How much do you know about financial independence?

What an interesting example CAT is.

10 years, matches S[HTML_REMOVED]P (VOO:US), but with a hell of a ride:

5 years, almost the same story, but what does the future hold???

Of course, these charts are just capital appreciation, not dividends.

I think I'll stick with the boring average ride up.

You may have different views.

I'm just learning about this all. Before 6 months ago, I didn't even know or care what my work sponsored RRSP plans held. I'm also on a mission to help others prevent my mistakes.

There are plenty of good ways to go about it, I tend to agree with Myra's method … sort of. I've created a split in my portfolio - about half is solid, dividend paying investments that pay out about 7-8% annualized in divvies. I don't DRIP and I don't rebalance these. I just take in the divs and buy what I think is best at the time. Generally I'll buy up to about $30k worth of one 8% dividend payer, then start searching for the next high div buy and accumulate that.

Div payers at the moment are HEX (8.23% - varies), SMU.UN (8.21%), AI (6.81% + annual top-up). With the monthly dividends on these, I can buy a good size chunk of something new every 3 months or so. I may start looking into some of the Vanguard funds, but so far I'm having no trouble finding solid dividends elsewhere.

In the other half, I'm into individual stocks that are a little higher risk, pay little or no dividends and I'll sell quickly if it flags too low.

If you want to look at something interesting, check out NIF.UN, paying a very steady 16.6% dividend. They just came through a strike that killed the share price. They also may wrap up the business and sell assets before too much longer. But there's the rub: it's trading at a P/B of 0.5 - so yeah, market cap based on share price is about half the break up value of the company. Hmmmm.

do personal principles or ethics play a role in anybody's stocks/funds? genuinely curious. like oil sands, rbc, timmies for various reasons. or is it more just go find stuff that brings back lots of cash. i work for a global mining company who actively woos socially or environmentally-consious investors like the norwegians, so got me thinking

I tend to avoid anything with fingers in the tar sands. Other oil and gas, I will usually stay away from, but have held for brief periods occasionally. I've got a nice chunk of First Solar (FSLR), though.

I've personally see three companies fail miserably ( sister in law was working for Nortel). That's my only principle- diversify.

do personal principles or ethics play a role in anybody's stocks/funds? genuinely curious. like oil sands, rbc, timmies for various reasons. or is it more just go find stuff that brings back lots of cash. i work for a global mining company who actively woos socially or environmentally-consious investors like the norwegians, so got me thinking

It's all about making money with money and not doing any work.

for yellowdogx…

Tax Free Savings Account:

As I understand, the contribution limit for TFSAs carry forward.

So if I never contributed since 2009, today I can contribute the full amount with being assigned a penalty:
2009 = $5000
2010 = $5000
2011 = $5000
2012 = $5000
2013 = $5500 (new contribution limit)
2014 = $5500
2015 = $5500
Total = $37500 allowable contribution today.

Am I right that I can put this amount in my TFSA today without penalties?

You bet. Very similar to your RSP limit, which is also cummulative.

Just realize that because TFSA is intended as a longer term savings account, your best plan is to not withdraw what you put in until a long time from now. Its people treat it like a bank account (in, out, in, out) who get in trouble with overcontributions.

Also know that since a TFSA grows tax free, youre best off to have higher risk holdings with most probabilty to grow long term.

Another thing- US stocks are subject to a 15% tax on divedends on a TFSA, but not in a RRSP. So youre best off to hold Canadian equities in a TFSA and internationsl equities in your RRSP.

And thats the summary of lots of reading about TFSAs on canadiancouchpotatoe and moneysense.

Just make sure that you'll own enough ETF Units to DRIP. I figured it out the hard way, but the solution is to just buy more, so that's not a problem.

at last months prices:

for VCN, it's about $6800 minimum for 1 quarterly DRIP
for VUN, it's about $11,000 minimum for 1 quarterly DRIP
for VEE, it's about $15,000 minimum for 1 quarterly DRIP
for XEF, it's about $1000 minimum for 1 semi-annual DRIP
for VAB, its' about $10,000 minimum for 1 monthly DRIP
for VSB, it's about $13,000 minimum for 1 monthly DRIP

Don't hold me to those numbers, as the divendends always change, as does the reinvestment price. I wouldn't bother with ETFS unless you've got at least $50+K to start with (as also described in great detail in the CCP link I just posted).

Where did you find these DRIP thresholds? As an example: Can't find anything on the vanguard site about it. It goes on to say "just tell your broker that you want to do this". If I'm doing a vanguard ETF through, say RBC Direct Investing, are these thresholds with them (RBC)?

Perfect, cheers for that.

Where did you find these DRIP thresholds? As an example: Can't find anything on the vanguard site about it. It goes on to say "just tell your broker that you want to do this". If I'm doing a vanguard ETF through, say RBC Direct Investing, are these thresholds with them (RBC)?

Might have found my own answer to this example:

http://www.rbcdirectinvesting.com/drip-list.html

Now the question is:
If my fund is on the list is there a threshold (can't find any info within my example on this).
If my fund is NOT on the list, what happens?

Perfect, cheers for that.

Hypothetically, with $16k and a 6 month period in which I cant work, I would budget for the amount I need for living expenses and keep that amount in a High Interest Savings account, guaranteed to give 1-2% interest with no risk of loss. I would not invest that into any fund. I suppose the HIS could be in a TFSA, but then you'll, er, one would need to keep track of withdrawals if its planned to add more funds to the TFSA. This would reduce income tax on the interest.

The difference could get invested in a TFSA, but plan to lose up to 50% of it short term (thus why you don't invest what one needs in the next 6 months).

(Edit) well, shit, a HIS isn't that high anymore. It was 2% when I set ours up.

http://www.bmo.com/main/personal/bank-accounts/smart-saver

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/deposits/e-savings.html