# Giving up on housing I want to invest my savings but need help.



## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

I've been sitting on a lot of cash to buy a house. I've done some soul searching and decided it's not for me. I move around too much and it's too expensive.

Right now I have around 32K in TFSA and 25 in RRSP both of these are in a Tangerine account getting around 1.3% interest.

I'm not looking for what to invest in right now. I just need to know what I have to do. Do I go with TD Water house, or an online broker? What do I tell them? That I want to be in an investment account?

My plan is to take this money, choose stocks that have dividends ad get them to roll over into my account. It will be a long term strategy.

Who should I go with? I'm green so I don't want someone if I miss a step or do something wrong I'm getting charged, that defeats the point of trying to invest. I want something flexible, reliable, easy to use and doesn't try to nickel and dime you.


----------



## DmDave (Dec 1, 2014)

Open an online brokerage and buy ETF's. Look up Canadian Couch Potato for your initial dose of index investing. Read "Random walk down Wall Street", highly recommended for any beginner investors.


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Also read The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton- a great introduction and a fun read also. It's a classic of investing for Canadians.


----------



## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

Okay, thanks for the reply. 

So for someone that is green, an online brokerage is good? They are better than TD or RBC where I can talk to someone in person?

Which online brokerage would be better for someone in my situation? Also do brokerages have new account deals? Sometimes with banks and other companies when you open an account you get a first time deal. Should I wait for one of those deals?

Also I did read a few investing and stock books. I have just never done it before.


----------



## DmDave (Dec 1, 2014)

I personally us Qtrade because of their fast customer support, but Questrade is also recommended by other posters. If you're worry about online brokerage, all are covered under CIPF, so in case of insolvency CIPF will cover your lost for up to $1 million. Online discount brokerage are usually better than big banks, since their commissions are usually a bit less than the big 6.

Questrade doesn't charge commission on buying ETF's, so that might be a big plus for people to add money every 2 weeks or so. Understand that MER of ETF's are a lot less than mutual funds. As Jack Bogle said, "you get what you don't pay." So understand that the lesser the MER the better for your return.

Review of online brokerage for 2014

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob.../2014-online-broker-rankings/article21783584/


----------



## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Emperor,

I would take some time to do some reading first, understand your investing plan. Then, "Who should I go with?" becomes a rather easy exercise. On the latter note, hard to go wrong with BMO, RY, TD or BNS brokerages. They are all a bit different. The link that DmDave has above is a good one.


----------



## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

I use td and edward jones

For second opinion I use a fee only planner

My largest holding is fts I have owned for many years

Professional advice is the way to go as there are many variables

good luck


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

I use Questrade for buying stocks in my TFSA, because they have $4.95 trades and it's a good, easy to understand interface. For my RRSP I use TD for e-Series low-cost index funds taken out of my bank account automatically every month. Super easy and cheap.


----------



## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

emperor said:


> Do I go with TD Water house, or an online broker?


TD Waterhouse *is* an online broker.


----------



## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

emperor said:


> I've been sitting on a lot of cash to buy a house. I've done some soul searching and decided it's not for me. I move around too much and it's too expensive.
> 
> Right now I have around 32K in TFSA and 25 in RRSP both of these are in a Tangerine account getting around 1.3% interest.
> 
> ...


Off topic.. slightly.. but what made you decide to not go with a home purchase out of curiosity? 


On your topic.. lots of great responses so far, I personally use TD Waterhouse for my TFSA, Self Directed RRSP and Chequing/Saving accounts and would recommend them based on customer service. Although, I like them because they suit my need's well (ie long term buy and hold investing) and there is certainly better options for Active Trading. 

Good Luck


----------



## DmDave (Dec 1, 2014)

Perhaps www.greatfool.ca

At least for me that's what spurred my interest in investing my money and shunned RE in BC


----------



## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

Principle mostly, I believe the market is manipulated. I don't agree with how BOC and CMHC dealt with things. 

Thanks for the replies. I guess what I'm trying to do is use the community like a mentoring system. I'll read the books suggested but I'm way more interested in the advice of a real person on this board who consistently makes 5-10% returns. I assume there is a learning curve and books might help but it's a lot of trial and error. Something tells me to be successful at something like this is a lot harder than most people think. I also know there is tons of variables and maybe I'm over simplifying things, I basically just want to jump on the bandwagon find what the successful people would do and take their advice. =) Maybe its not a good strategy.


