Topic: The money thread

[Snowman]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

[Guy]

TSE at +198. The bottom was yesterday?

I guess it was.. +208 today..

+210 right now..

[Snowman]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

So now you want free advice over the internet? 

Seriously though, you can diy of course, but I would suggest also shopping around other firms and frankly negotiating the advice component. Investment counselling firms are another solution. They typically charge an all in fee of ~1 - 1.5%, which includes the cost of advice and whatever product they end up using (stocks, etfs, mutual funds, bonds) but also typically require >$1 mill assets. Like anything, greater $ = greater choice.

Also stop trying to time the market. Pick a nice conservative well-diversified balanced portfolio and cruise. Maybe re-balance here and there.

I don't mind paying 1% but that is it. Tangerine has funds at that level 

[Guy]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

Also stop trying to time the market. Pick a nice conservative well-diversified balanced portfolio and cruise. Maybe re-balance here and there.

Good advice, I just re-balance from time to time, and going more conservative as I'm coming nearer to retirement, and that's it. It has served me well on the long term.

[dougjp]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

So now you want free advice over the internet? 

Seriously though, you can diy of course, but I would suggest also shopping around other firms and frankly negotiating the advice component. Investment counselling firms are another solution. They typically charge an all in fee of ~1 - 1.5%, which includes the cost of advice and whatever product they end up using (stocks, etfs, mutual funds, bonds) but also typically require >$1 mill assets. Like anything, greater $ = greater choice.

Also stop trying to time the market. Pick a nice conservative well-diversified balanced portfolio and cruise. Maybe re-balance here and there.

I don't mind paying 1% but that is it. Tangerine has funds at that level 

A discount brokerage from a big bank. CIBC Investor's Edge is best IMHO, $ 6.95 per trade. TD Waterhouse usually gets good ratings, charges $ 9.95 per trade last time I looked, which wasn't recently. I don't know about the other 3, easily researched on their sites though. Check the fine print for other fees.   

[evil_twin]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

So now you want free advice over the internet? 

Seriously though, you can diy of course, but I would suggest also shopping around other firms and frankly negotiating the advice component. Investment counselling firms are another solution. They typically charge an all in fee of ~1 - 1.5%, which includes the cost of advice and whatever product they end up using (stocks, etfs, mutual funds, bonds) but also typically require >$1 mill assets. Like anything, greater $ = greater choice.

Also stop trying to time the market. Pick a nice conservative well-diversified balanced portfolio and cruise. Maybe re-balance here and there.

I don't mind paying 1% but that is it. Tangerine has funds at that level 

No. Stay away. The old ING Funds are simply index funds with a high fee. You might as well buy some etfs and save an additional 80 bps.

You need to separate the fees for advice and the fees the manufacturer charges for the product (i.e mutual fund / etf).

This.  1% is really high if you're keeping things simple and just buying index funds.  TD e-series mutual funds have 0.30-0.50% MERs and ETFs (better choice for anyone with more than $50k or so invested.) are even lower.

Depends if you want to actually hold individual stocks or funds too.  And depends if you actually want/need advice.   I firmly believe that most individuals with reasonable investment knowledge are best served with a conservative portfolio that they manage themselves but then seek periodic, fixed cost advice for areas like taxation, estate planning, retirement strategies, etc...

YMMV

[dougjp]

Excellent advice, and from car guys! Who woudda thunk it. 

I got out of all mutual funds years ago, except one Asian fund.

Search ETFs;
http://www2.morningstar.ca/tools/screener/ca/ETFFinder.aspx?culture=en-CA   

In my opinion the best sources are;

http://www.blackrock.com/ca/ishares?locale=en_CA&siteEntryPassthrough=true

http://www.etfs.bmo.com/

https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/individual/portal.htm

[blotter]

online brokerages are having an all out war in pricing.

check out Q-Trade
the G&M have rated these guys #1 six years in a row.   Last year they fell to second due to fees being so low on a new company, however Q-Trade just lowered their fees.   The bonus with Q-Trade is they're independent from the big banks.

