revat

I can answer at least half the question.  The best time to buy was when it was on the newsstands in the 70's.

3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

It's more than laziness and lack of motivation, as anyone who has read these schemes knows. There's pure delusional and mental illness at play. Whether it's biological or individually-psychological is anyone's guess.

Gabe refuses professional analysis or assistance that doesn't align with his perception/wants. I think we can safely assume how he approaches any amateur, family, or friendly advice. I wouldn't deal with it after so long. Insanity, as you know...

I would say the upside is that he is not in a position of power where the ramifications of his stubbornness, entitlement, mental deficiencies, inability to process advice from people with more experience or expertise, prioritization of short-term gain, conspiratorial delusions, really have a ton of negative impact on anyone else but him. 

2 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

On ‎3‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 3:00 PM, mattn792 said:

More power to him if it works, but you have to wonder why a person would consign to a seller just for that seller to put their stuff on eBay?  13% off the top to eBay/PayPal fees, another 10% as commission, however much for shipping to the buyer...the consignor ends up with about 75ish% of the final price.  Better off cutting out the consignee and opening your own eBay account.

A good consignee is bringing something to the table that you can't accomplish on your own.  Generally with comics, I look for better transaction security, better access to a wide network of buyers, and a better chance at realizing top dollar in the sale price.  Neither Gabe nor eBay offers any of those.

Because some people are lazy.

I say it all the time.  Why do ANY of you consign with a dealer?  Why do ANY of you sell or trade your books to a dealer? 

You don't want to deal with it and you want instant money.

Sell your own stuff. 

I'm not sure anyone is lazy enough to go with Gabe. 

Hopefully he's not here because a licensed counselor/doctor/therapist has helped him realize there's nothing here (or anywhere) for him without a TONNNNNN of work offline in the real world.

I feel like he is truly a 'victim'* of the modern age.  Born 50 or 100 years earlier in a smaller Canadian town, he does farm work as a youth, barely finishes high school, joins the military, gets discharged probably for health reasons, and lives a simple married life pumping gas or as a ranch hand living just above the poverty line, but is probably reasonably happy or satisfied with a warm fire, a few comics, and time with loved ones.

Instead, he's got an undiagnosed learning disability, can see on tv/internet all these things everyone else is doing successfully, has delusions about what he can achieve, goes on public assistance, gets in crazy credit card debt, doesn't have the discipline to get or hold a job, and has an online romance with an American 'girl' with superpowers who is apparently interested, in jobless, moneyless, educationless Canadians with behavioral, learning, and psychiatric issues.

*This is not meant to absolve him or his family of any responsibility for the actions he chooses to take.  Just that some people for any myriad of reasons would have been better off being from a different time.  For example, I'd do well in Star Wars times (I wouldn't be a Jedi, but nearly everything I've ever tried to sew has ended up looking like the amorphous large baggy Jedi robes). 

Did this thread just get unlocked?????  Was it scrubbed? 

awesome journal.  best one I've read since gabe's.

32 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

I guess from a pharmaceutical stand point there's some truth to that.  EPO, deca durabolin, stanozolol for example.  Still, I got nothing but  for this.

@revat, @oakman29, @kav, care to weigh in?

1.  I read 'feats', and immediately thought 'feats of strength' from Seinfeld Festivus

2. To the OP, if you ever go visit your 'wife', bring a person with you, and/or make sure someone knows all the relevant information about where your going and who you'll be with, and send as many videos, emails, texts as possible to a) document your trip, b) keep you safer.  For a multitude of reasons at this point, I genuinely fear for your safety if you embark on this journey (as an exercise, I would suggest going through what the potential dangers are, and then attempting to mitigate those dangers). 

3.  Why would a potentially super-powered person be willing to reveal herself to some random dude in a chat room in a different country?  Put yourself in her point of view, what do you think her decision making processes are like with regards to daily life, to being married to you (virtually or otherwise), to how she uses or doesn't use her powers?  More importantly, if you genuinely believe she loves you, and you love her, what kind of man do you want to be, what kind of life do you want to have together, what steps are you willing to take to build that life?  Are you working towards that goal?

No need to answer these questions publicly, but if you get a moment, just think about them to yourself.

No jokes aside here, but this story has proven to be compelling for a number of reasons, most of which involve facepalming from the public at large. 

BUT (without getting your hopes up too much), if the OP COULD find someway to video tape the entirety of this 'meetup' situation a la MTV's Catfish tv show and/or make into some type of reality show or documentary, this could have potential. 

