Note to readers: Starting on Monday, the Globe Investor newsletter will be sent out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 p.m. The previous schedule was Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m.Anyone brave enough to shovel money into stocks late last year has been well rewarded in early 2019.Lesson to investors: Market declines are shocking and stressful, but they’re also great buying opportunities. A 30-something reader seems to have absorbed that lesson well.
“Once equities have fallen 25 per cent, I would borrow $30,000 from my home equity line of credit to invest in an ETF portfolio in my TFSA ,” he wrote. “If the market continues to fall to 35 per cent off the peak, I would borrow another $30,000 to put into my TFSA. If the market falls to 45 per cent off peak, I would take out enough money to max out my TFSA and then put $10,000 into my RRSP.” This reader is single, debt-free, mortgage-free and hasn’t started a TFSA yet.
One concern is that this investor’s market-timing backfires. For example, he might wait on the sidelines while markets post decent gains, then lose heart after a big crash and remain on the sidelines until a lot of the recovery has already happened. He might be better off by simply investing on a monthly basis.
Investing money in stocks after a market plunge is one of the best long-term investing strategies of all. But it’s also one of the hardest because you have to ignore the panicky emotions of most other investors. Figure on doubling your stress level if you borrow to invest at a market low instead of using cash on hand. You may well find yourself in the position of making payments on debt incurred to buy stocks that are falling hard in value and worth less than you paid.
A few additional notes: This reader would borrow to invest in registered accounts, so the interest he pays wouldn’t be tax-deductible. Using his line of credit and not a margin loan from a broker means there are no concerns about a margin call . All he has to do is pay the interest on his balance owing every month.This is the Globe Investor newsletter, published three times each week.
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