Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
AxelHeyst
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

Hi Cam, welcome and very interesting journal!

How did you find the permaculture homestead to stay at? Are you worktrading, interning, paying for rent, or ? Are there others there like you? What are your impressions? (asking for a friend ;)

You mentioned being a dabbler - you might like Range by Daniel Epstein. tl;dr > the people who spend a lot of time trying different things are more likely to find really good matches for what they end up doing with the majority of their time, as compared to people who get on one track early and stick with it.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

:D @Married2aSwabian It's all easier read than done :D But it is worth a try I think!

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

AxelHeyst wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:44 am
Hi Cam, welcome and very interesting journal!

How did you find the permaculture homestead to stay at? Are you worktrading, interning, paying for rent, or ? Are there others there like you? What are your impressions? (asking for a friend ;)

You mentioned being a dabbler - you might like Range by Daniel Epstein. tl;dr > the people who spend a lot of time trying different things are more likely to find really good matches for what they end up doing with the majority of their time, as compared to people who get on one track early and stick with it.

I'm glad you like it, it's a lot of fun. It's like the journalling I've been doing on paper for a while now but people can comment on it. Very cool.

And I started posting on Permies late last year I think. I posted a bunch of projects I'd been working on, and did a lot of the PEP activities as well. A lady on there saw my posts and sent me a message asking if I'd like to learn more at her homestead, and it went from there. I'm paying $400 a month, and that's to cover the extra costs of me being here. This place is the definition of land rich but money poor. There is just enough money to get by and pay the minimal expenses, but not much extra. It's a beautiful place though - lots of goats, a couple horses, lots of chickens, and two dogs that are really sweet. The garden too looks more like a rainforest than a garden! I've built two hugelkultur beds so far named Hugh and Gill (very clever I know) and there is some squash growing on them. It's a great experience so far. I think if I'm gonna do anything next it'll be something like Workaway - a trip like that sounds so neat. Keeping costs to a minimum, building real connections with people and learning a ton at the same time. For now I'm working on getting marketable skills my welding course this fall will help a lot with that. After that I'm gonna be getting myself in somewhere to start my electrical apprenticeship.

I like the sound of Range, I will check it out when I've got some free reading time - currently I have too many books on the go already lol.

white belt
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by white belt »

A few more random thoughts since you’re looking at bikes:

-Pay attention to the type of roads/paths you’ll be riding on. You may want to opt for wider tires or mountain bike suspension if you routinely ride on poorly maintained roads. Those thin tires are great on perfectly smooth surfaces, but most of the world is not a perfectly smooth surface. Wheels can be substituted to a point on depending on the frame clearance. There is always a speed vs comfort trade off.

-I recommend Tubus rear racks. You’re going to pay more but they are fully steel and rated up to 57 lbs. I think mine will probably outlast me, so it might be an option to find one used. You can haul a lot with a simple milk crate and 2 DIY panniers made from 5-7 gallon buckets on that rack.

-Related to previous point, I’m a huge fan of getting a budget/mid-range frame and customizing with top quality accessories. You’ll end up with a way better bike than anything available retail. Also not having an expensive brand name bike will reduce theft risk.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

Thank you for the tips, I appreciate it. All of the bikes we have are commuter bikes - so not super knobby tires but not super slim either. I rode a road bike when I fixed one up for the volunteer program, and man was it fun. It had the suicide shifters and everything. I felt every bump in the road, but the acceleration was just insane.

Thanks for the recommendation. I got a rear rack last year that didn't last too long. I forget what brand it was, but it was rated for 45lbs or so and couldn't put up with carrying my toolbox to and from the volunteer repair shop. One of the bolts snapped I think. After that I welded a rack on to the steel frame bike and went with that lol.

That sounds to me like a great idea. I think it is the way I'm gonna go. I've got a couple of good U-locks for locking the frame of the bike up, plus a cable lock just as added inconvenience for any would-be thief. I tend to leave my bike in very high traffic areas too. Or the best thing for me is just to ride my steel frame bike down, because it is quite ugly with the bright blue rack and wooded board screwed onto the rack. No one looks at that and says, "Gee I could sell that on Kijiji and make a good buck" so it's quite safe from thievery.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

I'm getting myself into gratitude again. The past couple weeks have been a bit tougher than I'd anticipated here on the homestead where I'm spending the summer. There has been some conflict due to a long term resident breaking a long-term agreement. I won't get into the details of it because it doesn't help anything.

