The Mistake You Can't Afford to Make

Hiyaaa Friends!!!

Happy Wednesday 😆. How is your week going!!! I’m excited about today’s letter because we are talking about one of my fave things to do…. Invest 💹 !

I also decided to switch things up with the order of this letter, let me know your preference!

What’s in this letter ✍🏾 (Time to Read: 5^1/2 mins)

• The Mistake to Avoid! 💹

• MONEY TEA with Rimi 🍵

• What’s Rimi Up To! 😁

• My Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T ❤️

The Mistake to Avoid! 💹 

The mistake to avoid?

👉🏽 Not investing — or worse, stopping when the market gets shaky.

Someone sent me this message above on Saturday morning and hopefully this section helps out!

So… my entire portfolio is not in the red 👀

Crazy, right?

You’re probably wondering how or why, especially with how the markets have been moving lately.

Well, I started investing in the stock market in 2021, but this particular RRSP portfolio was opened in December 2022. Because it’s for retirement, I’ve kept it somewhat low-risk. And even though all the individual ETFs in the portfolio are currently in the red, I’m still up about 15%.

Yep. Still up ⬆️ 

This just shows the power of long-term investing + Compounding Interest —and it’s only been 2+ years. I can only imagine what the next 5–10 years will look like if I stay consistent and continue to invest regularly.

Another big reason? Diversification. Outside of the many reasons why diversification is important, it also makes a difference between those whose portfolio recover faster and those who don’t.

I want to share a simple framework that can help you build a well-diversified portfolio, especially if you’re just getting started with ETFs.

My recommended way to structure your portfolio:

• Invest Using ETFs (ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) are basically baskets of stocks. So instead of putting all your money (and risk!) into one company, you’re buying a bundle of companies at once. This helps spread your risk and keeps your portfolio way more balanced)

• Create a 4-5 Fund ETF Portfolio

  1. Pick an ETF that Tracks the US market; (VFV || ZSP || XUU || VUN)

  2. Pick an ETF that Tracks your home Base, If you are in Canada, consider these ones; (VCN || XIC || ZCN)

  3. Pick an ETF that Tracks the Emerging markets; (VEE || XEC || ZEM)

  4. Pick an ETFS that Tracks other developing markets ex North America;(VIU || XEF || ZDM)

  5. Pick an ETF in an industry that picks your interest like Crypto, AI, Retail, Real estate, Anything!

     Now you don’t need to have that 5th one but that 4 fund combo 😘 

• How much should you invest in each ETF? This is all depending on your risk level.

  • US ETFs (50% - 70%) | Canada ETFs (20% - 30%) | Emerging ETFs (10% - 20%) | Developing ex NA ETFs (10%-20%)

Other things to consider;

Let’s look at the history of the S&P 500, I made a video here! And if there's one thing history keeps proving, it's this: the market always bounces back.

Take a look at some major dips:

🕳️ Dotcom Crash (2000–2002)
The market dropped nearly 49%. But by 2007? It had fully recovered.

🕳️ Great Recession (2008–2009)
A brutal 56.8% decline. Yet by 2013, the S&P 500 was not only back — it was hitting all-time highs.

🕳️ COVID Crash (March 2020)
In just a few weeks, the index fell 34%. But less than 5 months later, it had completely rebounded.

Also read this story of a 53 year old Nigeria who retired with over #1 Billion in assets through investing.

P.S. If you need more clarification, I’m here to help.