# Moving to TD Waterhouse?



## Kaitlyn (May 13, 2011)

I would like to move to TD Waterhouse as I have been quite frustrated with Questrade as of recent... I am planning to speak with someone at TD within the next week, just want to get a bit more information beforehand...

My current setup is:

- Cash balance in Questrade
- Stocks being held in Questrade
- Mutual funds invested through TD - shows up as "TD Investment Services". Have non-registered and RRSP

Can I MOVE my stocks from Questrade to TD Waterhouse, or will I just have to keep them there until I eventually sell them off?

Can I move my two TD mutual fund accounts to within TD Waterhouse without any buy/sell?

Anything else I should be aware of/consider? Am I missing anything?

I suspect that Waterhouse's WebBroker will be easier for me to use than Questrade, and I am really starting to LOVE the idea of having more things in one place...


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Yes, you can move your stocks without selling them.

Select "in-kind" on the transfer request form. This article describes in more detail - 

http://www.abcsofinvesting.net/transfer-in-kind/

Questrade will charge you a transfer fee. See if TD will reimburse you for it.


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## Kaitlyn (May 13, 2011)

Thanks - "in kind" looks to be exactly what I am looking for. Confident TD would cover the cost...

Is this the type of thing were I have to "pick where I open it" in the sense that the branch is sort of the owner/creator of my account and I should be going to them to deal with it in the future?

I assume it's not quite like a chequing account where I can go to any branch to do anything to the account...?


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

I much prefer RBC to deal with, even TD Reps admit their site is outdated and not that useful.

RBC updates your account every fifteen minutes and will allow you to set up and track a portfolio based upon your expectations, as well as give you a site where you can get Div Stocks and Bonds and sort according to yield.


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## Kaitlyn (May 13, 2011)

I'm Howard said:


> I much prefer RBC to deal with, even TD Reps admit their site is outdated and not that useful.


Ya. Honestly I keep most of my stuff at TD and realize they have a ways to go in improving their online website... especially since I do 95% of my banking online. Really hoping they do improve it, though it seems from their last update the major change was... color scheme! 



I'm Howard said:


> as well as give you a site where you can get Div Stocks and Bonds and sort according to yield.


Hmm, what do you mean? Aren't there already tons of sites that list stocks by dividends/yields?


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## bmckay (Mar 10, 2011)

It's all personal preference. I prefer TDW over RBC Direct Inv....

The market research at TDW is great


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## Xoron (Jun 22, 2010)

Four Pillars said:


> Yes, you can move your stocks without selling them.
> 
> Select "in-kind" on the transfer request form. This article describes in more detail -


One important thing to be aware of. During the transfer, your account will be in "in transit" limbo. You likely won't be able to sell / buy in your Questtrade account, and the transfer won't be complete, so you won't be able to do any transactions in your new TD account. 

If you a buy and hold type of investor, then it shouldn't be a problem. If you're a moderately active investor, then make sure you have any transactions completed before you start the process at Questtrade. 

I've heard of transfers taking a LONG time (days / weeks) but it depends mostly on the sending firm. They have no incentive to hurry the process, and can drag it out. My only transfer was an RESP account between CIBC IE and TDWH and it was only cash in the account. And it took longer than I'd like (a week if I remember correctly).

One last thing, watch for the dividends. If you have pending dividend payments in your Questrade account, it could delay the process until the dividends are paid out. Or you could end up with a complete transfer, then have a trivial dividend paid into your old account. Another hassle to get moved.


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

I did the in-kind transfer from HSBC to TDW and can confirm that it took nearly 6 weeks to complete the transfer. I believe that was partly HSBC's fault for not following up with TDW with proper account numbers, etc. 

I don't know of anyone who's done this with Questrade, but I suspect you could have similar issues. Best to keep following up with TDW so they stay on top of it.

TDW has been great, no complaints. The only reason I was with HSBC was that it was mandatory in order to receive employer matching RRSP contributions.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Kaitlyn said:


> T
> Is this the type of thing were I have to "pick where I open it" in the sense that the branch is sort of the owner/creator of my account and I should be going to them to deal with it in the future?


No. Most of your interaction with the discount brokerage will be online or by phone to their main number.


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## Lephturn (Aug 31, 2009)

Kaitlyn said:


> Ya. Honestly I keep most of my stuff at TD and realize they have a ways to go in improving their online website... especially since I do 95% of my banking online. Really hoping they do improve it, though it seems from their last update the major change was... color scheme!