This of course, would require the OP with  to be ok with POTENTIALLY having heartbreak and embarrassment on a somewhat public scale.  But I DO think for whatever else the OP lacks, he has an unrelenting (if unfounded) optimism in himself, which often makes for compelling tv/social media. 

If you can find a way to monetize or possibly film yourself and your story, with video diaries or whatever taking yourself through the whole process and hold on to your sincere beliefs, this might be an opportunity for something more.  Or it might be just something cool to show your grandkids one day, who knows.  But you've stated you've had interest in entertainment in the past, maybe this is something fairly productive you can throw your time into, but it will require reading of books and studying of camerawork and possibly writing out dialogues for yourself and setting up shots, and patience, and risk, and heart.  Those instagramers put a TON of work into trying to make it look like everything isn't overproduced.

I'm mean it'd be better and smarter if you got a steady job, but this beats playing video games all day and losing money on bitcoin.

Also regarding my previous posts about taxes:  I assumed that if you didn't make enough on crypto to have to pay taxes on the profits, it probably wouldn't make sense to pay an accountant to do your taxes on the crypto, though a part of me is happy you realized a shortcoming and didn't do the taxes yourself.  But on the other hand, I just can't imagine having no steady income, not making enough to owe taxes, receiving government assistance, AND NOT KNOWING HOW MUCH YOU INVESTED IN CRYPTO, or HOW MUCH YOU MADE AFTER SELLING ALL OF IT, or at least a reasonable range. 

22 minutes ago, uchiha101 said:

27 minutes ago, revat said:

Ok, so you admitted you DIDN'T track how much money you put into crypto, BUT YOU ARE SAYING I shouldn't assume its because you had no intention of paying taxes on profits, which means YOU DID PLAN ON PAYING TAXES ON PROFITS, but somehow didn't know you needed to track your starting prices to calculate your profits? 

 

 

I've said this before. I don't calculate things until I need to. I already asked if I would get a penalty for it and I was told I wouldn't. The only thing I would owe is the money for having my taxes done. I don't actually make enough to owe the government anything, if I did get taxed anything, because I'm a low income earner it would be refunded back to me.

wouldn't you have to report your income either way (assuming you have generated positive revenue), even if ultimately it was refunded back to you? 

If you dispose of capital property in Canada, filing a tax return is required independent of income or loss.  Which would mean you have to report how much it sold for and how much it cost you.  As far as I know (check with your local Canadian chartered accountant), crypto is treated as capital property (there may be some time restrictions resulting in different treatment). 

Now I'm not a Canadian Chartered Accountant, if you have one telling you otherwise, feel free to dunk on me.

34 minutes ago, uchiha101 said:

2 hours ago, revat said:

I know that CURRENTLY its hard for the government to monitor, but you do know that legally you are required to report and pay taxes on any profit you made from crypto right?  So you had ZERO problem collecting public assistance from the Canadian government, but you couldn't do the bare minimum (and track like what 20 or less transactions) to ensure you are paying your due to the government?  And the fact that you don't know how you put into crypto means YOU NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF PAYING ANY TAXES ON THE PROFIT YOU MADE to the Canadian government. 

Do better, pay what you owe.  And I have no idea if the marriage is real or virtual, or something else entirely, but please don't have any kids, real or otherwise.

 

 

Don't assume what you believe I am or am not thinking. You're 100% wrong about the crypto, about the taxes, and as for kids I don't want them at all, thanks.

Ok, so you admitted you DIDN'T track how much money you put into crypto, BUT YOU ARE SAYING I shouldn't assume its because you had no intention of paying taxes on profits, which means YOU DID PLAN ON PAYING TAXES ON PROFITS, but somehow didn't know you needed to track your starting prices to calculate your profits? 

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 1:26 PM, mattn792 said:

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 1:03 PM, uchiha101 said:

Like I said I have no idea how much I spent on crypto. I do know that I sold all but around $10 worth 

So let me make sure I understand this — you were head over heels for crypto currencies but have no idea how much you spent on them and subsequently no idea how much you made or lost when cashing out.  Sad to see that you’re still horrid at financial management.

Did you pay anything toward your outstanding debt at least?

I know that CURRENTLY its hard for the government to monitor, but you do know that legally you are required to report and pay taxes on any profit you made from crypto right?  So you had ZERO problem collecting public assistance from the Canadian government, but you couldn't do the bare minimum (and track like what 20 or less transactions) to ensure you are paying your due to the government?  And the fact that you don't know how you put into crypto means YOU NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF PAYING ANY TAXES ON THE PROFIT YOU MADE to the Canadian government. 

