Investment Opportunities?

[Axeman33]

I deal with CIBC for all my banking so I'll be using their investment software. I plan on doing an initial purchase of some sort of stock but as far as doing monthly or semi monthly purchases, that would get more challenging as the price goes up would it not? Let's say I want to put $50 in semi monthly ($100 per month). Obviously what im buying and how much is dependent on the market at that time. $50 might not get me the same Vanguard stock in a few months should the market bounce back. How does one adjust for that? Buy a different, cheaper, ETF?

[LawMan]

I deal with CIBC for all my banking so I'll be using their investment software. I plan on doing an initial purchase of some sort of stock but as far as doing monthly or semi monthly purchases, that would get more challenging as the price goes up would it not? Let's say I want to put $50 in semi monthly ($100 per month). Obviously what im buying and how much is dependent on the market at that time. $50 might not get me the same Vanguard stock in a few months should the market bounce back. How does one adjust for that? Buy a different, cheaper, ETF?

If it is free to purchase ETFs then you: deposit $50 bi-monthly each time you deposit you buy as many units as you can. The rest of the money will stay in "cash" and sit there until you add more money later on at which time you can buy more units.

If purchase ETFs is NOT FREE then you really want to avoid making a lot of individual transactions.
Note: the deposit of funds does not have a transaction fee only the buying or selling of an ETF. Depositing money and letting it sit in "cash" is perfectly fine.
Better idea: deposit $50 bi-monthly and once every 6 months make a purchase.

Here's the thing: If you spend $10 to invest $100 you lose $10 off the top. You have now invested $100 to have a $90 asset. You need your investment to climb 11% just to break even. --> that is a good year
If you spend $10 to invest $1,000 you have a $990 asset. you only need to climb 1% to get to even --> that's a good 60 minutes.

There is nothing wrong with making a lot of small deposits, its easy to do and small deposits add up to big investments, you just need to make sure fees do not kill you.
So, either keep making the deposits but only purchase ETFs every 6 months OR look into products similar to ETFs where there is no transaction fee but have a higher maintenance fee. From what I've read TD e-series funds are the best option here.

[Axeman33]

CIBC charges $6.95 per trade. Is every purchase considered a trade? I'll have to check to see if it's free to buy ETFs with them.

[LawMan]

CIBC charges $6.95 per trade. Is every purchase considered a trade? I'll have to check to see if it's free to buy ETFs with them.

Every purchase would be a trade. However check because some platforms offer free ETF purchases, or certain ETF purchases, for free. If you can get free ETF purchases unlimited purchases is not a problem, otherwise try and limit the transaction fees.

[audiopile]

CIBC charges $6.95 per trade. Is every purchase considered a trade? I'll have to check to see if it's free to buy ETFs with them.

Yes. Every trade either buy or sell is charged 6.95 in addition to the cost of the equity or ETF you are purchasing. It was mentioned another broker allows free ETF buying, and if you are sticking to ETFs it is probably worth opening a new account and setting up money transfers to that broker.

Just want to say, great advice here, thank you. Dollar cost averaging (buying the same dollar amount weekly, monthly or quarterly, and reinvesting dividends) will pay in the long run and not looking at short term moves when the money isn't needed for years will save you a tonne of stress. Don't invest what you can't afford to lose and do not let emotion make decisions for you. GL out there!

One thing about RRSP contributions, try to stay in the same tax bracket when you contribute. If you put yourself in a lower tax bracket due to the contribution the tax credit of your RRSP contribution will also be at the lower tax rate and will not give you maximum potential return. There is a sweet spot.
I played around with the RRSP calculator for fun this year:
If I were to contribute $25K I would get about 33% tax return (~$7500)
If I were to contribute $30K I would get about 25% tax return (~$7500)
Go figure.

[Axeman33]

Every purchase would be a trade. However check because some platforms offer free ETF purchases, or certain ETF purchases, for free. If you can get free ETF purchases unlimited purchases is not a problem, otherwise try and limit the transaction fees.

