All Forum Posts by: Albert Okagbue

 So does this mean that other peoples return play zero role in your measurement of your performance?  Trying to see if you benchmark against anything, or you just put one foot in front of the other and keep profiting as best as you can?

(I Agree that financial information is not necessarily complete or transparent)

 That makes sense!

How do you measure your investment results?  Do you measure them against other investors?  Or do you use an absolute number for yourself e.g. % return?

So far investors I have talked to do not care what other people are doing.  They set a bar and only invest when they can jump over it, and try to get as good as possible within that framework. But none of those folks are on BP or other networking sites.  They are pretty much lone-rangers. I'm curious, since returns can be discussed here, how many people are comparing their results with those of other investors?

(If this has been discussed in another forum, please paste the link.  Thanks.)

Welcome.  I'I'd be interested to see how your architecture background plays into this if it all.  All the best!

Welcome.  I'I'd be interested to see how your architecture background plays into this if it all.  All the best!

@Linda Weygant That's awesome.  I hope you can also appreciate why many people would not choose that path.  I know I wouldn't; and it's not because I think life is linear.  I have enough twists and turns AFTER becoming a CPA.

I am with Lesley Resnick.

Thanks for chiming in on the Student Loan side discussion.  Sorry to take the conversation in another direction...

@Brandon Hall 

Like I said, this is not a fair debate.  

You think student loans are bad.  You know people with horror stories. 

I know people who think student loans are great.  They will be wealthy 10-20 years ahead of their peers.  They are already living their dreams years ahead of the pay-out-of-pocket strategy for college.  They have learned early how the financial world works and how/why to borrow.

I have heard you.  Let's move on. :)

@Brandon Hall

Thanks for your detailed explanation.  

I have been studying student loans as a financial instrument for almost six years and writing about them for some of that time. I only comment on them as a a financial instrument.  A source of funds with fixed long-term interest rate that doesn't require collateral or credit is a great deal -- UNLESS you use it to buy a depreciating asset.  This is an opinion supported by our professional knowledge in finance.

Clearly your opinions are based on the experiences of people whose level of knowledge or competency we cannot determine.  It's not a fair debate.  I can't say whether those people properly analyzed what they were buying and the analysis proved wrong.  I can't say what their assumptions were.

As we all know from our education or being on BP, there are steps to buying any asset or investment.  Well, most smart people don't take those steps when picking a college.  It is an emotional decision plain and simple.  That says more about the borrowers than it says about the loans...but that's just me.