It had gotten me a little down in the dumps - things have been slow, and I've never been one to enjoy the tension that comes with stuff like this. I kept telling myself that this was a learning experience and that I will look back on it and smile, which is true. But I still had lost a lot of motivation I had before to try new stuff and do what work needs to be done around here.

I also recently visited with my brother and sister for a day. It was great to see them both. However I think I finally admitted to myself that I am not as close with my brother as I once was. I think I've known it for a while but have denied it or thought 'that's just how it is as we get older'. We haven't fought or anything. I think It's partially true that the relationship in adulthood will be different than in childhood - we are living in different places and there just isn't as much time. But in admitting that we aren't as close, I realized that he's been trying to remedy it for a while and I wasn't reciprocating as much because I didn't want to admit that it was necessary.

His birthday is coming up, and I think my sister, me and him are going to visit again. I'm going to write a letter to him for his birthday, talking about why I'm grateful to have him as a brother and how much I enjoy our time together, whether it be playing catch or guitar together. I've already written up a rough draft and have gotten teary-eyed a couple times now. I think I might do this for everyone in my immediate family. Gratitude, especially expressed towards those closest to us is one of those things that we all 'should' be doing but a lot of us don't. I think it's because it involves some vulnerability. But the more I think about it, I don't think you can have a truly close and loving relationship without being vulnerable. So it's something I'm working on.

I'm also going to take just a minute or two per day to write down three things (person, place or thing really) that I'm grateful for. It could be about anything from how blue the sky is to the cute girl that smiled at me in the grocery store. I'm going to do it right after my stretches, which I do right before bed. I think it will be a great way to end the day. It'll make it easier for me to be grateful everyday too which can only be a good thing. I think I'm going to commit to 90 days of three things. After 90 days if I want to stop I can, but I think I might just want to keep going.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

Hello I am back. Back from the homestead and back on here. I'm heading on a trip to BC tomorrow with my sister so I figured I'd make a post on here instead of packing. Lol. Not much packing to do though as we're only going for a week.

As I stated earlier in my journal, I was an index investor for about a year or so. All was fine and dandy and then I read about the collapse of civilization and everything along those lines. I really haven't been doing much with my money for the past little while, but I am doing some more reading now.

I very much like the idea of the permanent portfolio or the golden butterfly portfolio. I like how they both offer pretty reliable moderate growth at relatively low risk. The spread of assets between the different classes makes intuitive sense to me as well.

I've only just begun to read about them, but I think as of now a single fund PP would be best for me. Yes there are higher costs, but at the levels of cash I'm dealing with the differences will be negligible. I am a set it and forget it type of person, because I have so many interests that I don't want to spend too much time focusing on one thing. I tried learning about value investing, and it sounds like a fantastic long term strategy. BUT there is too much analysis and work involved for my liking.

I'm currently partway through the book called The Permanent Portfolio and I'm doing some good learning.

*Edit in the name of transparency I should say that I did not stick to the 90 day gratitude thing. I think I did it for about a week. It sure works though!! Life itself doesn't change but your perspective definitely does, and that is what matters.

AxelHeyst
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

You might be interested in this paper from Nate Hugens.

The PP is next on my reading list too. Your thoughts on investing mirror my own at the moment, keep us posted.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

Ouu I love Nate Hagens! I'll give this a read for sure. Thanks.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

I just finished reading Hagens' economics paper and that was great. He does a good job of outlining the situation without falling into nihilism or denial, as I see lots of other folks doing.

He also has a video on Youtube about myths and reality that I really enjoyed. It's nearly three hours long, so it's good if you're doing a big clean up or a long drive. Or just break it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

I got a car! A new to me 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage DE. It's an automatic with a CVT. It had 85,100km at the time of sale and I paid $3500 for it. I got a set of winter tires on rims included too.

I knew I had to get a car eventually, and this seemed like a nice low cost way to get involved. Mirages get absolutely slammed by the professional reviewers, mostly for unimportant (to me) reasons. There is more noise in the cabin than usual, the acceleration is slow, and the car does not look very 'cool'. However the actual drivers of these cars love them. They offer very low cost transportation that will get you from A to B, reliably and simply. The engine is a 3 cylinder 1.2L 78 horsepower, so the acceleration is slow but at the pump things are great. I did a 60% fill up today at $1.40 per litre for $28 total. Pretty awesome!

