back in an apartment.
Very sad, but I'm sure you know of at least on of these situations...
For those that are having trouble paying their home (at no fault of their own) such as loss of income, disability, hardship...Google up HAM loan modification...
might help...
leobox1 said:
what are your thoughts?
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Unfortunately, the picture is not as rosey as the government & wallstreet want U to beleave. We have a long way to go for paying down the deposite and creating good jobs!
I am a pesimistic person
but I say it may have gotten a bit better
but the damage don with companys going under
and people being fired have not peeked yet nor is it likely
to this year
In India, i think we have not even seen as such as being seen by Americans.
Lots of Indian shifting back to India from America. But nonetheless we have seen some decline in sales and jobs markets, but not as much as in abroad.
guess on the ground, things are still tough..
then its scary to see the markets value going up these days again as it may
be a bubble again...
when you hit rock bottom there is only up to go
think it got some raising to do before it could be a bubble
because now most is worth more then you can get for it
Still stuck in the rut no job not prospects no future "yeah i'm making a joke" but infact i have seen no change in the current climate with work being the bigest was made redundant and the field i work in is a bismal "in my location" and has been since the day i had to leave........
Fix Up........... Look Sharpe........
Things can only get better
+1!!
That´s the positive thinking!!
Cheers for that!
oil is now at $70+
way above the low of $30+
Unemployment index is still very high, and many companies are still a bit hesitant about hiring. However, Dow Jones is moving up (though it might just be a slight bit of higher confidence), the housing market is slowly recovering (though bad mortgages are still being collected, and "big banks" are still writing them off), hiring is looking somewhat positive for the first time in a while and consumer confidence is starting to pick up again (retail is looking good again, meaning people are spending more).
Nobody's really sure whether this is the light at the end of the tunnel, but it might be a little break from the storm.
I think many factors are behind the share rally. The cash for clunkers program is one. The Chinese government's forcing its bank to lend is another. Then, there is also the issue of financial institution given the leeway to value the toxic assets as anyting they want once again which mask the problems. Add to that the massive money printing by the US government, and some of those money are now propping up the US share market.
Bank CEO's are doing anything in their power (including cooking their books) to justify paying themselves obscene bonuses once again.
When the Chinese government forced the State controlled banks to lend, there is no actual demand by businesses or individuals to borrow it. After all the export market is shrinking rapidly. But since the order from the top must be followed, the banks have to bribe the borrowers to accept the loan. These loans ended up in risky properties, shares, and commodity futures bets and gambles. We already see how the Shanghai A share plunged 20% within a few days recently when the Chinese goverment announced that it is "finetuning" its lending policy. The Chinese has yet to learn to spell bubbles but I think it is definitely forming and that will in turn send a shockwave throughout the world.
Unemployment is still worsening, not geting better. The loan defaults in US is now a more serious problem in the primed mortgage area, even surpassing that in the subprime mortage area. The banks are once again packaging extremely risky assets and try to market them to unsuspecting investors all over again.
According to some reports, the insiders are throwing out their own share at the ratio of 8:1 (for every share they buy, they're selling 8), while the fools are being sucked in once again.
Unfortunately, retail investors will never learn. Memory is short. The reason is we're all driven by greed. Many are investing purely with a herd's mentality. Once again, they're not happy with a small trading profit and try to hold it longer for larger gain. Once again, they may find out that when the market head for the exit again, they can't sell it fast enough as the big guys who have everything computerised.
There is so much spin going around in the market, with so many experts telling us that the economy has recovered. They won't tell you about 77 (edit: Just read from Bloomberg that it is now 84 in the year 2009) US banks have already collapsed this year. According to a very famous analyst, hundreds more are heading that way. They manipulate the unemployment figures to make it look less worst than it actually is. They are trying to encourage private investor to buy up those lousy banks with worthless assets.
I think the world is now characterised by the Chinese doing all the hardwork for the West to enjoy, and their money are still with the west in the form of investments that they are stuck with. This was the great imbalance that, unless corrected, will continue to worsen the problem of the world. This imbalance is unsustainable.
The "stimulus" is no stimulus that resume the heatbeat when removed. It is more like a crutch, which remove, the patient collapses once again.
The world needs reform. The imbalance needs to be addressed. The Chinese/Japanese/Indian must start consuming more and save less. The West must start consuming less and save more. There is also progressively more imbalance in the world in terms of pay. Just look at what the greedy CEOs are getting compared to the ordinary workers. As a result, the purchasing power of the masses, hence consumption power in the economy, will suffer.
Just my 2 cents.
newsuser, nice read
S&P500 is now above 1000
I think economy will recover at least a little bit in the next year. Of course recovering from what happened is hard and takes several years but I am quite positive that it will go up again, at least because everyone tightened their belts a little bit. I think that was kind of an important lesson learned for our society. Not everything works out the way we want forever.
s&p500 is now around 1060 .. rather fast do u folks think?

