investment help needed....

[Giseledta]

any one have any book recomendations for how to learn about investmensts. seriously my lack of knowlage is impressive. beyond knowing i should do it... and hey.. i set up auto withdrawls into a rrsp and tfsa... i know nadda..... seriously.

[Shwa Girl]

Tangerine Bank's investment articles is a good place to start.

https://www.tangerine.ca/forwardthinking/investing

Tangerine Bank's YouTube videos are helpful
https://www.youtube.com/user/TangerineBank/videos

Money Sense
https://www.moneysense.ca

[Giseledta]

thank you !!!

[brunt]

Try the Canadian Couch Potato: https://canadiancouchpotato.com/. Start at this link: https://canadiancouchpotato.com/getting-started/. Basically, if you are starting out, don't even think of purchasing individual shares, look at ETFs. This is one of the best, no-nonsense, simplest ways to get started.

It may take you a while to get into it, since it is a daily blog with a meandering direction, but try Garth Turner's blog: https://www.greaterfool.ca/. If you stick with it (read it daily for a year), you will definitely learn some things. He's no dummy, he was Canada's Minster of Revenue for a short period. He discusses investment, saving, taxes and life in general.

[Shwa Girl]

Try the Canadian Couch Potato: https://canadiancouchpotato.com/. Start at this link: https://canadiancouchpotato.com/getting-started/. Basically, if you are starting out, don't even think of purchasing individual shares, look at ETFs. This is one of the best, no-nonsense, simplest ways to get started.

It may take you a while to get into it, since it is a daily blog with a meandering direction, but try Garth Turner's blog: https://www.greaterfool.ca/. If you stick with it (read it daily for a year), you will definitely learn some things. He's no dummy, he was Canada's Minster of Revenue for a short period. He discusses investment, saving, taxes and life in general.

@brunt , thanks. I agree about Canadian Couch Potato

[t-cellreceptor]

The standard would be anything from Benjamin Graham!

[tjthemanto]

Biggest basic mistake people make is that they think TFSA is just for Savings account. You can pretty much but anything inside a TFSA like stocks, mutual funds, GIC etc. That name Tax Free Savings Account is confusing, so can't blame them.

Biggest advantage of buying stocks, mutual funds, etc in TFSA is No Capital gains tax on your investment and profits. Also when you withdraw money from TFSA no income tax on it either.

[brunt]

Biggest basic mistake people make is that they think TFSA is just for Savings account. You can pretty much but anything inside a TFSA like stocks, mutual funds, GIC etc. That name Tax Free Savings Account is confusing, so can't blame them.
Biggest advantage of buying stocks, mutual funds, etc in TFSA is No Capital gains tax on your investment and profits. Also when you withdraw money from TFSA no income tax on it either.

There are a few major differences between TFSA and RRSP:

• If you are in a position of where you may need access to some of your registered funds before retirement, then TFSA is the way to go. If you take money out of your TFSA, you can put it back in (the next year). Once money is out of an RRSP, it's out for good.
• RRSP is very valuable if you are in a higher tax bracket, especially as you near retirement (assuming that your income taxes will be lower in retirement). You effectively get to push some of your income out into lower tax level years, ultimately saving income taxes by using one of the few legal means of income averaging.
• Your last point is tricky, it took me a while to wrap my head around the differences. Ultimately, TFSA and RRSP, all other things being equal, are kinda sorta the same as far as after tax treatment of capital gains. My reasoning goes like this:
  
  • Assume that you have the same tax rate when you contribute and when you withdraw, let's say 50% to make it easy. The rate does not matter for the analysis.
  • You have $1,000 to invest on which you will make a capital gain. Say you will make a 50%, or $500 profit. Again, the rate does not matter, so let's just use these numbers.
  • If you go the TFSA route, you put in $1,000, and after your gains, you can take out $1,500 with no tax consequences.
  • If you go the RRSP route, you have your $1,000, and you will be getting a 50% refund on your taxes. You could actually contribute $2,000 (your refund will be $1,000, making your net investment $1,000). You make a 50% profit, bringing this up to $3,000. Withdrawing it from the RRSP, you will pay 50% taxes, meaning that you will be left with $1,500 after taxes - exactly the same as with the TFSA.
  • While this requires a bit of mental gymnastics, it is illuminating to see that the two are effectively equal, unless of course your retirement tax rate is lower than when you contribute (my second point), in which case the RRSP would put you further ahead. This is not meant to be a ding on TFSAs - I am a big fan - but it is important to know their relative merits.

[SPrada]

Along the lines of the 4 Pillars, The Intelligent Asset Allocator is another good one, though parts of it went over my head.

[intx]

I suggest two/three things that will get you very far:

1. Ask lots of questions. Better to ask a question and get an answer from someone who's made the mistake, than to end up $1,000,000 poorer in 30 years. Also you'd be surprised how many people are willing to help for free so you aren't robbed by advisors who recommend funds where they take a huge cut for those who don't understand compound percentages.

2. I suggest using a robo-advisor, here's why:

• Every book tells you, fees are very important, because they add up a lot over time. Robo Advisors have the lowest fees besides doing it yourself.

You invest just $10,000 at age 15 and retire at age 65.

Investor's Group charges ~3% fees, with 3% fee, you will retire with $71,066. (average 7% - 3% annually = 4%)

Without, you will retire with $294,570. (average 7% market performance)

• It's super simple. Just put your money into the 'robo-advisor,' tell them your risk/retirement age, and that's it. Put money in and never look back.

• The majority of people do not beat the market. Something like 90% of people end up losing money had they only just bought the market. Robo Advisors try to match the market.

Wealthsimple sounds pretty good as they're no minimum and low fee, but nearly any robot advisor should be fine. Moneysense made a list here: https://www.moneysense.ca/save/inves...ors-in-canada/

CBC Marketplace on Financial Advisors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmHabm-Osg

3. If you do decide to do it yourself, read, a lot. Warren Buffett, the richest investor in America, beat the market, but he reads 600-1000 pages a day. Just remember, if you're investing yourself and not following a system, you're basically playing a zero-sum game against people who's sole job is to outperform you.

[MrMike]

I personally enjoy this guy's videos. Easy to follow and packed full of good information. I know what I'm doing but I still watched and enjoyed the videos.
I can't post links yet but go to YouTube and search "canadian in at shirt"