Investing

Looking for advice building my first ETF based retirement portfolio

  • Last Updated:
  • Oct 2nd, 2020 7:43 pm
Member
Jan 28, 2018
283 posts
217 upvotes

Looking for advice building my first ETF based retirement portfolio

Background is I just accepted a new position where I won't be in a DB pension plan anymore and want to start investing for retirement. My previous retirement plan was just contributing to a DB pension and paying down debts. I have >70k contribution room in my TFSA. My new company will match 100% for up to 5% of my RRSP contribution.
I want a low maintenance decent return plan for saving for retirement over the next ~30 years with no intentions of withdrawing.
I've been doing research and have come up with a plan, but I want to know if anyone has any improvements they suggest.

- Transfer my DB pension LIRA payout to a Questrade LIRA account and put 100% of my LIRA payment into XGRO

- Contribute 5% of my paycheck to whatever high growth option is in the group RRSP to get the additional 5% company match.

- Put a % (that % will likely range between 5-15% over the years) of my biweekly paycheck into a Questtrade TFSA. Use this to buy a balance of 80% XAW.to 20% XIC.to.

- Some years down the road (10-15 yrs?) start adding in ZAG.to change it to 80% XAW 10% XIC 10% ZAG.

Is this a sensible strategy I've built for myself that makes sense? Is there a better combo selection of ETFs or a single ETF I should use instead?

The other option I've seen is canadianportfoliomanagerblog model portfolio for 100% stocks ETF portfolio. I know they're updated and likely change every year. For a set and hold account, is it worth instead going with their combined current TFSA portfolio recommendation of 25% XIC, 45% XUU, 25% XEF, 5% XEC ?? What happens if next year their recommended portfolio changes? Do you just ignore and stick to the original plan or do you change your portfolio to match their updated one?
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