Everyone is advertising low fees now.  check the fine print though.  Many charge annual fees depending on accounts and balances.  (not sure on Q-Trade - I just don't have to pay any non-trading fees  )


As mentioned timing the markets don't work.  However you can hand pick and self trade if you have the time.
However if you don't have time you can always look at a managed Mutual Fund.  Yes there are fees but you can buy these from an online broker reducing them (don't pay the banks).  Managed funds are nice because they're basically a pool of funds and actively managed to meet within a specific risk tolerance.   ETFs are another option but they really have pros and cons that many people don't think about.  (everyone thinks of the pros but forget about the cons) such as not really knowing how active it is, what's in it and fees within the fund itself.   ETFs are not as transparent as mutual funds.   

[Snowman]

Because I'm at CIBC I applied for an Investors Edge account for my personal and business banking accounts. I will play with a few hundred k and see if I can beat the return of my funds......Then decide if I should take it all out. let the fun begin 

[mmret]

For registered accounts etc. I have always used Questrade.

For real business, Interactive Brokers.

[ArticSteve]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

Using a FA will get you what everyone else gets ... D*CK ALL

To get a shot at the money ball you need to DIY.  Watch BNN and BNN Market Call and BNN Market Call Tonight.  Listen to the callers. 

 http://www.stockchase.com    will help in sorting out companies/insider opinions.

[Northernridge]

I'm going to dump my FA, transfer money out, and go it alone. Any advice?  Tired of paying those fees that are starting to add up to a big chunk.

Using a FA will get you what everyone else gets ... D*CK ALL

To get a shot at the money ball you need to DIY.  Watch BNN and BNN Market Call and BNN Market Call Tonight.  Listen to the callers. 

 http://www.stockchase.com    will help in sorting out companies/insider opinions.

I agree. This is how I got started, after a while you'll start to identity with certain guests which leads to other research ideas.

[Snowman]

My problem is I'm good at earning money, not at making money 

[Northernridge]

My problem is I'm good at earning money, not at making money 

Same here, but investment systems are learnable...and pretty simple. When I first started someone told me to start with an industry that I understood and that was excellent advice for me. Maybe your mining expertise could be a starting point. Also heed the pros' advice on the emotional mistakes DIYers make.

Having said that, my real master plan is to earn my way into retirement...and I'm in no hurry to retire anyhow.

[rrocket]

My problem is I'm good at earning money, not at making money 

Same here, but investment systems are learnable...and pretty simple.

Not sure I agree with that one.

And plus...Snowy is nearing retirement.  He WILL make mistakes learning.  And no isn't the time for him to be making mistakes with his money.

[Northernridge]

My problem is I'm good at earning money, not at making money 

Same here, but investment systems are learnable...and pretty simple.

Not sure I agree with that one.

And plus...Snowy is nearing retirement.  He WILL make mistakes learning.  And no isn't the time for him to be making mistakes with his money.

I outsourced my investment management for 15 years assuming it was too complex for me and best left to the pros. Once I finally got around to learning the systems I found that I was way wrong...it is not rocket science. It really is system/strategy based because no one can predict the future so there's no Guru out their who knows the truth about what's coming. If there's a black-arts hard part it's understanding your own emotions.

In my opinion, the technical stuff you guys discuss on parts of this forum are much more complex than investing.

[mmret]

If there's a black-arts hard part it's understanding your own emotions.

This is very true. At least half of the game is having balls made of iron.

EDIT: that said, RR's got a point - Snowy is likely too old and has too much money on the table to be able to buy any expensive lessons. Sadly when you play with less money (ie: "just my play money") the emotional impact is diminished and thus you don't really learn. A sort of "its not worth doing unless you know you might die" sort of thing.

[ArticSteve]

Snowy is likely too old    

He's got 30 years to go!

[Snowman]

Not easy to make money above index returns these days. Information flow is near instantaneous and institutional trading makes up 80% of the market. Good luck trying to extract alpha in these conditions.

For anyone interested go read some of the stuff Charlie Ellis has written. He has an interesting perspective.

http://www.cfainstitute.org/learning/products/publications/faj/Pages/faj.v70.n4.4.aspx

I know two guys that consistently make 10-15% above index. Problem is you need $1M to join their little club.

[ArticSteve]

Not easy to make money above index returns these days

Never get anywhere with that attitude.


I know two guys that consistently make 10-15% above index. Problem is you need $1M to join their little club.


One just needs to READ.

This stock was all over the Globe and Financial Post in early 2012.


EASYHOME EH:TO

$6.00 to $24.00 in just under 3 years.  That's a MONEY BALL!   Based on some silly business model which leases furniture and appliances to the disenfranchised (30% of the population) @ 48% annually.