Investing

Investing Idea - Dividend Growth

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Dec 4, 2011
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Sepharite wrote: What's a good TFSA amount to have right now? Good as in realistic...
I don't understand the question, you should contribute the max that you can in your TFSA until you hit the limit.
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Sep 21, 2007
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admiralackbar wrote: I don't understand the question, you should contribute the max that you can in your TFSA until you hit the limit.
+1.. TFSA is the single most beneficial investment tool we have in Canada.
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Feb 26, 2017
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Sepharite wrote: What's a good TFSA amount to have right now? Good as in realistic...
Have you been contributing every year? I'm thinking a TFSA would probably be something like 170k+ with full contributions made yearly and 12-15% returns since they were started.

This is just a ballpark figure and I didn't break this down in excel or anything for this. I'm not there myself for a variety of reasons but will have two TFSAs that are maxed out by the end of the year. Still own the car though :)
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May 11, 2014
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MK1986 wrote: Can someone guide me where to start, I had read couch potato and other forums but still not clear what to do with my RESP, RRSP and TFSA cash ? Overall $100,000 CAD sitting as Cash in various accounts because of my lack of knowledge and confidence ! Really need some help.
You have been asking for nearly 2 years the exact same question and many of us including myself have given you so much information. If you cannot figure it out by now, you are better off going to the bank advisor.

Stop wasting your time and others. There is no point in asking further if you still haven't figured out what to do in 2 years after all this information. You just need to start.
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Sepharite wrote: Yeah I have been contributing every year, but I only started around 2014. Definitely not in that range though. :(
I think the most important aspect is looking forward. Contribute as much as you can and benchmark your returns against something. My two benchmarks are vgro and a 65% VCN and 35% VFV. You can look at the individual years but I think its your 5 and 10 year performance that matters more. If your underperforming try to figure out why and make a decision if you want to make changes with your new funds. If your TFSA is underperforming other accounts look at if your doing anything differently like taking on more risk. A lot of yearly performance is probably noise so sometimes you need to give things time.

I'm not perfect either and actually lost money in my TFSA for the first 5 years which is hard to do.
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Apr 5, 2017
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xgbsSS wrote: You have been asking for nearly 2 years the exact same question and many of us including myself have given you so much information. If you cannot figure it out by now, you are better off going to the bank advisor.

Stop wasting your time and others. There is no point in asking further if you still haven't figured out what to do in 2 years after all this information. You just need to start.
Thanks for your suggestion but I believe we had come a long way in the last two years by listening to yours and other's advice. From $25,000 to $100,000 in savings plus $80,000 in chequing and learned a lot about investments and stocks. Everyone's threshold is different, I may not be comfortable as others to loose hard earned money or my risk threshold is not like yours or others, that's why I'm still asking and learning before I pull the trigger. I had heard lot of bad and good stories of impulsiveness.

I'm sorry that you felt that I was wasting yours and every body's time but I still have all the advices you shared with me in my file and once in a while I read through it and follow some of your advices. Thanks again and sorry for wasting your time again today !
Stay Blessed !
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Nov 25, 2007
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xgbsSS wrote: You have been asking for nearly 2 years the exact same question and many of us including myself have given you so much information. If you cannot figure it out by now, you are better off going to the bank advisor.

Stop wasting your time and others. There is no point in asking further if you still haven't figured out what to do in 2 years after all this information. You just need to start.
Yeah it's strange. He should just buy one stock, VEQT. Leave it and forget it.
Chance7652 wrote: I think the most important aspect is looking forward. Contribute as much as you can and benchmark your returns against something. My two benchmarks are vgro and a 65% VCN and 35% VFV. You can look at the individual years but I think its your 5 and 10 year performance that matters more. If your underperforming try to figure out why and make a decision if you want to make changes with your new funds. If your TFSA is underperforming other accounts look at if your doing anything differently like taking on more risk. A lot of yearly performance is probably noise so sometimes you need to give things time.

I'm not perfect either and actually lost money in my TFSA for the first 5 years which is hard to do.
My TFSA is about 17% annual since 2014. Some years it's really good, some years it's really bad. But definitely will need to work on my overall portfolio.
Last edited by Sepharite on Jul 7th, 2021 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MK1986 wrote: Thanks for your suggestion but I believe we had come a long way in the last two years by listening to yours and other's advice. From $25,000 to $100,000 in savings plus $80,000 in chequing and learned a lot about investments and stocks. Everyone's threshold is different, I may not be comfortable as others to loose hard earned money or my risk threshold is not like yours or others, that's why I'm still asking and learning before I pull the trigger. I had heard lot of bad and good stories of impulsiveness.

I'm sorry that you felt that I was wasting yours and every body's time but I still have all the advices you shared with me in my file and once in a while I read through it and follow some of your advices. Thanks again and sorry for wasting your time again today !
Stay Blessed !
You are not asking anything different though. Just buy passive ETFs as suggested ad nauseum. If you are buying well-diversified portfolios, there is no different risk assessments.
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Apr 5, 2017
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xgbsSS wrote: You are not asking anything different though. Just buy passive ETFs as suggested ad nauseum. If you are buying well-diversified portfolios, there is no different risk assessments.
Thanks again :)
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Dec 12, 2009
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MK1986 wrote: Thanks again :)
I will give you some simple homework to do. Listen the couch potato podcasts. Hopefully at the end you will have the confidence to buy 2-3 ETFs and go about normal life without fretting about what to buy. If this simple investment thesis does not come through, listen to the podcasts again. Successful investing does not have to be complicated. BTW, you have lost one of the best years in 2020 to invest in equities. Don't lose anymore time.


https://canadiancouchpotato.com/podcast/
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Jan 27, 2006
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xgbsSS wrote: You have been asking for nearly 2 years the exact same question and many of us including myself have given you so much information. If you cannot figure it out by now, you are better off going to the bank advisor.