Do better, pay what you owe.  And I have no idea if the marriage is real or virtual, or something else entirely, but please don't have any kids, real or otherwise.

1 hour ago, Bird said:

You’re back!  I hope you’re doing well 

I hope he's doing boring.

8hrs a day sweeping floors, or painting walls, or digging ditches, 1hr per day at the gym, rest of the time doing junior college/vocational school slowly learning a trade (plumbing, electrician, A/C repair, carpentry, hair styling), weekly therapy, slowly paying off debts.  Buy a few comics a month for pleasure, no girls, limited video games, no investments of any kind.

16 hours ago, slpfi27 said:

Wow, this is an interesting thread. I too recently started to buy and sell comics. My goal is similar to that of the originator of this thread. So far I have made approximately $7,000 in the past three months simply selling comics I collected as a kid, and purchasing and flipping smaller comics for a profit. I agree debt is always a bad thing to play with. I'd say your goal of having enough money to not have to worry about life is reasonable. Be confident in your vision and don't worry about the people who say you can't do it. However, much of the advice amidst the negative is correct. Stay out of debt, and play with your own money. If you have a fair amount of comics now, sell those and target your potential investment issues. Use your starting money from the comics you sell as your investment capitol. STAY OUT OF DEBT, especially now! I also agree that purchasing of comics seems to be slowing, and I believe this is systemic of something much more compounding in the market. So please be careful. Just my two cents. (What do I know?) Hope it helps. Good luck uchiha101!

As for me, i'm trying to complete my set of Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #1-263 + Annuals, Variants, and Canadian issues in CGC 9.8 WP or Better Condition. If anyone has any leads, tips or assistance they can offer i'd be grateful! 

 

Sincerely, 

Brian W (slpfi27) 

I think the problem is (and it's not your fault), is that while you may have generally similar goals, your starting points appear to be vastly different*.  Your story, while reasonable and no doubt mirrors the experience of many collectors here, has allowed the OP to think that he can reproduce your success (and that of many others) fairly easily. 

You appear to have genuine knowledge and experience with comics, as well as a collection to start from, aka both financial and mental capital.  I would venture to say you likely have a reasonable job and education.  The OP has admitted to having psychological, emotional, and learning issues, has invested (poorly) in comics and video games whilst on government assistance, cannot get or keep a minimum wage job, lives with his parents into his late 20's,  has family issues, and is almost certainly being catfished.  And gotten into bitcoin at most likely the worst possible time.  And has admitted to all of this publicly (aside from the catfishing) on a comics website whilst espousing that he would like to sell comics on consignment for people.

* Before the migration, there was an old journal from the OP that was hundreds of pages filled with all sorts of misadventures, and this thread has continued that 'progress', a tradition unlike any other.  If you can find it, you should read it.  It will shake you to your core.

6 minutes ago, Red84 said:

Honest advice:

Get off the internet.

Ask the mods to delete this journal.

Spend 100% of your time looking for and accepting ANY job.

Do not buy any comics, video games, cryptocurrency, or any other "collectible" or "investment".

This advice has been given a million times and he left this thread before with the CGC boards transition.   That doesn't mean the advice is any less true.  But he came back from his hiatus last time with a maxed out credit card and 'questionable' 'girlfriend'.  I vote for mental/psychological help first.

17 hours ago, miraclemet said:

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 11:37 PM, uchiha101 said:

I still do and also the banks. The banks as far as I'm concerned can  off. I tried my best to pay off that credit card debt, I called, I tried to negotiate and work out terms. They didn't listen and they kept piling on 100 bucks, 75 bucks every few days so I gave up and I'm not paying it off until I AM ready to do so. They did me this disfavor so now it will be their turn to wait and yes I'm aware of what will happen to my credit score.

 

But really... Are you clear on the fact that you not paying doesn't hurt them at all (they are huge insured billion dollar Corp), but it does hurt you right?

And it sounds like you looked on line to figure out these big charges, but did you talk to someone about them? They can see more info than you and could tell you where the charges were coming from. Did you call or go to a branch?

Also remember when you talk about "breaking even" to factor in the time lost, and salary lost when spending time in cryptocurrency or comics. If you spent 6 months and "broke even" you really lost cause you have to factor in whatever you could have earned during that time.... 

That's ok, sure I'm landlords don't do credit checks in the event he ever wants to move.

That's ok, I'm sure most employers don't do credit checks in the event he ever wants a better (or any) job.

That's ok, I'm sure that even in the highly unlikely event he finds some success in business and wants to get a business loan from a bank they won't do credit checks either.

