It was a tumultuous year. Basically…
- The markets went UP.
- The markets went DOWN.
- Some people claimed to be clairvoyant about the markets going UP and DOWN.
End of list.
To be honest, I really didn’t care how the markets performed in 2014 because I (mostly) have a low-cost diversified portfolio. Here’s how to get one:
Canada:
- Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam
- Canadian Couch Potato FAQ
- Canadian Couch Potato Model Portfolios
- Rebalance your Couch Potato Portfolio with these free tools
United States:
People who think they can predict the market entertain me, but I ignore them. Stay tuned for market movements in 2015…
Love,
Kerry
I love that graph, just to show that you should ignore the markets noise and continue investing and stop panicking.
how did your portfolio do in 2008?
@nestor My portfolio went down, and then I invested more to rebalanced.
so, you added money from outside your portfolio?
@nestor I keep a cash component.
The Millionaire Teacher by Canadian Author Andrew Hallam saved my butt these past 2 yrs. I was unhappy with my financial adviser (no growth in 5 yrs??) so I fired him and took over everything by opening my own self-directed accounts. I followed Andrew’s advice and purchased td series e-funds as the majority of my portfolio.
In 2 yrs I’ve averaged over 40% with my portfolio and I could care less about the current downturn. If you buy carefully – everything is on sale right now.
Question for Kim –
Kim, where did you open the self-directed accounts? Are they RRSP accounts?
Kerri,
Great graph for a recap of the market performance for 2014. Our investment strategy is very similar. In regards to your questions Ajka, with Kim using td series e-funds I believe those are only available if you conduct your banking with Scotia Bank. Almost all of the major banks have their own self-directed brokers such as CIBC, RBC, Scotia Bank, BMO, TD, etc. With self-directed brokerage accounts there are many accounts you are able to open such as an RRSP accounts, TFSA accounts, Non-Registered accounts, Locked in Retirement Accounts, and many more specific accounts such as margin accounts. Hopefully that helps, the books Kerri recommends are great and if you want a step by step guide to setting up a self-directed account i’d recommend checking out MoneySense “Guide to the perfect portfolio” by Dan Bortolotti.
Hi Ajka,
You can only purchase the TD e-series funds through a TD bank/TD self-directed broker. I have stocks in both RRSPs as well as a TFSA. As my dad has always said, “No one cares about your money as much as you do.” Taking full responsibility of all of my stocks etc was the best decision for me, however, it isn’t for everyone. Check out Millionaire Teacher – it’s an excellent step-by-step book and is based on Canadians.
Hi Kerry, you did a great post here. What do you think about the market in 2015? Will still be good or worst? is it good to invest more this year 2015 or not? Thanks a lot for sharing.
Great post here. That infographic says it all, about how the market looked… and how my stomach felt as it was all going down! Thanks for sharing.