I'm sick of the mediocre performance of my mutual funds and am looking at setting up an online brokerage account to invest in securites. Was curious whether people have any opinions on the different online brokerage options and which ishares or other etf's might be a good opening move for a moderately conservative investor. Cheers, S
Getting Started
- Thread starter smithers
- Start date
Questrade is cheap, with little bells and whistles but I really like it, plus it was Rob Carricks pick in his last rankings
b d
b d
Not sure how much trading you want to do, and how much you are investing. Best start with whoever you deal with now (bank) and work from there. It maks it a bit more convenient to have bank accounts at the same place...but not necessarily a deal breaker.I'm sick of the mediocre performance of my mutual funds and am looking at setting up an online brokerage account to invest in securites. Was curious whether people have any opinions on the different online brokerage options and which ishares or other etf's might be a good opening move for a moderately conservative investor. Cheers, S
Moderately conservative investing can mean a lot of different things...yep, etf's are a good option, but you still have to pick what kind of etf you want. Same drill as buying mutual funds only a lot lower MER and more of a chance to match whatever index you choose to match.
Not sure how much trading you want to do, and how much you are investing. Best start with whoever you deal with now (bank) and work from there. It maks it a bit more convenient to have bank accounts at the same place...but not necessarily a deal breaker.
Moderately conservative investing can mean a lot of different things...yep, etf's are a good option, but you still have to pick what kind of etf you want. Same drill as buying mutual funds only a lot lower MER and more of a chance to match whatever index you choose to match.
Thanks guys. I was looking at ETF's and iShares as I don't think I'm going to have enough to play with to get diversification otherwise. I'm just fed up with the high MER's bank mutual funds charge for their index fund and this seems like a much cheaper way to get the same diversification.
Remind me of a comment made the president of Investors Group in response toThanks guys. I was looking at ETF's and iShares as I don't think I'm going to have enough to play with to get diversification otherwise. I'm just fed up with the high MER's bank mutual funds charge for their index fund and this seems like a much cheaper way to get the same diversification.
complaints of the high MER of their funds. I think it was Murray Mitchell who once
said with a straight face that IG funds belong to the middle of the pack in terms of
MER when it is in reality the contender for the biggest ripoff among major mutual
fund companies. I once raised the issue with an IG agent of their hefty deferred sales
charge. To his credit the friendly guy had the audacity to tell me that the DSC was
only intended to protect my money.
Having said that IMO the funds offered by the major banks like CIBC, National
Bank, TD are overall not too bad IMO. Their MERs while on the high side are generally
lower than IG, Manulife and Fidelity. And as far as I know bank funds usually come
with no DSC. ETFs tracking various market indexes would be great low-cost alternatives
to mutual funds in a bull market. Or you may choose the market reverse index ETFs to
ride out a down market. But beware that in a volatile market with no discernible trend
holding actively managed funds could turn out to be more profitable than holding
ETFs unless you are good with trading between the up and down.
Not all ETF's are great!! Some ETF's can easily wipe out your money as well.Thanks guys. I was looking at ETF's and iShares as I don't think I'm going to have enough to play with to get diversification otherwise. I'm just fed up with the high MER's bank mutual funds charge for their index fund and this seems like a much cheaper way to get the same diversification.
That's about as true as saying that some investments can wipe out your money so don't invest.Not all ETF's are great!! Some ETF's can easily wipe out your money as well.
If you want diversification at a very low cost then there is no better way, in my opinion, than ETF's. If you pick an ETF that matches a major index (say the TSE for example) you will not get wiped out unless the index gets wiped out. If that happens none of this matters anyway. If you choose a double beta natural gas ETF and the market goes the opposite way...yes, you could get wiped out. But that is not because there is anything wrong with the ETF...it works exactly as billed. You need to understand what you are buying...same as with any purchase.
B
burt-oh-my!
Take a look at Claymore fundamental ETFs. CRQ I think it is. They weight stocks in the index according to a few criteria like sales, profits, valuations etc. I like the idea that if we get another whacky situation where a Nortel represents 40% or more of the index that you are NOT similarly overinvested in whatever the mob is going crazy about today. Theri methodoloogy, which is 100% mechanical, will dramatically underweight fundamentally expensive companies.
