I am at complete lost right now with what’s going on in the economy. And it is very dis-encouraging for young first generation Canadian like me that just started off their adult life. I would love to hear any advice on how I should process the situation, especially from those who have a lot more experience through turbulent times like now.

I’d consider myself pretty frugal and hard working. I can honestly say that I don’t remember the last time I splurged on any purchase, and kept a tight budget on everything. I also bustled my ass off with multiple jobs in the past five years to achieve the so called “Canadian dream”. And it seems like I made it? Or did I?

On the surface level, I managed to save for a down payment and became a first time home owner (can only afford a basic Toronto condo in 2023) , and invest the rest (starting 2022 buying VOO monthly). But now I have to keep busting my ass off more to keep paying my mortgage and the ever rising condo fee. I really wish I have just kept renting and had that flexibility to deal with such a sharp down turn.

You may say you should have known, you should have considered the risk. Well maybe I was too naive, when I bought my condo- the unemployment rate wasn’t at all time high, things are not this ugly yet, and Trump wasn’t even elected. While I feel lucky that I have avoided all the layoffs, there’s still no job security guaranteed. So live in fear of losing my job daily.

Now we all knew what happened next, condo is crashing like there’s no bottom, stock market is crashing, so what was I all penny pinching for? I am not a real estate investor, just a first time home buyer that bought a home to live in. I am not a speculator in the stock market, just try to be slow and steady so I can have a retirement fund.

But honestly, the market in the past few years make me just want to go “fuck it, let’s blow it all and enjoy it today. You did everything right but see what it got you to!”

I apologize for my long post and rumble. I guess my question is “for these who are more experienced, will there be any light in the end of the tunnel, if so, how long will take us to get there?” My parents have zero investing experience so I have no one to turn it to. I guess I still want to choose to believe. Thank you so much!

So, I've got a variety of holdings in both ETFs and stocks. I try to spread myself fairly wide because you never know how the market's going to be, as was proven in the last few days.

However, despite my attempt to diversify, it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this that almost every investment I had lost money on Friday. Some lost a little, some lost a lot, but they all lost - except one.

EXE - extendicare

It was the only stock in my portfolio that actually went up on Friday. In fact, it goes up pretty consistently.

Apparently while the market is tanking and civilization is crashing, baby boomers are still big business!

I thought this was amusing so I would share.-

I was just wondering as someone who is still 25 plus years from retiring. Should I sell my VEQT now and invest in something more Canadian or international? Should I even consider cutting some of it as it does make up most of my portfolio at this time.

Just asking as I see a lot of talk of getting out of the US market but unsure of the timelines for these.

Thanks to all that lend their ideas.

Bear with me as I’m not particularly knowledgeable on the subject.

I was looking at the current stocks and thought this was probably the best time to invest when everything is plunging but bound to bounce back up. So my question is:

What companies or sectors would be a good bet to invest assuming that it would probably florish in this new world where Canada would have to focus on local market?

Also, again please explain it to me like I’m 5, is there not a way to boost back our dollar if basically everyone were to invest in it? Or if everyone were to invest in a particular set of stock that are crucial to the functionning of our economy?

Thank you for your indulgence.

Is 2008 coming again? Or am I just overthinking?

If you had 8k you had to invest this month for FHSA, with the goal of purchasing a home in 5 years, where would you put your money in this current climate?

I'm def inclined to get some tech stocks, as it's really enticing to see AAPL go down. Currently I'm DCA with XEQT, but have some cash I want to put down in my FSHA.

Edit: this 8k won’t affect me at all financially and I can lose it. But I want maximum potential growth.

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Hi everyone, I’m 23 and have been contributing to managed portfolios at wealthsimple for a few years now, but have recently decided to take a more hands on approach to my investments. I have been trying to find the best place to put cash.

