March and April kept with the theme of the first 2 months of 2018 and saw ups and downs for my TD e-Series portfolios. In general, my investment portfolio growth has continued though, with help from an annual pension update, and continued increases in my home equity and savings accounts.
Overall Assets
TFSA TD e-Series Index Funds
With talks of trade wars, and questions about resource production plans, my TD e-Series index fund portfolio saw steady increases, followed by swift drops. Unfortunately in the last 2 months, we haven’t seen any stability in increases, and have lot some ground on the gains made in 2017.
But when the markets are down, that means it’s a good time to buy! I increased my stake in my bonds fund, as well as the Canadian and International index funds. I spread out my additions to keep close to my investment targets of 23%/23%/23%/31%.
Overall, since I started investing in late 2016, I’ve made just over $1,700 in pure gains to my TFSA portfolio, which is about a 9.6% gain all time. Not too bad in the middle of a down year.
RRSP TD e-Series Index Funds
Not too much too add about my RRSP TD e-Series Index Funds. With the aggressive approach (no bond index investments), my RRSP portfolio provided a slightly better return than my TFSA portfolio over the last 2 months, since the TD Canadian Bond index has kind of been in the dumps.
I started my RRSP TD e-Series Index investments later than my TFSA portfolio, so haven’t seen the same percentage gains, but still have gains of $190 since starting in February 2017. A 9.2% gain in that time.
High Interest Savings Account
Having had to withdraw from my short term savings over the last few months to pay off some major condo fees (new roof, ugh) I’ve put a focus on rebuilding this fund in the last 2 months.
I’ve got some vacation plans coming up and will be booking some flights in the next month, so unfortunately, will see some depletion of my savings once again. Hopefully not too much!
Home Value
Equity continues to grow, along with the housing market in general. While I use the city property assessment to determine my condo value – I’ve recently seen a unit in my building go for much more.
I like to stay conservative when estimating value of assets (hence using property assessments), but based on the market in my area, my equity may look more like $110,000 or $120,000.
Cryptocurrency Portfolio
Something to get used to if you are thinking of getting into the cryptocurrency market – wild swings and sometimes major losses. After the December 2017/January 2018 cryptocurrency boom, we’ve seen crypto markets come back down to real life.
While I was up almost 4 times my original investment at one point, I’m now only at double. I say that sarcastically, as double my investment in 6 months is amazing. But who knows what will happen from here. Markets seem to be back on the rise – but one day they could all go to zero. This is my fun investing money, and not something I’m relying on. I’ll ride this portfolio to it’s dizzying highs and lowly lows and if I lose it all, so be it, I’ve still got my long term investments, my savings, my house equity, and my pension.
Pension Update
Once a year I get a pension update, and I received my 2017 pension overview in March. I’ve laid out what I contributed, what my employer contributed, and the investment increases that my union has seen with their pension investments.
Pretty good returns on their investments (around 10%), but I like to think that as an amateur, I’m keeping up a pretty good pace with my own personal portfolio.
Car
2 more car payments, means increased personal value on my car. This is a pretty rough estimate though as I don’t know what the exact resale of my car is, and won’t be able to get a Canadian Black Book value until it ages a bit more.
Beginner investor says
Hi! I recently stumbled across your blog and I find it very informative and helpful!
“But when the markets are down, that means it’s a good time to buy!”
Dumb question, but how do you know when the markets are down? And when they’re down, does that mean stocks AND bonds are both down or just stocks?
Thanks!
Let's Talk About Money says
When I say the markets are down, it’s a pretty general statement and all relative to my portfolio’s previous performance. In the context of the post, for the months of March and April 2018, the TD US Index Fund (stocks) and the TD Canadian Bond Index Fund (bonds) were down, while the Canadian and International index funds (stocks) had actually risen. So not all of the markets were down, just some of them. And when those specific markets go down (in this case US stocks and Canadian bonds), it’s a good time to buy up more of those markets.
Beginner investor says
Thanks for your reply! I have another question. I noticed that TD e series also offer managed index funds – would you recommend these? When I went to open my direct investing account, I was told that they contain a mix of Canadian/US/international index funds, so it’s more convenient to invest into a managed index fund rather than to invest in Canadian, US, and international index funds separately. What is your opinion on this?
Let's Talk About Money says
That all comes down to your own preference. The big thing about a managed fund like that is, you no longer get to decide how to split up your portfolio between the different funds. There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach to how much you should have in each of the different markets, as this really depends on your age and your tolerance for risk. When you go into a pre-managed one like that, you have to take on the risk and type of portfolio that they decide, while paying them for it at the same time.
I’m not sure how much more the MER on those managed funds are, but you have to ask yourself what you get for that additional fee. If the MER is an additional 1% and you have $10,000 invested, is it worth $100 a year to you to have someone else balance and decide?
They sell it as more convienient, but really, once you have bought the self-managed TD e-Series funds, and determined what your target portfolio percentages are, you really don’t have to do much else. Login once or twice a year and rebalancing takes very little time and effort.
Beginner investor says
Thanks again. This makes my decision easier as I do want to decide what % goes into each fund.
Beginner investor says
Would you consider building a couch potato ETF portfolio since the MER fees are lower than index funds, and it can be done with a TD direct investing account commission-free? If not, why not?
Beginner investor says
oops nevermind, I don’t think ETFs from TD are commission-free.
Let's Talk About Money says
You’re right, likely any money you would save on lower MER’s would be offset by the TD commission fees. If you are really interested in investing in ETF’s with the lowest MER, there are options using other trading platforms, such as Questrade. I’ve never used Questrade myself though, so don’t have a lot of information that I can provide.