How would you invest 10K today?

[K-ice]

Scenario:

Looking for long term. 2y or more set & forget.
Medium to high risk. 
No debt
I have enough of an emergency fund/ squishy debt if needed.

There is room in both RRSP & TFSA.
(I'm Canadian but others are free to suggest options)

Current income > retirement income. (Probably)

Thanks!

[dandarc]

Looking for long term. 2y or more set & forget.

2 years is not long-term when talking about investing.  Maybe you missed a 0 there?

Anyway, to your question, this is what the investing policy statement is for.  In my case, in our IRAs, we invest 55% Total Stock Market, 25% International, and 20% Bonds.  So any new money gets invested along those percentages - no need to think about it.  So if you don't have an investing policy statement, the first step is to make one.

[Heckler]

wherever you are low on your asset allocation.  I suppose I should have circled VCN.

[fb132]

Scenario:

Looking for long term. 2y or more set & forget.
Medium to high risk. 
No debt
I have enough of an emergency fund/ squishy debt if needed.

There is room in both RRSP & TFSA.
(I'm Canadian but others are free to suggest options)

Current income > retirement income. (Probably)

Thanks!

2 years is definitively not long term, if it's for 2 years, you shouldn't invest. If you are going to invest, it would have to be for a period of 10+ years. If you do invest for longer than 10 years, then check out canadian couch potato.

[Heckler]

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/model-portfolios-2/

[mrpercentage]

if its 2 years its better to play safe

ETFs I like

XLY
or
XLV
or
XLF

small and medium growth
VBK
VOT

If you want high risk look to oil.. pay off could be huge if you are willing to live with serious pain and possible backruptcy. More than 100% in some cases. If it droped 65% and returns to full price thats an easy 200% if you can sleep at night and like the dice.

Better yet
a Redbox machine
a cigarette machine

[Heckler]

VSB in my TFSA is my "five years or less" money.

[K-ice]

Thanks for the tips.

True 2y isn't very long. I guess I ment 2y until I rebalance or look at it again. I plan to rebalance with new funds and not sell for 20y.

I just have a few questions regarding some of the tips.

For oil stocks, they are risky but if you follow a buy low principal now is a great time to buy. Do any of you have oil etf?  What about XEG or ZJO?

Swinging to the safe investment  side.
Why purchase VSB over VAB? 

I'm currently  hesitant to add the US$ CAD$ conversion into my portfolio. Am I missing out on something if I just stick to CAD$ investing while still globally diversifying in things like VXC?

I also find it fascinating that, aside from the 1year loss, the long term gains on the conservative vs aggressive couch potato are very similar. Couldn't someone just rebalance with very large +/- on their sections and stay within the rules of a range of balanced to aggressive allocations?

VAB 40-10
VCN 20-30
VXC 40-60

Thanks

[fb132]

I also find it fascinating that, aside from the 1year loss, the long term gains on the conservative vs aggressive couch potato are very similar. Couldn't someone just rebalance with very large +/- on their sections and stay within the rules of a range of balanced to aggressive allocations?

VAB 40-10
VCN 20-30
VXC 40-60

Thanks

read this, it explains in details http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2015/04/07/ask-the-spud-do-aggressive-portfolios-pay-off/

[Heckler]

I went with VSB as my emergency fund, able to cash out if I ever really need to, with lower risk of losses.  Short term bonds have less interest rate risk if I hold them for thier duration.

[Heckler]

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bond_basics#Interest_rate_risk

[K-ice]

I went with VSB as my emergency fund, able to cash out if I ever really need to, with lower risk of losses.  Short term bonds have less interest rate risk if I hold them for thier duration.

Thanks for the tips on using bonds as an emergency fund. I have never really had what I consider an emergency fund. I always keep few K bank balance, so I pay no fees, combined with the overdraft, that is probably about 3 months emergency fund.  I also have a "squishy" debt LOC that I could use.

However, I would really hate to pay fees &/or interest to cover an emergency.

But thinking of bonds as an emergency fund is a good idea, and for that they may deserve a bit more attention in my allocation. 

Ie  Save equally in bonds  and equities until bonds reach 20K or my asset allocation % whichever is greater.

Thanks 

[Heckler]

Keep in mind, the short term bonds VSB have lower return but also less risk than med/longer term VAB.

I just decided to cap my VSB allocation at $20k, with the remaining percentage of my bond allocation in VAB for the longer term, similar to what you suggested.   This way I can get more growth equity (the now flatlined VCN) into my TFSA