# Wealthsimple signup: Guidance



## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

I am about to sign up for portfolio and cash accounts at Wealthsimple.
Any advice to make the signup process easier or faster to get an account for a custom portfolio of ETFs and gold?

Is this the time to invest, at all?


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> for a custom portfolio of ETFs and gold?





AbleEng said:


> Is this the time to invest, at all?


One advice, take this questionnaire.



https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e5O9zdPbe1NDMWh


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

AbleEng said:


> I am about to sign up for portfolio and cash accounts at Wealthsimple.
> Any advice to make the signup process easier or faster to get an account for a custom portfolio of ETFs and gold?
> 
> Is this the time to invest, at all?


Undertand risk tolerance.
Understand time horizon for aspects of your portfolio.

Don't buy stuff unless you understand what you're buying, and how it will make you money.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrBlackhill said:


> One advice, take this questionnaire.
> 
> 
> 
> https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e5O9zdPbe1NDMWh


I took the quiz, and scored 35. That puts me at the border between high and medium-high risk tolerance. But the answers to get that score were rather obvious; I have been considering this for several years.
Why.: I have had an RRSP for 40 years with a full service bank, ignored it totally, contributed nothing to it, and the very high MER took its toll. But this RRSP will not be touched! Now the time frame is short (equivalent to risk tolerance being high), and so its time to "take a real risk" with other money. And good luck will make me a role model for my children.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrMatt said:


> Undertand risk tolerance.
> Understand time horizon for aspects of your portfolio.
> 
> Don't buy stuff unless you understand what you're buying, and how it will make you money.


Haha. OK, let's see how I do:
I understand that risk tolerance refers to my reaction to losing a large amount os investment that might not improve for a long time.
Time horizon requires that I pick investments that rise within a short or long time period. These are usually identified for me, but I must learn to do that myself, to have a sound basis for my decisions.

[Hope I get a sticker for this.]


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

AbleEng said:


> Haha. OK, let's see how I do:
> I understand that risk tolerance refers to my reaction to losing a large amount os investment that might not improve for a long time.
> [Hope I get a sticker for this.]


Or ever.
Look at the drop in early 2020, lots of people panic sold.



> Time horizon requires that I pick investments that rise within a short or long time period. These are usually identified for me, but I must learn to do that myself, to have a sound basis for my decisions.


Not quite.
If you want the money in a year or two, keep it in cash.
IF you don't need it for a decade, more speculative stock is ok.


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## Eclectic21 (Jun 25, 2021)

AbleEng said:


> j ... Why.: I have had an RRSP for 40 years with a full service bank, ignored it totally, contributed nothing to it, and the very high MER took its toll. But this RRSP will not be touched!


Surely you've touched it to move away from the high MER investment to a lower cost, similar one.

Or another way to touch it that I think makes sense is if it's a bank one that limits what you can invest in. I'd think it would make sense to move it over to the bank's discount brokerage arm, at a minimum.

Or another way of putting it - "touching" does not necessarily means moving those funds to a higher risk investment.


Cheers


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

Actually, I wanted some info on what Wealthsimple will ask when I register. Like the name/types of accounts I want to open - cash investments.


Eclectic21 said:


> Surely you've touched it to move away from the high MER investment to a lower cost, similar one.
> Or another way to touch it that I think makes sense is if it's a bank one that limits what you can invest in. I'd think it would make sense to move it over to the bank's discount brokerage arm, at a minimum.


The RRSP is doing well, so I won't be disturbing it. Let's take care of what's outside the RRSP so I'm not getting interest at some awful rate like 0.1%. I am slow at this until I can make a confident decision, but I gotta get the feel of it or nothing will happen.


MrMatt said:


> Or ever.
> Look at the drop in early 2020, lots of people panic sold.
> 
> 
> ...


There isn't much money to have and I want to put it to work at more than a savng's account rate.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

I just read that Wealthsimple stopped offering custom portfolios. They now use a risk level to give you portfolios with according risk. It would be helpful if someone already using Wealthsimple can confirm.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

I'm a bit puzzled. The market seems high right now and has been for some time. Gold is moving ever higher - a harbinger of a dropping market. Interest rates are down pretty low. It sounds like impending doom. Is this wise to buy balanced ETFs - stocks and bonds, gold, etc., when everything is high??


