Time to Invest - Guidance needed

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Feb 20th, 2017 8:48 am

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Feb 19th, 2017 8:20 am

paf [OP]: Sr. Member; Dec 27, 2005; 603 posts; 121 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Feb 19th, 2017 8:20 am

Time to Invest - Guidance needed

Hello All,

I would appreciate if you guys can put me in the right direction here.

I'm 31, married and have a son. We are at a point in our life where we think we should put aside our monthly savings around 2.5-3k/month into investing.

We've no experience in investing besides owing a rental property we bought pre construction few years back. I can't even think buying real estate right now with the way Toronto markets are. Not even sure if that's the right way.

What do you guys think I should be doing. ?

Side question, my wife has a student loan around 18 k left which will be paid in a year and a half with the payments she is making already. If she has 18k sitting with her right now, would you recommend paying the loan of or investing the chunk and keep making the monthly payments

Thanks

6 replies

Feb 19th, 2017 8:45 am

Frank2029: Sr. Member; Feb 17, 2012; 658 posts; 130 upvotes; Toronto

Feb 19th, 2017 8:45 am

I'm no expert by any means but what you should do is pay off highest interest loans first. But it depends what you think is right. Both my wife and I have car loans which will be paid off in 4 yrs (wife) and 2 years for myself. Interest owed in that time frame is $2200. Or we can forfeit 30k in one shot and never get it back. If there is an emergency or something you can always sell an investment but it's much harder to apply for another loan. So what I'm saying is that I feel and I have performed way better then a 4% loan.

Just my 2 cents.

Feb 19th, 2017 11:44 am

Deepwater: Deal Addict; Feb 1, 2012; 2100 posts; 3562 upvotes; Thunder Bay, ON

Feb 19th, 2017 11:44 am

Finiki (the Canadian Financial Wiki) is a great resource for Canadian financial and investment information:
http://www.finiki.org/
http://www.finiki.org/wiki/Getting_started

Tangerine has a free d/l of The Wealthy Barber Returns (the link says available to Dec 31/16, but the link seems to still be active).
https://www.tangerine.ca/en/landing-pag ... index.html

Once you read those you will have the knowledge to start, and maybe ask some more specific questions.

When I was young, I was poor. Now, after years of hard work, I'm no longer young.

+1

Feb 19th, 2017 11:49 am

paf [OP]: Sr. Member; Dec 27, 2005; 603 posts; 121 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Feb 19th, 2017 11:49 am

Thank you will definitely go read them and get started. Appreciate it

Deepwater wrote: ↑Finiki (the Canadian Financial Wiki) is a great resource for Canadian financial and investment information:
http://www.finiki.org/
http://www.finiki.org/wiki/Getting_started

Tangerine has a free d/l of The Wealthy Barber Returns (the link says available to Dec 31/16, but the link seems to still be active).
https://www.tangerine.ca/en/landing-pag ... index.html

Once you read those you will have the knowledge to start, and maybe ask some more specific questions.

Feb 19th, 2017 11:51 am

paf [OP]: Sr. Member; Dec 27, 2005; 603 posts; 121 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Feb 19th, 2017 11:51 am

The only reasonwe were not paying it off is the interest rate is not that bad plus in case, someone loses their job, we can stop payments since it's with the government and easily to stop making payments

Frank2029 wrote: ↑I'm no expert by any means but what you should do is pay off highest interest loans first. But it depends what you think is right. Both my wife and I have car loans which will be paid off in 4 yrs (wife) and 2 years for myself. Interest owed in that time frame is $2200. Or we can forfeit 30k in one shot and never get it back. If there is an emergency or something you can always sell an investment but it's much harder to apply for another loan. So what I'm saying is that I feel and I have performed way better then a 4% loan.

Just my 2 cents.

Feb 20th, 2017 8:42 am

StarScream1337: Member; Dec 2, 2014; 458 posts; 186 upvotes; London, ON

Feb 20th, 2017 8:42 am

Is your loan with OSAP? I have about 22k with them but made the decision to amortize the loan over the max allowable time-frame (14 years) because fixating on paying them would effect my ability to purchase a home, losing out on ~$500 dollars in equity per month, and my investments will most likely outstrip the interest they charge over that period. Lastly, as you mentioned, you can take advantage of repayment assistance if your circumstances allow for it.

Feb 20th, 2017 8:48 am

paf [OP]: Sr. Member; Dec 27, 2005; 603 posts; 121 upvotes; Toronto, ON

Feb 20th, 2017 8:48 am

Yes, it is with OSAP. SO you just changed the amortization?

Thanks for the insight

StarScream1337 wrote: ↑Is your loan with OSAP? I have about 22k with them but made the decision to amortize the loan over the max allowable time-frame (14 years) because fixating on paying them would effect my ability to purchase a home, losing out on ~$500 dollars in equity per month, and my investments will most likely outstrip the interest they charge over that period. Lastly, as you mentioned, you can take advantage of repayment assistance if your circumstances allow for it.

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