How much do you know about financial independence?

We fired our financial advisor yesterday. Perfect timing for the release of Canadian Couch Potato Robo Adviser "Bender"!

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2015/04/01/announcing-the-couch-potato-robo-advisor-service/

We fired our financial advisor yesterday. Perfect timing for the release of Canadian Couch Potato Robo Adviser "Bender"!

You took that long? Holy cow.

Also … http://www.canadiancorner.ca/high-yield-dividend-stocks-toronto-stock-exchange/

I went self directed in July. Held the better halfs mutual funds just long enough for them to tank due to oil. Woot?

I went self directed in July. Held the better halfs mutual funds just long enough for them to tank due to oil. Woot?

classic wealth building strategy - sell when your position hits bottom.

Dont time the market.

I went self directed in July. Held the better halfs mutual funds just long enough for them to tank due to oil. Woot?

Was looking at the list of companies and wondering how much the dividends of some of those energy companies will be next quarter. Stats Can (which seems to be pretty f*cked up these days so who knows - maybe Dear Leader order a "recalculation" for the election season) says Canada's economy shrank last quarter by 0.1%. But that was entirely due to the Alta and Nfld economies tanking on account of big dorp to falt in oil prices. Everyone else seems to be doing fine for now.

that's why we'd much rather own the average of an index than the managed fund who thinks it was a good idea to load up on energy stocks.

Although I wholely agree it's the wrong time to sell this, but I just can't accept that ever widening delta to the TSX any longer.

If you're ever presented with a mutual fund with a performance graph this much lower than it's index, run! I sure wish we'd known better 10 years ago.

Monthly Fast Food spending - taking a $72/month (Jan-Jun) average down to $23 will be $588/year we can spend or save elsewhere.

Kicked Ronald right where it hurts! Yeah us! From $72/month down to $12/month = $720 / year increased savings.

Who else has had success in the last 6 months? Share it!

I've been getting 0.25% on my savings account.

I've been getting 0.25% on my savings account.

me too!

I went self directed on my TFSA in the middle of January, starting with $27k I have made $8500 since then playing the wonderful volatility of the junior oil and gas companies. At first I was up $7k in a month, got greedy and cocky, then went down to $6k, and clawed my way back to $8.5k up in the last three weeks on the latest oil blip.

At some point soon I'll lock in on some more safe stocks, but this has been a lot more fun than getting my quarterly statements.

$20k in tuition and education expenses last year.. This better pay off. That's investing, right?

You get to deduct it from your income!

At some point soon I'll lock in on some more safe stocks, but this has been a lot more fun than getting my quarterly statements.

buy and hold. boring, but successful.

http://www.joshuakennon.com/janitor-ronald-read-leaves-behind-8000000-secret-fortune/

Get ready to add yet another secret millionaire to your case study files. Ronald Read passed away last June at 92 years old. The Brattleboro, Vermont man, who had no college education and drove a Toyota Yaris, always made a point of living below his means. He spent many years working as a gas station attendant and the rest of his career a janitor for his local J.C. Penney department store.

Read was a near perfect archetype of the academic research done by men like the late Dr. Thomas J. Stanley at the University of Georgia and Wharton professor, Dr. Jeremy J. Siegel. Like the super-majority of Americans who are in the top 1% of wealth, Ronald was stealthy about it, keeping his money a secret from even his own children and friends. They knew he enjoyed investing but were reportedly shocked to discover upon his death that he had a safe deposit box with a stack of stock certificates five inches thick.