Author Topic: Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!  (Read 2215 times)

jvs

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Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!
« on: March 13, 2015, 01:52:43 PM »
Hi everyone!

I am new to this site and

 this is my first post. I need advice on investing my money. Here is our financial situation and goals.

I am 32 and husband is 39. We have two children of preschool age. House is paid, cars are paid, no debt at all. My husband's RESP and TFSA are maxed out, but mine aren't just yet. We have a registered account for education savings for our children.

At the moment, I am on leave without pay until both children are in school, so for 2.5 more years. We live on only one income, quite comfortably and are able to put aside about 2000$ per month in our various savings accounts.

It's a great position to be in, we think we'll be able to max my accounts within 3-4 years.

We both have great retirement plans with our employers, should we decide to wait until we're eligible before we actually retire. In the meantime, our jobs offer great vacation time and flexibility.

But we're not very knowledgeable when in comes to investing. We have all this money (yay!), but we don't know how to make it work for us so that it can produce income and have us either retire younger than we plan (right now he should be out by 54 and me, by 50) or retire super wealthy.

For those who know more than me on investing, please show me where to begin!

Retire-Canada

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Re: Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2015, 02:28:03 PM »
Sounds like you guys are doing great. I found that this site ---> http://canadiancouchpotato.com/

Was a good source for CDN investing advice. I'm no expert!

This site is a great primer on investing -----> http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

He's US based so when it starts talking about IRA/ROTH/401K... you have to figure out the CDN equivalent, but that's not too hard.

-- Vik

beee

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Re: Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2015, 02:33:50 PM »
here's a general info about couch potato:
http://canadiancouchpotato.com/couch-potato-faq/

Quote
He's US based so when it starts talking about IRA/ROTH/401K... you have to figure out the CDN equivalent, but that's not too hard.
ROTH-traditional = rrsp
roth-ira = tfsa

Unlike US in Canada you can withdraw money from RRSP before retirement without any penalties, you just pay taxes on your withdrawal (basically, you just add your withdrawal to your annual income in this year).
« Last Edit: March 13, 2015, 02:37:15 PM by ildar »

PEIslander

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Re: Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2015, 05:48:27 PM »
I'd suggest you check out Dr. Jin Won Choi's free e-book 'The Small Book of Investments' and the other educational resources you can find at http://www.moneygeek.ca/. Dr. Choi, who has a Phd in financial mathematics, is the Canadian founder behind MoneyGeek.Ca --- a site dedicated to helping Canadians manage their own investments. I think he is a great communicator - both informative & entertaining. I especially like his video blog format.

daverobev

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Re: Canadian Newbie, needs investing for dummies advice!
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2015, 07:35:30 PM »
Absolutely +1 on Canadian Couch Potato.

If you don't know/don't want to know, go all in on Tangerine's Balanced Growth fund - slightly higher MER than ideal, but you're getting Canadian/US/International equity/Canadian bonds split equally, all rebalanced and managed for you.

There are some (in the grand scheme of things, small, but non zero) sign up bonuses now - up to $250. Good info and details here: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/tangerine-50-free-promo-extended-easy-extra-250-a-1641793/