It’s the first day of school for many today. You’re finished with the back to school shopping and you’re back into the school year routine. Now it’s time to start planning for the rest of the year by thinking about after-school activities and homework. It’s also a good time to take a look at your investment plan and see if it still aligns with your financial goals that you reviewed last week. In the second part of our back to school blog post series, we’re diving in to your investment plan.
How to Get Started with Investment Planning
You can get started on creating an investment plan or reviewing the one you already have by giving careful thought to:
- your knowledge of financial markets and products
- your financial assets and your risk tolerance
- the amount of money you plan to invest
- your financial goals and what you want to accomplish through investing
With these in mind, you’ll be able to begin the process of selecting, or begin the process of reviewing, the right investment products and the right mix of assets to help you meet your financial goals.
How to Recognize Your Limits with Investing
Before investing, you should assess your own investment knowledge and experience.
- Be honest with yourself and with your registered investment advisor. Overestimating your investment knowledge will make it far more difficult for your advisor to help you.
- Avoid committing to investment products or strategies you don’t fully understand. Ask your investment advisor questions about unclear or unfamiliar recommendations, and be sure you understand the answer before investing.
Resources
BCSC InvestRight has resources to help you get into gear for back to school:
- Visit the Understand Investing section of InvestRight.org where you can read basic information about investment accounts and types of investments
- Understand the difference between saving and investing
- Test your risk tolerance
Report a Concern
If you have any concerns about a person or company offering an investment opportunity, please contact BCSC Inquiries at 604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 or through e-mail at [email protected]. You can also file a complaint or submit a tip anonymously using the BCSC’s online complaint form.
InvestRight.org is the British Columbia Securities Commission’s investor education website.