Hindsight is a very interesting thing. A good friend of mine whom I meetup for a few beers with once a month had a great conversation the other day I wanted to share. We both came to this conclusion independent around the same time and were just talking about it. We missed the boat on what could have been the investment opportunity of a lifetime, in fact there are tens of millions of us who missed it too I am sure. The setting is post-2008. The US economy on the brink, fire sales left and right. You could pick up a house in the USA for peanuts, American stocks were also very cheap. Took a few years for things to really recover. Also during that time the Canadian Dollar was very strong. It was flirting with and even exceeding parity with the USD. There was a few solid years when this was true before things normalized in 2011-2012. So a Canadian pick up American assets at rock bottom prices, with a strong dollar. Not only would that investment now be up 30% in CDN terms with the CDN dropping like it has, BUT chances are as long as it was a reasonable investment (good stocks, housing in a decent area) it would have appreciated on it's own too! Don't know if the conditions would ever be like that again in my lifetime.
There's been talk that the next financial crisis could be worse than 2008. Should it come then armed with the knowledge in your possession now, you won't miss out on any big investment opportunities.
EXCEPT no time is ever the same my friend! With Oil where it is, I don't think the CDN will have the buying power it once did. The next recession will certainly be a buying opportunity, just not like it was for us Canuks in late 2000's early 2010's.
Opportunities certainly come and go. If only I had been a bit older in 2008... those were some great buying opportunities. But I was 19, had no knowledge of the stock market and just landed my first full time job. If only I knew back then what I know now. There will certainly be similar events in our lifetimes, though probably not the same. Also I discussed this with a couple of Americans last week... this might have been a great opportunity for others but to them it wasn't that clear back in the day. Of course with hindsight they can say it was but back then they really had no idea if they were going to have a job in the next 3 months so buying real estate was almost out of the question.
