# Inverted snowbird



## lipsync (Jan 28, 2017)

Hi all,

I'm an US citizen, living in Canada. I'm getting paid by an US company in USD. That doesn't make me a snowbird, but some kind of inverted snowbird, is there a name for me?

Anyways, I'm trying to plan for retirement, and I'm likely going to stay in Canada (working on my path towards citizenship). It is hard to say if I will be here when I retire, which sometime from now still (I'm 41).

I pay Canadian federal and provincial taxes (and tax treaty away the US taxes). For the past several years I've been just getting my USD paycheck, and depositing it in my bank account and getting it converted into CAD. I started to realize that this was dumb, because I could get better exchange rates if I opened a USD bank account and converted the money via Norbert's Gambit. I haven't quite figured out how to get that USD into my BMO Investorline account yet, but until then I've been using knightsbridgefx to convert the money to get a better exchange. In the process of getting my investment account setup, I figured I would do a little investment for retirement, and start a RRSP. I found out quickly that as a US citizen I should avoid TFSAs, and then learned about the PFIC restriction for US citizens which means that I should *not* own any Canadian ETFs unless they are in a RRSP. As you can see, I'm slowly learning to navigate the different pitfalls. 

I've paid off all my debts, and now have a good stash of emergency savings, and now its time to properly plan for retirement, which I haven't been doing for a while, so I'm trying to fix that now.

I've got an IRA in the US at Fidelity that I contributed to some years ago, and then stopped. Now I'm wondering if I should just keep working my retirement in that IRA, instead of opening a RRSP? It seems to me another dumb move for me to convert my money into CAD, then put it into a RRSP for retirement, when I could just put that money directly as USD into an IRA. Or is there something I'm not thinking of? Obviously there are differences between what you can do with an IRA and what you can do with a RRSP....but I'm wondering if I can deduct my IRA contributions from my Canadian taxes, like I would with a RRSP, or if I would deduct that from the US filings (and then get a refund?) Or are there other complications that I should be concerned about down the line? Or is there a better way for me to do this?

Any suggestions or ideas you have would be super helpful, I've tried to find information online about this, but it seems there is not so much information about my situation!


----------



## Joewho (Nov 18, 2015)

I am certainly not an expert on some of the finer points you mention regarding your right to rrsp or whether you should use it if you have the right, etc. My immediate thought was what you mentionned, what is called Norbert<s Gambit for converting fairly large amounts of money. I am sure you can easily get both us and canadian currency accounts with any of the major brokers. i know I do. Another possibility, if you want to or have to keep everything in the IRA, yet have to live in Canadian dollars, is to buy jointly listed stocks. You can, for instance, easily buy companies like CP and CN, and many more in American dollars. You will still have to live with some currency risk but these companies will at least be dependent upon the Canadian economy, which may turn out good or bad, but it is where you will be living, and you can sell them immediatly in Canadian dollars whenever you want. just a couple of thoughts which might be helpful
joe


----------



## Numbersman61 (Jan 26, 2015)

You may wish to consider this forum
https://forums.serbinski.com


----------



## EngPhysGuy (Jul 9, 2015)

I honestly know very little of your tax situation and whether the IRA or RRSP makes more financial sense. However, you seem to indicate that you need to convert to CAD to put into a RRSP - you can directly deposit USD into a RRSP at most financial institutions in Canada.