In my limited experience I love the thing. Gonna give it a good clean up today. https://mirageforum.com/forum/images/dt ... 0/5454.jpg

Oh and also, I brought the $500 I saved off the price to the bank to deposit today. The clerk was really friendly, but when she looked at my 'savings' account with $22.32 she said, "Cameron if you start saving it'll do you some real good over the long term. Even 20 or 50 dollars a month can add up!" I said, "Oh don't worry about me", which I think she took as "psssh I don't need to save". She said, "No seriously, if you save a little bit per month you won't be working when you're old like me!" I think she was about 60 or so.

It would have taken too long to explain that I have an account with Questrade that I add to each month, and I am beginning to investigate the idea of a permanent portfolio. Lol I know she was being nice but I was giggling while walking out the door of the bank. I of all people do not need a reminder to save! :)

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

An update on the car: I love it. I pay $92 per month for insurance, and that's being a young guy and with a accident on my record way back when I backed into another car. To fill it all the way up is $37 in gas! That's with the gas indicator blinking at me, and it's at our current price of $1.44/L which is crazy, but isn't affecting me much clearly. Now for the Mirage I gotta say the handling is...wonky. The shocks are very soft, so if I swerve, which I've tried in empty parking lots, the whole body of the car rolls a little bit. The car isn't going to tip or anything...but it is unnerving. Funny though too. I have fun shaking it around.

Technically the engine is dying on it. It's making a tick tick noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAZaf7O ... hannel=Cam
Long story short brought it to the dealer and she said nothing but a replacement would work. So I asked if I could just keep driving it. She said, "Sure you could get another 100,000km out of that if you treat it well". Well, ok. Off to the races then. I have named it Singer because it sounds like a sewing machine.

I was reminded to save again at the bank. I really need to either get rid of that savings account or rename it "Life Savings" as a joke and keep $2.37 in it. They may think I am serious though.

What I really wanted to write about was the idea of using the current system to help build something to replace it. I know that is very vague. I mean investing in the markets, whether that be in precious metals, energy companies, the indexes or what have you in order to grow my savings and help me to live without working as much, which then gives me time to do something better. When I say better, I mean more locally oriented food production such as farmer's markets, home gardens, community gardens and stuff. I also mean reducing ones's reliance on fossil fuels to the extent possible. Advocating for more cycling infrastructure in my hometown is another avenue to make things more people friendly versus car friendly.

I think what gets me is by investing in certain companies, I am supporting what they're doing. Right now I've got ~26% of my money in the stock market through VCE, a vanguard canadian index fund. The rest is divvied up as per the permanent portfolio. I got $1000 from a will recently which was very nice. I got some stuff for the car, some welding gear, and I put $275 into my Questrade account. The challenge for me is that I know I am growing my money to help myself build a replacement for how things currently are, but in growing my money I am implicitly supporting the current arrangement? This isn't something that keeps me up at night, but I do think about it from time to time.

In completely unrelated news, my Grandpa mentioned me getting my AZ license last night. I know he was joking, because I drove his car up to the cottage for him. But it stuck with me as an idea. I do still want to become an electrician, but why not get my AZ license first? I'm going to check it out and see how long it will take.

*Edit: 4-5 weeks!! Damn that is way faster than I thought. I think I might just try this. No matter what career I end up in it'll help being licensed to drive big vehicles. http://www.canadiantrucktraining.com/AZ-five-weeks.php

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

I'm back in the TD e-series funds. Higher MER but I really appreciate the ability to make pre authorized purchases of funds. I want the process to involve me as little as possible. Basically I don't want to deal with it except for periodic rebalancing. I think there is a way to do the pre authorized purchases on Questrade, but I think it's through a third party called Passiv and I'm not too sure how well it works. E-series is the best for me because I'm already with TD. Other than that, not too much has changed. First gotta save ~$1200 for winter tuition for my welding program. From there I think I can start making monthly contributions to the TFSA. Right now I've got ~$1000 in my Questrade account that I'll transfer out...now that I think of it only ~$200 then my tuition is set. Then onto the retirement funds.

In terms of my little car I'm going to install a block heater in it soon. Basically just to keep the engine running as long as possible by reducing the number of really cold starts. I might get the alignment checked on it too.

