5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must-Read, April 25 2012
This review is from: After the Crash: How to Guard Your Money in These Turbulent Times (Paperback)
This book was written during the depths of despair in 2009. Accordingly, it reflects the mood of the period. Some of the material was dated, as I read the book in the spring of 2012. Much has played out as he predicted, but some things have not -- yet. Unprecedented money printing by the central banks has given us a temporary reprieve from the problems that plagued us in 2009. As we exit the eye of this financial storm, it will be interesting to watch how much of the analysis provided becomes relevant again.
This is not a doom-and-gloom book. Garth details plans to proactively defend your wealth and your family based on how you view the events unfolding. Definitely a must-read for Canadians.
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38 of 54 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
As dumb as a rock, Jan 14 2009
This review is from: After the Crash: How to Guard Your Money in These Turbulent Times (Paperback)
I am truly surprised that this self-serving lunatic is still around, pumping out the same dry heave repetoire.
In the late 1980s, Garth was Canada's self-styled real estate guru and cheerleader. When real estate dipped in the early 1990s, he became the 'little guy's political saviour' and moved to Ottawa. Incredulously, he ended his first political life as Minister of Revenue. So much for the little guy.
In 1998-2000, Garth declared real estate dead, dead, dead, and told you to borrow money against your house or sell it and invest the cash in equity mutual funds. This remarkable about-face was made at the peak of the world's equity markets, just before they collapsed, and just before the beginning of the greatest real estate market boom in history.
Garth's urgent clarion call to buy stock-based securities was called The Strategy 1998-2000. In truth, The Strategy was little more than a not-so-cunning attempt to curry favour with financial advisors so they would hire him to speak at public mutual fund seminars for a several-thousand-dollar fee.
Having been kicked out of the Federal caucus in Ottawa and now unemployed, this chameleon is back as resident ubermensch and patron guide, telling us to sell our homes, buy a 4X4, stock up on lead and gunpowder, and retire to a shack and shoot squirrels in Algonquin Park. 'The end is near', says Garth. All this for just $16.02 plus GST.
Don't fall for this nonsense.
Save your money and buy a real book.
May I suggest The New Paradigm for Financial Markets by George Soros? Unlike some, Soros is a person with huge financial clout and an unassailable track record. He is also beyond writing tripe and charging us for the 'privilege' of reading it (ISBN-13: 9781586486839).
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24 of 34 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
CAVEAT READER, Jan 25 2009
This review is from: After the Crash: How to Guard Your Money in These Turbulent Times (Paperback)
Bad news - Garth Turner is out of politics and back to writing books and promoting Garth Turner.
I read AFTER THE CRASH with amusement and trepidation - amusement over Turner's over-the-top rant about the economic situation and trepidation that Canadians will believe and heed his advice.
At least Turner is no longer advising Canadians to convert all the equity in their homes into cash to purchase common shares, as he did in a previous book. Anyone who did so would now be out of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention their own home. Turner's advice in this situation was astonishing: If your mortgage exceeds the value of your home, just walk away "and it's the bank's problem."
No it's not! In Canada, if your mortgage exceeds the value of your home and you default on the mortgage payments, you are responsible for making up the shortfall. Every lawyer, realtor, banker and advisor knows this. Garth Turner doesn't (or didn't).
I don't know how many similar errors are in After The Crash - I was too mesmerized by Turner's egotistical posturing and hysterical observations to note them.
By all means, read about things you can do to handle your finances and investments under the current conditions. But not in this book.
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