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> Is this wise to buy balanced ETFs - stocks and bonds, gold, etc., when everything is high??


What else would you buy if it's not stocks, bonds and gold? Other commodities? Real estate? Crypto?

Oh... GICs? HISA?


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> Is this wise to buy balanced ETFs - stocks and bonds, gold, etc., when everything is high??


I'm gonna tell you one thing, one piece of advice. If you are asking yourself such question, then the best thing for you is indeed to buy a balanced ETF, then never ask yourself that question again, and add money every month with no excuses, and never look at your portfolio value other than when you'll plan a withdrawal, which should not be within the next 5 years.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrBlackhill said:


> What else would you buy if it's not stocks, bonds and gold? Other commodities? Real estate? Crypto?


LOL. Well, that's more or less what I was wondering. Not interested in crypto or real estate. I know nothing about trading commodities. Not much left I guess, but I'm not choosing the assets, just the mix.
But really...was ur question just rhetorical? If I invest now, can't I "lose my shirt".


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrBlackhill said:


> I'm gonna tell you one thing, one piece of advice. If you are asking yourself such question, then the best thing for you is indeed to buy a balanced ETF, then never ask yourself that question again, and add money every month with no excuses, and never look at your portfolio value other than when you'll plan a withdrawal, which should not be within the next 5 years.


With respect: I've been doing that for 40 years and have gotten nowhere. So I want to be a bit more proactive or it will happen again. I don't think the question was so unreasonable.
Maybe I should wait until the bottom drops out of the market?


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> Maybe I should wait until the bottom drops out of the market?











What Is Market Timing?


Market timing is an investment strategy that involves making trades in anticipation of price fluctuations, based on technical or fundamental research.




www.investopedia.com


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> With respect: I've been doing that for 40 years and have gotten nowhere.


Why you said you've gotten nowhere? A balanced 60/40 portfolio has done about 7% to 9% CAGR over the past 40 years.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrBlackhill said:


> What Is Market Timing?
> 
> 
> Market timing is an investment strategy that involves making trades in anticipation of price fluctuations, based on technical or fundamental research.
> ...


I'm not managing the ETF, someone else is! And if they can't pick components that they think will go up, then we are all wasting our time. Read the article.



MrBlackhill said:


> Why you said you've gotten nowhere? A balanced 60/40 portfolio has done about 7% to 9% CAGR over the past 40 years.


That result was for your investments, not for mine. Read my earlier post.
Thank you for answering my question so passionately.


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> I'm not managing the ETF, someone else is! And if they can't pick components that they think will go up, then we are all wasting our time. Read the article.


So you are looking to buy actively managed ETF instead of passively managed ETFs? (Market cap weighted index ETFs)

Why so?

And it's not because you buy ETFs that you aren't timing the market. If you are waiting for the market to cool down before buying the ETF then you are timing the market.



AbleEng said:


> That result was for your investments, not for mine.


Why do you say it was for my investments? It wasn't for my investments. That 7% to 9% CAGR was the performance that any person with a 60/40 balanced portfolio had, depending on the geographic diversification of the portfolio and the rebalancing frequency.

Unless you tried to time the market each time you wanted to add new money to the portfolio. That's why you shouldn't try to time the market.


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

I'm not sure you understand how ETFs work. You can buy and sell an ETF anytime you want, the same way you can buy and sell an individual stock. You could decide to buy and sell an ETF 10 times during the same day, and even more. That's because it's an *Exchange Traded* Fund, so it is traded on an exchange.

The ETF will have a price and the buyers and sellers of that ETF will have to agree with the price to be able to proceed with the transaction, the same way it is for individual stocks. As a DIY investor, you'll be a buyer and seller of that ETF. 

The price of the ETF will be influenced by its NAV (Net Asset Value). It is the value of its underlying assets. So as the ETF's holdings fluctuate in price, it'll modify its NAV. If, in aggregate, the prices are trending up, then the price of the ETF will also be trending up. If, in aggregate, the prices are trending down, then the price of the ETF will also be trending down.

