TFSA returns to date

Preparing for life after work. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, annuities and meeting future financial and psychological needs.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by j831robert »

Deaddog proves my point re trading accounts. My own TSFA continues to show a loss of $29K due to my abandoning my pipeline in favour of a REIT the current value of $94K notwithstanding. The rationale for that move was the fact that I also hold the same pipeline as a principal in an open account and figured that I had 'to much of a good thing' .
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by SQRT »

Started out with GIC's but after a few years abandoned that stategy. Only buy divs payers and a REIT or two. Current balances in mid $50,000's I think. Have some USD in there so it depends on FX rates. Don't really think much about these accounts as not material to our overall financial position.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by Cincinnatus »

I am likely one of those millennials identified upthread as being likely to benefit greatly from the TFSA. It serves as my primary investment account for a good part the year (until I hit the maximum allowable annual contribution). While as a result it does tend to contain at least a little bit of every part of the portfolio, I have made an effort to shelter interest earning instruments (and their higher tax loads) while holding displaced common shares in a taxable account. I have little access to an RRSP due to my participation in an RPP.

I would estimate the account value to be in the mid five digits at present. Nothing special.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by InvestorNewb »

I also contribute the max to my TFSA but the total value is only at $54k, which seems to be a lot less than most of the other posters here. :(

I dedicate it strictly to the Canadian stock market (VCN). Perhaps I should be taking more risk.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by Jo Anne »

InvestorNewb wrote:I also contribute the max to my TFSA but the total value is only at $54k, which seems to be a lot less than most of the other posters here. :(
I think the posters who have less than stellar returns in their TFSA are not talking :)

My TFSA is at $55,600. My husbands is at $55,800. It's all in Canadian dividend paying stocks. I'm satisfied with these results.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by deaddog »

InvestorNewb wrote: I dedicate it strictly to the Canadian stock market (VCN). Perhaps I should be taking more risk.
Or maybe having a strategy that controls your risk. :D
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by AltaRed »

Jo Anne wrote:
InvestorNewb wrote:I also contribute the max to my TFSA but the total value is only at $54k, which seems to be a lot less than most of the other posters here. :(
I think the posters who have less than stellar returns in their TFSA are not talking :)
True enough, but there is limited value in talking about TFSA returns. It's no different than the annual year end...how did you do threads. Indeed, the strategies around the use of the TFSA are probably more varied than any other type of account. Some use it as an emergency cash account, others strictly for capital protection, some treat it like any other investment account and others shoot for the moon. Returns will reflect those strategies. I suspect what Jo Anne is doing is pretty representative by many investors.

The light bulb that turned on for me a year ago was a recognition my TFSA may well be the best legacy asset I could leave my heirs. No death taxes makes for a sweet gift. Thus am turning it around from conservative income to one based on modest growth via REITs.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by Insomniac »

AltaRed wrote: True enough, but there is limited value in talking about TFSA returns. It's no different than the annual year end...how did you do threads. Indeed, the strategies around the use of the TFSA are probably more varied than any other type of account. Some use it as an emergency cash account, others strictly for capital protection, some treat it like any other investment account and others shoot for the moon. Returns will reflect those strategies. I suspect what Jo Anne is doing is pretty representative by many investors.
Yes. Our TFSA are just tax sheltered components of the entire portfolio. In my case, my unregistered account is greater than the sum of my registered accounts. My target allocation is 60/40. I want the fixed income sheltered from income tax, so the registered accounts are filled with fixed income. So, my TFSA has grown modestly; sits about $53K today.

So not really interested in TFSA returns. Total portfolio performance matters.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by SQRT »

AltaRed wrote:
The light bulb that turned on for me a year ago was a recognition my TFSA may well be the best legacy asset I could leave my heirs. No death taxes makes for a sweet gift. Thus am turning it around from conservative income to one based on modest growth via REITs.
Yes, this was my conclusion as well. As discussed in a recent thread, the TFSA probably works best as a legacy. Otherwise you have to "shut it down" at some point forgoing its benefits from that point on.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by slim »

Comparing how you did to investing the whole $46,000 XIC:
Assuming you put each of your tfsa contributions into XIC as soon as was allowed.
no drip.
Your current stock value would be $52,000
you would have recieved $5,000 in dividends
and unrealized capital gains of $5,500

Your present account balance would be $56,500

(now I feel better, as I "beat the market" in both my accounts)
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by AltaRed »

Amazing how Couch Potato does just fine....and that is with the energy and materials sectors doing badly and the TSX being a weary sidewinder.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by Thanak »

I was a late starter for my TFSA.

I basily ignored it for the first 5 years.
Then I capted it with short term GICs.
I've been in stock since mai 2014.
I use a mix of VCN and VXC.

I now sit at 52 300$.