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

lipsync said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm an US citizen, living in Canada. I'm getting paid by an US company in USD ... For the past several years I've been just getting my USD paycheck, and depositing it in my bank account and getting it converted into CAD. I started to realize that this was dumb, because I could get better exchange rates if I opened a USD bank account and converted the money via Norbert's Gambit. I haven't quite figured out how to get that USD into my BMO Investorline account yet, but until then I've been using knightsbridgefx to convert the money to get a better exchange.




knightsbridge was a good choice for efficient FX conversion at what are said to be low competitive knightsbridge fees.

interestingly, though, you are a poster child for how-to-gambit-curencies-perfectly. You already have a BMO investorline account? great, this is one of the only 2 brokers in canada that work currency gambits online, instantly & cheaply.

you'd just deposit your US pay cheque directly into your BOMIL account. Surely they gave you a USD bank account inked to your Investorline account, with its own USD chequebook? the BOMIL account number will be the same for both the CAD & the USD side.

for USD deposits, i believe one still has to visit a teller in a branch. It's also possible that, if your pay cheque is drawn on a US domestic bank, BMO might put a hold as long as 30 days on said cheque. However, these little drawbacks won't be the end of the world.

if you haven't yet opened the USD side of your BOMIL account, perhaps you could do so? after that, all will be a breeze. You'll be able to deposit USD as is. No conversion necessary. From there, you can invest in US securities, or even canadian interlisted stocks that trade in US markets (although there are caveats with interlisted securities, usually involving their dividends, more details later if things ever reach this point.) You'll also be able to write cheques in US dollars.

in addition, from such a USD base camp in BOMIL US account, you can gambit easily into CAD. From there you can purchase canadian securities on the toronto stock exchange.

i for one do like joe's suggestion just upthread, where he mentions that interlisted canadian stocks might particularly appeal to you, since you can buy & sell these in either currency without additional FX fees. Tailor-made for a 41-year-old who wants to keep all his options for future residence in either canada or the US, flexible & open.

.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

lipsync said:


> ... For the past several years I've been just getting my USD paycheck, and depositing it in my bank account and getting it converted into CAD. I started to realize that this was dumb, because I could get better exchange rates if I opened a USD bank account and converted the money via Norbert's Gambit.
> 
> I haven't quite figured out how to get that USD into my BMO Investorline account yet ...


Is BMO the best brokerage for gambits?
If so, then I suspect one can get some ideas by calling the BMO reps.
If not, perhaps a better starting point which broker will make it easier.

You mention the possibility of holding an RRSP so that may make one broker a better choice than another as USD RRSPs with the ability to easily gambit seem to be improving but not common to all brokerage accounts.




lipsync said:


> ... I've got an IRA in the US at Fidelity that I contributed to some years ago, and then stopped. Now I'm wondering if I should just keep working my retirement in that IRA, instead of opening a RRSP?
> 
> It seems to me another dumb move for me to convert my money into CAD, then put it into a RRSP for retirement, when I could just put that money directly as USD into an IRA. Or is there something I'm not thinking of?


The first thing that comes to mind that you may be overlooking is that some broker have USD RRSPs. This means that as long as you have the USD in the first place, it can be deposited to the USD RRSP without two currency conversions.


The second thing is that while I'm not sure of the finer points of an IRA versus an RRSP, I wonder if the tax deduction the IRA would give on the US taxes would be lower than the RRSP tax deduction. It may make the RRSP more attractive but is only one factor to consider.


Cheers



Obviously there are differences between what you can do with an IRA and what you can do with a RRSP....but I'm wondering if I can deduct my IRA contributions from my Canadian taxes, like I would with a RRSP, or if I would deduct that from the US filings (and then get a refund?) Or are there other complications that I should be concerned about down the line? Or is there a better way for me to do this?

Any suggestions or ideas you have would be super helpful, I've tried to find information online about this, but it seems there is not so much information about my situation![/QUOTE]


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Eclectic12 said:


> 1) Is BMO the best brokerage for gambits?
> 
> 2) If so, then I suspect one can get some ideas by calling the BMO reps.
> 
> ...




1) yes, BMO & royal bank are the 2 best canadian discount brokers for currency gambit purposes. This point has been clarified by numerous cmf posters over a number of years.


