# TD: What happens with US stocks when transferring RRSP to RRIF?



## Cellardweller (Jul 3, 2014)

I am looking forward to your advice on the following:
I have a RRSP account with TD, holding US stocks and CA stocks in separate accounts. I am having trouble finding out what happens with my US$ stocks when my RRSP is converted into a RRIF. TD says there is no equivalent self-directed US$ RRIF, so that the holdings would have to be held in my CAD$ account. Any proceeds from disposals (and dividends) would automatically be converted by TD into Canadian dollars. 
- the moment I sell a US stock it would automatically convert into CAD$
- any dividend paid in US$ on a US stock would be also convert automatically into CAD$..... AND
- if I wanted to buy another US stock I would have to convert CAD$ into US$ only to reverse it again if I needed to sell it again.

Is this scenario correct? Or have I been given wrong information by TD?


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Yes.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

You can enrol your RRIF account in automatic currency washing to avoid forced conversions. The service applies to stock trades but not the dividends.

https://www.td.com/ca/products-serv...ct-investing/accounts/currency-conversion.jsp


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Cellardweller said:


> I have a RRSP account with TD, holding US stocks and CA stocks in separate accounts. I am having trouble finding out what happens with my US$ stocks when my RRSP is converted into a RRIF. TD says there is no equivalent self-directed US$ RRIF, so that the holdings would have to be held in my CAD$ account. Any proceeds from disposals (and dividends) would automatically be converted by TD into Canadian dollars.
> - the moment I sell a US stock it would automatically convert into CAD$
> - any dividend paid in US$ on a US stock would be also convert automatically into CAD$..... AND
> - if I wanted to buy another US stock I would have to convert CAD$ into US$ only to reverse it again if I needed to sell it again.
> ...




mostly correct info from the TD. Currency washing only applies when US stocks (including US money market fund) are bought & sold on the exact same day.

US dividends in a RRIF account will all be subject to TD's broker FX fee at their spread rate. It's fairly steep.

i am left wondering why anyone would keep a RRIF at the TD. It's easy to transfer such an account to another broker such as royal bank or BMO.

BMOIL may offer cashback under one of their marketing promotions, although RRIFs are not viewed by brokers as desirable accounts since they do not grow much, neither do they trade much (this is probably the reason why the TD has not bothered to update its RRIF into dual currency mode.)

i'd inquire, too, at CIBC, to find out what they are doing with their RRIFs. Not so long ago when cibc had only monocurrency reg'd retirement accounts, they were exchanging everything - all USD dividends plus all USD stock trades - into CAD at spot rates. This is very fair & favourable to clients.

cibc now has dual currency RRSPs & TFSAs, but i don't know what has happened to their RRIFs. If they still have a monocurrency RRIF & if they are still exchanging USD/CAD at spot rates in RRIFs, then cibc broker would certainly be another candidate to consider.

on the other hand, if cibc has managed to come up with a US dollar RRIF - which the big green has failed to do so far - then you could have a dual currency pair of RRIF accounts with no FX fees at cibc, the same as your present RRSP accounts at the TD.

why not take a nice long sightseeing walk, check out what other brokers are offering? best of luck with this excursion.


.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

I know that CIBC IE hasdual-currency for LIRAs (as we have them), not sure about RRIF even though they announced that "_As of January 23rd, we now offer multi-currency registered accounts. This feature was automatically added to all Investor’s Edge registered accounts (including TFSAs) which is the reason you may see a Canadian and a USD sub-account when you are signed on._"


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## Cellardweller (Jul 3, 2014)

Thanks everyone...now I just have to make a decision...


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