|
That seems like a good plan. 15k seems like a good amount to keep around for emergencies. There are ETFs that are essentially like keeping your money in savings accounts (PSA, CSAV) if you want to keep a good chunk of your emergency fund in your TFSA but not in XGRO. It's good to keep your emergency fund out of investments that can be volatile in the short term - it hurts having to sell when the economy is down because you lost your job because the economy is down, and that has nothing to do with your discipline. I wouldn't look for patterns about good vs bad days to buy/sell. Things are really volatile lately so it's easy to think you made a genius play or completely hosed up and then 3 weeks later it won't matter either way. If you're worried about buying too much when prices are peaking then you can do dollar cost averaging.
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 14:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 01:29 |
|
|
Ok, that sounds like I've got a pretty good strategy going. Career wise I'm quite stable- federal government job with upward mobility, permanent/indeterminate contract with 4 weeks severance (+ EI I've never touched), and I'm slightly more senior than the '1st in, 1st out' cohort now. I think I could weather a pretty severe economic downturn before my employment would be in jeopardy. So I could probably afford to leverage myself in XGRO little bit more or look into one those savings accounts, but it's good to know my intuition of 5/6 months expenses in savings was a reasonable benchmark.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 14:51
|
|
|
It might take away some temptation to invest the emergency fund if you keep it in a high interest savings account, rather than a 0% interest chequing account (just guessing, since it has a minimum balance required to avoid fees). Sort this table by the Rate column to see your options: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/chart/ That said, I dunno your day-to-day banking needs, so if that $6k is saving you some healthy percentage in fees every month then maybe it's worthwhile.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:17
|
|
|
The idea there being to maintain the minimum balance in my chequing account to avoid fees (probably minimum + one months expenses since bills/rent are paid through the account), save the rest of the 'emergency fund' in the Canadian Tire HISA, then dump the rest in ETFs?
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:35
|
|
|
Cold on a Cob posted:That seems like a good plan.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:39
|
|
|
slidebite posted:Interestingly, I don't show either of those available on my RBCDI symbol/keyword search Weird. I trade PSA.TO on Questrade without any issues.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:44
|
|
|
slidebite posted:Interestingly, I don't show either of those available on my RBCDI symbol/keyword search Some of the big banks prevent you from buying those because they want you to buy their own savings products. TD and RBC are two that do that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:52
|
|
|
PoizenJam posted:The idea there being to maintain the minimum balance in my chequing account to avoid fees (probably minimum + one months expenses since bills/rent are paid through the account), save the rest of the 'emergency fund' in the Canadian Tire HISA, then dump the rest in ETFs? Yep. Or find a no-fee chequing account for when you need an ATM or a debit card, then put everything you're not spending this month in a HSIA. For example, I've switched to EQ Bank (on that list but not currently #1 rate) for paying bills and sending e-transfers.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 16:57
|
|
|
What do you all use to track market holdings and such? I've been using a basic Android app which has been fine, but I'm about to purchase US ETFs in my RRSP account and I just realized there's no way easily track the CAD$9.95 fee because the commission field is the same currency as the transaction. Do I need to completely switch trackers now? 
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:08
|
|
|
What application/service provider are you guys using to purchase shares for long term investments? RBC Direct was recommended to me but would like to see if there’s a second opinion. I saw Questrade mentioned a few times.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:12
|
|
|
Odiv: Holy crap don't pay ten bucks commission on etf purchases! They're free with questrade and must be cheaper than ten bucks in many other places. I use investing.com's free app and the QT app. Goon above this post: yes questrade is pretty great for that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:14
|
|
|
odiv posted:What do you all use to track market holdings and such? I've been using a basic Android app which has been fine, but I'm about to purchase US ETFs in my RRSP account and I just realized there's no way easily track the CAD$9.95 fee because the commission field is the same currency as the transaction. Do I need to completely switch trackers now? For "how many shares, how much cash, and what's it worth" I just use a spreadsheet. For "what are my capital gains/losses for tax purposes" I use the free tier of https://www.adjustedcostbase.ca/
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:14
|
|
|
I am using RBC Direct Investing for my RRSP and Wealthsimple Trade for TFSA. I bought some US stock on Wealthsimple Trade which was probably a mistake because of the conversion, but I plan on sticking to Canadian because no fees.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:16
|
|
|
quaint bucket posted:What application/service provider are you guys using to purchase shares for long term investments? Questrade. No commission when buying ETFs, and long-term you shouldn't be doing a ton of selling (maybe once a year to rebalance). RBC DI charges $10 a trade, you can certainly do better. There's other joints than Questrade too, but it's where I ended up.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:16
|
|
|
VelociBacon posted:Odiv: Holy crap don't pay ten bucks commission on etf purchases! They're free with questrade and must be cheaper than ten bucks in many other places.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:20
|
|
|
odiv posted:What do you all use to track market holdings and such? I've been using a basic Android app which has been fine, but I'm about to purchase US ETFs in my RRSP account and I just realized there's no way easily track the CAD$9.95 fee because the commission field is the same currency as the transaction. Do I need to completely switch trackers now? Are you sure the commission is still 9.95 CAD and not USD? At RBC it's USD unless, maybe, we're talking a USD stock on the TSX (there might be a couple?) I kinda take the view that if $10 commissions are a big deal, you're trading positions too small / too often. My answer though: Quicken I guess and personal ACB spreadsheets for taxes but I completely ignore anything other than shares * price * FX for general tracking purposes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:25