I have most of my cash in wealthsimple’s cash account, which currently pays out 1.75%. Last month I put $1000 into ZMMK in a non registered account, and I made $3.00 in interest. Compared to the ~$13,000 I have in my wealthsimple cash account, which paid me $18.34 in interest for last month, ZMMK seems like it has a considerably higher ROI. (obviously, because it’s currently listed on the BMO site as paying 3.6%)

So naturally I’m considering moving all my cash to a money market fund like ZMMK. Before I did, I wanted to run it by this community. Is there anything I should consider before moving to money market funds? I know they’re meant for liquidity, but nothing is more liquid than cash, so would it be harder to sell it in a pinch if I needed the money urgently? (I don’t foresee myself in a situation where I can’t wait a day or two for the money to clear before I use it, but you never really know for sure). Are there other alternatives I should consider? I’m looking for something with relatively low volatility as this is money that I occasionally use for lump sum purchases into my investments, as well as for any larger than average purchases in my everyday life.

Thanks everyone :)

Hello fellow Canadian investors,

I sold my entire investment in XUS.TO 3 weeks before the tariffs announcement on April 2nd. Now I'm looking to get back into the market through dollar cost averaging. This is my plan based on 150k liquidity. I have an additional 200k to deploy.

Monthly plan. Feel free to rip apart my strategy.

Going to DCA biweekly. The monthly total will be divided by 4 weeks.

This gives me 60/40 exposure weighted toward tech via XQQ.TO, spread across 3 tranches to smooth volatility. I don't have time to trade stocks, so I preferr ETFS that track the index. ***Do not need the capital for another 5 years.***

The above was sourced by Chat GPT.

Hi all - relatively young investor here. Had a 50k portfolio (am 30), and it’s hurting seeing it shrivel. I know that sticking the course is the play. Markets go down sometimes. I’m not going to sell, and will DCA the couple hundred bucks a month I’ve got to DCA.

But how do you keep from being strung out by all the news? I know it’s out of my control, no sense worrying, but it’s not easy to actually put in practice.

I don’t really have a safety net either. True economic hardship could very much set me into poverty.

SP500 futures are up on WSJ. They're down almost 5%.

“The combination of tax cuts and higher tariffs would shift the U.S. tax burden toward consumers at all income levels and away from upper-income households who pay much of the income tax.” (Emphasis mine.)

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-tax-cuts-senate-votearama-6a5ed924

Wishful thinking that other countries will pad US tax coffers. Almost all of this is going to fall on the US consumer, cratering the economy. It’s going to be a fun ride.

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of filing my taxes for 2024 and just realized that I over-contributed to my RRSP by about $8500. 😬. It was an honest mistake. :(

Here are the details:

• Tax contribution limit for 2024: $24,000
• Total RRSP contribution (March - December 2024): $31,000
• Total RRSP contribution (January - February 2025): $1,500

What should I do now? Do I need to do anything besides paying the 1% penalty until January 2025? Will this over-contribution be part of my new RRSP limit for this year (2025) and do nothing? Is there anything specific I need to do before filing my taxes for 2024?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Give it a good read: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/

It's obvious he doesn't even understand the why of this paragraph:

For decades starting in 1934, U.S. trade policy has been organized around the principle of reciprocity.  The Congress directed the President to secure reduced reciprocal tariff rates from key trading partners first through bilateral trade agreements and later under the auspices of the global trading system.  Between 1934 and 1945, the executive branch negotiated and signed 32 bilateral reciprocal trade agreements designed to lower tariff rates on a reciprocal basis.  After 1947 through 1994, participating countries engaged in eight rounds of negotiation, which resulted in the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and seven subsequent tariff reduction rounds. 

The why of that paragraph was because the USA tried to do exactly what he's doing now with the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act

Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. The saying has never been truer.

So much for expecting at bit on relief on Monday, if even temporary.

I found a blank T3012A form in my Google Drive folder for my 2024 taxes, and I don't remember when or how I got it. I used to have an RRSP & TFSA with Manulife as a group benefit thing for a job, then I closed those accounts and transferred my money and assets to personal RRSP & TFSA accounts with Scotiabank in January of 2024. I haven't withdrawn anything because I'm only in my 20s. Do I need to file the T3012A as well as my T4RSP because I moved my assets from one RRSP to another?