So, it’s not big secret that the markets have been at a low for a little while now. Some investors started buying and selling in late April and early May, and others like my self have stayed pat by not doing anything at all. On Friday I got my RBC mid year investment statement for my retirement savings account (RRSP), and without much surprise my personal rate of return was -5.40% or in other words my investments lost nearly 5.5% in six months.
Deep down I wasn’t surprised at this at all. The TSX has been down for the most part over the past two or three months, and the first part of the year wasn’t much better. Stock markets had been having a decent July, recovering some of the losses posted earlier in the year. It seems like yesterday that I was in for a meeting at my local branch with an investment/financial advisor, who has also become a good acquaintance/friend. He swore up and down that my investment in a particular mutual-fund would be a wise investment, after all six months ago it was up 6% the past six months, and finished the year strong with a 10.3% return. In 2009 it returned 54.5%, followed by a 24% return in 2010.
I don’t plan to change course, so I’ll stick with my RRSP investment plan till year end, in hopes that it will turn around and get into the positives by year end. Keep you guys posted. Readers, how have your investments performed in the first half of 2012?
Here’s this weekend’s 7 super-duper reads from the past week that you might have missed.
The Passive Income Earner
Getting life insurance can be a confusing journey. When do you get it? Which do you consider? These are some of the questions that PIE addresses in his post on when to consider life insurance.
Modest Money
Often as bloggers we focus heavily on writing, and quality content, but more often we over look search engine optimization (SEO). Keyword search is a necessary action for a solid online presence. Jeremy (or the SEO expert) as referred to by some wrote a neat piece on optimal blog keyword search. There’s a lot more to SEO, but it was a pretty good introduction to keyword search.
Kylie Ofiu
Kylie conducted an interview with Avrom who recently launched his new website, ‘The Web Ninja‘, which focuses on helping bloggers becoming great bloggers. I’m glad Avrom took on this project, he’s the right guy for the job who has tons of experiences building websites.
See Debt Run
Do you like freebies? If you said ‘No’, I think you’re seriously gay, but since I know deep down you like freebies (like we all do), here’s a great post bu Jefferson on six ways to listen to music online for free.
Canadian Budget Binder
I had a good laugh with this post. How often do we see friends, family members or friends of friends who act like Mr. or Mrs. money bags, yet they’re really struggling. Not everyone will become the millionaire, but some sure act like they do. Read the full post – Mr. or Mrs. money bags.
Untemplater
Depending on how old you are now, you’ve might have asked your self; Are my 30′s better than my 20′s? Turning 30 is a big event, and we all remember or will remember different things about when it happened to us. As someone on the verge of entering his dirty thirties, it’s a question that I’ll face in not so distant future. So, are your 30′s better than your 20′s?
Making Sense of Cents
Philanthropy is one of the greatest things to mankind that anyone can do, yet very few people do it. Everyone is so busy, but busyness is just a simple excuse. If you’ve been thinking about volunteering and giving back a little to your local community, Michelle shares some wonderful volunteer ideas.
Thanks for being part of this weekend’s Finance Fox Weekend Recap. We hope you enjoyed this week’s seven super-duper reads you might have missed, and see us again right here next weekend where we’ll do it all over again.
Cheers!
Eddie
Photo Credit (tomscholes)
Thanks for sharing my post Eddie. My investments did pretty lousy in the first part of the year, but that’s because I ignorantly had my money in a lousy mutual fund. I have since switched that to a dividend mutual fund in hopes that the dividends would help offset any dips in the market. My plan is to switch to self managed investing very soon though. I’d just rather not be paying the mutual fund fees, especially since I have some investment blogger friends to point me in the right direction.
Modest Money recently posted..Does Everyone Need An Emergency Fund?
I have dividend mutual funds w/RBC, and the only two mutual funds I have invested. They both pay 4.81% monthly or 9 cents per unit. MER is on the higher end at 2.09%.
TD eSeries Funds Eddie, very low MER – if you want to go the indexing route. ;) Also Dividend Mutual Funds are just mutual funds. By the time you deduct the MER you are only making 1.5% to 2% and when markets go down you make nothing. Buy stocks directly instead, so regardless of the share price the dividend is the same and yours to keep.
Here’s the secret: Look at the Top-10 investments in your Dividend Mutual Fund, and buy 2 or 3 of those stocks to start. Likely they are the Canadian Banks, an energy company like Suncor, and perhaps a couple of telecoms like Telus or Rogers. You simply buy and hold long-term. You could easily get a 3.5% to 5% yield by going this route – and no MERs!
Cheers
Avrom
The Dividend Ninja recently posted..Kylie Ofiu eBook Giveaway: Blog to Book
Solid points Avrom!
I plan to get into self invested stocks later this year. Still a newbie though!! :)
Thanks for the reads. I’ve been out of the loop for the past two weeks because of work and have some catching up to do.
John @ Married (with Debt) recently posted..Make Your Travel Photography Magazine Quality
Welcome back John!!
Thanks for the mention and write-up, Eddie!
I hear that the stock market is diving even lower today :(
jefferson recently posted..Budget Beauty — Under Eye Bags
Hi Jefferson!
Yeah, the stock dipped lower yesterday, TSX closed I think closed 100 points lower.
Cheers Eddie for sharing my blog post. It happens so often that most people should give their heads a shake. No one cares how much debt someone is in they just want to know how much they have in the bank. If you got money you got mates. We need to stop thinking like this.. we need to start caring about our debt and less about what everyone else thinks.
Cheers,
Mr.CBB
Have a great day mate!
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..Mr.CBB’s Eggless Chocolate Coffee Cake $6.50
Thanks for your comment.
It’s true though, the more money you have, the more friends you got….until the money runs out :)
Hi,
Evert One,
Due to fluctuation in worlds economy, we can’t trust banks anymore.
I am looking to hear from all of you to comment on it.
Thanks.
When could we trust banks?
It’s like trusting the government, they make it seem like they’re there for us, yet not so much. Think retirement.
Thanks for the mention! You’ll love your 30s as long as you’re staying active and making the most of your time. My 20s were great, but I feel even happier in my 30s!
Untemplater recently posted..A Delicious Interview With The Founder Of The Chai Cart
You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to my thirties, as my 20s slowly come to a close, the last quarter of them has been amazing, and I look forward to carrying that momentum into my dirty thirties.
Eddie, thanx so much for the mention! :) Once I finish my block of shifts at work, I’ll be able to get back to the Web Ninja full-time again :)
Cheers
Avrom
The Web Ninja recently posted..My Interview with Kylie Ofiu
You’re welcome Avrom!