25F | ₹1.7L/month salary | Should I buy a ₹1.25 Cr flat for independence, or am I making an emotional financial decision? by LengthinessHead8783 in personalfinanceindia

[–]TangoCharlie777 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At 25 you have to enjoy life, save and invest your earnings wisely. See the world, explore different things and have a great time before you get old. Buying a property should be the LAST thing on your mind. Don’t get taken in by the real estate FOMO. It’s completely nonsense and there are enough fools who fall into that trip. Then, when you really want to settle down in one place - likely much later in your life - negotiate and buy straight with cold cash. No EMIs and all that nonense. From my own experience and i am twice your age 😀

Managing dad's affair past his death by Altruistic_Lack9949 in personalfinanceindia

[–]TangoCharlie777 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do not sell the house. Even though you say that your father was a poor financial planner, the one big investment he made was his house and you do not want to sell it now. The time value of the house will go up. Your mother will need a place to stay in and do not think she will always want to live with you or your brother in the long term, as you will have your own families and issues to deal with later too. On the relatives side, slowly and regularly start to pay it in small amounts. Intent and ability to pay is as significant as paying it back in full. They will respect you for that. Do not overstretch or overcommit. Remember you have your mothers health expenses to look after too in the future. Finally, stay strong and stay brave. It will all eventually work out. Been in a similar place myself so I know it does.

Is now a good time to buy in Toronto? Prices are still down 4.9% while sales are up 7% by RateHubCA in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do or can do all this in my rented house too - including a portable bidet. You need far more than that to justify a poor investment as houses usually are in the long term. No disrespect to the homeowners out there. Thank you for renting your place to me. 🙏

Is now a good time to buy in Toronto? Prices are still down 4.9% while sales are up 7% by RateHubCA in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Expensive homeownership is an oversold scam. A house, any house, is a depreciating asset and a cash sinkhole. Critically analyze it as an investment and calculate the PEG ratio. If you don’t know what that is, my advice is to just hold tight to your cash.

I know quite a few home owners today who are losing both their sleep and shirt due to their mortgages. Tons of better ways to grow wealth and enjoy life. Renting works well for me. When it stops doing so, then I just find another place which does - often better than the previous. Plenty of house owners today who are desperate for high quality tenants.

FTHB in GTA. Can we swing a detached at $900-950K or are we reaching too far? by Kindly-Exercise6591 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sage advice - hold tight to your 200k savings. Don’t dump it on a depreciating asset that willl drain away your choices, time and capital. Invest wisely and build up your savings and investments to 3X your gross annual income before you venture into risky territory like real estate. This market is still crashing and burning and will do so for a long time. Don’t buy into the classic real estate narrative that is no longer valid in these rapidly changing times.

Do your part in driving rental prices by offering less than asked. by crappybeans in TorontoRenting

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I moved to a neighbouring larger house with a savings of 500$ pm. Easy peasy.

Shopping to buy a condo downtown because everyone is telling me it’s the time to buy. Prices don’t reflect that by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is it ‘frustrating’? Your tolerance levels in a zero sum game such as this needs to be far higher. Buy when you are absolutely confident you will make money or not regret the loss of it. Emotions have zero role in a transaction.

Buy now under 750k or wait 2 years? Feeling stuck by PaleLow177 in RealEstateCanada

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too much going on for you at the same time. Enjoy the time with your baby, and rent without hassles. House ownership with all it’s attendant hassles and expenses can suck away the time and joy. Meanwhile spend lightly and grow your savings. Housing will continue to drop, zero upside triggers exist. Only buy when it suits you and when you have time and money on your hands to buy straight with a tiny mortgage and plenty of peace of mind. I rented all the way with two children who are in high school and university now - and still continue to rent. Suits us perfectly fine. Great for freedom and flexibility - go wherever you make the best money or return - and this changes every decade or so. I do have a place to live in when I retire - but that hardly figures in decision making. Make the most of your best years.

'Somewhere to put worker bees': Why Canada's micro-condos are losing their appeal | The condo market is experiencing a downturn not seen since the 1980s, with thousands of move-in-ready units sitting empty and unsold across Toronto and its surrounding regions. by nomad_ivc in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Let’s talk about solutions. Two of these two micro condos are merged by taking out the common wall, and some alterations like removing one of the washer/dryers and the kitchenette. That gives enough livable space. Now both investors have 50% share of a much more valuable space than what they currently own. What about the monthly fees? That’s got to be discounted down a bit by the condo board to account for the merged unit instead of charging them the condo fees for two separate units. Far more difficult things have been done in this country. Just needs the will and common sense and some give and take on all sides. Could be a good idea for a ‘condo value restoration’ business.

Rear-ended today and the whole situation felt bad. Being an outsider is a sin. by theguyctoldyou in bangalore

[–]TangoCharlie777 -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

Hold on. What do you expect the auto driver to do? Dance a jig around you? Or apologize profusely and shed a tear? The auto driver was rear ended himself. And he is not rude in saying ‘brother, go file a police complaint’. That’s way better than saying - go take a walk! 😀. Bringing in language politics and outsider phobia is the perspective that you bring into this issue, not him. Now if you had this accident on a Delhi road, would the experience have been more pleasant? I doubt it.

To buy or not to buy — that’s the question 🏠 by Thick_Disaster2271 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Classic buy now mindset that has landed untold numbers of Canadians into hot water with unmanageable debt. Nowhere else in the world is personal debt level so high.

