Canadian investing - start NOW?

[andreapandrea]

I'm a bit of a newbie here trying to figure out where I should be placing my money. Everything I have read on MMM (and lots of other places) suggests that index funds are the way to go, and I was all set to buy the TD waterhouse e-series index funds. HOWEVER, after reading this post: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/06/09/how-to-tell-when-the-stock-market-is-on-sale/ I calculated the p/e ratio and it seems like a poor time to buy.

I have $40,000 invested in an REIT that I could move over to an index fund, and I have 35,000 in a TFSA that is actually just in cash right now, that I haven't done anything with. No debts or mortgage (we rent, wayyy cheaper where we are).

It seems like a crazy time to invest it all... does anyone have any strategies for this? one day (3-5 years) we would like to afford a house, so we can't put ALL of it into an index fund in case of a crash. we could wait it out in bonds? but that also seems crazy.

can someone please offer some strategies for either thinking about how long to wait (until the p/e ratio goes down?), or just going for it? or something else? thank you.

[Stasher]

Start reading and enjoy.... Follows along the concept that MMM and MrFrugalToque speak of.
http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2015/01/15/couch-potato-model-portfolios-for-2015/

[Retire-Canada]

I'm no investment expert, but I face the same problem. I'm saving a ton and need to do something with it. I realize the markets are high and there is correction in our future, but I also see my current investments cranking out an average of 15%/yr.

Keeping my savings as cash waiting for the correction to dump all my $$ in sounds great, but who knows when that will be.

Losing out on the current growth period would suck if the correction doesn't come for say 4 more years as I'll likely not need to have high growth by then and I can move my investments to more stable lower return options.

Thinking about this and using the limited knowledge of investing that I have I am simply putting $$ into the market every time I save a reasonable amount. I can't predict the market and I feel like getting my money in now is better than trying to out smart the next correction.

One plan I do have for the next correction is have a large low interest line of credit available that I can use to quickly get $100K of cash to buy if there is a big drop.

-- Vik