Dave
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Dave »

Cam wrote:
Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:41 am
...What I really wanted to write about was the idea of using the current system to help build something to replace it. I know that is very vague. I mean investing in the markets, whether that be in precious metals, energy companies, the indexes or what have you in order to grow my savings and help me to live without working as much, which then gives me time to do something better. When I say better, I mean more locally oriented food production such as farmer's markets, home gardens, community gardens and stuff. I also mean reducing ones's reliance on fossil fuels to the extent possible. Advocating for more cycling infrastructure in my hometown is another avenue to make things more people friendly versus car friendly...

I think what gets me is by investing in certain companies, I am supporting what they're doing... The challenge for me is that I know I am growing my money to help myself build a replacement for how things currently are, but in growing my money I am implicitly supporting the current arrangement? This isn't something that keeps me up at night, but I do think about it from time to time.
I've reflected on this quite a bit over the years. It's a tough one.

My life path so far has been to focus a large portion of my time on active (value) investing, and several times I have owned companies that don't support the world I wish we had. It's easy to see the connection of owning stock in a company/group of companies doing things you don't support and to say "I don't want to be a part of that!", but it's complicated because assuming you don't have massive, management-influencing ownership, your owning it has little to do with whether they continue with what they are doing. It's a publicly-traded security trading on secondary markets, and when we buy shares we aren't providing fresh capital for them to operate with. One could easily argue that by providing capital on secondary markets, you are allowing original investors the confidence that they can exit one day via secondary market liquidity, and therefore you are supporting the cause indirectly by buying "used" stocks.

This is analogous to buying used things sometimes - say we buy a used F350. Sure, buying a used F350 is better than a new one, but by providing a backstop of value to those primary purchasers, we support the market for the initial purchase, effectively reducing the original purchasers cost by allowing residual value to be supported. When I lived in Hawaii I thought about this regarding surfboards - if I bought some industrially-produced surfboard I am in some way supporting the manufacture of such things. Not to a huge degree, and obviously people are still going to buy new ones regardless, but I am helping in some way. Tradeoffs.

On the other hand, you mentioned using the current system to replace it. If a large segment of environmentally informed and thoughtful people straight opted out of owning companies like XOM (a good example given some of the recent shakeup on the board that's supporting more eco-friendly actions), the board might be less inclined to participate in a transition from the current situation to one that is better (from the perspective of those who are opting out) because they have less shareholders and directors pushing for such changes.

Further, and something that I put in my journal recently, is something that Lucky C posted that basically posited that if a person were to invest and do worse than otherwise possible via the current system, then they will have less financial capital to influence things over the course of their life. That may be a positive if the other activity they chose to engage in has a higher ROI (from a system-wide perspective), but if someone were to say earn an extra 3% for the rest of their life, they could have a much higher level of financial capital that could be put to work in activities that that person supports, and that amount, because the market (from the perspective of under/outperforming averages) is zero-sum, would be reducing the amount someone else would put towards activities that we do not support.

Personally, I am satisfied that living a low-impact lifestyle, trying to be a model for and help others, engaging in various activities, and taking my investment profits and recycling into beneficial causes is a net positive. I don't think my owning of publicly-traded securities has much impact either way, but I do actively vote on my shares and have, to effectively zero benefit, written letters to management sharing my views on certain topics.

On the net, I think it's a positive from the (expected) higher lifetime wealth I will generate and allocate with such considerations in mind, but I understand how others could feel differently.

mooretrees
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by mooretrees »

Cam wrote:
Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:41 am
What I really wanted to write about was the idea of using the current system to help build something to replace it. I know that is very vague. I mean investing in the markets, whether that be in precious metals, energy companies, the indexes or what have you in order to grow my savings and help me to live without working as much, which then gives me time to do something better. When I say better, I mean more locally oriented food production such as farmer's markets, home gardens, community gardens and stuff. I also mean reducing ones's reliance on fossil fuels to the extent possible. Advocating for more cycling infrastructure in my hometown is another avenue to make things more people friendly versus car friendly.

