Tomorrow we are going to Scotia bank and investing in a few stocks..i am so worried this will bite us in the butt.Have you invested in stocks? what did you invest in? did it turn out in your favor?
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Tomorrow we are going to Scotia bank and investing in a few stocks..i am so worried this will bite us in the butt.Have you invested in stocks? what did you invest in? did it turn out in your favor?
I have TFSA (tax free savings account) with Questrade that I use for investing with my own 'play' money. All profits made within the TFSA are tax free :)
I don't trust the Big5 banks when it comes to investing...most will only sell you their brand of mutual funds.
I left ScotiaBank/ScotiaMcLeod and chose an independent financial adviser and haven't doubted my decision yet.
While the stock market as a whole is generally a good place to invest, I would not recommend buying individual stocks.
ETF's (not mutual funds from the bank) are likely the best way to start. Instant diversification, low fees, easy to buy and sell.
I don't want to come across as being snarky, but if you are asking for advice on the internet, you should consider doing some serious reading before putting up your own money.
You may want to start by reading here: http://canadiancouchpotato.com/recommended-etfs/
My husband did all the research on the stocks he wants to invest in we opened a tax free savings account.He seems confident in the places he wants to invest in i guess i am more worried that this could go bad.We are not promised to make a profit right? the companies we invest in could go bankrupt and we lose the money we invested.
The guy at the bank did not seem to tell us alot besides open the tax free bank account and told us when we go home we can buy stocks.He told us we should invest in mutual funds but my husband wants to invest in Google,3D printers,GM,Ford and Sony..he thinks there good companies to put money behind.
I did some research last night and they seem fine but of course there's risk that's what i am worried about..nobody my age has ever invested or looked at investing so this isnt something i can talk to friends about there experience i am relying on the internet,forums and what the bank says..and my husbands confidence in the companies.
Did the "guy at the Bank" do a risk profile on you? Because judging by the fact that you are really worried about your stocks going down in value, and the fact that you really don't understand the stock market (and I am also not being snarky here... I am just going by what you have said in your post), stocks are not the place for you to start investing.
Each of the companies you have named have been good stocks over the years - they have also lost their investors tons of money over the years if they were sold during a downturn or in panic selling. If you are risk averse, which it sounds like you are, you should stay away until you at least understand what you are doing.
Your financial planner or broker needs to do a risk assessment on both you AND your husband.
Good points.Quote:
Originally Posted by brunt
Quote:
Originally Posted by brunt
I second the couch potato strategy if you're new to investing
Do not go to Scotia Bank or any of the other Big 5 banks.Quote:
Originally Posted by MakaylaGreen
The trading accounts they have , have ridiculous trading fees ( commisions ).
Evertime you buy or sell stocks , you will end up paying these fees if you buy through them and it will eat up a lot of your profits.
There are lot of low cost online brokerage firms available , where your trading costs will be much much cheaper and with fewer restrictions like minimum balances etc.
Scotia will charge you fees ( administrative fees etc ) if your balance goes down or if you don't make a certain amt. of trades per qtr.
I used to be with E*Trade Canada ( pretty good ) and then Scotia took over and it became Scotia I*Trade , things started going down hill from there.
All the fees were increased , more restrictions and absolutely horrible custoer service , once they took over :(
Mutual Funds have a very high MER , ( Management Expense Ratio ) in Canada , which eats up into your profit. So your husband is right in that regard.Quote:
Originally Posted by MakaylaGreen
Plus more often than not these bank guys sell you Mutual Funds of their own bank and MF's on which they make maximum commission , so be careful of that.
ETF , Exchange Traded Funds are a much better option if you really want to go the fund way as they have a low MER.
Yes , there is no guarantee of profits or principal when you buy stocks.
But its very unlikely companies like Google , Sony etc will go bankrupt , but that does not mean the stock won't fluctuate. It can go down a lot , so be prepared for a wild ride ..the ups and downs are huge when it comes to stocks.
Its a high risk - high reward situation , when you buy stocks . Never ever invest money , you can't afford to lose in stocks.
Each share of Google is $ 923 :yikes: ..so just 1 shares is going to cost you that. I personally feel that Google share is at its peak and unlikely to go up much more. Maybe if you had got into it 5-6 months back it was a different thing.
I wii give you an exampe , when Apple stock was 700 bucks just a few months back everyone was saying buy buy its going to reach 1,000 bucks and then it went down to 400 bucks !
Investing in stocks is for the long term, holding them a minimum 15, 20 years down the line. How many stocks are you buying? To spread the risk, you need to diversify and that means holding a minimum of 8 stocks and that's usually not worth it unless you're investing $50K or move.
I third the couch potato strategy if you're new at investing.
If you still want to invest in stocks, do it slowly and I suggest you look into DRIPS, where you buy one share through a broker, sign up with the company's dividend reinvestment program and share buying plans. Over the long term, dividends become shares, and you can purchase shares when you want. All this, while saving on brokerage fees. A good book on the subject is "The Lazy Investor" by Canadian author Derek Foster if you want to learn more.
The more I read about investing and banks, the more I think about putting it all under my mattress with a flame ant cover of course :o)
funny it changes r-t-a-r-d-a-nt to ant
I'm a little (a lot) risk-adverse, probably because I don't have quite enough money in the bank to feel comfortable possibly losing it all. I feel much more comfortable with the idea of DRIP investing than trying to find the winning horse out of the blue.
you cannot use the word r-e-t-a-r-d on the form, and it cannot differentiate between using it in a derogatory sense and as a part of another word. it gets filtered out much like curse words and competitor's sites (aka the one with the f-l-a-g).Quote:
Originally Posted by MillieH
Everyone has made excellent points here Alicia, I would reconsider about investing into stocks directly. Perhaps investing in ETF's or Index Funds first, then some stocks will make you feel better. Putting all your money in one basket will surely make it easy to possibly lose it all.