Investment advice for the financially ignorant

[rogermexico]

Hi all. I’m hoping to get a bit of advice on how to be smarter with the money I save.

I spent my twenties completely oblivious to saving. I had money at various points and was always good at finding new and exciting ways to just as quickly not have money.

In my thirties I got a little smarter. I started saving for a house and also regularly putting into an RRSP. That’s the extent of it though.

The last few years I’ve generally been able to save about 25-27% of what I’ve earned. 2 thirds of that I’ve just been socking straight into a high interest savings account for the house downpayment and the other third has been going into a Manulife group retirement plan from work.

This summer I’m going to be building the house I’ve been saving for. So once that milestone gets passed, I’ll be in a spot to be able to change my approach. But what I’ve really been learning is just how totally ignorant I am of how this stuff works. I do not have a good grasp on the terminology, and outside of a basic understanding of compound interest and that I ought to buy low and sell high, don’t know much about investing.

Assuming I keep saving roughly the same percentage of my income, what’s the smartest way to invest it?

I’m going to be getting a pretty good tax refund this year – should I peel a little bit off of that and invest it in some stocks?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Free Ben Hur!]

Buy The Wealthy Barber (or the Wealth Barber Returns) - David Chilton

The best $15 you will ever spend.

[Tyler]

Borrow the Wealthy Barber from the Library

Boom! I just saved you $3 and showed you how to not invest in depreciating assets

[troutman]

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/05/05lbuy.phtml

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Borrow the Wealthy Barber from the Library

Boom! I just saved you $3 and showed you how to not invest in depreciating assets

Torrent the book. Free.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by rogermexico

Hi all. I’m hoping to get a bit of advice on how to be smarter with the money I save.

I spent my twenties completely oblivious to saving. I had money at various points and was always good at finding new and exciting ways to just as quickly not have money.

In my thirties I got a little smarter. I started saving for a house and also regularly putting into an RRSP. That’s the extent of it though.

The last few years I’ve generally been able to save about 25-27% of what I’ve earned. 2 thirds of that I’ve just been socking straight into a high interest savings account for the house downpayment and the other third has been going into a Manulife group retirement plan from work.

This summer I’m going to be building the house I’ve been saving for. So once that milestone gets passed, I’ll be in a spot to be able to change my approach. But what I’ve really been learning is just how totally ignorant I am of how this stuff works. I do not have a good grasp on the terminology, and outside of a basic understanding of compound interest and that I ought to buy low and sell high, don’t know much about investing.

Assuming I keep saving roughly the same percentage of my income, what’s the smartest way to invest it?

I’m going to be getting a pretty good tax refund this year – should I peel a little bit off of that and invest it in some stocks?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No, because you have no idea what you are doing.

I have no vested interest and I am not a customer of Slava's, nor have I ever been a customer of his. (I manage my own money, so I can speak the same language as him; I am not a customer because I do not reside in Calgary) But I have met and chatted with him and I think he has good honest intentions to make reasonable money at a reasonable rate. Whats that saying, fat pigs get slaughtered or something like that? I don't think Slava fits that bill...

If you want to learn, follow wealthfront.com blogs... one of the most famous investors in the past century is on their BOD (chairman's professor of economics at Princeton University, dean of the Yale School of Management , 28 years as a director of the Vanguard Group), and I like their premise - while it doesn't follow in line with Slava's viewpoints, I think it follows Slava's line of thinking anyways.

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Borrow the Wealthy Barber from the Library

Boom! I just saved you $3 and showed you how to not invest in depreciating assets

Well played, sir. Well played indeed!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

No, because you have no idea what you are doing.

I have no vested interest and I am not a customer of Slava's, nor have I ever been a customer of his. (I manage my own money, so I can speak the same language as him; I am not a customer because I do not reside in Calgary) But I have met and chatted with him and I think he has good honest intentions to make reasonable money at a reasonable rate. Whats that saying, fat pigs get slaughtered or something like that? I don't think Slava fits that bill...

If you want to learn, follow wealthfront.com blogs... one of the most famous investors in the past century is on their BOD (chairman's professor of economics at Princeton University, dean of the Yale School of Management , 28 years as a director of the Vanguard Group), and I like their premise - while it doesn't follow in line with Slava's viewpoints, I think it follows Slava's line of thinking anyways.

Thanks for the plug!

Not that this is the place to get into it, but I actually use Vanguard. I don't follow a pure indexing or ETF strategy, but I definitely use these things in my practice and more extensively all the time. I just know that a pure passive approach is leaving money on the table.

[bubbsy]

the wealthy barber is a great start (i need to re-read it myself, as i was young and immature when i first read it, and ended up ignoring some key parts).

I recently read the lazy investor, which is big on investing in dividend paying stock a a means to build wealth.

I'm an avid reader, but a crappy crappy executor (lazy, always finding an important use of liquid $ today than using it to invest for tomorrow).

I sure hope that i can teach my kids something useful in this regard. It is amazing that you go through the school system, then you go get your professional degree, yet no where in there is there any sound personal finance education. Sure hope this changes in the education system.

[SeeGeeWhy]

First things first. Set a new goal. You can't educate yourself and devise a plan if you have no idea where you want to end up.