Investment Help
- Thread starter Jampy00
- Start date
Hey guys, all good posts thanks.
I will be talking to a advisor this week. Funny story TD called me in regards to this money, when I told them I want to work with someone else his response was "why, what did we do?" I actually burst out laughing, been along time since I heard that level of honesty from a bank . I'll keep you posted.
I will be talking to a advisor this week. Funny story TD called me in regards to this money, when I told them I want to work with someone else his response was "why, what did we do?" I actually burst out laughing, been along time since I heard that level of honesty from a bank . I'll keep you posted.
ETFs are a great alternative, as someone mentioned earlier, but you have to do your own due diligence and you'll need a brokerage account. It's a lot of work/time getting familiar with the platforms (ie TD Waterhouse) but if you are willing to put the time in it's not a bad idea.
Considering the amount and your experience I would go to either TD or RBC and invest in a mutual fund. I suggest these two because they both offer no load funds and have lower MER's than the others. Anyone suggesting a GIC right now is forgetting about inflation. Investing in something that pays 2.5% and losing 2% to inflation doesnt leave much on the growth side of the ledger.
There are ways to unlock these funds as well. If over 55 you can get it unlocked under a "small amounts provision." There are also a couple of other ways as well you may want to look into.
Considering the amount and your experience I would go to either TD or RBC and invest in a mutual fund. I suggest these two because they both offer no load funds and have lower MER's than the others. Anyone suggesting a GIC right now is forgetting about inflation. Investing in something that pays 2.5% and losing 2% to inflation doesnt leave much on the growth side of the ledger.
There are ways to unlock these funds as well. If over 55 you can get it unlocked under a "small amounts provision." There are also a couple of other ways as well you may want to look into.
Thanks, I know the means to get it unlocked but at this point I do not "qualify" I really enjoy reading the advise on the fourm, you guys have been most helpful. I will take many of these point with me when I meet a financial advisor.
johnp
Well-known member
that's a great question.
A CFA designation from https://www.cfainstitute.org/pages/index.aspx is what you need to become a portfolio manager - so you could checkout their course material.
Maybe more accessible are some of the open courseware, so google
opencourseware
or maybe better
opencourseware in finance
and you'll find free courses online from lots of famous schools.
You're looking for courses in finance.
eljay
Well-known member
roadtoruin
Well-known member
BBRY, 15 call up 500% today. Dump the 10K into BBRY, betcha it'll outperform any crappy gic over the next year.
Khanacademy is awesome to get a foot hold of the basics. It's really dumbed down for beginners who might open up one of these introduction to finance books, but don't understand everything. You will need to read more complicated material while doing some trial and error on the market. You won't get there in a day, few months or a year. It takes time and when you start seeing real returns you will look back and understand why it's important to start small.
Yup my bad lol. 5-6%. In total since I started in 2010
Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of chasing a train that is already leaving the station.
I'm looking forward to this Friday, because it is option expiration Friday, and if things hold as they are right now, I will be forced to sell all of my BB at a price higher than what I paid for it. Boo hoo.
(I own some BB but I'm short a March $15 call option against it. don't get any ideas, the amount involved ain't enough to retire on, it will pay for my new Z10 phone though!)
If BB drops below $15 by this Friday then I'll gladly write (sell) next month's $15 call option against it. But if it holds above $15 and it gets called away, I'm out.
I rarely buy options. I sell them. Much less likely to get burned. BB March $15 call might have spiked today but it could just as easily be worth nothing, and it could very well still be worth nothing by this Friday if BB is below $15 at the close of the market on Friday.
This is why I gave up on mutual funds. I can mismanage my own investments just as well as they can
For a $10k investment (i.e. not enough to really do some damage) I agree with this approach. I'm just checking the history on XCB using my online brokerage account right now. The unit price has stayed around $21 for years, but that's not why you buy it. The current yield is 3.84% - that's why you buy it. Because XCB itself contains many different corporate bonds, it contains built-in diversification - you are not tied to the results of any single company. There are always risks ... Bonds don't do well in a rising interest rate environment and in my view, interest rates have nowhere to go but up - but it may take a while. BUT ... If you hold a bond to maturity, it doesn't matter whether the face value fluctuates in the meantime.
