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View Full Version : Investing 101... Help me out please


Journeyman
11-17-2009, 11:16 PM
This is my story... I have dabbled in the stock market in the past not really knowing what the beep I was doing and lost what was a considerable amount of money to me at the time. That was a learning experience and this time around I am looking to diversify more and learn everything I can before throwing down again.

I have been reading everything I can get my hands on for several years now but still not really getting a grasp on what it is I feel safe investing in... Seems there isn't much that is guaranteed and even things that I thought were safe like bonds can loose money?? I am currently looking for solid 100% safe high yield investments (ok I know im insane in wishing for this) All my money is currently sitting in an ingdirect personal savings account gaining little to no interest....

Anyone have any better ideas?

I like having some money liquid but I thought to move some into some higher yielding investments...

Any opportunities someone sees from this economic downturn that I do not know about?

I was looking at INGDIRECT.ca no load bearing mutual funds but they argent available in Quebec yet. I liked these cause they were market funds and were not load bearing... They seemed pretty diversified.

GIC's don't look much better than my currently paying savings account.. 1.05% I know this sucks...

I have been trying to save enough to hand a chunck of cash off to a highly regarded portfolio manager but they one guy I know only accepts clients with 100K to invest.

Basically I want to grow my money with minimizing with super paranoia the possibility of losing it... I have lost enough money I want to start making some.

What are in your portfolios? who knows how to make money and has done it consistently over the years?

Someone once said buy canadian banks and insurance companies..... (I checked that out for a bit seems i missed the boat on the banks being depressed.. like i did a few years back with the airlines being depressed.)

I was thinking to buy some real estate and maybe rent it out.... Like I said I am tired of loosing money... I want to make some...

Any thoughts and input is appreciated... I know that I rambled on quite a bit.

Thanks for your time people

Richard
12-01-2009, 02:55 PM
You need to do a lot more research for stocks. Sure, banks have recovered but you have to look back months or years to notice the drop when it happens. Banks might still go higher, you need to look into their price history, read their financial statements each quarter (most coming out in early Devcember) to see if they're still doing ok. I think they are. And, bank stocks are fantastic for dividends even if the price is stable.

I would start with GICs, particularly market-linked GICs, then move into mutual funds or ETFs. You should leave individual stocks for later when you have some experience under your belt. Individual stocks carry the most risk because they're so specific, start with more general or diversified investments.