# Starting out, kind of....



## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

Hoping the resident pros could help me out here. I currently invest in TD e series funds within a rrsp. I don't have a direct investing account. I set up a pre authorized payment plan to draw money from my PC financial account bi-weekly just after pay day. I really like this set up and the money adds up quick. I do the basic 25% allocated to the regular 4 funds. I may knock the bond portion out as I am a member of a defined benefit pension plan. Anyways, I'm looking for info on what to do with my wife's holdings.

She is mostly invested in cash. She has it sitting in rrsp's and tfsa's with Tangerine. She also has some mutual funds within a rrsp at Tangerine. Additionally, she has about 8k in an RBC direct investing account. She is invested in high mer funds that are losing money. She has about 50k in total not really working for her at the moment.

So after seeing how the e-series funds work and seeing that they are a low cost investing option that actually provides a return, she is interested in getting started. So, I'm at TD, my plan is to sock away 25k and open a tddi account. I will continue to use index investing as my main strategy with some dividend paying stock later on. She is at tangerine for the most part and has some investments at RBC. Should she transfer to TD and get going with e-series or should she just do what I do at RBC and just use their index products? Any advantages to our accounts being at separate banks? Better to be at the same bank? I don't think she will ever get into stock purchases but you never know. She definitely wants to get started with an index strategy.


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

My husband's accounts and mine are at the same broker (BMO). I prefer it that way just because I like to balance the whole pile of accounts (2 RRSPs, 1 spousal, 2 TFSAs, 2 investment accounts) as if they were one big account. So when I download the data into my spreadsheets, I only have to worry about one format.

I also only have to do the research once - what is the lowest MER and lowest risk for Canadian REITs? for instance. Most discount brokers will give you no annual charges even for small accounts if you consolidate with them. 

Look out to see if your wife has DSC mutual funds at RBC - a move could cost her money. Also, if she decides to go to TD, get TD to pull the accounts in kind or in cash from the other two brokers, don't cash out, then take the cheque across the street.

Good for you paying yourself first - this will pay off very quickly.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Gimme the Green said:


> Should she transfer to TD and get going with e-series or should she just do what I do at RBC and just use their index products?


RBC index funds are quite a bit more expensive than e-series. I would consolidate the accounts at TD if I were in your shoes.


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

I think she should just eat the $200 fee or whatever it is and switch to what you have so it will be easy for her and you. 


But if you don't want the transfer fee
RBC has similar funds to TD you can find them on couch potato. 
http://canadiancouchpotato.com/recommended-funds/

RBC DI also has fees for accounts under 15k unless u automatically contribute 100/mo


Why do u need 25k to open a TD investing account? Their trades are 9.95 for everyone now. 


Pc financial and tangerine are both good places with no fees for your banking

For a brokerage account Questrade is the cheapest. Free ETF purchases and you can buy up to 495 stock for just 4.95$ a trade and it caps at 9.95 which is the cost at TD or RBC


I think you should try out questrade before going to TD brokerage. 
And have your wife sit tight until you figure it all out. 

The one disadvantage to questrade is that if you synthetic DRIP a stock like fortis, you won't be able to collect their 2 - 3% discount.
But. Once you get your account to 50k or so and are likely to have enough funds in some single stocks to drip. TD will pay your transfer fees.
Also the list of drip discounts isn't huge. So maybe saving $5 a trade is more appealing. 

So. 1. Get her to switch to TD with you keep things simple. 

Or

2. Try out questrade if you want to get into ETF or stocks cuz it's cheaper.
While she sits tight.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

GoldStone said:


> RBC index funds are quite a bit more expensive than e-series. I would consolidate the accounts at TD if I were in your shoes.


I noticed this as well. Guess I better see what RBC charges to transfer rrsp money. I think tangerine let's you go for free....


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

SheaButters said:


> Why do u need 25k to open a TD investing account? Their trades are 9.95 for everyone now.



I believe having a rrsp account with tddi costs 100/year if you have under 25k invested.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

Has anyone heard if TDDI is any closer to allowing US funds in an RRSP account? Not so much a concern for us at the moment, but would be nice to know for the future.


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

I'm on the same page as Wendi1, except am with RBC DI. Much simpler and easier management to have all main investment assets with one organization. An online bank account at another institution may also make sense.