The other approach is to pick a few (4 or 5) large, well-regarded dividend paying stocks - companies that aren't going to go bankrupt any time soon - and split your funds up between them.
After I gave up on mutual funds, I started out with dividend payers and I still have most of what I originally bought several years ago - I rarely trade that section of my portfolio, they just sit there and pay dividends.
roadtoruin
Well-known member
Key for sure.
In around 10:30 out by 11:30 when it started levelling off. Doubled my money no problem and wash my hands of it. I'm the opposite, buying options is much more fun.
So my question is, Is there a course or seminar for people that dont want to be financial planners, just want to know more about the markets and how stock trading works?
I've been to the seminars the CFP,s host, but they are usually "give your money over here, I'll fix you up"
No course. I learned a lot through meeting and talking with people already active in the markets. Read books and try to formulate your own strategy through small investments.
eljay
Well-known member
Seriously, khan acadamy teaches more than you will find anywhere. It's not actually as complex a process as people think. It's like drinking out of a firehose at first, but it comes together over time. It really is as simple as buy low sell high...
You can invest from a macro perspective or a micro perspective. Either step back, take a look at the world and economy and think objectively, what will benefit in this landscape in the near future? Find companies/investments that fit that frame.
Or on a micro level, look at a company, then think, objectively, do they have the goods that will profit in the near future?
By near I mean next few years.
The whole day trading/flipping thing is not something you learn from reading or studying. You just do it. It's new driven. In that case, you are on top of all news all the time and taking action on it. You literally have to be a news junkie. Like reading news feeds 14 hours a day junkie.
In summary, start at khan acadamy. It's free on youtube. It's short snippets, and you can work through at your own pace and follow your own interests. Once you've done all that, you'll have a better grip on the scope of everything and then head to chapters or google and go from there.
You can invest from a macro perspective or a micro perspective. Either step back, take a look at the world and economy and think objectively, what will benefit in this landscape in the near future? Find companies/investments that fit that frame.
Or on a micro level, look at a company, then think, objectively, do they have the goods that will profit in the near future?
By near I mean next few years.
The whole day trading/flipping thing is not something you learn from reading or studying. You just do it. It's new driven. In that case, you are on top of all news all the time and taking action on it. You literally have to be a news junkie. Like reading news feeds 14 hours a day junkie.
In summary, start at khan acadamy. It's free on youtube. It's short snippets, and you can work through at your own pace and follow your own interests. Once you've done all that, you'll have a better grip on the scope of everything and then head to chapters or google and go from there.
johnp
Well-known member
oh for sure those seminars are marketing tools for the advisors.
If you just want stock trading knowhow first of all save yourself a lot of grief and forget about day trading (not to be confused with high frequency trading). Just can't be done, for many technical reasons. Google day trading scam for starters.
The other thing which doesn't work is technical analysis i.e. staring at charts.
The CFA program for example has 3 exams, and study for each is about 200 hours - and that covers stocks and bonds - so there's no quick and easy learning. I suspect if you stay with the well known business schools (and maybe Khan) and check for online courses in finance you can get there. But it won't be fast.
Ahhh, day trading. I've never had any luck whatsoever with that. There are many different investment strategies and many different investment styles. Day trading is not for me. In your situation (good call, by the way!) BB could easily have gone down instead of up, and then, you would have lost it all.
BB is back below $15 today, so it's good for you that you were in and out. With my strategy, on the other hand, I'm okay with it settling just below $15 this Friday, because then I'll repeat the strategy again next month by selling more calls against it!
Sorry Johnp but I have to say you have it ***-backwards! You can check out my last rant from a previous thread but I assure you the only thing that matters in the markets are supply and demand. Toss in basic understanding of trader psychology or investor sentiment and you have.... Technical Analysis. News doesnt matter.... the buying or selling that may or may not take place after the news is all that matters. P/E ratios, Dividend Yields... none of it matters until it causes buying or selling -- again... Technicals.
I've said it before... been saying it since I got my *** handed to me during the tech wreck... listen to no one... only charts matter. Spend $30 on a basic Technical Analysis book, study, practice... stick to it and you'll be outperforming the markets and fund managers alike. It isnt magic so you have to do the work - ie analysis! Anyone that does not feel Technical Analysis works has either never taken the time to learn to use it properly or is trying to sell you on their own investing "prowess!"
