Posted By 
By Michael Walker,
Vice-President & Head, Mutual Funds Distribution & RBC Financial Planning, RBC
(Sponsor Content)
Whether you’re investing to build up a nest egg for retirement, to buy your first home or for a special vacation, finding the right investing solutions can play a big role in helping you achieve your financial goals.
If you’re just starting on your investing journey, however, I know that taking that first step can feel overwhelming.
To help get you started, I’ve responded below to four of the most common questions I hear about investing:
- Do I have enough money to get started?
You don’t need to have a lot of money to start investing. It’s important to start early, however, as even small amounts of money can grow into big investments with the power of compounding.
As a simple way to think of this, compounding enables your investment to generate earnings and then those earnings are reinvested. In other words, compounding helps you grow earnings on your earnings.
The basic idea is to start investing with an amount you’re comfortable with and increase that amount over time. Once you’ve decided how much you can invest, consider setting up an auto-deposit that automatically moves that money from your chequing account into your investment account on a regular basis. This could be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly: whatever works for you and your finances. Then, as your available funds increase, you can increase the amount you deposit.
In this way, you’re benefiting from paying yourself first and the money you’re depositing will be in your investment account before you can even miss it.
- How do I decide which investing options are right for me?
Finding the right investing solutions starts with understanding your investing style. Here are some questions you can ask yourself, to help determine that style:
- Why do I want to invest? How does this fit into my overall financial goals?
- Do I want to make my own investing decisions and do I have the time to manage my own investments?
- Am I comfortable with virtual investing, knowing there are professionals managing my investments in the background?
- Do I want advice and support from an advisor, and if so, how much?
- Do I want to combine doing some investing on my own with working with an advisor?
Once you understand your investing style it will be much easier to determine the investing options that suit you best.
- What are some of the investing options available to me today?
We believe it’s important for you to have all your investments in one place, with easy management available, so you are able to invest without compromising your investing style or the returns from your investments.
We offer different ways to invest, whether you want to do it yourself, invest online with some help or work with an advisor. You can choose one or mix of two or all three, whatever works best for you and your investing style. You don’t have to opt for just one; you don’t have to go elsewhere to find what suits you.
For example, you can let the pros select, buy and manage your investments for you with RBC InvestEase, our low-cost, low-effort automated investing option. You can start investing with as little as $100 and get human support when you need it.
You also can invest and trade yourself with RBC Direct Investing. As a self-directed investor, you can trade the way you want through the online platform or your mobile device and use comprehensive tools and resources like free real-time streaming quotes to help you make your investing decisions.
And if you want advice to help your money grow, our advisors are here to help when you need it, in person and through our MyAdvisor digital advice platform. MyAdvisor connects you to a personalized plan and the ability to do scenario planning in real time.
This helps you see how changes you make to your savings and investments today can impact your finances in the future.
- What is most important when comparing investment products: fees or investment performance?
For your money to grow, your investments need to perform well.
That’s why, when assessing value, investment performance after fees is what really matters when comparing different investment options.
Do some research into investment options to check out investment performance after fees, as that’s what will be most important in helping you achieve your goals and build a strong financial future.
If you’d like to learn more about the investing solutions available at RBC, please check out Invest without Compromise at RBC. And for additional details – including terms and conditions – please visit RBC InvestEase; RBC Direct Investing; and MyAdvisor.
Michael Walker is Vice-President & Head, Mutual Funds Distribution & RBC Financial Planning. He has over 30 years of financial services and investment experience. Michael leads RBC’s retail mutual fund distribution business and is responsible for RBC’s Retail & Group Savings Registered Plans. In addition, Michael has accountability for RBC Financial Planning with over 2,500 mobile and branch-based Financial Planners, RBC’s Group Savings & Workplace Strategy, and RBC’s MyAdvisor.