2) one has to remember that, at both BMO & roybank, gambit trades are carried out instantly & 100% online. Unlike all other brokers, bmo & ry clients never need to phone a licensed rep.

the result is that some BMO reps happen to be familiar with gambit trades while many others have never heard of them. These latter representatives will not be able to help any client.

in this instance, the OP has said he already has a BOMIL account. He's already perfectly set up to direct deposit his USD paycheques & carry on from there.


3) ability to gambit currencies is not actually going to "improve," given the sophistication of the concept & the limitations of the mainframe systems in use at the various brokers. Other than BMO & roybank, each broker is handicapped in some fashion.

one has to remember that it is not in brokers' interests to facilitate gambit trading. Brokers would much prefer to earn their 2% profit by charging FX fees.

on the other hand, currency gambit trading is nothing more than plain old-fashioned arbitrage, which has been lawfully going on for centuries. Brokers cannot legally stop arbitrage trades.

.


----------



## lipsync (Jan 28, 2017)

humble_pie said:


> knightsbridge was a good choice for efficient FX conversion at what are said to be low competitive knightsbridge fees.


Yes, I used them once, it worked out well. I have to say I was a bit nervous about it at first, but did a bunch of research first and it was fine.



humble_pie said:


> interestingly, though, you are a poster child for how-to-gambit-curencies-perfectly. You already have a BMO investorline account? great, this is one of the only 2 brokers in canada that work currency gambits online, instantly & cheaply.
> 
> you'd just deposit your US pay cheque directly into your BOMIL account. Surely they gave you a USD bank account inked to your Investorline account, with its own USD chequebook? the BOMIL account number will be the same for both the CAD & the USD side.


I actually opened the BOMIL account because I read about this Gambit thing and then opened a VirtualBrokers account to do it, then I found out it wasn't going to be that easy so I went over to QuestTrade and then I finally found this forum and found out that I should be at BMOIL... it literally took two months to get that account "approved" by them, I dont know why it took so long. Anyways, now it is setup.

I only got a BOMIL account when I opened it, I did not get a USD bank account, or even a CAD bank account. I tried to go in to talk to someone about it, and they seemed to think it was not possible. However, my experience with BMO has been terrible. When I went to open the BMOIL account, I gathered all the required documents and then had to go to a branch four different times because the people there kept thinking they knew better than the BMOIL account setup requirements page and didn't't bother to submit some of my proofs of identity because they didn't think it was necessary. So I dont know if what this person told me is true, or if there is a better way to get actually useful information in a reasonable amount of time somehow out of them, if there is I haven't found it yet. So the fact that its "not possible" to transfer USD into BMOIL is considered by me as "Alternative Facts" until I can find the real truth. I know people love BMOIL here because of the Norbert's Gambit ease, but holy moley chipotle their customer service is almost impossible to get worse.



humble_pie said:


> for USD deposits, i believe one still has to visit a teller in a branch. It's also possible that, if your pay cheque is drawn on a US domestic bank, BMO might put a hold as long as 30 days on said cheque. However, these little drawbacks won't be the end of the world.


This is likely to be true. I have to wait this long for similar service with Desjardins or Tangerine (although sometimes it can be 14 days only).



humble_pie said:


> if you haven't yet opened the USD side of your BOMIL account, perhaps you could do so? after that, all will be a breeze.


I'll try again...


----------



## lipsync (Jan 28, 2017)

EngPhysGuy said:


> I honestly know very little of your tax situation and whether the IRA or RRSP makes more financial sense. However, you seem to indicate that you need to convert to CAD to put into a RRSP - you can directly deposit USD into a RRSP at most financial institutions in Canada.


THANKS! I had no idea I could do that!