You folks are dealing with 4 different companies and with a relatively small amount of investments. Time to simplify where you have best access to the type of investing you want on a good platform, with some consideration to cost. Cost and quality of service/choices is always a moving target, that I don't and wouldn't actively chase. 

Can't answer your US question, although it's something I utilize extensively at RBC. Organizations won't usually disclose something like that unless it is imminent. 

Nice work on your paying yourself first. A great habit that from personal experience is the easiest way to FI.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Gimme the Green said:


> Has anyone heard if TDDI is any closer to allowing US funds in an RRSP account? Not so much a concern for us at the moment, but would be nice to know for the future.



reps are breathlessly leaking that the newest release *date* is set for november 2014 or else early 2015, depending on which breathless rep is doing the leaking.

a slight problem is that the big green has been leaking the same story approximately twice a year for the past 5 years ...


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

Yeah, I've been doing the pay yourself first thing for quite a while. Takes the thinking right out of it. I also tuck money away for things like insurance, property taxes, and yearly vacation every pay. I do it automatically as well so when it comes time to pay larger expenses, I don't leave myself short.

I've read the threads about USD in an rrsp at TD. They are such a tease....


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

humble_pie said:


> reps are breathlessly leaking that the newest release *date* is set for november 2014 or else early 2015, depending on which breathless rep is doing the leaking.
> 
> a slight problem is that the big green has been leaking the same story approximately twice a year for the past 5 years ...


Yeah, it is interesting that it always seems to be "just a few months away". For me personally my US income in RSP accounts is starting to get to the point where having separate RSP accounts at a different institution might make sense (giving 1.5% of my US dividends to TDW is starting to get very tiring).


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Gimme the Green said:


> Hoping the resident pros could help me out here. I currently invest in TD e series funds within a rrsp. I don't have a direct investing account. I set up a pre authorized payment plan to draw money from my PC financial account bi-weekly just after pay day. I really like this set up and the money adds up quick. I do the basic 25% allocated to the regular 4 funds. I may knock the bond portion out as I am a member of a defined benefit pension plan. Anyways, I'm looking for info on what to do with my wife's holdings.
> 
> She is mostly invested in cash. She has it sitting in rrsp's and tfsa's with Tangerine. She also has some mutual funds within a rrsp at Tangerine. Additionally, she has about 8k in an RBC direct investing account. She is invested in high mer funds that are losing money. She has about 50k in total not really working for her at the moment.
> 
> So after seeing how the e-series funds work and seeing that they are a low cost investing option that actually provides a return, she is interested in getting started. So, I'm at TD, my plan is to sock away 25k and open a tddi account. I will continue to use index investing as my main strategy with some dividend paying stock later on. She is at tangerine for the most part and has some investments at RBC. Should she transfer to TD and get going with e-series or should she just do what I do at RBC and just use their index products? Any advantages to our accounts being at separate banks? Better to be at the same bank? I don't think she will ever get into stock purchases but you never know. She definitely wants to get started with an index strategy.


 Should your wife come to the party late when there is only a drop or two left in the punch bowl & get a massive hang over that will last until she drinks the next few drops @ the next party that is about to end. OR, Sit back & go to the next party when its getting started ?

Speculating @ the top of an over crowded trade sets the wheels in motion to get such a bad hangover when the time is ripe to speculate the speculator is to hung over.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

lonewolf said:


> Should your wife come to the party late when there is only a drop or two left in the punch bowl & get a massive hang over that will last until she drinks the next few drops @ the next party that is about to end. OR, Sit back & go to the next party when its getting started ?
> 
> Speculating @ the top of an over crowded trade sets the wheels in motion to get such a bad hangover when the time is ripe to speculate the speculator is to hung over.



Oh-kay, so do you mean if she plows all her funds into the e-series all in one shot, she will be disappointed if the bottom falls out? Thus making her hesitant to continue investing? Its a good point. I think she would like to keep a good chunk at tangerine as an emergency fund. Whatever is left into a couch potato portfolio. So here is the question, set it up all in one shot, or slowly over time? Going forward she would like to invest like me on payday by PAP.

