Investing for Beginners

Summary:

Saving for your future is important, but investing can be intimidating. This session is for beginners and will show you that investing can be easy, with step-by-step instructions to take control yourself and save on fees while you're at it. We will cover the basics of investing, with a focus on index funds and the practical aspects of doing it yourself. Other items to be discussed include analysis paralysis, robo-advisors, TFSAs and RRSPs (and we'll explain what those acronyms are), the importance of investing fees, and suggested reading.

Learning objectives:

At the end of this workshop, learners will:

• Understand the importance of investing for the future
• Understand the impact of investment fees
• be able to differentiate between index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• be able to describe tax shelters like TFSAs and RRSPs are and how to use them
• be introduced do-it-yourself (DIY) investing with an introductory how-to
• be provided with some suggestions for further reading and resources

Instructor:

John specializes in explaining complex topics for non-specialists, whether scientific or financial. Personal finance and investing have long been personal passions for John. He has been an active part of the Canadian personal finance community, blogging, creating spreadsheets, podcasting, and writing how-to guides. He is the author of The Value of Simple, and the related course Practical Index Investing for Canadians, teaching people how to invest in a step-by-step manner.

John is trained as a scientist, with a PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Western Ontario. He works as a science writer and editor for the TECHNA Institute in Toronto