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

lipsync said:


> I actually opened the BOMIL account because I read about this Gambit thing and then opened a VirtualBrokers account to do it, then I found out it wasn't going to be that easy so I went over to QuestTrade and then I finally found this forum and found out that I should be at BMOIL... it literally took two months to get that account "approved" by them, I dont know why it took so long. Anyways, now it is setup.
> 
> I only got a BOMIL account when I opened it, I did not get a USD bank account, or even a CAD bank account. I tried to go in to talk to someone about it, and they seemed to think it was not possible. However, my experience with BMO has been terrible. When I went to open the BMOIL account, I gathered all the required documents and then had to go to a branch four different times because the people there kept thinking they knew better than the BMOIL account setup requirements page and didn't't bother to submit some of my proofs of identity because they didn't think it was necessary. So I dont know if what this person told me is true, or if there is a better way to get actually useful information in a reasonable amount of time somehow out of them, if there is I haven't found it yet. So the fact that its "not possible" to transfer USD into BMOIL is considered by me as "Alternative Facts" until I can find the real truth. I know people love BMOIL here because of the Norbert's Gambit ease, but holy moley chipotle their customer service is almost impossible to get worse.


You mentioned you have Questrade and Tangerine.. Tangerine can give you a free USD savings acct and it can be linked to Questrade RRSP. It's a bit of a hassle to setup the first time but after the accts are linked you can easily pull USD from Tangerine direct to Questrade. Questrade also gives you the spot rate on the contribution slip for CRA unlike some big banks

I had a BMOIL before Questrade and I had TD while living abroad. TD (and I imagine all B&M banks) is impossible to deal with from abroad (just come on into our antiquated branch that is only located in Canada and then we'll do that simple task for you, sir!) Tangerine and Questrade you can do everything from abroad, with no hidden slippage on every single little FX transaction

BMOIL can do instant Norbit's Gambit though whereas Questrade I have to open a chat window for 30 seconds to request the shares be journaled over and it takes a few days to clear (3 days I think?) If you're doing Norbit's Gambit a lot this might be an issue for using Questrade. I find it worthwhile to avoid lineups of senior citizens and rookie tellers at the B&Ms


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

BMO IL has a feature called something like 'Link Account' or 'MyLink' or something like that which could have been opened at the same time as the BMO IL account(s), and allows those that otherwise do not bank at BMO to use it as a chequing account ( 1-2 free transactions a month). It has a bank transit number, etc. and provides all the features of a chequing account (Interac, Bill Payments, Transfers, etc.) It "holds" the balance of cash from your BMO IL account so that you can use it like the balance of a chequing account. You might be able to still set that up simply by calling BMO IL (avoid anyone at the BMO bank branches as they have little idea how anything works with BMO IL). You can also set up a USD bank account with Harris Bank in the USA, owned by BMO, and that will show up on your online banking. I liike those features from BMO IL.

BMO IL is a good discount brokerage in my opinion but it still is a little behind in some things. It does not yet issue online PDF tax documents, does not offer IPOs, and does not yet have an integrated BMO IL and BMO Banking online page (all of which I get with Scotia iTrade).

Added: As previously stated, all the big banks/brokers have trouble dealing with out-of-country individuals.


----------



## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> ...for USD deposits, i believe one still has to visit a teller in a branch. It's also possible that, if your pay cheque is drawn on a US domestic bank, BMO might put a hold as long as 30 days on said cheque. However, these little drawbacks won't be the end of the world...
> .


As the beneficiary of my late American husband, I receive both a U.S. Social Security pension and a retirement pension from his pre-retirement employer. The Social Security payment is automatically deposited into my US dollar bank account at my local branch of ScotiaBank. But my pension cheque from from his employer is mailed to me in US dollars every month, and the bank doesn't place any hold on it at all. I can convert it to Canadian dollars and withdraw it or transfer it into my Canadian dollar chequing account on the day I deposit the cheque if I want to. I wouldn't be very pleased if the bank held it for 30 days!


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

holy moley chipotle guacamole that is not a good BMO branch story. But altaRed is right, don't deal with the branch when it comes to BMO broker Investorline, the branch personnel don't really understand how the broker side operates.

instead, go directly to BOMIL. The reps are trained to be responsible, most are responsible. Find one of these & ask him or her to stick on your case until the problems are straightened out.

