First time investing advice (Canada)

Question

I am 29 years old with a wife and we are planning on having a child in the next 2-3 years and as such I have been making a lot of life changes and planning for the future.

Fist off I am sorry this is so long. Its not quite an easy answer question which is a tad bit against the rules but my questions should be rule abiding.

I live in Saskatchewan and work as an electrician and 95% of the companies up here offer little to no retirement plans. I have one of the "best I have seen yet" from my bank advisor which is 4% of my gross earning but pro-rated based off companies profits. One year I got $3100 and last year $174... So I have decided to take savings into my own hands.

My goals:

Short Term (2-3 years):

• Grow savings in an account I have easy access to and save up to prepare for having a family.
• Increase home equity by finishing my basement myself

Medium Term (15-20 years):

• I don't expect school to get any cheaper and if I could afford it I believe private high schools are a good choice.
• Save up at least 75% of an average 4 year university tuition. (~$53,000 as the path I started down was $71,00/5 years but could not get student loans)

Long Term (30-35 years):

• Given that inflation in Canada since 2000 has been around 2.2% and living the same lifestyle I am now (less any car/mortgage payments) I estimate I need $3000/month to retire in 2043.

What I Am Doing:

Short Term:

• Build garage, finished yard. Added $22,000 to resale value so I plan on finishing the basement and spend no more than $20,000 to guarantee a return or break even worst case scenario.
• Living on a cash budget (Gail Vaz-Oxlade from Til Debt Do Us Part) which works fantastically. We have no debt outside of mortgage/car loan.

Medium Term:

This is the section I do not know how to handle and why I came here. Below I will ask my questions.

Long Term:

• Putting $650/month into medium risk RRSP with the goal of $1M in 30 years so I will have $3000/month from 60-85. After 85 I have no idea what to plan for. Retirement homes eat every last cent but trying to save more than $650 is difficult with the other goals.

My Questions:

1. Are their any reputable forums to discuss long winded things like this whole question? I have found some but they where sponsored or leaned heavily to "Bank Products"
2. Given the current economic instability I have considered setting aside ~10,000 in tangible precious metals. (1oz gold, 1x50g gold, 1oz silver) however I bought silver bullion as a novelty in 2001 for $6.50/oz and gold especially seems quite inflated. Any info/report/sites on tracking spot prices and trends?
3. Medium term planning is the hardest to plan for. I talked to a friends personal adviser who handles many wealthy people from my home town and even though I was inclined to trust the advice is was all these "Bank Products" and "Insurance Securities". I have been taking long distance economics courses and a term insurance course and while I see the "possibilities" of making great gains I can see the fundamental flaws in assumptions and even the blazing turds in the middle. Advice?

Answer 1

Question One:

• Particularly applicable to Canadians is the Red Flag Deals personal finance subsection: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/personal-finance-f41/
• Largely under an American lens, but in many ways equally applicable is the Personal Finance Reddit page: http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/

Question Two:

Your best reference for this would be a brokerage account with data privileges in the markets you wish to trade. Failing that, I would reference the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME Group) website.

Question Three:

Considering future tuition costs and being Canadian, you are eligible to open a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). While contributions to this plan are not tax deductible, any taxes on income earned through investments within the fund are deferred until the beneficiary withdraws the funds. Since the beneficiary will likely be in a lower tax bracket at such a time, the sum will likely be taxed at a lower rate, assuming that the beneficiary enrolls in a qualifying post secondary institution.

The Canadian government also offers the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) in which the federal government will match 20% of the first $2500 of your annual RESP contribution up to a maximum of $500.

Answer 2

I very much like your long term thoughts, taking into consideration stuff like inflation.

Q1: I cant give you any links as I am only in german forums, but: search in Facebook Groups or Reddit for "Financial Independence", "Investing", "Metals" ... and other stuff that might be related to your needs. There is a lot of bullshit around but you can check the rules described in the overview. There are many people actually helping each other and giving tips on those kind of topics. Also it can give you valuable contacts.

Q2: As always in investing: there is no certainty there are some factors that help you orientating. Have a look at the Gold/Silver-Ratio. If it is high (>70), it means that silver is rather cheap compared to gold and vice versa. Those metals probably won't give you a big return but probably weigh out inflation and stay at a certain minimum level in pricing - so buying some of it is not a bad idea. Always keep an eye on your costs. There are banks that offer savings plans for stocks at a pretty low fee (e.g. 1.5% per purchase).

Q3: You recognized that you cannot "time" the market and find the best time to buy stuff. One approach to solve this uncertainty is using a savings plan. This means investing a certain amount of money monthly. This has several pros: You will not be guided by your feelings but rather invest in every phase of the market. Furthermore you will have the so called cost average effect - if you always buy for the same amount of money you will benefit from low market levels.

In general I would give you the advice to spread your money on serveral assets. Dont trade too much. As selling and buying always costs fees it is advisable to buy once and keep forever (If your basic goals don't change).

Regarding your long term plan: If you manage to have 1M in different assets you will get around 2-6% in interests (depending on your asset allocation) which is around 20k-60k. You could think of trying to live off the interests instead of using off your assets. One final thing: PLEASE dont use consumer loans - like for a car. This is the stuff that keeps most people from getting wealthy. I would like to go more into detail but I am at work. If you are interested in talking about this stuff some more feel free to send me a message. I dont sell anything, just interested in good discussions)

Answer 3

Two to three years? That is one long gestation period! :^)

Welcome. Congratulations on taking savings into your own hands, you are a winner for taking responsibility for your, and your family's life.

If I was you my first priority would be to pay off your car and never buy one on time again. Or you could sell it and buy something with cash if that would be easier.

It is tremendous that you are thinking and planning. You are already ahead of most people. Are you working on your basement as you have time/money like when work might be slow? If so great idea.