Buy Investments and Hold Them Forever
We recommend that you buy good quality exchange traded funds (ETFs) and
stocks, and plan to hold them forever, because of the following factors:
- Brokerage costs - every time you buy or sell (not as true these days), it costs you money.
- You often buy at the higher ask price and sell at the lower bid
price.
- You can't time the market, so don't try.
- Lessens risk, because you don't follow the herd in buying high
(greed) and selling low (fear).
- For investments in non-registered accounts, you will pay tax on any
capital gains. Defer the tax in order to increase your
investments.
- Makes life simpler, because it reduces the number of decisions you
have to make.
- Eventually, hopefully, you can just live off the dividends.
Tax Tips:
If you are selling
investments outside of an RRSP or other registered account, make sure you know the tax consequences.
Keep EXCELLENT records so that when your
investments are eventually sold, completing the tax return will be a LOT
easier!
TaxTips.ca Resources
Tax issues re investing, and tax treatment of different types
of investments
Recommended stocks for inside or
outside of your RRSP
Borrowing to invest in stocks and ETFs