|
|
|
Good catch. Yeah RBC DI commission is in the currency of the trade.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:28
|
|
|
PoizenJam posted:Ok, that sounds like I've got a pretty good strategy going. I'll offer a slightly alternative take to consider. I keep my chequing/savings account at effectively zero, though there is often a balance for upcoming bills and rent. I'm weighing the opportunity cost of not investing a 3-6 month chunk of spending vs the likelihood that I'll lose my job + not be eligible for EI + my bank calls in my line of credit + there is a severe enough economic downturn that the losses I take withdrawing from my investments are greater than the interest over X amount of time of having an emergency fund sitting there. My risk tolerance is obviously sightly higher than average, but mostly I could easily survive on EI/line of credit because my monthly spending can be less than $2000. I also use a no fee bank account so that's not a consideration for me. Definitely do what you're most comfortable with, and if your spending and lifestyle requires much greater than $2000 (which is certainly a normal situation if you own a house) then I can see an emergency fund being potentially useful for peace of mind.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:30
|
|
|
Sassafras posted:Are you sure the commission is still 9.95 CAD and not USD? At RBC it's USD unless, maybe, we're talking a USD stock on the TSX (there might be a couple?) Oh poo poo, thanks. That helps a lot. I hadn't actually gone and bought the US stuff yet so I hadn't seen the commission. I was just assuming. For context this is me taking my old RBC RRSP mutual funds and converting them to 3 different ETFs to hold for a long time. The $10/trade feels worth it and not that big a deal. If I was planning on actively trading or something I'd definitely shop around.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:33
|
|
|
odiv posted:Oh poo poo, thanks. That helps a lot. I hadn't actually gone and bought the US stuff yet so I hadn't seen the commission. I was just assuming. Plus two trades for Norbert’s Gambit, which I think I saw you're doing. But yeah, makes sense to trade so infrequently that the commission doesn't matter. Just adds up quick if you're not careful.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:38
|
|
|
pokeyman posted:Plus two trades for Norbert’s Gambit, which I think I saw you're doing. Now I just need to time the market! (just kidding, I'm buying now and then forgetting about these for a long time).
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:46
|
|
|
Kal Torak posted:Some of the big banks prevent you from buying those because they want you to buy their own savings products. TD and RBC are two that do that. I did not know that. I'm going to check into that, thanks. As a side, does anyone know if CIBC suffered some sort of a technical issue recently that effects their online accounts? I don't deal with them at all, but my retired in-laws do. Father-in-law went into his online account the other day and saw his various investment accounts showed in the red by tens of thousands. He called them and after 4 hours of being on hold was told it was a technical issue on their side and would fix it. Cut to today he tried to log in and now he's totally locked out of his account and he's about to come unglued. So he drove to the local CIBC branch (not sure what they can do) and he's probably going to unload on some poor borderline minimum wage worker, I can only hope they pass him to a manager because he's fit to be tied. He's not an rear end in a top hat, but when things start to effect his money he is easily triggered. But is there some known issue recently that could cause that? slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Mar 2, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 19:50
|
|
|
pokeyman posted:Plus two trades for Norbert’s Gambit, which I think I saw you're doing. I've read you can do it immediately in a couple different spots, but I wasn't sure how old that information is. While it likely hasn't changed, seeing that large negative number sitting there is making me nervous.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 20:23
|
|
|
odiv posted:Oh hey, you were the person who said this works exceptionally well on RBC DI. I don't need to wait for the shares on either side of the trade to cancel each other out, right? I can safely ignore them sitting there for the 3ish days it takes for them to go away and buy what I want with the USD now? Just ignore it, settlement date is T+2, it'll cancel out overnight going to T+3. You can use the "new currency" funds immediately. Sassafras fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Mar 2, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 20:30
|
|
|
Cool thanks. Sorry for taking up a bunch of the thread with my boring questions. Hopefully the answers are of help to others though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 20:32
|
|
|
odiv posted:Cool thanks. Sorry for taking up a bunch of the thread with my boring questions. Hopefully the answers are of help to others though. No problem! Example from a few days ago: 1. Buy TD CAD on TSX 2. Sell TD USD on NYSE 3. Buy VTI USD also using a few dollars lying around from dividends Steps 1-3 completed in just under four minutes (timed it for a friend) because I've done it a fair bit. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 20:35
|
|
|
I did learn the hard way that you should wait until the shares are explicitly listed in your account activity as journaled before withdrawing the money out of RBC DI, or they'll hit you with an interest charge. Like the settlements appeared but the journaling took an extra day for some reason, and the reps I talked to were baffled. My bad for not checking first, I was just used to the timings and was on autopilot. The interest was only a couple bucks and they said they'd waive it, though it hasn't been waived yet. One of the reps was amused at my account activity, as I only use it for Norbert's Gambit, said they hadn't seen that before so I'll call that an achievement.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 22:05
|
|
|
I always feel like a cool cyberpunk hacker whenever I pull off Norbert's Gambit. The not cool part is that we actually do live in a cyberpunk dystopia, just not the neat neon kind, alas.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2021 22:37
|
|
|
OK, this is a hijack, but jesus christ.... Oh god, my father in law, bless his heart, is exactly the kind of person that should use a full service brokerage instead of self directing/online poo poo. e: deleted due to venting about an old man slidebite fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Mar 4, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2021 01:02
|
|
|
Oof. Finding someone to manage that sounds like a very worthwhile 1% annual fee.