I think what gets me is by investing in certain companies, I am supporting what they're doing. Right now I've got ~26% of my money in the stock market through VCE, a vanguard canadian index fund. The rest is divvied up as per the permanent portfolio. I got $1000 from a will recently which was very nice. I got some stuff for the car, some welding gear, and I put $275 into my Questrade account. The challenge for me is that I know I am growing my money to help myself build a replacement for how things currently are, but in growing my money I am implicitly supporting the current arrangement? This isn't something that keeps me up at night, but I do think about it from time to time.
I think about this too. I don't have as logical sounding a reason as Dave above, but I keep thinking 'just in case.' I do work in my personal life to reduce waste and we're moving into a school bus next year to try and live more lightly. But I still have a chunk of change in the stock market just acting like it's normal times. I haven't figured it out, how to withdraw only from the 'bad' stuff on wall street. But, diversifying your money into hard assets is one option. I don't think many people here do rental houses, but that is one way people who don't one want to interact with wall street take. I'll be trying that out when we go to rent our house next year. I do feel that there has to be flexible thinking about this, one can't be only black and white as that's too rigid. However, am I just making excuses????? Anyway, you're not alone in thinking about this.

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

Dave wrote:
Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:42 pm
It's easy to see the connection of owning stock in a company/group of companies doing things you don't support and to say "I don't want to be a part of that!", but it's complicated because assuming you don't have massive, management-influencing ownership, your owning it has little to do with whether they continue with what they are doing.
You make a ton of good points Dave thank you. This one sticks out to me, because it's rather obvious in hindsight. I do not have enormous sway over the companies that I own through VCE, in fact it's probably a tiny tiny fraction of them. So where I am, it's almost as if...I can't come up with a good analogy right now because I'm dead tired but one will come.

Dave wrote: That may be a positive if the other activity they chose to engage in has a higher ROI (from a system-wide perspective), but if someone were to say earn an extra 3% for the rest of their life, they could have a much higher level of financial capital that could be put to work in activities that that person supports, and that amount, because the market (from the perspective of under/outperforming averages) is zero-sum, would be reducing the amount someone else would put towards activities that we do not support.
This point is not so intuitive, but extremely helpful as well. Using the current system almost as an amplifier of positive actions we want to see in the world through growing one's money.

Thanks again for your input.
mooretrees wrote:
Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:26 am
I think about this too. I don't have as logical sounding a reason as Dave above, but I keep thinking 'just in case.' I do work in my personal life to reduce waste and we're moving into a school bus next year to try and live more lightly. But I still have a chunk of change in the stock market just acting like it's normal times. I haven't figured it out, how to withdraw only from the 'bad' stuff on wall street. But, diversifying your money into hard assets is one option. I don't think many people here do rental houses, but that is one way people who don't one want to interact with wall street take. I'll be trying that out when we go to rent our house next year. I do feel that there has to be flexible thinking about this, one can't be only black and white as that's too rigid. However, am I just making excuses????? Anyway, you're not alone in thinking about this.
I love that you're moving into a school bus. Should be a great adventure! I see broken down ones at the scrapyard all the time and think "that'd be a great greenhouse with the seats removed". Hope you post about those adventures!! Anyways back on topic.

One definitely can't be too rigid with this stuff. If I set my constraints for "fitting my ideals of building a better world" too stringently for companies then I'd probably end up just not investing at all, at which point I'd lose out on the additional capital in terms of time and money lost that would no longer be available to devote to building a better world. Now let's say I do the other extreme and invest in oil companies because I think they will make me the most money and throw all morals out the window. Then I may or may not make money, but then I am actively choosing to support companies that have played a large role in the destruction of the environment and obviously contributing to climate change as well. A happy medium has got to be found, and I think where that medium is changes from person to person.

Rentals are a great way to avoid wall street, but from what I can see they are too much work for my liking. Definitely a viable avenue though. Thanks for your input!

white belt
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by white belt »

Cam wrote:
Wed Sep 29, 2021 7:04 pm
One definitely can't be too rigid with this stuff. If I set my constraints for "fitting my ideals of building a better world" too stringently for companies then I'd probably end up just not investing at all, at which point I'd lose out on the additional capital in terms of time and money lost that would no longer be available to devote to building a better world. Now let's say I do the other extreme and invest in oil companies because I think they will make me the most money and throw all morals out the window. Then I may or may not make money, but then I am actively choosing to support companies that have played a large role in the destruction of the environment and obviously contributing to climate change as well. A happy medium has got to be found, and I think where that medium is changes from person to person.
Disclaimer: I have ~20% of my net worth in long commodity exposure currently, to include major energy producers, metals miners, and agriculture producers.

