18 year old trying to make a long term investment

[sant64]

I am 18 years old and this summer I am going to make a good amount of money have nothing to spend it on. To try and be smart I want to put the money into an investment and have it slowly grow. I need advice on what to put my money into. For context I do not want anything risky and can only trade with Canadian stocks etc… please any recommendations in the right direction will be gratefully appreciated Thank you!

 

[fhf1]

@sant64 Tawcan and My Own Advisor are two Canadian investing blogs I follow. The blogs would be a good place to start learning so you can make some good decisions.

 

[irusia]

@sant64 Get ahold of a financial advisor. I had company RRSP money when I left my last job, financial advisor helped me invest it and it’s been growing slowely ever since.

 

[mocoman97]

@sant64

1. Your education. Preferably a STEM degree with a focus on a high income professional career.
2. If you have number 1 covered, then the rest into XEQT.

 

[cerulean]

@sant64 https://www.bordergold.com/product/1-oz-gold-maple-leaf-random-date/

 

[mikesekurity]

@sant64 My advice is to open a TFSA, you may have to be 19 to do this depending on your province I believe as it requires signing a legal document. My recommendation is through WealtlhSimple, I really enjoy that they have no fees at all on their "Trade"(self managed) platform. Be sure to keep an eye on your contribution limits for your TFSA(which will increase each year).

As far as investing goes, for short term(money you may need within the next few years) or even an "emergency fund" you can look at something like cash.to (or similar other options out there). This fund will currently get you an almost 5% return with little to no risk. The return will fluctuate based on the current interest rates set by the Bank of Canada, but your value will never decrease over time.

For long term growth, I'm a fan of VEQT or XEQT (relatively the same - slightly different composition, from different providers). Those are both global ETFs. Alternatively VFV, which is a Canadian listed fund that tracks the US S&P 500 is very popular based on it's return over the past decade, but would be 100% US concentrated. Depending on who you talk to, they will have different positions on whether you need to be globally diversified.

In regards to your comment about not wanting anything "risky". Risk is mostly just a measure of volatility. More volatility is generally met with higher expected returns. Being so young and having a long investment timeline, you ideally want to take on as much risk as possible but only with money that you will not need to touch for time periods of greater that 5 years.

The above suggestions are not really "either or" you can set up figurative "buckets" where your "short term money" stays safe and earns a little over time and your "long term money" has potential to grow much more, but is subject to higher volatility(risk).

Hope that helps!