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2021 02:39
|
|
|
quaint bucket posted:What application/service provider are you guys using to purchase shares for long term investments? i used to use questrade but their customer support is terrible and their ux is pretty bad. i've moved all my accounts to qtrade and they have been great
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 01:23
|
|
|
I hate that there's a QTrade and a Questrade.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 04:40
|
|
|
Cold on a Cob posted:I wouldn't look for patterns about good vs bad days to buy/sell. Things are really volatile lately so it's easy to think you made a genius play or completely hosed up and then 3 weeks later it won't matter either way. If you're worried about buying too much when prices are peaking then you can do dollar cost averaging. About that- I bought in on Monday in a lump sum, had a good day, then have been hit with two consecutive days of disappointing losses and today looks worse so far. I’m in it for the long haul so I’m not going to panic and sell. But it’s a bit of a bummer to be down almost 500 on my first week after XGRO dropped a full point or two since buy in. Might be a good caution to do dollar cost averaging, as I would be better off now buying in at an even cheaper price. Alas, if there’s one thing I knew before I ever invested (thanks to the work by Tetlock, Kahneman, Silver, et al.), it’s that the market is unpredictable in the short- to medium-term, but goes up on long enough time scales. I’m thinking it’s a waste of time to think about ‘what if I bought in at a better time’ If you have no great, empirical model for when that time is. Yes, you can mock the baby-trader for getting a bit of anxiety one week in 
PoizenJam fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Mar 4, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 16:32
|
|
|
I mean this is literally why I say one shouldn't keep their emergency fund as an ETF. Also this is why DCA works so well for many people, despite the models that say 99.99% of the time you're better just lumping all your cash into the market ASAP. Psychology matters.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 16:50
|
|
|
That happens to a lot of people and it's totally normal. I first bought stocks in 2018 right before the crash that year and I was checking the daily changes every day. But by now I don't look or care at all. You really need to have a long horizon and not sweat the small stuff. Panic selling is pretty much the only way to make passive investing lose money.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 16:54
|
|
|
I got skinner-boxed by being up at the end of day 1 and it's lead to checking multiple times each day. But I figure that will die off. It's quite a bit like what I experienced when I first seriously committed to weight loss. Weighing every day initially felt great, but day-to-day fluctuations eventually annoyed me enough that I started updating it more infrequently and only focusing on the monthly trendline.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 17:02
|
|
|
I guess a stock market crash only really matters if you're planning to retire in the near future, right? Every major crash seems to have a decade or less to recover and exceed pre-crash valuations. This is especially true if your portfolio mirrors the market like these all-in-one index funds do.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 17:03
|
|
|
Cold on a Cob posted:I mean this is literally why I say one shouldn't keep their emergency fund as an ETF. More like 66% of the time. Dollar cost averaging really isn't that bad a choice if it soothes anxiety.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 17:04
|
|
|
Kraftwerk posted:I guess a stock market crash only really matters if you're planning to retire in the near future, right? Sure, which is why I think the common wisdom is to shift your investments increasingly to fixed-income in the back-9 of your career.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 17:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 01:29 |
|
|
Kraftwerk posted:I guess a stock market crash only really matters if you're planning to retire in the near future, right? Even then, it's only a huge problem if you sell everything and buy an annuity or something. It's not ideal, of course, but you'll presumably still have a (decreasing) chunk of your savings invested throughout retirement. Even more so if you're a bit flexible with your spending and can put off that vacation or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2021 17:08
|
|