If you are like most people, you probably have one or two different types of investment accounts. Maybe you use a full-service human broker. Or maybe you trust a bank branch to invest in mutual funds. Or perhaps you’ve tried doing it on your own with a discount broker.

But are you satisfied with the results?

Ever wondered if perhaps there are other ways to invest that would yield much better returns?

This revised course will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the various investment options available to you. It will delve into 10 distinct account types, each with its own set of investment strategies, and will clarify the various investment vehicles you can utilize.

They are all actual investment accounts of the instructor.

We’ll look at a full-service broker (Manulife Financial), a robo-advisor (Wealthsimple), five discount brokerages (Questrade, Qtrade, CIBC Investor’s Edge, RBC Direct Investing and TD Direct Investing), a deposit broker (Fiscal Agents), a bank branch mutual fund account (TD bank branch) and even a cryptocurrency account (Wealthsimple Bitcoin).

In each case we’ll look at the asset allocation and holdings of the portfolio, the fees involved, and the returns each portfolio has generated since the account was opened. You will also see a demonstration of each account’s website and the reports that are available so you can easily choose which ones are best for you.

We’ll cover all the different types of portfolios that you can have from ultra-conservative to ultra-aggressive. This will include balanced accounts at a full-service broker and a discount broker. An auto-balanced exchange traded fund (ETF). An aggressive portfolio run by a robo-advisor. An account consisting only of an equal weight banks index ETF. The safest account you can have which is a laddered GIC strategy that has zero exposure to the stock market. An account consisting solely of a bond ETF. An account consisting of one bank mutual fund recommended by a bank branch advisor. We’ll even look at a stock portfolio picked by random dart throws! And a cryptocurrency account consisting of 100% in bitcoin.

At the end of the course, we’ll have a contest that will rank each of the 10 portfolios’ average annualized returns for the past 5 years from best return to worst. It’s likely you’ll find the results surprising.

In a nutshell it will show you all the different options you can choose from so you can maximize your investment returns.

Note: This is an updated version of the 2022 course titled “The Complete Guide to All Your Investing Options."

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By the end of this course you will:

• Learn what it’s like to invest with 10 different platforms.
• Discover a simple rule of thumb to determine your asset allocation between equities and fixed income.
• See whether a bank ETF beats the returns of simple GICs.
• Find out if self-balancing ETFs are the best way to get ahead.
• Find out why GICs may be a better option than bond funds for the fixed income portion of your portfolio.
• Find out what it’s like to have money invested in the crazy roller coaster of bitcoin.
• Find out who wins and loses in the contest of annualized returns achieved for each of the 10 portfolios.