A Step-By-Step Guide My Investment Portfolio Story

Since Covid-19 started millions of families have been; evicted from their homes, struggled to make payments, had to take out an extra mortgage, and been put in financial handcuffs. With the help of my financial advisor’s my investment portfolio has increased by 140% since Covid-19 began. I will share tips, rules, concepts, and my story with you. I will also be sharing why it’s Important to start Investment and putting money away for retirement or a rainy day when you’re young. It is never too early to start! Warren Buffet in the above video speaks on the concepts below.

6 Financial Concepts to Pay Attention to:

• Debt Stacking

• Rule of 72

• Power of Compound Interest

• Pay yourself first

• Theory of Decreasing Responsibility

• High Cost of Waiting

The above metrics in the video from Primerica are subject to change over time. I started to Invest at the age of 9 (GICS). If you're a parent with kids and they get a job these are good skills to instill or help them with at any age. I'll touch upon the above in future posts.

Step-by-Step What Did I Do?

The first thing we did was determine my risk tolerance and goals for Investing to build my customized investment portfolio. This is important because everyone has a different sweet spot in terms of the fluctuations their investments could move up or down. After that, we determined It was best to use a TFSA tax-shelter (see Image below) mainly because my earning’s weren’t high enough to maximize the value of using a tax-deferred RRSP. From there we built a customized portfolio focused on technology Companies as It was determined that was the safest Industry in terms of growth. We elected to choose a medium-risk fund portfolio with Fidelity Investments and a lower-risk portfolio with Mackenzie Investments. I suggest researching each of the below fund companies and knowing you’re Financial Independence Number, before creating a custom portfolio. This next part is where having a financial advisor is crucial. They know the fund managers’ strengths inside and out.

• AGF Investments Inc.

• Bridgehouse Asset Managers

• CI Investments

• Dynamic Funds

• Fidelity Investments Canada

• Franklin Templeton Investments

• Invesco

• Mackenzie Investments

Once the different portfolios were complete, we began making monthly contributions. This is important because the market can fluctuate each month and having ongoing contributions reduces the downside. Additionally, It’s important to pay yourself first and Invest in you’re future to avoid finding yourself in debt. Once the pandemic began millions of people panicked and withdrew their investments before the market hit rock-bottom. Since we also had an emergency fund set-up, my job was considered essential and my expenses were minimal I was in a unique position to do the exact opposite. Much like gravity (what goes up, must come back down) the investment market works much the same. So I was able to put everything I could into the higher risk Fidelity investments for the next few months while the market bottomed out before It rebounded and my profile soared. The market will go up and down. My advice is don’t watch your investments when It’s down

Quotes from Professionals In Ontario

"A TFSA is a rare gift from the government everyone should have one".

"Don't make your focus paying off debt and then investing when the debt is paid off. You can never get time back and take advantage of the rule of 72, Do both together". (Rita Zipzer Primerica Advisor).

"Do you understand you're Financial Independence Number" (Jose Rincon Arias, WFG Hiring Manager).

"The old adage of paying yourself first at least 10-15% of your income still rings true today. It's not always about how much you earn but how much you save and invest". (Jason Blevins, Primerica Advisor).

Wrapping Up

The most important thing when selecting a financial advisor to help manage you’re portfolio is to find someone you can trust. However, when they make suggestions It’s also important to understand their reasoning. To do this doesn’t require a lot of financial education, there are a number of resources (videos, books, guides) that can help you get started young. Don’t let yourself get caught in financial traps, eliminate your downside! If you’d like to learn more about any of these topics, make a recommendation for what my next blog post should be.

-Absolute Conviction Warrior (Dillon Dubois)-