快樂牛郎

no time, can't watch stock all day at work... can't I?
ACC-HE 發表於 2010/1/4 22:53

many people have time to check their emails, facebook, news.

快樂牛郎

Even though it's called tax-free, it's not really that free if you invest actively in foreign stocks.  A complete transaction at one of the major retail banks costs over $100.  Essentially it's a transfer from the government's coffer to the bank's capital.  That's why I just see it as play money.  There's no point contemplating where to put it.  If you purchase a GIC that gives you a 1.5% return, you only receive $75 by the end of the year, which yields a saving of around $25, depending on your income bracket.  If you purchase a stock that has a 20% return by the end of the year, you make about $900 after transaction fees and foreign exchange costs, which gives you a tax savings of $50.  Either way it's a waste of time.

快樂牛郎

The only way to benefit is to make a series of trades that multiply to a 50% to 100% return over one year, but that kind of return is only possible in today's market.

快樂牛郎

This ties to my opinion about bank managers/employees.

I don't know what service they have provided you to deserve that $100 in fees.  Trading cost these days should be less than 10 cents to execute.  There's no reason why these major banks should charge you $25 per transaction.  And the government, for whatever reason, demands that all settlements must be made in Canadian funds.

While you guys whine about an insignificant increase in parking fees or transit ticket prices, nobody has ever discussed this kind of ugly profits.  Money management for some reason still seems like a sacred activity for most people.  Common excuses are: no time, too busy, not interested, too difficult to understand, etc.  It's another example of how our education system fails so badly.  Over 80% of my knowledge was learnt outside school.  I don't know who designed the utterly useless curriculum in colleges and universities.  Business is another funny faculty.  Anybody who has ever owned a business, small or large, should know a lot more than all these business grads.

Yublles

just normal high interest saving account TFSA now..
I would put invest RRSP in stock/mutual fund too.

ACC-HE

快樂牛郎 why don't you use http://www.questrade.com/ ? so cheap.

快樂牛郎

快樂牛郎 why don't you use http://www.questrade.com/ ? so cheap.
ACC-HE 發表於 2010/1/5 01:04

Well I am not even in Canada.  I was just pointing out the fact that bank fees are too out of reach.  I like Questrade.  They don't pester you with redundant and unnecessary services and fees.  I onced asked a BMO "manager" why transaction fees are so high.  He said BMO provides "valuable" services that no other banks do. That's like if Rogers wants to charge you $50 a month for unlimited long distance to Ethiopia.  Why do I hate bank managers? Because I hate to see their clowny faces when they try to pitch their products.

Yublles

questrade is a good site to trade, even my prof use this site for trading.. haha.. acc-he, are you using it to trade?

快樂牛郎

I was quite surprised a few months ago to find that you could trade pink sheets on Questrade.  I doubt you can do that with other retail banks.

快樂牛郎

At a conference that I went to last year, a guy told me that you should never work in two kinds of jobs.  One is jobs that can be shipped out of country, such as car manufacturing, and the other is jobs that can be mostly, if not completely, replaced by computers/robots.

I remember visiting another BMO branch when I was in university.  A guy who looked like a trainee working for minimum wage took me inside his "office".  He wasted me 8 minutes before telling me that he was not qualified to sell mutual funds.  His job was only to "promote" them and give out information.  Maybe he wasn't even getting paid.  I don't know why you need to pay $8 to hire a robot/computer.