Great documentary review
By Ashley
Funny enough, my last post was about investing. Today’s post is almost the opposite of that! One of my relatives (my extended family) inherits a large sum of money. A larger amount than I have ever seen in my life!
He got my husband and I talking about what we would do if we inherited a large fortune. For the record, I do not plan to receive any large inheritance from either side of our families. This was a fun thought experiment, as if you were dreaming of winning the lottery.
There was a friend at this part of our conversation and she started talking about how she reversed investing. She has been pulling her money out of stocks and mutual funds and putting the money into real estate. She is debt-free except for property (of which she owns 3 – her primary residence, a secondary residence, and a small 3-unit apartment building that she owns and rents out as an investment). Instead of trying to grow her money through mutual funds, she has withdrawn them and is aggressively trying to pay off her mortgage debt until she owns her entire property.
I can definitely appreciate this as a financial strategy. As I said in my last post, I’m financially conservative and risk-averse by nature. I love the idea of being debt free (including mortgage!)! But I also understand and can see the flip side, where one can make more money through interest in mutual fund investments versus the money they would save by paying off the property early. This is especially true if you secured a very low interest rate on your mortgage two years ago.
I’m always interested in talking about money and finances. Even when I don’t necessarily agree with the other person, I find it great to hear about different viewpoints. I asked my friend to explain more about her thought process and rationale, and she explained how her entire mindset changed after watching a documentary called The Great Take.
The Great Take Summary (SPOILERS!)
The Great Take is a book written by David Rogers Webb and is available for free download online in pdf format. You can also watch the documentary David made which gives an overview of the topics covered in the book. My interest was piqued after talking to my friend, so a few nights later, my husband and I caught up with the documentary.
The basic premise of the documentary is that the entire financial system will eventually fail and that everything we have (“us” meaning regular people) will be taken over by the financial elites. Webb makes a very convincing case for how legislation was put in place to allow this to happen, how it has happened before, and the conditions are ripe for it to happen again. Any money held at most financial institutions (including savings/checking money at banks, as well as money held in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc.) will be confiscated. If you have debt against any physical assets (house, car, etc.), they will be seized as well. The only thing that is “safe” is wholly owned real property.
My (uneducated) thoughts.
Although the argument Webb made was good (he cites multiple legal documents, historical trends, etc.), I left the documentary still not entirely convinced. It was very “doomsday”, and although I can see these things happening in theory, I don’t know if the Fed would allow this to happen in real life. For example, banks have failed before. We do not confiscate assets from individuals. Instead, the Fed bailed out the banks. I’m not saying this was the right move. I definitely think the government is printing money at an alarming rate (outpacing real economic growth) and I think that’s a bad thing overall. I can definitely see there being an economic recession in the future. I think we are in a housing bubble now that could burst. I also think the student loan industry is going savage with reckless lending practices (giving a 20 year old a hundred grand for a college education? Whew! This can’t end well!).
But do I believe that the “everything bubble” is about to burst and that the financial “elites” will take everything from everyone, leaving us all completely destitute? No, I don’t do that.
All that said, I’m new to the world of investing. For most of my career, I’ve only had my retirement account. I only recently (last year!) opened a separate investment account outside of retirement, and invest a very small amount ($50 a month currently). This is all new to me! But I think I tend to believe and believe that mutual funds are a good long-term investment. Even if there is a short-term recession, I’m still relatively young (40) and have time on my side for things to pick up in the long term. I definitely think that investing in mutual funds is a better idea than withdrawing all of one’s money from the bank and keeping it in a safe. Or buy gold and silver bullion, for example.
I love to hear ideas from others. Have you seen the documentary The Great Take or read the book? Do you think we’re about to pop the whole thing?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizona on paper, Texas in heart. Lover of running, blogging and all things cheesy. Newly 40 years old, married and mother of two children, working in the academic field. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-figure student loan debt!