In unrelated news, I was under the impression that Canada was relatively low-cost when it comes to public education, how much is junior/community college (or the Canadian equivalent), and do they teach trades there (mechanical, plumbing, clerical, nursing, fixing stuff, carpentry, medical assistants)?  Because in America, despite the high cost of SOME colleges and universities, MOST city/junior/community colleges are fairly cheap (though its relative, and I get people still need to work to pay for classes) for local residents, and have a decent financial aid available (assuming you haven't blown your credit to S--T).  I don't see why Canada would be more expensive for this. 

If someone was young and single and living with their parents, I think its pretty doable.  Even if its 4-5 years because you're working at the same time, you give yourself a chance at a real future.

I've given pages and pages of advice in the old thread to fall mostly on deaf ears, but there is literally ONE WAY out of this, and the OP is lucky to even have that option, given that he's living at home.

Step 1: Find a job, any job.

Step 2:  Make a VERY SPECIFIC monthly budget. Stop ANY spending of money that isn't for food, rent, internet.  No gf, no friends, UNLESS you have a specific 'fun budget' every month.  Budget an amount that you're saving for school in the future (any SCHOOL.  Community college, trade school, etc)

STep 3:  Budget your time. I get that you like video games, limit it to 1hr a day AT MOST.  The rest of the time should be spent on things that make you better/smarter.  That means working out/exercising (no gym memberships for you), reading (anything but comics), cooking/eating healthy AT HOME, and finding something you want to study. You can budget in some tv time too (just online shows that you can watch for free, no additional cost).  At MOST, 2hrs time spent with friends on the weekends per week.  And 1/2 hr chatting w/gf (ideally you'd break up) per week.

Step 4:  When you've saved enough, start going to school part time (preferably for a practical trade).  Yes it will take longer if you're still working, and that sucks, but people do it all the time and it HAS to be done.

Step 5:  Get a mentor, someone a little older (20 years or less) who has 'made it,' that you can trust, who can give you some basic directional guidance.

Step 6:  Humble yourself and DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON, and STOP BELIEVING THAT YOU DESERVE ANYTHING (you might, you might not), but IT DOESN'T MATTER.  STOP BLAMING OTHERS (you might be right, you might not be), BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER. 

I get it, not every one needs to go to school, plenty of people do fine without it, maybe even people you know.  BUT you seem aware enough to realize by now that some things that come naturally to others will probably have to be taught to you.  And there's nothing wrong with that, but you've got to put in the work, and you may not think that's fair, but that DOESN'T MATTER ANY MORE.  Lots of people wouldn't be successful without school, even if they struggle, even if/when its tough.  Its not always about the specific things you learn (though often it is), but its about learning how to and proving to yourself you can meet deadlines and show up for class, and take criticism, and work in teams, etc.  These are things that it sounds like you still have room for improvement.  There's just been no evidence that you have the natural business sense to make it without school or additional training.

Your situation is extremely dire, and it will take an EXTREME solution to right the ship.  There will always be investment opportunities in the future, when you've really established yourself. 

2 hours ago, uchiha101 said:

Unemployed. My living situation is I'm still with my parents.

The point of GPA now of all times was that I want to buy and sell comics here and there as well as getting consignments. The cryptocurrency market is in a bear market and I want to buy more crypto, the free price guide that I was using became subscription based which I'm not too happy about, I'm adding another stream of side income, and I have a gf I want to see so I need to make a passport and have enough money to fly over  there.

I know you'll ask where I'm getting the money from so I'll answer that now.

Profits from my video games, using my tax refunds, and cryptocurrency. 

 

 

International GF???????!!!!!  + Unemployed?????!!!!

Pinning your hopes on video games and cryptocurrency?????!!!!

Follow your dreams and love.  But please please please please don't give $$ to your international gf.  I don't know anything about the situation at all, but I don't think I'm the only one who thinks there's a decent chance someone might try to take advantage of you.

PS.  Are you sure the so-called crypto-currency bear market isn't just a death spiral resulting in increased government regulation, law enforcement tracking, and taxation.  Are you reading about all the newest cryptocurrency stuff?

PPS.  Also, have you considered just moving to China for a few years and being a 'background white guy' who just hangs out in offices and goes to fancy parties? They get paid ok. You can also teach English on the side.  Google it, its a thing.

23 minutes ago, chrisco37 said:

Gabe - how did your foray into the crypto-currency go?  I really hope you didn't pursue it too hard. 

I hope he got into it hard and shorted the eff out of it and made tons of cash.  But if he doesn't understand what the previous sentence means, then I agree with you and hope he didn't pursue it too hard.