No job, bills keep coming in, need advice!

Hello!
I left my night shift job last month and still don't have a job. I'm actively looking for a job, but even then I won't make it to my first pay at this pace.
Is there any way I could make a few bucks at least for gas in the meantime, just so I don't reach the negative balance?
hey sorry about that better times will come.. in the meantime I'll give you my advice and this one comes from personal experience(yes I've had a few rough times, who hasn't?)
Last time I was short on the "thing you use to buy potatoes"(sounds better in portuguese) aka money, I sold something(s) that I had and was not making use of, like my PSP for example. Broke my heart to let it go but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The point is, we always keep things we don't use anymore because we think "well I might be needing this some day" and probably will need that thing again but until then there are more important things one might need.
hope this helps
I have been out of work for 6 months...
are you handy around the house? why not post your talents online (painting, wallpapering, cleaning) on free classified postings...
I lost my job in february due to a work injury, and I was physically unable to do most work with out the use of my left arm. I have healed since then but stopped receiving disability pay in october. It has been 10 weeks and unemployment still has yet to come through and help me out.
I also have sold off things that were luxury items like my ATV and an engine I had built sitting around in my garage. A friend of mine supplements his unemployment doing odd jobs he finds off craigslist and I have helped people move and cut firewood for cash. Hoping the economy picks up locally so i can get back to work soon.
Good luck and look everywhere. Craigslist is a good place to start.
what response have you received from the unemployment office?
Have you gone to them?
If you have, did you show the letter stating when disability payments would start and/or end?
They may be waiting from a response from your previous employer...
I don't get unemployment cheques, but I'm getting a job internview this morning. Thankfully, I don't have many financial responsabilities (college student here), but I could use a few bucks just to close the gap 'till I get a job.
As for putting gas in my car... I got rear-ended yesterday, total loss, and 5 minutes later Staples calls for a job offer!
N1c0_ds said:
I don't get unemployment cheques, but I'm getting a job internview this morning. Thankfully, I don't have many financial responsabilities (college student here), but I could use a few bucks just to close the gap 'till I get a job.
As for putting gas in my car... I got rear-ended yesterday, total loss, and 5 minutes later Staples calls for a job offer!
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CA-CHING!!!!!!!
I can already feel your neck stiffening up and a slight loss in feeling both of your pinky toes!!!
Not really, the car took it all so I'm feeling fine, but still. Now I have to get another car with what the insurance company judges my car is worth (360 000 km, but in better condition than anything that mileage).
Trouble likes company
N1c0_ds said:
Not really, the car took it all so I'm feeling fine, but still. Now I have to get another car with what the insurance company judges my car is worth (360 000 km, but in better condition than anything that mileage).
Trouble likes company
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There are lots of sites that pay you to fill in serveys, you only get a couple of dollars each but do 10 a day thats 20-30 dollars suppose lol
Just make sure that the company you represent isn't from Nigeria...
Dang it I hate this laggy keyboatd!!!

It's just getting old now!