Stop wasting your time and others. There is no point in asking further if you still haven't figured out what to do in 2 years after all this information. You just need to start.
The other thing is that it's two years' worth of returns ... yes, we have had a crash in between but still the TSX went from 16,500 in July of 2019 to 20,290 as of today so a very good gain considering the crash.
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Dec 5, 2006
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MK1986 wrote: Thanks for your suggestion but I believe we had come a long way in the last two years by listening to yours and other's advice. From $25,000 to $100,000 in savings plus $80,000 in chequing and learned a lot about investments and stocks. Everyone's threshold is different, I may not be comfortable as others to loose hard earned money or my risk threshold is not like yours or others, that's why I'm still asking and learning before I pull the trigger. I had heard lot of bad and good stories of impulsiveness.

I'm sorry that you felt that I was wasting yours and every body's time but I still have all the advices you shared with me in my file and once in a while I read through it and follow some of your advices. Thanks again and sorry for wasting your time again today !
Stay Blessed !
I know how you feel and i had this exactly feeling before and I still have it today but less

The key is start slow and small. Most people in this thread are investment savvy who knows what they are doing and very knowledgeable. But if you don't feel that way(I know I am not one of them), then just start slowly and gradually. For example, don't just maximize your contribution and invest those money as lump sum. say just buy 2000 index fund or whatever once a month in the first 6 months and getting more comfortable. If you only invest 2000, even it dropped 10%, you only lose 200, but if you invest a big chunk say 20,000 one time, then even drops 1%, it's 200 already.

So just start something small and when you know more then you can invest more. Ideally set up a regular contribution so you wouldn't temp to time the market.



Good luck
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Aug 4, 2014
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craftsman wrote: The other thing is that it's two years' worth of returns ... yes, we have had a crash in between but still the TSX went from 16,500 in July of 2019 to 20,290 as of today so a very good gain considering the crash.
I wasn’t even gonna comment, but I’m pretty sure I saw today’s comment a year or so ago (and won’t be surprised to see it again next year):
MK1986 wrote: Thanks OP, added all those ETF's are under my watchlist now but to my surprise all of them are at 52 weeks high :)
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Apr 5, 2017
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freilona wrote: I wasn’t even gonna comment, but I’m pretty sure I saw today’s comment a year or so ago (and won’t be surprised to see it again next year):
Thanks for your valuable comment but everyone needs some confidence to start , no one starts investing as soon as they come out of their mother's womb ! Everyone's idea & approaches are different , this is a platform to ask questions or suggestions, no one is forcing anyone to comment !

Note: bonds-etf-vs-term-deposits-gics-1639767/#p21054921 (every body needs some advices when they are newbies !)

Now you may be the master but when you started you also asked questions and suggestions !

This is not an argument or negative comment, I'm trying to express my thought, that everyone is different in almost everything they do ! And you are right, I may not invest for the next 5 year's and I may come back with the same questions until I'm clear and confident to do what I think is right for me & my family. That doesn't ,mean that I'm wasting anyone's time ! Sorry , if I hurt you in anyways !
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@MK1986 please stop playing a victim, it’s not cute. At least start your own thread instead of cluttering others. So people can see what advice was already (repeatedly) given and what action (if any) you took.

Today is a good day - go buy something! :)
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Oct 22, 2007
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rosemere21 wrote: Yes, they are all TSX. I don't know which bank you have now for your RRSP/TFSA/RESP accounts, but most big 5 banks have their own self-directed investment accouns, so you can use whatever bank you have.
For me, I use BMO InvestorLine and WealthSimple Trade for my RRSP/TFSA/RESP.
WealthSimple is commision free for all TSX stocks including ETFs. But some people prefer big banks for long-term security.
BMO InvestorLine has recently announced that most index ETFs are now "commision-free", so you don't have to pay 9.95 transaction fee for those index ETFs abobe. (except XAW)
TD bank has TD Direct Investing :
CIBC Investor Edge
RBC DirectInvesting
Scotia Direct Investing

For long term (10+ years) index ETFs investment, commision fees are very negligible because you buy/sell once in 10+ years.

[Edit] But if you plan to do periodic purchase for ETFs (ex. monthly, quarterly, annually), I do highly recommend to use BMO InvestorLine or WealthSimple or Questrade for zero-fees.
@MK1986 Today's market might be a good chance for you. Buy some (not many but some, as you're not comfortable in investing) of those index ETFs. And hold them until you retire.
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After spending 2 years of playing and choosing individual stocks, I have now started adding into XEQT and VDY periodically. I think I will continue to do that. It makes life so much easier and I am terrible at picking stocks.
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Aug 4, 2014
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9 downvotes from the anonymous Vs 9 likes from the usernames - hm looks like I’ve really hit someone’s nerve.. :)
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