----------



## DmDave (Dec 1, 2014)

Rookie mistake right there. No one can ever have a consistent 5-10% return year in and year out. Those who tell you so are liars. There are good and bad years, and it's impossible to have a good return in both good and bad years. As for following successful people, I think you already know the answer, which is don't. Most people aren't aware of their own shortcoming, and live under the illusion that they're skillful when in fact luck played a much larger role.

In order to be a capitalist, you have to have capital. So the first lesson that you should learn is to save as much as you can to build it up. Even if you know a stock will go up 100X for sure, if you only have $100 in capital it's useless. OTOH, if you have $100,000...

EDIT: This is a good series of blog post about investing, very well written and easy to understand.

http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/


----------



## none (Jan 15, 2013)

emperor - all you need to do is read the oversized pamphlet: http://www.moneysense.ca/uncategorized/moneysense-guide-to-the-perfect-portfolio-2 (but the newest one).

And you'll be done - it takes a few hours and you'll have pretty much all you need.


----------



## amitdi (May 31, 2012)

I have accounts with Questrade and VirtualBrokers. I'll recommend Questrade, they are cheap and good.


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

DmDave said:


> Rookie mistake right there. No one can ever have a consistent 5-10% return year in and year out. Those who tell you so are liars. There are good and bad years, and it's impossible to have a good return in both good and bad years. As for following successful people, I think you already know the answer, which is don't. Most people aren't aware of their own shortcoming, and live under the illusion that they're skillful when in fact luck played a much larger role.
> 
> In order to be a capitalist, you have to have capital. So the first lesson that you should learn is to save as much as you can to build it up. Even if you know a stock will go up 100X for sure, if you only have $100 in capital it's useless. OTOH, if you have $100,000...
> 
> ...


Some index funds achieve this return. Even though I do trade stocks, a large percentage of my portfolio is in index funds.


----------



## banjopete (Feb 4, 2014)

You'll see all of this stuff is a snowball effect, once you start to care you'll learn, and experience things. Like you've found with RE, you'll like some things and not like other parts, learn as much as you can/care to and enjoy the hopeful rewards. Saving money as mentioned is one of the hardest hurdles and it seems you've been able to accomplish that already, the next part is well, the next part.


----------



## DmDave (Dec 1, 2014)

indexxx said:


> Some index funds achieve this return. Even though I do trade stocks, a large percentage of my portfolio is in index funds.


True, but that was because of the bull market we've been experiencing for the last 5 years. What I meant was that people who guaranteed they'll make 5-10% a year indefinitely is an outright liar. Even with index investing, there will be a negative year somewhere down the road. No one has the crystal ball to call market top and market bottom correctly consistently. For the record I'm all passive investing, only 10% is individual stocks and active MF.


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Yes there will always be periods when index funds, like everything else, will suffer. But historically, index funds by their very definition will on average grow over time because the markets grow over time, and without the MERs of managed funds or the volatility of single equities. I'm in a more aggressive equities phase right now (or have been for the past few years- that's changing as I get close to needing a down payment) but index and dividend players are the base of my portfolio.


----------



## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

Ohhh k I'm done reading, all I see in contradictions in everything. "Oh I made all my money picking stocks but then I went to picking index funds because picking stocks doesn't work usually." "Its easy to be a millionaire just save money and get 6% compounding interest for life, but I won't tell you how to do that because it's pretty much impossible." "In the long term you should make some money, usually people do, just need to pick the right things."

Anyways this has just put me off investing, maybe I'll try again next year LOL. I'll just stick with my 1.30% =)


----------



## hboy43 (May 10, 2009)

emperor said:


> Anyways this has just put me off investing, maybe I'll try again next year LOL. I'll just stick with my 1.30% =)


Nothing will be any different next year. You have to decide for yourself what to do from the cacophony of investing advice.

hboy43


----------



## Chris Boar (Mar 25, 2011)

emperor said:


> Anyways this has just put me off investing, maybe I'll try again next year LOL. I'll just stick with my 1.30% =)


Perfectly feasible to get an average return of +6% over a long period. You don't need to be scared of the markets or short term 'crisis' like 2008 or the current Oil price drop. You're in it for the long term. The S&P 500 has returned nearly 10% since I was born, 46 years ago. 

Goto the Couch Potato website, use one of their simple index portfolio's using etf's. Then go enjoy life. Also read 'Millionaire Teacher'. A great book that explains the '8th wonder of the world'....Compound Interest....and how not to get caught up in short term emotional investing, and most importantly how to invest your money in index funds that don't rip you off. Very similar to the Couch Potato philosophy.


----------