AFAIK you *had* to have been given both a CAD bank account & a USD bank account when you opened your BOMIL accounts, assuming both those accounts were unregistered. That's how BMO broker operates. The banking service is called AccountLink.

BOMIL might have neglected to send you the introductory booklets of cheques & the plastic bank card, but you should be the proud owner of both those broker-linked bank accounts at this very minute.

so phone BOMIL the broker, 1-888-776-6886. You're wishing to see your Accountlinks, you want to receive your introductory booklets of cheques, you need your ATM bank card. You will have to go to another website - the main BMO bank website - it will have a different log-in & a different password - to see your broker bank accounts in fullest detail, but the BOMIL rep can show you how to navigate there.

re tangerine: can your US pay cheque be scan-deposited into your tangerine account? this might be an advantage for you. From tangerine, you can migrate your USD into your BOMIL USD account via AccountLink. You would need to link tangerine to BMO.

alternatively, you could take your US pay cheques to a teller at a BMO branch.

re holds on US source cheques: if you are a new client, a new bank is likely to put holds on US cheques from a private source. Once they get to know you, these holds should cease.

wishing you the best of luck. It has not been an easy road for you so far, but with the dual-country background, yours is not an average simple case. Courage!


.


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Thanks for the correct term "AccountLink". I was too lazy to look it up when I posted. I do recall when I filled out my BMO IL application that I had to proactively tick off a box to get AccountLink at the time.....but there should be zero issue getting it in hindsight, along with a few cheques and that plastic BMO ATM card. Now if they would only integrate online BMO IL and online BMO banking into one location like at least some of their competitors. I don't much like having 2 signon pages.

P.S. I had issues with the local BMO branch as well when I opened my BMO IL account some years ago. I used the branch to overnight courier my package....and to validate my identity, but they screwed that latter process up royally. It too 2 more trips to the branch to sort out my identity credentials. It would have been better to mail the whole lot in via Express Mail or Purolator or similar. Sometimes saving $20 causes $200 worth of grief.


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

AltaRed said:


> P.S. I had issues with the local BMO branch as well when I opened my BMO IL account some years ago. I used the branch to overnight courier my package....and to validate my identity, but they screwed that latter process up royally. It too 2 more trips to the branch to sort out my identity credentials. It would have been better to mail the whole lot in via Express Mail or Purolator or similar. Sometimes saving $20 causes $200 worth of grief.


Did they apply a wax seal before handing it to a carrier pigeon or something? You can do everything online with Questrade, Tangerine etc including electronic signatures and documents, scanned ID. It is nice that my TD bank login is the same as my TD insurance login, but there isn't really much benefit. I must have hundreds of logins by now and it might be better they are separate in the case of joint accounts or something.


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

^^


m3s u are incorrigible with your questrade touting!

one of these years i'm going to drive up in my own personal MRR truck & turn the radar onto questrade's weaknesses. As you say, we need these safeguards in northern canada nowadays .each:


.


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Hah

disclosure: long BMO


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

m3s said:


> Did they apply a wax seal before handing it to a carrier pigeon or something? You can do everything online with Questrade, Tangerine etc including electronic signatures and documents, scanned ID. It is nice that my TD bank login is the same as my TD insurance login, but there isn't really much benefit. I must have hundreds of logins by now and it might be better they are separate in the case of joint accounts or something.


I suppose if they access your credit file to validate your identity when opening accounts, that would seem to be reasonable check and balance. Lots of IDs can be faked so the big boys want to have 'certified' copies of DL's/passports, i.e. a bank employee/officer initialling the copy that essentially says....they saw the originals to verify the copy was indeed a copy of the original and the person presenting the information indeed matched the photo on the ID. I really wouldn't want it much simpler than that for brokerage accounts especially.

