Originally Posted by
A790
Don't look at investing as long as you have non-mortgage debt. Pay that off first. Once you're non-mortgage debt free:
1) Open a HISA at EQ Bank and save 6 months of living expenses
2) If you make under $100k, open a TFSA and contribute funds until you max it. If you have a long time horizon (15+ years), buy VGRO. Under that, buy VBAL. If you make over $100k, it may make more sense to start with your RRSP vs TFSA.
3) Once your TFSA is maxed, look at your RRSP. Or vice versa.
4) Once your TFSA/RRSP are maxed, look at putting money down on your mortgage.
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The above is more or less what most people should do. If you want professional guidance that factors in things such as insurance and estate planning, I suggest you look for an independant fee-based advisor. The kind you pay $150/hr+ for lol.
Avoid mutual funds, as they are an expensive investment vehicle that don't offer many benefits aside from fractional shares and no trading fees. Instead, ETFs are basically mutual funds that trade on the stock market only they are much less expensive to hold. Both ETFs and mutual funds are paid via a managment expense ratio (MER). The MER on VGRO is 0.28% or something, whereas most mutual funds are 2%+. That means that if your investments return 3%, with VGRO you'd see 2.72% whereas with a mutual you'd see 1% or less.
The key to investing as discipline. Have a plan and stick to it. Avoid penny stocks and shitty companies. Don't buy stocks/ETFs strictly for the yield/dividend.
Most of my money is in VGRO, though.
Love it. Simple advice a large portion of the population could go off of.
These opinions are entirely my own and do not represent any other person or organization.