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Couch potato investing for the last 18 years - tracking my progress

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Deal Expert
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Jul 8, 2007
28096 posts
1507 upvotes
Calgary
bubak wrote: VCN is at 34.94. The first time in history that it was ever this high was January 14th, 2020. If you bought it any time before then, you have a gain, not a loss. If your investment horizon is three weeks, equities might not be a good idea.

Same thing for XAW, except November 25th, 2019.
I didn't necessarily mean at this exact moment in time, but if the markets drop significantly in the next 1-2 years.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 23, 2007
5113 posts
4890 upvotes
bluevektor wrote: I didn't necessarily mean at this exact moment in time, but if the markets drop significantly in the next 1-2 years.
Personally I never sell just because the markets are dropping. If anything, whenever I have cash to invest I'm a buyer in any market. Over the long term, allows me to slowly build up our assets and income from investments.
Deal Addict
Oct 1, 2006
3244 posts
4452 upvotes
Montreal
bluevektor wrote: Sorry if this was discussed earlier in the thread, I didn't read through all of the pages. With all of the market turmoil, is anyone planning to do any tax loss harvesting? What cutoff would you suggest before selling? 5% drop, 10% drop? Does anyone have advice for enacting this strategy?

I was thinking of pairing XAW with VXC and VCN with XIC.
Yes, I think this is a good strategy. For me I would take advantage of tax loss harvesting once one of my ETFs has a loss of around $2000. This would save me around ~$500 in taxes. The money from the sell would be immediately reinvested using a similar ETF.
Deal Addict
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Feb 1, 2012
2211 posts
3795 upvotes
Thunder Bay, ON
In almost a decade of couch potato investing I have TLHd only once. After investing for a while your capital gain gets high enough you are unlikely to get into a loss position. TLH is something that works better with individual stocks especially volatile growth stocks.

CPM Blog has a series on it: https://www.canadianportfoliomanagerblo ... s-selling/

Be careful with superficial losses across all your accounts: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency ... -loss.html
When I was young, I was poor. Now, after years of hard work, I'm no longer young.
Deal Addict
Oct 1, 2006
3244 posts
4452 upvotes
Montreal
PlaidPhantom wrote: How much do you hold in liquid cash/emergency fund?
We hold around 10-15k in liquid cash/emergency fund.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 23, 2007
5113 posts
4890 upvotes
PlaidPhantom wrote: How much do you hold in liquid cash/emergency fund?
Depends on the person. If you're debt averse as we are, and get hit unexpectedly with a bill near $50,000 in one year, you tend to increase your emergency fund considerably from what it used to be. Besides, it's kind of nice to have the ability to pay cash for a new sub-compact car when necessary. Then start building up the emergency fund again. Been there, done that.
Sr. Member
Jan 22, 2015
662 posts
180 upvotes
I'm re-balancing my tfsa and rrsp. Trying to move away from stock picking but I'll be holding on to FTS/AQN/ENB/CNR/TD/SU since I'm up pretty big on all of these (except SU) and can't get myself to sell just yet. '

After selling my smaller positions in my TFSA I'm left with about 36k cash. I'm leaning towards XGRO . Is it best to buy it in a lump sum or should I buy half now and the other half later to see what happens?

For my rrsp should I buy XGRO again to keep things simple? Or go with another pick? I'll have about 10k cash for this one.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 23, 2007
5113 posts
4890 upvotes
rssdale wrote: I'm re-balancing my tfsa and rrsp. Trying to move away from stock picking but I'll be holding on to FTS/AQN/ENB/CNR/TD/SU since I'm up pretty big on all of these (except SU) and can't get myself to sell just yet. '

After selling my smaller positions in my TFSA I'm left with about 36k cash. I'm leaning towards XGRO . Is it best to buy it in a lump sum or should I buy half now and the other half later to see what happens?

For my rrsp should I buy XGRO again to keep things simple? Or go with another pick? I'll have about 10k cash for this one.
All I know is I bought our all-in-one ETF's just recently........lump sum. Same in all four registered portfolios. Makes investing a little easier for my wife.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Oct 26, 2003
39290 posts
6324 upvotes
Winnipeg
TuxedoBlack wrote: I'd switch it. XAW in TFSA and XGRO in RRSP. Reason: put bonds in RRSP as you'll eventually have to pay tax when you withdraw the money. So if you absolutely need bonds, then place them in RRSPs.
why vgro instead of vfv? seems to do the same but with lower fee.
Deal Addict
Jul 8, 2013
4475 posts
6898 upvotes
Somewhere in AB
divx wrote: why vgro instead of vfv? seems to do the same but with lower fee.
Because the guy who I quoted and b/w those two ETFs. At the end of the day, choosing b/w these two would have very little end impact as compared to whether you're able and willing to ride out the market.