I'll have to look. I see that CIBC has their own ETFs. Not sure if it's free if you buy their ETFs and charged if you bought something like the Vanguard or not. I plan on signing up for their Investors Edge tomorrow so I might have more info after that.

Many thanks to those offering advice to this investing rookie. It's greatly appreciated.

[blayze]

I wouldn't recommend frequent, small purchases (ie: averaging down approach). The fees add up quickly and more importantly, it will only lead to unnecessary stress as you watch the stock everyday.

Just save up a sizable amount, invest and then forget about it.

[forumname]

I wouldn't recommend frequent, small purchases (ie: averaging down approach). The fees add up quickly and more importantly, it will only lead to unnecessary stress as you watch the stock everyday.

Just save up a sizable amount, invest and then forget about it.

That's the beauty of sites like Questrade where it's free to buy. Screw the big banks.

[StuntMan12]

Anyone here investing into the stock market? I am looking at investing 5-10k into the stock market (long term investment). Any tips, ideas, or stocks you would be most interested in buying?

I was looking at getting a direct investment account with TD bank but I see there is a quarterly fee which seems costly.

[Axeman33]

Anyone here investing into the stock market? I am looking at investing 5-10k into the stock market (long term investment). Any tips, ideas, or stocks you would be most interested in buying?

I was looking at getting a direct investment account with TD bank but I see there is a quarterly fee which seems costly.

This thread has a few tips in it and worth starting at the first page and reading through. I'm a noob at investing and been given a lot of solid advice here so far.

[chuckcouples]

Anyone here investing into the stock market? I am looking at investing 5-10k into the stock market (long term investment). Any tips, ideas, or stocks you would be most interested in buying?

I was looking at getting a direct investment account with TD bank but I see there is a quarterly fee which seems costly.

With my TD self-direct account, if you deposit $100/month, they waive the quarterly fee.

I continue to be a big fan of Dynamic's Global Asset Allocation fund run by David Fingold. Yes, it's a mutual fund and I would almost always recommend using mutual funds to being your investing career. Sure the management expense ratio is going to be higher than it would be with an ETF but sometimes you get what you pay for and there are no transaction costs with mutual funds so they can actually be cheaper to get started.

If you are looking for something with a much higher risk, I would go with Fidelity's Global Innovation fund run by Mark Schmehl. It's currently up 5.7% year to date after being up 39% in 2019. It's a failry new fund (less than 3 years old) but Mark Schmehl has been managing money for over 25 years.

If you have questions about your specific situation, send me a message and we can chat that way.

[StuntMan12]

This thread has a few tips in it and worth starting at the first page and reading through. I'm a noob at investing and been given a lot of solid advice here so far.

Am enjoying the read! Thank you.

With my TD self-direct account, if you deposit $100/month, they waive the quarterly fee.

I continue to be a big fan of Dynamic's Global Asset Allocation fund run by David Fingold. Yes, it's a mutual fund and I would almost always recommend using mutual funds to being your investing career. Sure the management expense ratio is going to be higher than it would be with an ETF but sometimes you get what you pay for and there are no transaction costs with mutual funds so they can actually be cheaper to get started.

If you are looking for something with a much higher risk, I would go with Fidelity's Global Innovation fund run by Mark Schmehl. It's currently up 5.7% year to date after being up 39% in 2019. It's a failry new fund (less than 3 years old) but Mark Schmehl has been managing money for over 25 years.

If you have questions about your specific situation, send me a message and we can chat that way.

Thank you for the info. I will be looking to invest in the near future. I will message you in the near future. But for now I just had a quick question what you thought about Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK)?

[chuckcouples]

I don't know anything about that stock personally but when I see something that is worth 1% of what it was 5 years ago, I am not going to be investing in it unless there's been a drastic change that will improve the companies outlook. I don't think that has happened for this company.

[Mr. Guru]

Zoom Communications would be a company I would look into.

Up 35%ish since this post....well done sir

I've been adding to VFV....and will add more on this second leg down thats coming in April

[blayze]

Zoom Communications would be a company I would look into.

Great call!