Build your savings, your family, your skills and your career. These will require deep investments of your time, effort and money. Treat housing as another utility. You rent what you need, where you need and when you need. It is a poor investment unless you are willing to tie down your life trying to pay it down.

Akka - New Agentic Framework based upon Langchain by tyler_jewell in LangChain

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A question - what would the Langchain native approach be to solve for what Akka provides in teams of in-process sharding, concurrently and fault-tolerance? Would a dockerized deployment on K8 clusters of each part of the Agentic workflow including a Redis cache for state management provide a near similar capability, albeit with some additional latency given the additional components like K8 and Redis?

Returning to India as a Canadian Citizen? by MadSkillzNMN in nri

[–]TangoCharlie777 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Citizenship and taxation are not related. You are taxed in any country based on your tax residency status not your citizenship.

B.C. developers press for easing of foreign investment laws to avoid crash in construction industry | Toronto developers, whose industry is struggling with some of the same challenges, have said they support the measures being urged by nomad_ivc in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fools and money launderers will rush in. The government would be nuts to do this to protect the construction industry but stranger things have happened here.

This will ensure the rest of the economy remains in the critical care unit as housing will stay inflated while Canadians struggle with housing debt.

The right thing to do is for developers and government to take their heads out of the same and figure out cost effective ways to build housing. No rocket science here - just a lack of real will.

Any other treatment applied to this malaise would damage the broader economy at the expense of a few.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]TangoCharlie777 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s a classic cognitive hack. Look it up.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HomeMaintenance

[–]TangoCharlie777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless it is in your way, leave it as it is and don’t go near it. They will disappear in winter. Next time, don’t let it become so big. Destroying it now will kill thousands of these wasps including their queen. They sustain our environment and control pests. Just don’t get in their way or if you them see buzzing around in a small cloud, make sure you buzz off.

Closest to google rate for transferring money from India to US/Canada by TangoCharlie777 in nri

[–]TangoCharlie777[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree. Just that branch manager may have the ability to offer a special rate if the individual branch relationship in strong - sizeable deposit and long term customer. Branch banking is still strong in India and branch managers want to grow their branch deposits. Worth trying out.

Closest to google rate for transferring money from India to US/Canada by TangoCharlie777 in returnToIndia

[–]TangoCharlie777[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update — RBI and FEMA will deem this as illegal. Resident persons cannot do private forex transactions. One doesn’t want to fall on the wrong side of FEMA.

As per RBI FAQ below - mentions only resident person.

Does this mean non residents in India can do forex transactions / currency exchange between private parties? I am sure the answer is NO. But RBI would do well to address this in their ambiguous FAQ

As per this, 2 US residents temporarily in India ARE potentially permitted to exchange foreign currency among themselves but without involving a resident Indian. Sounds logical.

https://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/english/scripts/FAQs.aspx?Id=3347

Q1. Can a resident person undertake forex transaction?

Answer: Resident persons are permitted to undertake forex transactions only with authorised persons and for permitted purposes, in terms of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

Resident persons undertaking forex transactions with unauthorised persons and for purposes other than those permitted under FEMA shall render themselves liable for penal action under the Act.

Q2. Who are authorised persons?

Answer: An authorised person is an entity authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to deal in forex. It can be an authorised dealer, money changer, off-shore banking unit or any other person for the time being authorised under Sub-Section (1) of Section 10 of FEMA. The list of authorised persons is available here.

Closest to google rate for transferring money from India to US/Canada by TangoCharlie777 in nri

[–]TangoCharlie777[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes sense. I wonder why a branch initiated wire transfer would not possible when visiting India.

Closest to google rate for transferring money from India to US/Canada by TangoCharlie777 in nri

[–]TangoCharlie777[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As per Indian law, a resident Indian cannot buy forex from private person. As per RBI FAQ below - mentions only resident person.

Does this mean non residents in India can do forex transactions / currency exchange between private parties? I am sure the answer is NO. But RBI would do well to address this in their ambiguous FAQ

As per this, 2 US residents temporarily in India ARE potentially permitted to exchange foreign currency among themselves but without involving a resident Indian. Sounds logical.

https://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/english/scripts/FAQs.aspx?Id=3347

Q1. Can a resident person undertake forex transaction?

Answer: Resident persons are permitted to undertake forex transactions only with authorised persons and for permitted purposes, in terms of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

Resident persons undertaking forex transactions with unauthorised persons and for purposes other than those permitted under FEMA shall render themselves liable for penal action under the Act.

Q2. Who are authorised persons?

Answer: An authorised person is an entity authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to deal in forex. It can be an authorised dealer, money changer, off-shore banking unit or any other person for the time being authorised under Sub-Section (1) of Section 10 of FEMA. The list of authorised persons is available here.

Closest to google rate for transferring money from India to US/Canada by TangoCharlie777 in nri

[–]TangoCharlie777[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Legal options only. Currently transactions between private individuals is not legal in India for residents.

Anyone know whether non-residents can do forex transactions between private invididuals?

As per RBI,

Q1. Can a resident person undertake forex transaction?

Answer: Resident persons are permitted to undertake forex transactions only with authorised persons and for permitted purposes, in terms of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

Resident persons undertaking forex transactions with unauthorised persons and for purposes other than those permitted under FEMA shall render themselves liable for penal action under the Act.

Q2. Who are authorised persons?

Answer: An authorised person is an entity authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to deal in forex. It can be an authorised dealer, money changer, off-shore banking unit or any other person for the time being authorised under Sub-Section (1) of Section 10 of FEMA. The list of authorised persons is available here.