Hey so I keep having constant problems with my G1... I want to revert it back to stock firmware and then send it in to T-Mobile for a different phone. Down anybody know if they'll let me get like a BlackBerry cuz I'm tired of Android... thanks.
Well, I feel sorry for you, failing to see the beauty of Android, but I guess we all have our own preferences. Unfortunately, Tmo won't let you trade it in for a different phone. They will replace it with the exact same one if it's faulty. I had to really push the issue once before just to get them to let me have the same phone in a different color. But, I guess you could always trade it in, and sell the refurbished one they send you on ebay, and put that towards a BlackBerry. The 9700 is very, very nice (for a non-touchscreen device with a proprietary, completely non-customizable OS full of antiquated code).
t-mo has a 'LEMON' policy. If you have continued issues with your phone (3 returns) then they'll offer you other phones. If you're pushy they may give you the option for an upgrade. A friend of mine had problems with his G1 and was pushy enough to get the MT3G at upgrade price. It's a lengthy process, but if you're wanting another phone, this is what you'll want to do.
nolimit78 said:
t-mo has a 'LEMON' policy. If you have continued issues with your phone (3 returns) then they'll offer you other phones. If you're pushy they may give you the option for an upgrade. A friend of mine had problems with his G1 and was pushy enough to get the MT3G at upgrade price. It's a lengthy process, but if you're wanting another phone, this is what you'll want to do.
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I hate it when people give this sort of advice. As someone that works as a cell phone salesman, these are the worst and most BS customers we deal with. My phone keeps breaking, give me a new one for free! I will just keep *****ing until I get my way because I am a jackass that can't not break my phone and think I am owed the world!
This isn't what he wants to do at all, since if you ***** enough like this, they will cut you off, like totally cut you off and refuse to give you service. Plus, it is customers like this that drive costs up for everyone else. Gotta recoup the lost money on giving you another $500 phone for $100, and since we aren't recouping it off them because they ***** and demand an upgrade before we have broken even, we gotta jack prices up so we recoup faster...
It takes, on average, 18 months to break even on a smartphone customer.
pjcforpres said:
I hate it when people give this sort of advice. As someone that works as a cell phone salesman, these are the worst and most BS customers we deal with. My phone keeps breaking, give me a new one for free! I will just keep *****ing until I get my way because I am a jackass that can't not break my phone and think I am owed the world!
This isn't what he wants to do at all, since if you ***** enough like this, they will cut you off, like totally cut you off and refuse to give you service. Plus, it is customers like this that drive costs up for everyone else. Gotta recoup the lost money on giving you another $500 phone for $100, and since we aren't recouping it off them because they ***** and demand an upgrade before we have broken even, we gotta jack prices up so we recoup faster...
It takes, on average, 18 months to break even on a smartphone customer.
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well said

I Found A Better Way To Recycle Old Electronics

Hey everyone. I've been coming around these parts for a long time now and I truly love the xda community. So I want to share some info I've recently come across while trying to get rid of my old androids and computers. I wrote all about it already at http://makethebestof.weebly.com/how-not-tos/how-not-to-get-ripped-off-when-recycling. I have found that if you take the time and a little effort, you can make a ton of money off of old or broken android phones. plus, your doing your earthly deeds. done.. dirt... cheap... i apologize.. So here I would like to talk about what we all do with our androids that are too far gone to be sold to places like usell or whatever. So what do you guys all do?
About 60% of my old electronics I give away.
Mostly to my parents when it comes to modern devices (phones, tablets). True, I don't make money off that, but these are the people whose house I live in without having to pay anything. As a result, they're still willing to loan me money for a new device without interest. And it got my dad (who got my S3) to go from 'Smartphones are nonsense, those stupid youths are all obsessed with their phone, even on lunch break, nobody talks anymore!' to him spending 80% of his free time reading on his phone. Bonus!
Anything else that's still useful either finds another home or ends up donated to the Salvation Army.
The rest, I keep. You never know when you may find a use for it, and resell brings you about 5% of the original price here. Not worth it.
I only throw away something if it's completely unfixably dead and I can't find another use for it.
Money has never been of any worth to me other than that I can pay my bills. I'd rather have someone owe me than get a few quid out of it. Much more useful.

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