Thanks for the replies, nice to be able to discuss this with different people.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

0xCC said:


> Yeah, it is interesting that it always seems to be "just a few months away". For me personally my US income in RSP accounts is starting to get to the point where having separate RSP accounts at a different institution might make sense (giving 1.5% of my US dividends to TDW is starting to get very tiring).



so sorry, all, if slightly off-topic here.

but OxCC you can - if you want - get the TD to stop charging that 1.50% on US dividends in your registered accounts. 

they do it on a case-by-case basis, so you'll have to ask, then be prepared to push if necessary. Two of the regional offices (markham & ottawa) are better at offering FX-free dividends than is montreal office, which remains peculiarly *distinct* in its own quebec way ...

to the best of my knowledge, the individual dividends have to be auto-washed as they arrive & the arrival of each one has to be prepared in advance by the client, who must phone in the day before to "arrange" auto-washing for each & every dividend. Please don't quote me on this; i've been offered numerous times but have always declined. The procedure is too messy to bother with (what, phone for every dividend? seriously?)

in late 2013 i did suggest to TD management that they exchange *all* USD dividends in registered accounts at spot or bank of canada rates, exactly as scotia iTrade & CIBC have been doing since early 2013 (this issue has been discussed in many threads.)

however the big green declined. They remain the only bank brokerage among the big 5 chartered banks that is still charging FX fees on USD dividends in reg'd accounts.

bref, you can exchange your USD dividends free of FX fees in registered accounts at TDDI if you're willing to go through the bureaucracy wringer.

courage! myself i gave up & recently moved 2 reg'd accounts to one of the brokers that offers proper dual-currency accounts. They already had my backup trading account, so i knew them well. Everything is OK.


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

Gimme the Green said:


> So here is the question, set it up all in one shot, or slowly over time?Going forward she would like to invest like me on payday by PAP.
> 
> Thanks for the replies, nice to be able to discuss this with different people.


I think it depends on how much the bid-weekly/monthly PAP amount would be vs. the whole amount. For example, if the PAP is $100 bi-weekly and the current investment is $10k then if the market were to drop 10% it would only take 4-5 months worth of bi-weekly payments make up the drop without relying on the market to come back again all. It all comes down to risk tolerance, how much of a decrease in the account value would she be comfortable with and for how long? You can probably look at 2008-2009 as a "worst case" and then go through some less-worse scenarios from there to see what she would be comfortable with.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

Nice post humble. I plan on running my e-series accounts up to the 50k range before going forward with the etf route and some dividend paying stock. I will see where TD is at that time and decide whether I will stay or not. I have a ways to go yet.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

0xCC said:


> I think it depends on how much the bid-weekly/monthly PAP amount would be vs. the whole amount. For example, if the PAP is $100 bi-weekly and the current investment is $10k then if the market were to drop 10% it would only take 4-5 months worth of bi-weekly payments make up the drop without relying on the market to come back again all. It all comes down to risk tolerance, how much of a decrease in the account value would she be comfortable with and for how long? You can probably look at 2008-2009 as a "worst case" and then go through some less-worse scenarios from there to see what she would be comfortable with.


She would have a harder time with a big swing. She will probably be in the neighborhood of 35k to start with so I'm thinking a start with a heavier allocation to fixed income? She does not have a defined benefit plan at work ( although she did at one point and may again in the future).


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

Thanks for the info humble. It looks like currently not doing anything is costing me around $30/year. I would need to call in 16 times a year to save that. So the question becomes how valuable my time is and how long those 16 calls would take. I think I would have a hard time making them take less than an hour combined... Anyway, something to think about.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Gimme the Green said:


> Nice post humble. I plan on running my e-series accounts up to the 50k range before going forward with the etf route and some dividend paying stock. I will see where TD is at that time and decide whether I will stay or not. I have a ways to go yet.



sounds like a good investment plan each:

trivia: TD doesn't charge RRSP fees for aggregated household accounts above $50k, so any registered account your wife might settle with them should mean you guys are home-free.

even if not - ie all accounts totalled are less than the threshhold - TD still has a $25 rrsp fee for e-fund accounts. I believe the fee only widens to $100 for full-spectrum investing; but as you say, that stage will come a little later.

with respect to your wife's $8,000 non-registered account at RBC, i would somewhat doubt that TD would pay a transfer fee. Obviously you don't want to pay transfer fees yourself, they are outrageously high.

since it's a non-reg'd account, your wife could sell the holdings & then transfer the cash via bank network at no fee. There would be capital gains or losses, however on $8k in principal these should not be too significant.

keep in mind that there could be DSC fees for the mutual funds; as others have pointed out these could be minimal as the holding is still fairly small.


