Looking for advice on rrsp, drips, couchpotato

[Millions]

Just curious what other`s are doing in the investment game besides real estate.

I have a little invested in drips but had mostly been concentrating on real estate until now. Now I would like to put away a percentage each month but doing all 3 seems like to much

My guess is all of them are good and I just got pick one.

I currently hold drips with scotia, suncor, riocan reit, and a couple others.

The couchpotato strategy was in moneysense also seems like a quality way to invest.

I haven`t really started the RRSP yet either so Im wondering if its best to have that and then use that for either one of these?


Thanks everyone!

 

[bizaro86]

Ultimately when doing paper investments the type of investment made and the tax-account treatment are separate (if related) decisions. DRIPs and other strategies are great, and you can certainly do them in your RRSP, you might want to also think about using a TFSA. Although you don`t get the upfront tax deduction like a RRSP, you don`t have to pay taxes on the money when you take it out.

Michael

 

[gwasser]

QUOTE (bizaro86 @ Oct 19 2010, 11:35 AM) Ultimately when doing paper investments the type of investment made and the tax-account treatment are separate (if related) decisions. DRIPs and other strategies are great, and you can certainly do them in your RRSP, you might want to also think about using a TFSA. Although you don`t get the upfront tax deduction like a RRSP, you don`t have to pay taxes on the money when you take it out.
Michael

I have written a lot on `paper investing` on my blog. For beginners I suggest to start with Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) which trade on the stockmarkets. If you have very little (a couple of hundred dollars at a time) it may be cheaper to buy index funds, but overall I favor ETFs. You can buy ETFs that mimic stock market indexes such as the TSX or the S&P500.

I suggest you invest in only large caps that pay dividends, something that represents the TSX60. Try I-shares symbol XIU. It pays dividends that you could reinvest - this strategt keeps the emotion out of investing. With index investing you can also put the stuff in a cupboard and only add periodically.This is LONG term investing not trading, so you should count on holding it for 10 years if not forever.

This should also give you time to learn more about `paper investing`. Once you are ready you can invest in individual companies. I suggest you become a member of the Canadian Share Owner association this lets you do investing with even the smallest portfolio AND like REIN it teaches how to invest. So a great investor training ground.

Do lots of reading, but just like with REIN, taking action is not only leading to results but it is also the best teacher.

 

[Rickson9]

QUOTE (Millions @ Oct 18 2010, 08:37 PM) Just curious what other`s are doing in the investment game besides real estate.

I only invest in stocks (buy and hold) and real estate (buy and hold/rent). My portfolio is pretty much 50-50 for each asset class. I hope this helps! Good luck!