/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>56719579
It's all about risk management. I've blown 12k over 3 years learning this. Investing is a marathon, not a race and you need to remain solvent. Markets are efficient, so if you accept that a stock can go up 50%, you have to accept the possibility of it losing half its value, too - you have to make sure you're being properly compensated for the risks you're taking on.

You also want to be well diversified with a mix of different exposures, this includes currencies, jurisdictions, asset classes, and company types. For example, at work we receive 1% of our wage towards a deferred profit sharing plan. They default to a target retirement date fund or something stupid (which probably has high IMFs too). Instead, I did a 30/70 mix towards emerging and international equities. That covers most of my non-NA exposure (australia, UK, brazil, and 3rd world countries). In my active trading accounts, I'm more focused on NA equities.

But then in my GIC and "Account 2", I have short-dated fixed income instruments like 3 month high yield bonds, banker acceptance etc that is getting me around 4.8-5.1% annually via money markets. I plan to roll these until it looks good to deploy capital into a distressed market, and until then it's earning me daily interest.

I do not contribute to my RRSP because I might need the capital for something else in life, and I do not earn enough to max my contributions. I'd prefer to hit my annual TFSA limits first.