Investing

[eljay]

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Som's got an amazing background story. He spoke at a conference I was at (AND I sat at the same table as him for lunch by pure fluke). I'll say this about successful people, they certainly stand out from a crowd of normal people. I don't know what it is.

He's not a financial advisor, he started an ETF company then sold it. The ETFs were innovative at the time. I'm surprised he doesn't get more play as a Canadian business hero.

I know my fair share of bank people, the "investment" people are merely puppets for the bank and have no clue and work from a bank manual. This is just a perfunctory job for them.

The true good guys start their own companies, like this guy :

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...-to-6-billion-investment-house/article597737/

 

[johnp]

....I hope you have no more than 5% of your total assets with him?

.......

ha ha voice of experience!

I too know no gods on earth.

 

[RockerGuy]

 

[knowledge]

Anyone have experience with this? http://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/

I'll also be picking up any books that were previously suggested...feel free to add more to the list!

 

[AL3RT]

This thread is amazing

 

[roadtoruin]

Gold and silver and miners are all looking good again. My september silver 23 calls are pushing 1000%, gotta like that.

 

[toshison]

Gold and silver and miners are all looking good again. My september silver 23 calls are pushing 1000%, gotta like that.

%
They have run up quite a bit since the beginning of the month, some of the smaller to intermediate caps have shot up around 50%. I've been burned a bit with some miners in the past so Im more cautious these days. Im going to continue to hold what I have but I dont think Im going to buy anymore into this wave. The sector can reverse fast and aggressively.

 

[roadtoruin]

%
They have run up quite a bit since the beginning of the month, some of the smaller to intermediate caps have shot up around 50%. I've been burned a bit with some miners in the past so Im more cautious these days. Im going to continue to hold what I have but I dont think Im going to buy anymore into this wave. The sector can reverse fast and aggressively.

The whole metals sector has been smashed down so hard, i dont think it could go any lower. It could turn around and hit the same low a few more times though, i wouldn't rule that out.

Good day again for the gold/silver/miners while just about everything else in the market is getting hammered.

 

[mimico_polak]

Wow great thread! I've always wanted to get into some investing because right now I haven't done anything except RRSP due to safety but with a horrible rate of return. How did you guys get into it? Do you prefer to go for some risk? Or some 'safer' dividend paying stocks? Recommendations on where to get started? I would only do this for future gain, not to try and get rich quick. I don't have a huge amount to put into it so it'd be a long term strategy.

 

[toshison]

Wow great thread! I've always wanted to get into some investing because right now I haven't done anything except RRSP due to safety but with a horrible rate of return. How did you guys get into it? Do you prefer to go for some risk? Or some 'safer' dividend paying stocks? Recommendations on where to get started? I would only do this for future gain, not to try and get rich quick. I don't have a huge amount to put into it so it'd be a long term strategy.

If you want to dabble a bit and get a feel for starters, I'd recommend getting a TFSA trading account (that is of course if you don't already have a tfsa somewhere else full of money) with Questrade or an equivalent discount brokerage, put some money in it and start watching some equities and experiment a little bit. Going with the TFSA means any gains you make will be tax-free AND if you become a fairly active trader, you won't dread the end of the year when you have to do your taxes because you wont need to worry about calculating your capital gains..

I think its one of those things where you just need to immerse yourself in it and sort of learn on the fly. You can watch some volatile stocks to see how they move and you can watch some large caps that are a bit more steady. You can look up what the so-called "experts" say about companies on a site like stockchase.com (look under opinions-recent opinions).. Usually these guys are about as accurate as flipping a coin but sometimes they can share some good insight.

 

[nfq]

^^^ TD eFunds aren't a bad place to start either, with a little index investing into your TFSA.

 

[LiNK666]

Wow great thread! I've always wanted to get into some investing because right now I haven't done anything except RRSP due to safety but with a horrible rate of return. How did you guys get into it? Do you prefer to go for some risk? Or some 'safer' dividend paying stocks? Recommendations on where to get started? I would only do this for future gain, not to try and get rich quick. I don't have a huge amount to put into it so it'd be a long term strategy.

Here change to this fund: sig sel cdn fund it had a 18% Rate of return last year.

 

[mimico_polak]

Thanks guys I've got a TFSA which is already close to being maxed out for the year. I've been putting cash away into RRSP, TFSA, and a savings account. Currently have one small investment property (joint with folks - this purchase emptied out my accounts a few years ago and I'm still re-building) which helps for LONG term security and I'm paying that off now. But I'd like to add to my portfolio as I don't have enough income from outside of work forces to sustain myself. I've also got a retirement fund with work which comes close to $10k or so, which I will have the option of either putting into another fund, or taking directly out and incurring a 30% penalty for tax...but at least I'd have 7k cash in hand...I can take it out once my employment with the firm ends on Dec 31. I'm early 30s and getting married in a few weeks so looking at options for future growth / sustainment.

