Posts Tagged ‘Investing’

One advantage to building your own individual stock portfolio is the cost can be much cheaper than a portfolio of mutual funds or ETFs. Aside from the initial set-up period, and assuming you don’t trade very often, a portfolio of individual stocks can cost just a fraction of even the cheapest funds on the market.…

Your financial health can be compared with your nutritional health – and it’s just as important for quality of life. Consider your meals.  You can: Eat out, buy packaged food, or hire a personal chef Prepare the bare minimum to fill you up with no regard to nutritional content Take an interest by watching cooking…

Here’s a typical question a financial advisor will ask to determine an investor’s risk tolerance in order to set up an appropriate strategy. I respond to fluctuations in my investments in the following manner: I will sell quickly any time my investment loses value. Day-to-day market movements make me uncomfortable and if my investment loses…

Bye-bye, dividend stocks.  We’ve had a great run.  I know I said I’d hold you forever but it’s clear you’re in a bubble now and it’s time to abandon this strategy before the bubble pops. Dividend fever has taken hold and driven blue-chip dividend payers to new heights. Investors flocked to dividend stocks for safety…

Let’s say you want to invest your savings, and you want to buy some stocks as part of your investment portfolio.  Which stocks do you choose? Traditional wisdom says you should hold more of your own country’s stocks than stocks from a foreign country.  That means Canadians should hold more Canadian stocks than U.S. stocks.…

The company had no problem attracting investors desperate for a place to put their money.  People rushed to purchase shares so they wouldn’t be left out, scraping together whatever money they could, seeing only boundless opportunities for gain. Excitement and tension increased in the same proportion as the increase in stock prices.  Plans were made…

What are the biggest mistakes people regularly make when trying to reach their financial goals?  Canadian investors are often guilty of being too cautious, too conservative and too cheap. Related: Avoid These 4 Investing Mistakes Cautious While no one would advocate taking imprudent risks, being too cautious with long-term investments and sacrificing long-term return for…

I was 19 or 20 years old when I first started investing.  I diligently put money aside every paycheque, starting with $50 every two weeks and eventually increasing that to $200 per month. Sounds like I was off to a great start, right?  Wrong! Related: How Young Investors Can Get Started Even though my intentions…

Investing can be intimidating for young investors who are starting out.  The wealth of information available online is a two-edged sword.  You can learn just about anything you want, but with so much information available how do you tell the difference between good information and bad? Related: Where Do You Get Your Financial Information? And…

Q.  With the financial mess that a lot of countries are in (or about to be in) these days I wonder how the experts feel about bonds being a safe investment.  Johnson & Johnson, for example, has a better credit rating than the U.S. government.  Are bonds still safer than stocks?  Gary D. To retirees,…