Give Me Back My Five Bucks

Now that I’ve had a few days to go over the recommendations put forth by the financial advisor, I can share with you what he has told me about my investment portfolio. Please read my previous post, “Financial advisors: do you have one?” or my two posts on Moneyville about my experience with my financial advisor: “Why I decided I needed a financial advisor” and “How I heading for Freedom 55.” First, here’s a background of what I’m invested in: Holdings in TD Mutual Funds (mostly e-series): CDN Money Market, Canadian Index-e, U.S. Index-e, European Index-e, Japanese Index-e, CDN Bond … Continue reading →

Most of you know that I really want to figure out what I should do about my (lack of an) investment strategy. It’s been really bothering me over the last 6 months. In fact, a goal of mine for November was to read 10 articles about investing. Well, I figured I’d be reading about mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and some sort of basic strategy. But instead, I found myself researching investment advisors. I personally think an investment advisor is the best way for me to go. I decided to look into a “fee-only” advisor, because I’m confident that – once … Continue reading →

There have been two Moneyville articles that really caught my eye recently. There was one called How $100 a month can make you a millionaire by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew, as well as Can anyone really save $1 million?, by Allison Grifiths. In Madhavi’s article, she begins by telling readers that we can all become millionaires in 40 years just by starting off with saving $100 a month. As you get older, you increase the amount you contribute. Going from $100, $250, $500, $750 and finally with $1,000/month. The numbers are based on a 6.8% average return over the life of the … Continue reading →

I started saving for retirement again. Luckily I only lost 6 weeks, but even then … with all the savings goals I have this year, I don’t think I can make that time up. But anyway, starting this Friday I’ll be putting away $300 bi-weekly. RRSPs $50 Money Market $50 CDN Bond Index $50 European Index $50 International Index $25 CDN Index $25 US Index TFSA $25 ING Direct (3%) $25 PC Financial (2%) According to the pay stub I received yesterday, I’ll be bringing in approximately $1,380 bi-weekly after taxes. So my Retirement Porfolio savings represents almost 22% of … Continue reading →

I woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack. I was dreaming that I didn’t have enough money to retire, and was living on the streets as an old woman. BF was with me too. I guess he didn’t have enough money to retire either. So I guess it wasn’t so much a dream, than an absolute nightmare. It must be a sign. I need to start saving more into my Retirement Portfolio. Right now I’m contributing $550/month. I’m going to step that up to $600/month and see how that goes. $50/month extra isn’t a lot, … Continue reading →