I keep bonds in my RRSP only. I do so because I want to reduce volatility and have dry powder to buy more equities when the market corrects.
"You don’t need to sacrifice stability, common sense, and comfort if a 1% bond still lets you achieve your financial goals." M. Housel
Deal Expert
User avatar
Oct 26, 2003
39290 posts
6324 upvotes
Winnipeg
TuxedoBlack wrote: Because the guy who I quoted and b/w those two ETFs. At the end of the day, choosing b/w these two would have very little end impact as compared to whether you're able and willing to ride out the market.

I keep bonds in my RRSP only. I do so because I want to reduce volatility and have dry powder to buy more equities when the market corrects.
People say the flu going to crash the market, when do you expect that to happen?
Member
Dec 1, 2019
212 posts
255 upvotes
divx wrote: why vgro instead of vfv? seems to do the same but with lower fee.
VGRO is a full globally diversified portfolio of US, EAFE, and emerging market ETFs, with some bonds mixed in. VFV is just US large and mid cap stocks.

The higher fee comes from the automatic rebalancing AFAIK.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jul 8, 2007
28096 posts
1507 upvotes
Calgary
rssdale wrote: I'm re-balancing my tfsa and rrsp. Trying to move away from stock picking but I'll be holding on to FTS/AQN/ENB/CNR/TD/SU since I'm up pretty big on all of these (except SU) and can't get myself to sell just yet. '

After selling my smaller positions in my TFSA I'm left with about 36k cash. I'm leaning towards XGRO . Is it best to buy it in a lump sum or should I buy half now and the other half later to see what happens?

For my rrsp should I buy XGRO again to keep things simple? Or go with another pick? I'll have about 10k cash for this one.
Historically, investing lump sum beats dollar cost averaging two thirds of the time. Also depends on your personality as well. Will you feel okay if you invest it all today and the markets go down by 10% tomorrow, knowing that your time horizon is long? If that makes you too uneasy, then dollar cost averaging will decrease the risk, but you could potentially be leaving some returns on the table. With 10k, I'd probably just lump sum it all. It will save you transaction fees as well.
Newbie
Sep 25, 2019
52 posts
20 upvotes
My TFSA is currently maxed out with XAW. At what point would it be worth splitting into 3 funds (XUU/XEF/XEC) to reduce the MER?
Deal Addict
Jul 8, 2013
4475 posts
6898 upvotes
Somewhere in AB
divx wrote: People say the flu going to crash the market, when do you expect that to happen?
LOL. No one knows when the markets will crash.

I'm going with the assumption that I cannot control the market. I will continue to save and keep on buying on a regular basis. If markets crash, so be it.
"You don’t need to sacrifice stability, common sense, and comfort if a 1% bond still lets you achieve your financial goals." M. Housel
Deal Addict
Jul 8, 2013
4475 posts
6898 upvotes
Somewhere in AB
shattered wrote: My TFSA is currently maxed out with XAW. At what point would it be worth splitting into 3 funds (XUU/XEF/XEC) to reduce the MER?
Reducing the MER isn't worth it unless your TFSA balance gets to $250K. Just keep it simple and keep on buying XAW.
"You don’t need to sacrifice stability, common sense, and comfort if a 1% bond still lets you achieve your financial goals." M. Housel
Newbie
Apr 4, 2011
37 posts
8 upvotes
Hi,
I am currently doing the ZAG/VCN/XAW split that was there before the new models that CCP put out.

Should I be switching it to the VEQT/VAB split ?
Deal Expert
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Oct 26, 2003
39290 posts
6324 upvotes
Winnipeg
seems most stock is going up, what is the outlook for RCI.B? still value at $66?
Member
Dec 1, 2019
212 posts
255 upvotes
MrW wrote: Hi,
I am currently doing the ZAG/VCN/XAW split that was there before the new models that CCP put out.

Should I be switching it to the VEQT/VAB split ?
If you switch to VEQT/VAB, assuming it's 60/30/10 XAW/VCN/ZAG vs. 90/10 VEQT/VAB, you've increased the MER from 0.16% to 0.23%. If your broker charges for buying, then you'll reduce the amount of charges on purchases from 3 to 2.

https://cdn.canadianportfoliomanagerblo ... -2020.xlsx

When you evaluate your decisions, you should ask why you want to - what are the specific reasons for staying the course, or changing?

https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2011/10 ... g-nothing/

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