Calling NSMB Investment Guru's

I may have 10-15k to invest in something in the near future, where would you put it if it was yours?

I will add that is what I hope to have left after becoming debt free. :)

Do you know the difference between equity and fixed income?

Are your goals long term or short term?

1. Before plunking it down, spend some time to learn about investing.

http://www.sunlife.ca/Canada/sunlifeCA/ch.Investments.mobile?vgnLocale=en_CA
(That link is FYI some basic investing info, not a recommendation to buy into Sunlife)

Step 2. Set up a TFSA and grow tax free. You've got a ~32K limit if it's your first one.

http://www.tfsa.gc.ca

I may have 10-15k to invest in something in the near future, where would you put it if it was yours?

I will add that is what I hope to have left after becoming debt free. :)

Depends on a lot of things, including your time frame, risk tolerance, plans for future contributions, and willingness to manage your own money vs having someone else manage it.

My investment vehicle of choice is index ETFs through on online brokerage (ie: Questrade or similar). For this to make sense, you need to be willing to do some research and take some time to manage your account. If you can do that, pick a few funds that give you some diversification (think Canadian stocks, US stocks, and some bonds). This is a good long term investment for someone willing to accept the ups and downs of the stock market.

If you want a more hands off approach, look into mutual funds from your bank. You'll pay more for these, since you'll be paying the bank to manage the content of the funds for you. If your time frame is less than a few years, go with a GIC.

First thing you really need to do is determine the time frame you're investing for, and how much work you're willing to put into managing your money.

Edit: As heckler said, yes, a TFSA is a great idea. But remember that a TFSA is only a type of account. You can hold anything from cash to volatile speculative stocks in a TFSA.

Edit: As heckler said, yes, a TFSA is a great idea. But remember that a TFSA is only a type of account. You can hold anything from cash to volatile speculative stocks in a TFSA.

It's shocking how many people I talk to seem to miss this point. They get all proud that they've allowed their bank to talk them into a TFSA and then when I ask for particulars, it turns out it's just an extremely low-interest savings account, run as a TFSA.

Yup, I got sucked into the 1% TFSA savings account for a few months of wasted growth. Don't believe you're one of the 1%ers after doing this! That's why I suggested learning before investing.

Know what the following mean (especially their tax implications) first.

TFSA
RRSP
MER
Equity
Fixed income
Risk level
Capital gain
Diversification
Asset allocation

Any more basics I missed?

Just bought some RRSP's this morning. This is a very relevant thread.

If you have a higher income and are paying +30% tax, I suggest a higher RRSP mix to lower your effective tax rate [HTML_REMOVED] taxes paid/payable, if you find that you are in a lower earning time now and expect to make more in the future, go the TFSA route, make the money grow in there and then dump into RRSP when you're earning more (thus paying more taxes).

The thing to remember in TFSA vs RRSP is that TFSA is post tax money that isn't taxed at the other end of the investment period, while the RRSP is a tax exempt investment that does.

On a net basis, if you're choosing one over the other, you'll be ahead in the long run with the TFSA as long as your investments earn money. Ideally you're mixing it up. Heckler suggested some good basics to educate yourself on before investing.

A good resource is: http://wheredoesallmymoneygo.com/ it's Canadian and the guy seems to know what he's talking about.

Do some book learning or talk to someone who is independent and knows their stuff (like Rashid)

Bank TFSA and RRSP rates are not cutting it these days. Less than 3% is a joke.

I recently took my mom, my sister, and myself to a old friend who is now an investment pro and the president of the chamber of commerce in my hometown. Best call. We're all on a good plan now.

Great info so far, I am a n00b at this and am wanting to learn more about it all. Talking to a pro is probably the best thing, but I want to learn the basics as well.

I'm going all in on apostrophe's. They're all the rage on Internet forums and check out to be headed for a banner year with the back to school crowd.

I'm going all in on apostrophe's. They're all the rage on Internet forums and check out to be headed for a banner year with the back to school crowd.

Meh … demand is high, but supply seems to be unlimited so I anticipate no price movement.

Regardless of whether you deposit into RRSP, TFSA or a non-registered account, you will generally make better returns with a little bit of research and a trading account. You do need to pay more attention to what's going on, but there are some pretty low risk equities and ETFs that pay decent dividend returns.

As of today's close:

NIF.UN pays a monthly div of $0.0417 on a share costing $5.53 (9.04% annualized)
HEX pays 0.0389/mo, cost 7.50 (5.92% annualized)
AI pays 0.0683/mo, cost 11.35 (7.22% annualized)
FC pays 0.078/mo, cost 12.51 (7.48% annualized)
FCR pays 0.215/qtr, cost 18.84 (4.56% annualized)

Most Canadian bank stocks are paying in the 4%/yr div, and price is growing steadily.

Mix and match, never go all in on one pick. Divide into blocks of, say, $5k and pick some stable, high div payers. Most of these are DRIP-capable, so divs can be automagically rolled into more shares to grow the div payouts.

Do your own due diligence, check the finances for each and satisfy yourself that their income, balance sheets and debt load fit your risk criteria.

… goes without saying that if you have any high interest consumer debt, pay that off first. If you have a mortgage, it's worth considering paying down a portion of the principle (even given today's low interest rates).

good article on drips in the globe and mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/building-wealth-a-drip-at-a-time/article4183765/

whatever you do don't let any stock jock talk you into buying and 'trading' individual stocks. fools game. quality MF or ETF the only reasonable way to go. you don't want to become a 'trader' EVER.