I don't feel a major contradiction in owning stock in oil companies. They extract oil to meet the demand from consumers, so I don't really blame them anymore than I do the typical person in the West who is living way above 1x JAFI expenses and also destroying the environment in the process (I'm currently around 2x JAFI so I'm part of the problem). Fossil fuels are required to feed the current global population. Before we had oil producers, humans extracted a variety of other energy sources that were very destructive to the world (coal, whale oil, timber, peat, etc). The issue is now we've had too many people consuming too much for too long, so something will have to give. I'm not so sure kneecapping the energy supply will have the intended effect of decreasing demand (although it's feasible it could if energy prices skyrocketed and humans changed behavior, but it's unlikely governments will allow that to happen if they want to stay in power).

I guess it depends on how much you want to operate within the system to have much more influence compared to operating outside the system with much less influence (e.g. compare Jacob's approach to Mark Boyle's). Rob Greenfield solved this conundrum by giving away all of his money and then vowing to not make surplus financial capital ever again, so that would be another approach.

'If you're looking for "green" investments, I'd first recommend reading this study that goes into depth about the prevalence of greenwashing: https://www.edhec.edu/en/publications/d ... -investing

Cam
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Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

white belt wrote:
Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:46 pm
Disclaimer: I have ~20% of my net worth in long commodity exposure currently, to include major energy producers, metals miners, and agriculture producers.

I don't feel a major contradiction in owning stock in oil companies. They extract oil to meet the demand from consumers, so I don't really blame them anymore than I do the typical person in the West who is living way above 1x JAFI expenses and also destroying the environment in the process (I'm currently around 2x JAFI so I'm part of the problem). Fossil fuels are required to feed the current global population. Before we had oil producers, humans extracted a variety of other energy sources that were very destructive to the world (coal, whale oil, timber, peat, etc). The issue is now we've had too many people consuming too much for too long, so something will have to give. I'm not so sure kneecapping the energy supply will have the intended effect of decreasing demand (although it's feasible it could if energy prices skyrocketed and humans changed behavior, but it's unlikely governments will allow that to happen if they want to stay in power).

I guess it depends on how much you want to operate within the system to have much more influence compared to operating outside the system with much less influence (e.g. compare Jacob's approach to Mark Boyle's). Rob Greenfield solved this conundrum by giving away all of his money and then vowing to not make surplus financial capital ever again, so that would be another approach.

'If you're looking for "green" investments, I'd first recommend reading this study that goes into depth about the prevalence of greenwashing: https://www.edhec.edu/en/publications/d ... -investing
My words "throwing all morals out the window" were not the right ones to put there. I apologize if those came across as condescending or just plain mean.

So I did some more reading...investing in the TSX is not much different from being directly in energy companies. Enbridge makes the top 10 holdings with 4.6% of the share in VCE: https://www.vanguard.ca/api/document/250/CA

It basically is the same conundrum as investing in other big companies.

I am aware of greenwashing. I was cynical for a time after doing some in depth reading about it. I've got no doubt there are companies that are actually changing to be more eco-friendly, but there are many more out there slapping a "eco-friendly" sticker on and calling it a day. For me focusing on helping out small local companies is the best option.
white belt wrote: I guess it depends on how much you want to operate within the system to have much more influence compared to operating outside the system with much less influence (e.g. compare Jacob's approach to Mark Boyle's). Rob Greenfield solved this conundrum by giving away all of his money and then vowing to not make surplus financial capital ever again, so that would be another approach.
This is a similar idea Dave's (I think). One can withdraw as much as possible, or work within the system to gain a lot more capital to then direct where one thinks is best - whether that be giving time or money to charities, donating money or time to a community garden, etc. Thanks for your input I appreciate it.

Cam
Posts: 181
Joined: Tue May 25, 2021 8:21 am

Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

I had a great day yesterday. I woke up pretty tired, so i thought it might be a slow day but it turned out to be fun and productive. First I got two tests done for school. Both went great. I also did a 5km time trial run and finished in 24:10. Not exactly setting any records but it's a good baseline I think. It was good to see just how good of shape I'm in right now. I did a VO2 max test back in university and I forget my exact number but i was in the 'good' category on a scale from poor - fair - average - good - excellent. Excellent was basically where the varsity athletes were landing, so I was very proud of my 'good' standing. I'm not in near as good shape now, because then I had easy access gym facilities that I used pretty much every weekday. Still going strong though! I'm just happy I kept my average pace under 5:00 per kilometer. I'm sore today but it was well worth it.