TD Bank is not = to TD Waterhouse. TD Waterhouse has the excellent ThinkOrSwim platform you can download and use for trading. The web portal will certainly be easier, but the TOS software is excellent. You can set up a paper trading account for free at TD Waterhouse and try out both their web platform and the TOS software if you like.

https://www.thinkorswim.ca


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

as leph says, what you experience on the td bank site has nothing to do with what you will find on the broker site.

the jewel in tdw's webbroker crown is the massive markets & research section. There you will find some 40-50 valuable research tools. Some are proprietary & unique. I do a lot of option trades, and for every trade, even one that might net me a measly $125, i race through 2 charting services, insider trading reports, news, recent financials, dividend schedules & analysts' reports.

there are stock screeners & portfolio managers galore. Some interesting screens created by other tdw clients have even been stored for use by all, so there is even the beginning of an interactive forum on tdw webbroker ... although i'm quite sure that it will never become as gabby & chatty as this forum.

what's also valuable is that tdw has spent a lot of time & money training their staff to help clients make their way up the high himalayas of the markets & research section. So explanations of how stuff works are only a minute away, 24/7.

it's all free. I for one cannot think of anything comparable from any other online broker in canada.


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## Kaitlyn (May 13, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> it's all free. I for one cannot think of anything comparable from any other online broker in canada.


I'm glad people are speaking so highly of it! I cannot wait to get set up! And mostly excited about leaving Questrade 

my TD Mutual funds currently appear in EasyWeb under Investing and the page says "TD Investment Services".

Do these accounts need to be "converted" into TD waterhouse, or will they automatically appear there as well... just because in my mind they seem like they are sort of caught somewhere in the middle at the moment...


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## DanFo (Apr 9, 2011)

I believe your funds will stay linked to your reg TD banking investment portfolio and your TDW investment accounts will also show on your reg TD web page under the investment heaading....my e series funds are within my tdw account (was easier) but if i had filled out the forms and mailed them in they would of showed up on the easyweb....it's just a mouse click to swap between easyweb and web broker once the accounts are set up.


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## Kaitlyn (May 13, 2011)

Can anyone help confirm some of the differences of having your mutual funds account in TD Waterhouse vs EasyWeb? Seems at least one thing I have heard is that you cannot create/modify a preauth purchase plan online within waterhouse... would have to call in. Is this correct? Anything else?

I spoke briefly on the phone with someone at a branch, and it sounded like the mutual funds accounts WOULD be transferred from easyweb to waterhouse...


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

humble pie, their Bond Selection is terrible, their stock section does not allow you to accees and sort by dividend Yield, accounts are updated daily not every fifteen minutes like others, you can't buy GIC's without talking to someone.

RBC and Scotia are way ahead, I have not yet worled with ITrade but if their Options Trading is the old ETrade model, they should be good.

I personally, am exiting TD as much as possible and when a major inheritance is received in the near future, I will be looking at places to long term manage, but TD won't be one of them.

I have US Accounts and a U.S Adress, I may take a look at Ameritrade to see how that works?


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

To answer Kaitlyn's question: You can opt to move your TD Mutual Fund account to TD Waterhouse. Since it is an internal transfer it will be free. I don't know about PAC. You may have to submit new forms to TD Waterhouse but a quick phone call should sort this out.

My 2 cents: I've transferred accounts many times. From TD Waterhouse to Questrade to RBC Direct to TD Waterhouse. All transfers were done within 2 weeks, most often within 10 days, as long as you fill out the transfer form accurately. Make sure to include the latest statement from your current broker to make the process smoother.

One more tip: If you haven't done so already, call TD Waterhouse and ask for a refund of transfer fee before you initiate a transfer. If the rep (in my experience, I've always received a refund of the transfer fee) agrees, write down her name. After your accounts are transferred successfully, make sure to get the transfer fees refunded.


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

@I'm Howard

I'm not sure when you last used TDW but your complaints aren't accurate.

TDW does show current day prices (20 min delayed), you just need to change the drop-down box from "Book Value View" to "Current Positions View".

