# Options, options - LIRA account allotment for retirement...



## petefromguelph (Oct 2, 2014)

Hey everyone. 

Thank you in advance. I have about 31k (Canadian) that I had come out of a government pension. It was rolled into a LIRA (Locked in Retirement Account) and I need to do something with it. Currently, it is sitting in a Scotia Itrade account waiting to be allocated. I have been trying to educate myself about my options but its becoming more and more confusing as to which is the best way to go. Im 31, and I am reading that equity funds are the way to go as I have time to wait out a fluctuating market for higher gains in the longer term. Investing in GICs Bonds etc, although safer, would not give me the same returns longer term (or so I have read). 

SO. I thought I had picked a series of mutual funds to forward the money to (Mostly Mawer Small Cap/Canadian Equity etc). That's when I started reading about MER (Management fees) etc. The fees are higher if someone is managing the money for you, but the benefit is that it is a hands off approach for me and I don't have to worry about it. That being said, I don't want to pay through the nose on fees out of laziness. I then started looking at dividend stocks and ETF funds as the fees are lower. Ones that pay out quarterly or monthly and reinvest that dividend. Mostly bank stock and energy stocks etc. The thing is, I don't really need the income now so I don't know if it is worthwhile or if it is better if I am closer to retirement age (hopefully around 55) to move them into income generating stocks. Also, I am not sure how to register the dividend paying stocks to "DRIP" as I did with a physical BNS share I purchased (or even if I can). I have read through a few blogs (Couch Potato/Canadian Capitalist/Dividend Ninja etc) 

As you can tell, I am a noob. TRYING to learn more but there is so much info online. I respect the opinions of the posters in this forum. Again thank you. I am trying to learn as much as I can and this has been such an amazing forum so far. If anyone has ANY input, it would be appreciated! 

Thank you, 

Pete


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