The Millennial Optimist

  Helpful Tips on Recession Investing as a Long-Term Investor For those of you who might not be aware, the financial world has been struggling these past few weeks. With high unemployment, high inflation and even higher interest rates , the world seems to be bracing for an impending recession. Like in any scary tv show or movie (think Stranger Things), we never really know when a recession will pop up and eat away a part of our portfolios. So, what do inexperienced investors do to help curb their fear and reduce their losses? They begin to sell their positions ahead of time to help reduce their losses. This is happening right now as we have seen in the stock market where individuals are reducing their positions drastically while waiting for the other shoe to drop! Although selling before potentially incurring a loss seems like a good idea to weather the storm of a future recession, one of the issues I have seen is that the people who feel the immediate need to sell certain stock...

  Guest Post - 11 Money & Life Fundamentals Every Teenager Must Learn! Growing up you may face numerous challenges as a teenager, and you may also learn quite a few things along the way! I get that there’s already enough on your plate, right from trying to balance a social life with education, to accepting responsibilities and at the same time, also trying to figure out yourself and what you want from life. It gets hectic and money is probably the last thing you are thinking or even talking about. But as much as we hate it or do not want to accept it, money plays a very crucial role in our lives and yet we choose to ignore this important subject. But keep in mind, this subject will never ignore you. At some point in your life, it will surely come looking for you and catch you off guard. And at that point in your life, money will control you if you haven’t learned to control it and I’m sure you don’t want that to happen! As a personal finance advocate, I always tell peop...

  Canadians on the Brink of Financial Insolvency and Canada’s Extension of Financial Aid As the first quarter of 2021 has come and gone, there have been media reports describing an alarming new statistic that has recently been in the spotlight: the number of Canadians who are now on the brink of financial insolvency due to the pandemic is at a new five-year high. With more than half of Canadians being $200 or less from not being able to meet their monthly financial obligations, Canadians are being put in tough financial situations right before the summer months. Although many Canadians have benefitted from pandemic-related financial support (from both the government and their employer in some cases), these deferral programs and assistances have begun slowing down and even ceasing completely as the pandemic still runs rampant. As these economic disruptions drastically affect household incomes, over 30% of Canadians say that they have already reached a point of insolvency and wo...

  Guest Post – How I Began My Investing Career in 2021 with Wealthsimple Trade Last year, when the pandemic began in March 2020 and we were all stuck in our homes for quite a while (due to stay-at-home orders or because we were afraid to leave the house), I decided to take a moment and rediscover books. When I was younger, I was always reading, but I lost this hobby due to technology and lack of time. However, being stuck at home with not much to do, I had time to waste and I wanted to learn new things instead of just reading my usual fantasy books, not that fantasy books aren’t fun anymore, but because I felt like I was in a point in my life where I wanted to learn more . I went to see my neighbor to borrow the book that kickstarted my investing career – “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.  As a 19-year-old, I didn’t have many expectations when I started this book but when I finished it, it completely changed my view on how to make and grow money in the future. I felt ...

   Stock Market Trading Hours: When is the Stock Market Actually Open? One of the more frequent questions asked by new investors after they have opened up their first brokerage accounts is when does the actual stock market open. Although the market does have regular hours, which we will get to in a moment, the stock market (at least the large ones) do not actually ever stop trading when the exchanges close as there are after-hours and before-hours trading too. Although the answer is not as straightforward as most would hope, regular trading hours for the U.S. Stock Market , including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq), are from 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern time from Monday-Friday other than on market holidays (think President’s day, Christmas, Easter and the 4 th of July). As for the Canadian Stock Markets, which include The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), have the exact same trading hours as their Ameri...

How to be Better with your Money in 2021 Usually when people think about personal finance, they just assume that it will be easy. Money is money, right? What can be so complicated about saving money and then investing it? You graduate from university/college, you get your first real job, you start making big-boy or big-girl money and then you have the opportunity to start spending that money on whatever you want! Most people will usually buy a house and/or a car in between starting to work and retiring. At some point before you retire, you are expected to have magically saved up enough money to be able retire comfortably without needing to work again. Of course, at this point you hope that the beautiful house and car that you purchased all those years ago are completely paid off and you are left without any debts. Well at least that is the dream but for most people, real life is just not that easy. In reality, personal finance is confusing, and a source of worry for most people a...