To sort stocks by dividend yield you simply do the following:

Select "Markets & Research", then "Screeners", then on the right side-bar you'll see "Popular Screening Criteria" and dividend yield is 4th from the top.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

you are right, howard, rbc is the biggest fixed-income issuer in canada; and i believe it's long been known that FI offerings are abundant on the royal discount broker website.

as you say, all this plus GICs plus constant account updatings - helpful perhaps for clients with memory impairment but not otherwise really very useful - all these certainly would appeal to an older, conservative type of investor.

options trading at roybank is far too limited, though, so i could never consider royal.  Neither would any other serious level 4 or level 5 trader.

as it happens, speed & accuracy of order execution are important to me. As far as i know, independent ratings put tdw first in this category.

if you yourself did very many orders per day, or even per week, you would understand how valuable the tdw integrated research platform is. It permits investor to flash from level II quotes to advanced charts to news to insider trading to analysts' reports with a click. There is no need to import data or to navigate to other websites, at least not while preparing a trade. How is royal with research offerings ?

lastly, i wonder what you mean with your frequent complaint that tdw has no stock screeners. Of course they do. Screeners, in fact, proliferate everywhere. Pretty near all web sites have them. I'm glad you've found one that you like.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

humblepie, I am obviously at a differant stage and I have set up a Portfolio which is quite large and I do not trade, but rather it is set up to preserve the capital and to provide a steady income stream.

I am almost 70, I no longer dabble in Options , when I did(after going to several CBOE couses, reading multiple books including Fonthil and McMmillan), I just stuck with US Stocks and ETrade.

I will revisit TD with an open eye, mainly because i do have one account of about $250,000 that has been set up with a fifteen year window as a future inheritance and the owner has been told to expect volatility, but not to worry, it is a future estate.

I will also add that a future inheritance will be invested, primarily for our Son's, again 15 year window, I intend to have mainly ETF's but will take a small portion to chase some returns, more from an interest standpoint, but I will subscribe to Schaffer's programme.

Many Thanks for the info,if you stop learning something, you are dead.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i am not a trader at all but i do think the research area of td is really very good and has innumerable options for experienced and active traders

the bond selection is poor but i don't buy individual bonds and have the impression that all of the bond selections available at retail aren't very good at all the banks

the people at td are really almost always very good and i have gotten great support

their web interface is crap and i have been telling them that for years, i think it is way behind everyone else ... they tell me they are trying


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

cat would you believe i actually liked the old td interface better, when it was gray, dull, plain, old-fashioned & homely ... and it packed 180 hp under the hood. Everything was & still is easy, logical, fast & oh-so-accurate-&-reliable.

now they have tarted everything up with bright salad green but the actual interface remains the same thank goodness.

the only other broker website i can compare it to is my backup account at bmo where i do maybe 10 trades a month. This website looks glitzier but it's considerably less efficient to use imho. It's slightly slower. A few hardcore mistakes occur, compared to tdw where zero mistakes occur. Collecting detailed market data even for a quote requires navigation from one window to another. There is some nice research, probably better than many but still not up to the big green.


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## DanFo (Apr 9, 2011)

To the OP

I guess one advantage of having your mutual funds within TDW instead of easyweb is their value will count towards your TDW portfolio which depending how much you currently have will help you reach the cheaper trading fees quicker.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

> cat would you believe i actually liked the old td interface better, when it was gray, dull, plain, old-fashioned & homely ... and it packed 180 hp under the hood. Everything was & still is easy, logical, fast & oh-so-accurate-&-reliable.
> 
> now they have tarted everything up with bright salad green but the actual interface remains the same thank goodness.
> 
> the only other broker website i can compare it to is my backup account at bmo where i do maybe 10 trades a month. This website looks glitzier but it's considerably less efficient to use imho. It's slightly slower. A few hardcore mistakes occur, compared to tdw where zero mistakes occur. Collecting detailed market data even for a quote requires navigation from one window to another. There is some nice research, probably better than many but still not up to the big green.


 well pie, each to his own, glad you are happy with td (i am as well, generally) ... my gripes seem to always revolve around the issue of timeliness and updating of information which seems uncessessarily slow and i have been told (you would know) that bmo, among others is better at updating information and when i played around with investorline i liked it better ... but, i do think that all of these guys are so competitive generally that it all washes out .. doesn't tdw keep winning various "best brokerage" competitions ?


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## Lephturn (Aug 31, 2009)

I'm Howard said:


> humblepie, I am obviously at a differant stage and I have set up a Portfolio which is quite large and I do not trade, but rather it is set up to preserve the capital and to provide a steady income stream.


I find it interesting that these are the exact reasons I use options.

I agree with the pastry that RBC's options platform is far too limited. humble_pie, do you prefer TDW for options in Canada?


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

a steady stream of option sales is the most desirable income stream one can have imho, due to its tax-favoured 50% taxable status.

now that dividend tax credits are dropping, albeit slowly & year by year, options-derived income becomes even more attractive


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