In financial news, I'm back in the e series funds from TD. I love the pre authorized purchase plan where I don't have to think about anything at all. Right now I'm sitting at $50 to TDB 900 Canadian index and $50 to TDB 909 Canadian bond index per month. It ain't much, but i need to save for tuition and to do brakes on the car. It's great to be back investing though. I have other means to obtain the precious metals and cash portions of the permanent portfolio so I am all set.

I also gotta say I very much enjoy watching my accounts grow once again, as they spent the entire summer depleting. Phew.

Cam
Posts: 181
Joined: Tue May 25, 2021 8:21 am

Re: Building a better world - Cam's Journal

Post by Cam »

Who am I?

I've learned about a number of different tests for getting to know oneself in the past few years. I've taken the 16 personalities, the enneagram, and learned about emotional and physical sexuality.

The 16 personalities is one of the most popular - and for me one of the most inaccurate. I got ESFP as a result, which stands for extraverted, observant, feeling, and prospecting. The nickname is Entertainer.

"If anyone is to be found spontaneously breaking into song and dance, it is the Entertainer personality type. Entertainers get caught up in the excitement of the moment, and want everyone else to feel that way, too. No other personality type is as generous with their time and energy as Entertainers when it comes to encouraging others, and no other personality type does it with such irresistible style."

To make things clear, I am 100% an introvert. Relative to the rest of my family I am extraverted, and I think that's where this result came from. I took this test way back in highschool, where I saw myself more as the entertainer in the family. It's interesting, because I am in a way. I do make a lot of jokes.

I think I may retake the test to see if I get a similar result.

https://www.16personalities.com/esfp-personality

I only learned about the enneagram test a year ago now. It has captured me very accurately - at least in my eyes. My results is a type 9 with balanced wings of type 2 and type 7. A type 9 is the peacemaker. These folks are agreeable, sometimes to a fault. Check! They strive to find an inner and outer peace in their lives. They dislike anything that disturbs that peace. They are skilled at seeing both sides of a conflict. Check, check and check. My parents told me about a story when I just a wee one. I have two older brothers, and my dad used to have wrestling matches with them on the big bed when we were all little. It was all in good fun of course, but younger me wanted none of it. Most of the time the playfighting session would end because I would be on the floor beside the bed, crying and telling them to "stop fighting!" I still am not a fan of any conflict, precisely because it disturbs the inner calm I'm so used to.

In some ways this is a great strength. I am well liked by just about everyone, and I have a wide circle of acquaintances. However in close relationships my avoidance of conflict can lead to issues being buried instead of addressed. To grow in this area, I am allowing myself to let go of that peace I am used to when necessary. It is uncomfortable and challenging but I am getting better at not running away from negative emotions and instead sitting with them.

Now what about those wings? From my understanding they are my second place results and mine are tied. The type 7 is an enthusiast. This is the type I express most in my every day life. Here are some traits from truity.com: Always on the go, wide range of interests, childlike enthusiasm and energy, curious sparkling eyes, many ongoing professional and creative projects, upbeat and optimistic; glass-half-full outlook, well-liked and popular among peers. Well heck, all of those descibe me too. I am halfway through several welding projects. I am reading a book on closing business deals written by the guy who wrote the Wolf of Wall Street. I want to buy a soldering kit to start repair electronics. I am also reading a book called Can Love Last by Stephen A. Mitchell (great read!!). I am into piano, guitar, some writing, bike repair, electrical, I want to learn more about sewing.I am all over the place. To me the world is endlessly interesting. All good stuff, right? Most of the time it is, but sometimes my endless interests can act as an escape from dealing with any sort of negative emotion. It can also lead to me not perservering through tough parts of a particular discipline. Instead of plugging away and working through it, I just start something new. This is something I am working on.

The other wing is type 2, the helper. "Twos rarely say no when others ask them for help, and want to prove value to others by always being there for them." This goes hand in hand with my agreeableness, and can be both good and bad. This is a part of me that I do not express as much, because it often involves much deeper feelings than I am comfortable with. I do give to my local foodbank, and have been since the start of covid. Only $25 per month, but I think in total they've received over $300 from me now. In terms of direct help, though I do not do as much. I often think of volunteering at the local homeless shelter, but I never have. My excuse is not having time. I am busy...but I know I do have time if I carved it out.

https://www.truity.com/enneagram/9-types-enneagram

I will write about emotional and physical sexuality later. My dog is getting very restless and is expecting her first walk of the day.

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