My Investment Portfolio Update- Part II

The two most recent purchases to my investment portfolio have been a couple of ETFs. One of my goals for the new year was to purchase more ETFs.

Although there is a bit of redundancy between what currently exists in my portfolio in terms of Canadian stocks and purchasing the iShares Core S & P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF, I still think this is a good addition to my portfolio. It covers a broad range of Canadian companies and covers sectors that I’m not that comfortable in investing in on my own such as materials and energy.

My second purchase was the iShare MSCI Global Agriculture Producers ETF. I found the ticker symbol to be clever (VEGI). The global population is huge and well, everyone needs to eat. I’m not an economics major, but with the rise/emergence of the middle class in developing countries, the demand for produce and processed food will increase even more. Not only that, people have longer lifespans. This ETF is mostly based in the U.S, but still contains global agricultural companies.

When I left my previous job, I underwent the painful, but necessary procedure of transferring my pension (yes, I was one of those people) into a registered RRSP and locked in retirement account (LIRA). To be honest prior to the transfer procedure,  I wasn’t aware of the existence of a LIRA. So for the past few months, the five-figure amount of cash has been sitting in that account. Even though I can’t make additional contributions or withdrawals , I can still purchase investments using the money that’s inside the account. I figure it’s the least I can do since I’m not planning to retire anytime soon and I’ve still got a way’s to go before I turn 71.

I’m not sure specifically what I’ll be putting into my LIRA but it’ll most likely be more ETFs (maybe global real estate) and maybe some U.S. stocks. I’ll have to do some more research on that.

If you have a LIRA, what investments are in that account? What would you recommend putting into a locked in retirement account?