I can't go back in time to fix those lost years but at least I'm smarter about it now.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by Thegipper »

AltaRed wrote:Amazing how Couch Potato does just fine....and that is with the energy and materials sectors doing badly and the TSX being a weary sidewinder.
Not sold. This is about the same as a GIC TFSA. I will take the extra 46k I made by investing in stocks so far. I think the couch potato approach works a lot better in the USA markets.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by CROCKD »

Thegipper wrote:This is about the same as a GIC TFSA.
Not so. Just because your TFSA has done so well does not mean other more conservative approaches do not yield adequate returns.

If I take the allowable TFSA contributions to end 2015 there is a possible contribution room of $41,000. If I then take the amounts and compound them at 2% for GICs I come up with $44,064 until the end 2015.

I had my TFSA in fixed income for the first three years until I transferred the amount into a TFSA discount brokerage account. I have had some winners and some losers but the value to end 2015 is still over $50k with no contribution yet for 2016.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by cannew »

I don't worry about the market value of our investments, just the Income they generate. Like you we have contributed the max each year to our TFSA's.

We hold only quality DG stocks and mine is currently yielding 5.88% and my wife's 6.26% on our investment, which includes re-invested dividends. It's the growing income we want.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

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We hold only quality DG stocks
How about posting these 19 quality dividend stocks so we can all help their share prices go up?
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by iluvnascar »

My TFSA is at $59.1K; my wife is at $58.3K. Totally invested in a new Transcanada Preferred - TRP.Pr.J which is a rate reset yielding 5.5%; and a reset guaranteed to be no lower than 5.5% (or redemption at par).
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by kumquat »

slim wrote: Assuming you put each of your tfsa contributions into XIC as soon as was allowed.
no drip.

Your present account balance would be $56,500
My TFSA is my "fun money". Today its value is $58K:
- one big winner
- one big loser
- $25K cash contributed but not invested, ready when I find something interesting
I don't intend to offend anyone, that part is just a bonus.

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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by bill2009 »

wow: I'm embarrassed to say our accounts are both just a bit over 52K. Aside from a brief flirtation with CM, which I sold when it went up a lot, it's all GICs. My excuse is that they are part of our fixed income allocation although we don't take out the interest.

I have been toying with the idea of holding US$ prefs. At least if we generated $5K a year in US$ income it would be of some use.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

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bill2009 wrote:wow: I'm embarrassed to say our accounts are both just a bit over 52K.
Nothing to be embarassed about. Each of us uses the TFSA for different reasons. It is merely one slice in the portfolio pie.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by like_to_retire »

bill2009 wrote:wow: I'm embarrassed to say our accounts are both just a bit over 52K. Aside from a brief flirtation with CM, which I sold when it went up a lot, it's all GICs. My excuse is that they are part of our fixed income allocation although we don't take out the interest.
Seems reasonable. If you have a decent allocation to fixed income, then the RRSP and TFSA are great places to house your "interest income" producing securities since they attract the most tax. What's embarrassing about that? I certainly do that with my portfolio. I consider it smart. In fact, my fixed allocation is high enough that my non-registered portfolio also contains quite a bit of my fixed income. It's just the math of the situation.
bill2009 wrote:I have been toying with the idea of holding US$ prefs.
Why would you consider that a good idea? They don't enjoy any tax advantage like Canadian preferred shares do, and you would have currency problems to deal with. Throw that idea away.

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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by AltaRed »

like_to_retire wrote:
bill2009 wrote:I have been toying with the idea of holding US$ prefs.
Why would you consider that a good idea? They don't enjoy any tax advantage like Canadian preferred shares do, and you would have currency problems to deal with. Throw that idea away.
Agree. The currency risk can blow black holes into that one.

Maybe bill has seen too much "very recent" upticks in US$ prefs? IMNSHO, it's an anomaly and wild west frontier material.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by ghariton »

Don't forget that there's U.S. withholding tax on income from U.S. securities held within a TFSA and you can't get this back at tax time. U.S. securities are best held in an RRSP or, a close second choice, a non-registered account. Priority in a TFSA should be to Canadian fixed income products.

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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by bill2009 »

re the US pref's idea, I don't think i'm being naïve and I understand about the withholding tax. 100K US of PFF would still generate 4-5K net of income which would be a useful amount and would reduce our currency risk (not exposure, but risk).

It's not a slam dunk good idea or we'd all be doing it but I'm going to do at least some and see how it goes - maybe enough to be able to pull out $1,000 US when we're going south in January. At the moment our TFSAs are kind of black holes that we shovel money into with nothing coming out. In principle they're a good idea but not a lot of fun.
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Re: TFSA returns to date

Post by SoninlawofGus »

ghariton wrote:Priority in a TFSA should be to Canadian fixed income products.
That's been my strategy. But I would seem to be trailing the field even among fixed-income-holders, with the value of ours at only $50K each. In the first couple of years, I stuck mainly with cash, so our returns have lagged. TFSA providers do, however, often offer higher cash interest rates relative to other types of accounts.

Most of our taxable portfolio is equity, with another $100K or so in a corporate RRSP account. I could swap the RRSP for the TFSA, but the corporate RRSP account has very poor fixed income options. Everyone's situation is different. Like some others, we have more in unregistered than registered.
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