Comparing TFSA account options?

[pepperbird]

I'd like to (finally) open a TFSA, with the option of buying stocks and/or ETFs in it. I'm trying to compare the different brokerages' fees but I'm not sure I'm comparing the right things. Seems like I want to know about:
- annual fees
- commissions
- withdrawal fees

But I'm also curious if there's big differences in the bid/ask spreads... is that even a consideration?

I have other accounts at TD/TDW, so even though I won't have enough in my accounts to qualify for reduced trading commissions now, I hope to someday.

If anyone knows of a recent and accurate comparison on the 'net, I'd appreciate the link.

[Young&Ambitious]

MillionDollarJourney has one on his page... google it. The cheapest for a low account user will likely be Questrade.

[the-royal-mail]

Be careful about choosing merely on the basis of lowest fees. Consider the customer service, options etc angles as well.

[Young&Ambitious]

You know what, there's a sticky at the top of the Investing thread with links to the info you're looking for

[pepperbird]

@Young&Ambitious: If this is the page you're referring to, I did see it. Just looking at the listing for TDW (which I'm most familiar with) tells me this info isn't current. Their TFSA isn't $100/year, its free: http://www.tdwaterhouse.ca/document/...521778-pdf.pdf

The sticky contains posts that are >3 years old. I thought someone might have seen a more recent article somewhere.

@the-royal-mail: that's what I mean... I want to consider more than just the fees, but I'm not sure I'm considering all the right things. I don't know that I'd deal with Questrade after my initial experience with them when I was setting up an RRSP account. I think I called 3 times with some pretty basic questions and every time I got less than helpful responses, whereas TDW customer service was always excellent, so I went with them instead. (Not to sound like a commercial for TDW! There was still a PITA factor, but generally I dealt with good people.)

I just don't want to get it all set up and money in place only to find out that there's some whopping cost I hadn't considered or that I didn't get some feature that I'll wish I had.

[CJOttawa]

Pepperbird got it.

TD Waterhouse offers a NO-FEE TFSA.

When you hold a registered account such as a TFSA with TD Waterhouse, an non-registered trading account is exempt from fees.

Make sure you opt for electronic document delivery to avoid paper fees.

For the complete fee schedule, here's the link to TD Waterhouse's PDF document:
http://www.tdwaterhouse.ca/document/...521778-pdf.pdf
The page it is linked from is here:
http://www.tdwaterhouse.ca/products-...-fees/asff.jsp

Pay special attention to page 6 - "Direct Trading and President's Accounts":

Inactivity Fee
A quarterly inactivity fee of $25 will be applied to your non-registered
investment account when your total account balances with
TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage are less than $10,000 CDN.
This fee will be waived when you meet any of the following
conditions:
• You are registered for TD Waterhouse eServices®
• You also hold a TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage registered
account...

On page 7:

ANNUAL ADMINISTRATION FEES
SDRSP/RRIF/Locked-In Plans (LIRA, LIF, LRSP, LRIF, RLSP,
RLIF, PRIF) $100.00
Basic RRSP/RRIF/Locked-In Plans (LIRA, LIF, LRSP, LRIF, RLSP,
RLIF, PRIF) $25.00
RESP $50.00

The annual administration fee for the above noted registered plan accounts
will be waived when the plan market value is $25,000 or more.

RDSP No fee
TFSA No fee

[Zoombie]

I have a no fee TFSA with TDWaterhouse as well. The no fees is great, plus you are able to trade options (long positions), and can access E-series funds if you want to. Where they hammer you is with $29 trades if you have less than $50k worth of assets with them. They may be able to give you cheap trades for a while as a new customer though.

[CJOttawa]

I have a no fee TFSA with TDWaterhouse as well. The no fees is great, plus you are able to trade options (long positions), and can access E-series funds if you want to. Where they hammer you is with $29 trades if you have less than $50k worth of assets with them. They may be able to give you cheap trades for a while as a new customer though.

Scotia iTRADE and QTrade offer commission free trading on a number of ETFs. The lists differ between the two as well.