As a newcomer to Canada, building a solid financial foundation is key to achieving your dreams and aspirations.
Investing is a powerful tool that can help you grow your wealth over time.
In this first article of our two-part investing series, we will walk you through the basics of investing, from understanding the many benefits of investing to how investing differs from savings.
1. Understanding Investing
What is Investing?
Investing is about using your savings to earn more over time. You can invest in different investment instruments like stocks, bonds, GICs, or mutual funds, which can help you build wealth and achieve long-term financial goals. Registered plans like the TFSA or RRSP offer tax benefits that might help make your investments grow even faster.
Keep Pace with Inflation: Investing may keep your money growing to keep up with rising prices over time.
Build Wealth Faster: Investment products tailored for longer-term goals, such as retirement or education, can lead to higher potential returns, enabling you to achieve your goals.
A Personalized Approach: Your financial advisor can tailor your investments to match your goals, risk tolerance, and time frame.
Automatic Contributions: Setting up a regular automatic contribution removes the uncertainty of when to invest. It helps enhance long term growth and reduce your risk over time.
Harness the Power of Compounding: Reinvesting earnings to generate additional growth over time can significantly boost your investments in the long run. Start investing early to maximize the benefits of compounding.
Tax Benefits: Special tax treatment in accounts like RRSPs and TFSAs helps grow your investments faster.
Before you start investing it’s important to take stock of your financial situation. Here is a handy checklist to follow:
Budget: Create a budget to know how much you earn and spend. This will help you determine how much money you are left with to invest.
Create Investment Objectives: Decide if you want growth, income, or security. Your goals will help determine which investments and investment strategy will be best for you.
Know Your Time Horizon: Consider how long you plan to invest based on your short, medium and long term goals. The investments you choose will need to align with your timeline to allow for market fluctuations.
Choose a Risk Profile: Determine your ability and comfort to handle investment value changes. Will you be ok if your investments dip low for a time period if they rise higher in the long run? Be sure to select an investment strategy you’re comfortable with.
It’s also a good idea to review these factors as your circumstances change, or at least annually, to ensure you continue to have the investment strategy that works for your circumstances and takes into account the market conditions.
Understanding the basics of investing is the first step towards helping to achieve a prosperous financial future. In Part 2, we will delve deeper into crafting an investment strategy, exploring advanced investment products, and highlighting key principles for successful long-term investing. Stay tuned.
Why Choose TD?
150 years helping Canadians:
TD has a proud history of delivering financial solutions to Canadians for more than 150 years. TD also brings a century of experience helping newcomers navigate the unique challenges of the Canadian banking system.
With over a thousand branches, a reputation for excellence in financial services, and the ability to also serve you in more than 60 different languages, TD has become one of the largest and most trusted banks in Canada, now serving 16 million Canadians.
TD offers online support and resources of interest to newcomers on topics such as banking. basics, moving to Canada, credit score essentials, and more. TD is open longer hours for your convenience. TD has thousands of ATMs across Canada to help you take care of your everyday banking quickly and easily.
Book an appointment to talk with a TD Personal Banking Associate about the TD New to Canada Banking Package. You can book online right away, or visit the TD website to learn more.
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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
