1) I would not be working with $1,000 increments. They are just too small to be worth while. Let them sit in your checking account. You know when, in the year, some of your big bills come due (like Xmas, or car insurance). After those are dealt with evaluate your balance and move the excess (to what is needed for the emergency fund) into a savings vehicle.
2) Since I presume you are just starting out, you have to look forward in your life and decide what expenses you will have. New car, back to school, wedding, children, downpayment on home, etc. I don't believe in divvying up your savings into small separate piles of $$ for retirement, $$ for new car, etc. Attack the first need first. I cannot believe that you want nothing and have only retirement to save for.
3) Whether you 'invest' or keep the $$ in savings vehicles depends on the timing for what you want to do with it. Use savings accounts for emergency funds and GICs for things needed at a specific time. Invest for longer horizons.
4) Open a discount broker account and do the 'couch potatoe' --- buy a small few ETFs of the large indexes. Do any rebalancing with your subsequent contributions.
5) There is a huge misunderstanding about the importance of rates of return. It sounds like you are thinking "I should be earning more". But that is wrong when you are just starting out. It only matters once you already have a whack of capital. Consider the $1,000 per month you feel should be invested. Say it earns 8%. In one month it earns 8%/12mo*$1,000 = $6.70.
So you lost in one month the cost of one Starbucks coffee. It is your saving that is important, not the rate of return. See argument.
2) Since I presume you are just starting out, you have to look forward in your life and decide what expenses you will have. New car, back to school, wedding, children, downpayment on home, etc. I don't believe in divvying up your savings into small separate piles of $$ for retirement, $$ for new car, etc. Attack the first need first. I cannot believe that you want nothing and have only retirement to save for.
3) Whether you 'invest' or keep the $$ in savings vehicles depends on the timing for what you want to do with it. Use savings accounts for emergency funds and GICs for things needed at a specific time. Invest for longer horizons.
4) Open a discount broker account and do the 'couch potatoe' --- buy a small few ETFs of the large indexes. Do any rebalancing with your subsequent contributions.
5) There is a huge misunderstanding about the importance of rates of return. It sounds like you are thinking "I should be earning more". But that is wrong when you are just starting out. It only matters once you already have a whack of capital. Consider the $1,000 per month you feel should be invested. Say it earns 8%. In one month it earns 8%/12mo*$1,000 = $6.70.
So you lost in one month the cost of one Starbucks coffee. It is your saving that is important, not the rate of return. See argument.