Added later: Now once the account is opened, then I agree with electronic signatures, scanned documents, etc. It is the opening of the accounts where I think 'over-the-top' scrutiny is required. Note that with online banks, new applications are validated by that institution by virtue of: 1) one's credit history AND 2) a cheque with pre-printed name and address...which essentially says this person had been validly identified by that institution whenever that account was opened. One might argue that should be good enough for a brokerage as as well....but WTFDIK?


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

long BMO? my goodness, this is precisely on the radar issue ... let's look ...


questrade is privately owned by one edward kholodenko of toronto, therefore we cannot know the capitalization of this firm or any details whatsoever as to who its bankers are or what its solvency might be. As a private company, there is no public disclosure. 

my attention is also drawn by the fact that there are no cash accounts at questrade, other than registered accounts. All non-registered accounts are margin only. This means that the broker, once the margin of an account has been impaired for whatever reason by even one holding - selling an option will impair, for example - the broker can borrow stock from the entire account, although within IIROC limits of course.

for some time I've wondered whether the backside of questrade is, in reality, a wholesale lending house of shortable stock to other brokers, who need the stock to lend to their shorting clients.

you know that clients often pay for the privilege of shorting, right? certainly hedge funds pay. Brokers can also easily go outside the loan posts of their own individual firms for a client who wishes to short & they can usually source the desired shortable shares very easily, from another firm.

it's obvious that a firm which could reliably provide shortable stock to other brokers, for a fee, would have a viable business, if run properly. There's every reason to believe that kholodenko could & would run such a business well. So me i have always wondered whether that is what questrade might be up to. The front of the house - the retail accounts - are the outside of the business, which on its backside is a wholesale short-lending operation. Pretty ingenious, one would have to agree. Entirely legitimate. Very smart. Just wondering.

there's more. Questrade could attract more institutional clientele for its front-of-the-house broker division if it would lift the veil of secrecy to reveal something of its financial infrastructure, by going public with a tiny fraction of its shares. An IPO of even 10% of existing shares would require the same disclosure filings as an IPO for the entire business. 

such a tiny public filing from questrade would be enough to greatly reassure the financial community in north America. After all, Interactive Brokers went this route. IB sold 10% of what had been a privately held business to the investing public a number of years ago.

but questrade never goes public. This, in turn, causes one to wonder ...


(signed)
skeptical shortbread


.


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

There are many other reasons to not to go public though. That would just put a lot of pressure to increase profits to keep shareholders happy etc

I was reading about all the changes that came to Tim Hortons when it went public. Basically screw the customer in many covert ways to maximize profits

Me I look for the privately owned local cafes with freshly baked goods. Sure it could be a front for anything as far as I know, but the coffee is so good


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

m3s said:


> There are many other reasons to not to go public though ...
> 
> Me I look for the privately owned local cafes with freshly baked goods. Sure it could be a front for anything as far as I know, but the coffee is so good



mode it's true that, for you, the forum would fly in the best boulanger/patissier on the entire north-east US coast plus quebec, but the analogy is not the same. You're just dropping in for a coffee & a croissant.

but for big institutions or even hi-value investors, doing business with questrade means locking themselves into a total meal plan, night & day, 365/7, whose ingredients they are unable to find out enough about. Not to speak of being unable to view the kitchen.

.


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> questrade is privately owned by one edward kholodenko of toronto, therefore we cannot know the capitalization of this firm or any details whatsoever as to who its bankers are or what its solvency might be. As a private company, there is no public disclosure.
> 
> my attention is also drawn by the fact that there are no cash accounts at questrade, other than registered accounts. All non-registered accounts are margin only. This means that the broker, once the margin of an account has been impaired for whatever reason by even one holding - selling an option will impair, for example - the broker can borrow stock from the entire account, although within IIROC limits of course..


