July 17: Searching for top investment tips

July 17, 2025

“Buy low, sell high.” As well, there’s “sell in May and go away.” There’s “buy and hold.”

These are among the investment tips Save with SPP has heard about over three decades writing about pensions. But what other gems are out there – what “one best tip” exists, or is at least spoken about, in the great Interweb universe?

Well, let’s start with well-known personal growth guru (and financial author) Tony Robbins.

In a GoBankingRates piece, he offers us three ideas to put us on the path to being millionaires.

“Capitalize on compound interest,” he suggests. “Compound interest is the key to long-term investment success with mutual funds, individual stocks and bonds. It takes a long time to reap the full benefits of compound interest, so as Robbins endorses, the earlier you can start on your time horizon, the better.”

OK, start investing early, and leave the investments alone so that the growth and interest compounds. What else?

Robbins also tells us we have to diversify – “you can’t put it all in one place.” And finally, your savings approach needs to be automated, a “set it and forget it” strategy.

“If you set up your accounts to automatically transfer money into savings and investments, you won’t have the opportunity to talk yourself out of socking it away. It then becomes a habit that you don’t even have to think about — you’ll just be automatically building your wealth without even lifting a finger.”

Let’s turn to the Oracle of Omaha, newly retired Warren Buffett, for some more key investing strategies, in an article from The Globe and Mail.

“Be greedy when others are fearful, and be fearful when others are greedy,” the article quotes Buffett as saying. In other words, if the market takes a downturn, that’s a good time to be “greedy” and buy low.

Other advice from Buffett: “don’t be a stock picker, be a business-picker.”

“[W]e own stocks based upon our expectations about their long-term business performance and not because we view them as vehicles for timely market moves,” he is quoted as saying in the article. “That point is crucial: (We) are not stock-pickers; we are business-pickers.”

Timing the market, or waiting for the perfect moment to wade in, is also not a wise idea per Buffett.

“If you wait for the robins, spring will be over,” he states in the piece. Huh?

“I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month or a year from now,” he is quoted as saying in the article. “What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.”

Last word goes to the Get Smarter About Money blog.

They suggest avoiding “trending” investments, to “consider the type of investment advice you want and the cost,” and to “commit to a plan rather than be guided by emotions.”

It’s a wise step to get some professional investment advice before you venture into investing on your own.

There is a way to get professional investing at a low cost for your retirement savings – joining the Saskatchewan Pension Plan either as an individual, or as an organization. SPP invests savings dollars in a pooled fund that is professionally managed at a fee of less than one per cent. When it’s time to retire, your grown savings can be received as income in retirement – options include a lifetime monthly annuity payment, or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Get Smarter about Money, GoBankingRates, The Globe and Mail

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