Happy New Year!
2015 was a year many in the investment community will wish to forget. All North American indices struggled, and most were down. The TSX, which I invest in, suffered the most (-11.1%), and only the Nasdaq was in the green, gaining 5.7% for the year. The broadest index, the S&P500 was pretty much flat (-0.7%), so that gives the clearest definition of how things went. There were opportunities, especially for those who play the markets both ways, and also for little guys like me who can manage their buys and sells more nimbly. In the final summation, I did well, not quite up to quota, but at least managing to cover the payouts we have planned for our retirement needs. It helps that both of us qualified for our OAS this year, hitting the magic 65 for the government to begin paying us! That lowers our needs from the investments, and we've finally begun building up our TFSAs once again. Big thanks are due to Wendy, as she does the work to maintain our household budget, and keep us on track with our expenditures. It has also been great to have my brother to chat with every day; we are able to bounce ideas off each other even though we invest in different markets. And, of course, it always leaves us with someone else to blame!!
We are well blessed financially, and it remains my assignment to continue to try to learn better ways to manage and invest the accounts. I hope for positive markets in 2016.
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