Re: Underlined part.... Didn't know that but now that I do, that is a huge red flag to me, especially given the lack of knowledge about capitalization/solvency. I wouldn't touch this outfit for all the tea in China.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

^^^^

It was a surprise to me too, a couple of years ago when I was reading their web site to answer a question. Some don't seem bothered by it but it is a strange structure to me.


Cheers


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

AltaRed said:


> Re: Underlined part.... Didn't know that but now that I do, that is a huge red flag to me, especially given the lack of knowledge about capitalization/solvency. I wouldn't touch this outfit for all the tea in China.



forum has already had a discussion about the fact that all questrade accounts other than registered accounts, must be margin accounts. There are no cash accounts.

in addition, there are any number of small privately-owned brokers, all with the same veils of privacy. Questrade is perhaps the most widely recognized. The public knows nothing about the capitalization of any of them.

but in the interests of maintaining a fair middle-of-the-road view - the view that i usually favour - might i say that there's no reason to doubt or disbelieve questrade as a going concern. It does have to meet the minimum capitalization standards of all the exchanges with which it carries on business.

where once upon a time, several years ago now, questrade had a dodgy reputation for customer service, my understanding is that this has vastly improved.

a cmf friend - an economist himself - opened a USD RSP at questrade, for the simple reason that he was interested in finding out more about how they convert USD/CAD. He told me he believed registered accounts at questrade would be safer than margin accounts, in the unlikely event that something dire might happen.

i also feel that questrade has rendered Canadian investors a number of real & unique services, for example by pioneering USD RRSPs, by pioneering no-commission ETF purchases & by always offering low commissions for small trades. These features make questrade enormously attractive to young or startup investors. Me i never hesitate to suggest questrade to some of our newcomers.

so i wouldn't say "not for all the tea in china," but on the whole i can appreciate why us old fogies tend to hang with the big banks ... each:

.


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Well, perhaps I would for green tea... 

I understand the 'safety' of registered accounts at Questrade. I wouldn't have an issue with those but I hesitate to think my securities in a taxable account (if I was at Questrade) could be lent out without me being able to look under the hood. And while I understand the attraction of non-commission ETF purchases, etc. for newbies, I wouldn't have a 7 digit account with them. I get uncomfortable with grey and uncertainty...as I would with a non-professionally written and witnessed Will. When there is a fair chance that something can go wrong.....


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Doesn't CIPF coverage max out at 7 digits? If it works like CDIC then I wouldn't want 7 digits in any brokerage account. I've been with Questrade since their sketchy days and I'm comfortable to keep 6 digits with them having seen the drastic improvements and constant innovation. I always said I would consider moving to a big bank some day if they modernized



humble_pie said:


> a cmf friend - an economist himself - opened a USD RSP at questrade, for the simple reason that he was interested in finding out more about how they convert USD/CAD. He told me he believed registered accounts at questrade would be safer than margin accounts, in the unlikely event that something dire might happen.


Another unique feature to Questrade is margin power, which links your registered accounts to margin accounts to increase its buying power. I never activated it as I've never needed that much margin and it just doesn't sound like a good idea. If it's true the Questrade margin accounts are cause for concern then that may be another reason not to activate this

A year or so ago I did consolidate non-reg from IB to Questrade because I just find their updated website to be that much more enjoyable to use. IB wasn't any cheaper for me with monthly fees but they were very professional. I'm surprised no other broker use a physical key or dual logins yet (especially today when smartphones can act as a physical device)


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

m3s said:


> Another unique feature to Questrade is margin power, which links your registered accounts to margin accounts to increase its buying power.




not all registered accounts, i don't believe. Only TFSAs. Because TFSAs permit withdrawal any time, for any reason. Margining any other kind of registered account would defy minister of finance regulations, so i can't believe that questrade would do this.

adding TFSAs to margin limits does lead straight into the darker issue, though. If questrade would indeed be running a wholesale margin lending business on the backside of the visible retail broker business, then adding to their inventory of lendable stock from clients' margined TFSAs would benefit their lending business, would it not?

.


----------