 

[eljay]

Nice. Management Expense Ratio: 2.44 percent.
Use ETFs. XUS just tracks the S&P500 with no thought whatsoever and returned over 20 percent and a 0.14percent fee (that's more than 15 times less).
Note I'm not recommending investment in US equity now (or anything in public because I work in the industry), but that fund charges a much higher fee and can't beat the do-nothing strategy.
A similar strategy might be CUD - S&P US Dividend Growers Index Fund (over 20% last year charging 0.68 percent) coupled with XDV - Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index Fund (just under 15 percent with a 0.55 percent charge). Canadian stocks lagged US stocks last year. Going forward, avoid mutual funds that charge ridiculous fees that can't beat the index and just do ETFs that track the index. More liquidity and price transparency and lower costs and more available strategies and the list goes on. A lot of brokers have a long list of ETFs that they don't even charge commission on.
Check out ishares.ca or horizonsetfs.com to get started looking at ETFs and all the strategies they offer. It's mind boggling, but if you have a view on the market, there's probably a product that meets your need. If you are into precious metals, there's a dizzying array of strategies for that alone.
Again, I make no recommendations here (except to lower costs); this is just education about the products.

Here change to this fund: sig sel cdn fund it had a 18% Rate of return last year.

 

[kickstartt]

Nice. Management Expense Ratio: 2.44 percent.
Use ETFs. XUS just tracks the S&P500 with no thought whatsoever and returned over 20 percent and a 0.14percent fee (that's more than 15 times less).
Note I'm not recommending investment in US equity now (or anything in public because I work in the industry), but that fund charges a much higher fee and can't beat the do-nothing strategy.
A similar strategy might be CUD - S&P US Dividend Growers Index Fund (over 20% last year charging 0.68 percent) coupled with XDV - Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index Fund (just under 15 percent with a 0.55 percent charge). Canadian stocks lagged US stocks last year. Going forward, avoid mutual funds that charge ridiculous fees that can't beat the index and just do ETFs that track the index. More liquidity and price transparency and lower costs and more available strategies and the list goes on. A lot of brokers have a long list of ETFs that they don't even charge commission on.
Check out ishares.ca or horizonsetfs.com to get started looking at ETFs and all the strategies they offer. It's mind boggling, but if you have a view on the market, there's probably a product that meets your need. If you are into precious metals, there's a dizzying array of strategies for that alone.
Again, I make no recommendations here (except to lower costs); this is just education about the products.

ETF needs a minimum amount of money to start, right? like $100k?

I've put some money in the US equity Mutual fund and haven't seen much growth in the past 3 months.

 

[roadtoruin]

ETF needs a minimum amount of money to start, right? like $100k?

I've put some money in the US equity Mutual fund and haven't seen much growth in the past 3 months.

ETF - exchange traded fund. Basically just a stock with a ticker symbol that tracks a certain sector. SPY, USO, AQG, IWM, QQQ, they go on forever, no minimum or maximums, no ongoing fees, just commission on buying/selling. Mutual funds are a bad play IMO, usually low rate of return and ongoing "management" fees. BS.

Think the markets topping out and things are heading lower from here? get in on some SDS or other short sided ETFs. Just bought a little SDS yesterday.

 

[nfq]

from some sources on the net (Couch potato investing for example)

[h=3]What’s an index mutual fund?[/h]

First it’s important to understand what an index is: it’s a group of stocks or bonds used to measure the performance of a particular market. For instance, the S&P/TSX Composite includes about 250 companies traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and it’s considered a barometer of the entire Canadian stock market.​

Similarly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 are indexes that measure the US stock market. The MSCI EAFE is a popular index of international stocks. Other indexes measure the fixed-income market, such as the widely used DEX Universe Bond Index, which covers both government and corporate bonds in Canada.​

An index mutual fund holds all (or almost all) of the stocks or bonds in a particular index. The idea is to produce a return equal to that of the overall market. That’s different from the goal of “actively managed” mutual funds, which try (usually unsuccessfully) to choose individual securities that will outperform the market. To use a favourite phrase of John Bogle, the father of index investing, instead of looking for the needle in the haystack, index funds just buy the haystack.​

[h=3]What are exchange-traded funds (ETFs)?[/h]

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are similar to index mutual funds in that they hold a basket of stocks or bonds and track a specific index. However, unlike mutual funds, ETFs are bought and sold on an exchange, like stocks.​

While investors typically pay a commission to buy and sell them (just as they would when trading stocks), ETFs typically have lower annual fees than index mutual funds. There is also a much wider selection, offering investors access to almost every kind of asset: stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, precious metals, currencies and more.
​

and

[h=3]Should I use index mutual funds or ETFs?[/h]

The decision between index mutual funds and ETFs depends on several factors. Here are some rules of thumb.​

Choose index mutual funds if:

• you’re investing less than $50,000
• you plan to make small, regular contributions
• you want to keep your portfolio simple, with just the basic asset classes
• you’re not comfortable buying and selling ETFs in a discount brokerage account

Choose ETFs if:

• you’re investing at least $50,000
• you plan to make infrequent, lump-sum contributions
• you want to include asset classes that are not available through index mutual funds (such as real estate, emerging markets, and real-return bonds)
• you’re comfortable using a discount brokerage to place trades
• you’re able to open a discount brokerage account with no annual fee, and that charges no more than $10 per trade

 

[johnp]

.....get in on some SDS or other short sided ETFs. Just bought a little SDS yesterday.

SDS is not recommended for 'retail' investors. It doesn't do what you think it does.

 

[johnp]

.... A lot of brokers have a long list of ETFs that they don't even charge commission on.
.....

Anybody know why they don't charge comish on ETFs?

 

[Gary]

Anybody know why they don't charge comish on ETFs?

Probably because ETF's are traded all day long during open market hours. There's a spread, where they make their 'juice'.
Funds are priced at the end of the trading day, and don't have spreads, just MER's for all the 'trouble' they go through doing their jobs.

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