Even though you aren't managing the ETF's holdings, you are deciding when you buy and sell that ETF. That's why you can end up trying to time the market even though you are buying ETFs.

Also, the holdings of that ETF can be actively or passively managed. It's actively managed when there's a manager deciding when to buy and sell the underlying assets. It's passively managed when the ETF is configured to follow an index, like the S&P 500 index for instance, or the TSX index, or the NASDAQ index, or the Dow Jones index, etc.

This should be a more accurate and detailed explanation:









Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)


An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of securities that tracks an underlying index. ETFs can contain investments such as stocks and bonds.




www.investopedia.com


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

AbleEng said:


> I'm a bit puzzled. The market seems high right now and has been for some time. Gold is moving ever higher - a harbinger of a dropping market. Interest rates are down pretty low. It sounds like impending doom. Is this wise to buy balanced ETFs - stocks and bonds, gold, etc., when everything is high??


Yes.
Best time to invest in a well balanced portfolio, which matches your risk tolerance, is when things are about to get crazy.
The other best time to invest in a well balanced portfolio, which matches your risk tolerance, is when things are NOT about to get crazy.

FYI, I don't think market timing is a good idea. Post #12 is right.




AbleEng said:


> With respect: I've been doing that for 40 years and have gotten nowhere. So I want to be a bit more proactive or it will happen again. I don't think the question was so unreasonable.
> Maybe I should wait until the bottom drops out of the market?


I'd like to know what fund you've been invested in for 40 years that got you "nowhere".
Either you were invested wrong, or your definition of "nowhere" needs clarification.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

MrMatt said:


> I'd like to know what fund you've been invested in for 40 years that got you "nowhere".
> Either you were invested wrong, or your definition of "nowhere" needs clarification.


They were mutual funds at what now seems to be very high MER - and which I never understood. II never made any contributions, and never asked if they were balanced, riskier, or more conservative. I did was I was told...fire and forget. It was only lately that I changed to index funds. Its the same story as everyone else - there isn't much there. I inherited some money recently and now its time to research and think before jumping. I'm simply not that young anymore.


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## AbleEng (May 9, 2021)

This issue with predictions and market timing is interesting. We DO play the market. I have read a great many posts by many people on here and its clear that people do arrive at a probability of something happening, and then buy and sell accordingly. Some win and some lose, but the big winners you'll never hear from; its their secret "formula". Now you will have to grant that this is true. And It not just me blabbering!


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

AbleEng said:


> They were mutual funds at what now seems to be very high MER - and which I never understood. II never made any contributions, and never asked if they were balanced, riskier, or more conservative. I did was I was told...fire and forget. It was only lately that I changed to index funds. Its the same story as everyone else - there isn't much there. I inherited some money recently and now its time to research and think before jumping. I'm simply not that young anymore.


You bought a high fee product you didn't understand, and got poor results.




AbleEng said:


> This issue with predictions and market timing is interesting. We DO play the market. I have read a great many posts by many people on here and its clear that people do arrive at a probability of something happening, and then buy and sell accordingly. Some win and some lose, but the big winners you'll never hear from; its their secret "formula". Now you will have to grant that this is true. And It not just me blabbering!


Yeah, I play the market with some money, but it's not my core portfolio, that's invested more or less "correctly".


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## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

AbleEng said:


> Some win and some lose, but the big winners you'll never hear from; its their secret "formula". Now you will have to grant that this is true. And It not just me blabbering!


More people lose than win. If you don't hear about the secret formula of the winners, then you hear even less about all those who lost.

Play the market because you enjoy it, not because you want to make more money.









Why are Individual Investors so Bad at Investing?


Individual investors as a group are bad at investing. This has been made clear by a recent DALBAR study spanning 30 years all the way back to...




innovativewealth.com





Just buy a balanced portfolio (low MER, indexing) and be done with it.

If you truly want to start this new hobby of DIY, then you have to start with at least 100h of reading of high quality content about the basics of investing.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

MrBlackhill said:


> More people lose than win. If you don't hear about the secret formula of the winners, then you hear even less about all those who lost.
> 
> Play the market because you enjoy it, not because you want to make more money.
> 
> ...


Or hire a professional, like BRK or BAM.
But some think their best days are behind them.


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