What's a good low-risk investment for a beginner

peoples trust has a tfsa savings account at 2.5% no risk

i have tangerine mutual fund that is med-high risk and in the last 3 months I'm only up about $100 (market seems to be going on a down turn this week).

monotonous wrote: ↑

Mar 9th, 2015 10:35 pm

I just graduated last year and thinking about start saving some money for my future, currently i put all my extra money on my saving, i'm not saying stock etc and earn big money, but i'm looking for something that has no or low risk (like a saving account) and will be beneficial for my future? I have been reading mutual funds and TFSA, are they good options?

Rather then investing anything take the courses required for your CFP. You will then have a better handle of your financial life.

Short term and no risk would be a savings account, like the people's trust account deadice suggested.

A lot of people seem to agree that mutual funds are not really the best idea. The management fees of the accounts requires them to consistently outperform the market, which many do not do. A popular lower risk option might be an index fund, where you're essentially buying a part of every stock on an index and just riding the market as a whole. In contrast, a mutual fund will try to select which stocks will do well and buy those, which brings more risk. Index funds aren't risk free, as they follow the market, and the market goes up and down; however, if you're looking long term, the market always trends up. Canadian Couch Potato (http://canadiancouchpotato.com/) is a good place to look for more information in index funds.

monotonous wrote: ↑

Mar 9th, 2015 10:35 pm

I just graduated last year and thinking about start saving some money for my future, currently i put all my extra money on my saving, i'm not saying stock etc and earn big money, but i'm looking for something that has no or low risk (like a saving account) and will be beneficial for my future? I have been reading mutual funds and TFSA, are they good options?

What are you saving for?

An eventual down payment on a house? A rainy day fund? Retirement?

If your savings goal is more than twenty years away I would recommend an stock index mutual fund. If less than ten years away a bond fund. In between, a mix.

Visit the sites in my signature if you're interested in learning to invest in indices. You can put money into GIC, but you risk losing purchasing power to inflation, or worst yet, running out of money in retirement.

deadice wrote: ↑

Mar 9th, 2015 10:48 pm

...
i have tangerine mutual fund that is med-high risk and in the last 3 months I'm only up about $100 (market seems to be going on a down turn this week).

Trick question: If you were new to investing (accumulation phase), would you want the price of equities to be higher or lower?