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

Gimme the Green said:


> She would have a harder time with a big swing. She will probably be in the neighborhood of 35k to start with so I'm thinking a start with a heavier allocation to fixed income? She does not have a defined benefit plan at work ( although she did at one point and may again in the future).


Yeah, these are also personal questions. Fixed income has risk just like equities do. There is always a chance that markets will go south and when and by how much can't really be predicted. I have been hoping for a nice pullback for over a year but we have only had some mini and brief pullbacks so far and I haven't been able to deploy as much cash as I would have liked. In the meantime I'm watching the market make new highs while my cash is making 1.3% in a Tangerine account.

The only real advice I can offer is to think about what would happen if the markets corrected by 10% and from that figure out how much she would like to invest now versus dollar cost averaging her way in. There is no right answer and everyone will have different levels of comfort.


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

humble_pie said:


> trivia: TD doesn't charge RRSP fees for aggregated household accounts above $50k, so any registered account your wife might settle with them should mean you guys are home-free.


I'm not so sure about this one. My wife recently opened an RSP account at TDW and we were told there would be an administrator fee if that account doesn't have at least $25k in it even though we both have President's Accounts.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

0xCC said:


> I'm not so sure about this one. My wife recently opened an RSP account at TDW and we were told there would be an administrator fee if that account doesn't have at least $25k in it even though we both have President's Accounts.



:biggrin: yea this is another prob with the big green! ever since they abolished the PA phone lines & hired 100 rookies to answer the phones, the weirdest kinds of answers are being made up!

your wife is living with you, i assume? you both have regular kinds of PA accounts? that's what, half a million or a million $$ right there?

that household aggregate rule ought to apply! who cares what the newbie rep thought! ask for the team manager & request that he or she review your overall situation!

all i can say is that other brokers have not dismissed their PA style service. The one to which i moved my 2 registered accounts has, on the contrary, gone & hired more senior reps.

frankly i don't know what the big green is thinking of. For 30 years it was the flagship, the leading brokerage in the whole of canada. The range of services was superlative. There was nothing those top PA agents could not do.

currency gambit trading? they were discussing these with stupendous, marvellous detail 16 years ago, lightyears before mister norbert schlenker ever heard about a.r.b.i.t.r.a.g.e, which is all that a gambit trade really is.

these days, at the TD, it can be difficult to find anyone who even knows how to take or interpret a contingent option order.

to give the new licensed representatives credit, all of them seem to be trying very hard to climb towards the level of expertise that the PA team members always had. The newbie reps all get gold stars for effort :biggrin: but still :biggrin: there are times when the place sounds like a madhouse :biggrin:


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## 0xCC (Jan 5, 2012)

humble_pie said:


> :biggrin: yea this is another prob with the big green! ever since they abolished the PA phone lines & hired 100 rookies to answer the phones, the weirdest kinds of answers are being made up!
> 
> your wife is living with you, i assume? you both have regular kinds of PA accounts? that's what, half a million or a million $$ right there?
> 
> that household aggregate rule ought to apply! who cares what the newbie rep thought! ask for the team manager & request that he or she review your overall situation!


Sorry to hijack the thread here Gimme the Green...

Yes, my wife is living with me. I won't comment on the overall portfolio value but I think we were moved to Pres accounts when our household portfolio value hit a specific threshold or maybe when one of our accounts hit a threshold.

We opened the RSP account in a TD branch and I asked specifically if the fee would apply since she was transferring in less than the required $25k. The rep had to confirm if it would with someone else but he did say that it would apply. It didn't really matter for us because we had the cash available to top the account up to the $25k so I didn't push the issue.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

ah, it was a TD bank rep helping you to open & set up accounts?

even if he confirmed by phone with a TDDI rep, that is not quite so bad.

still, it was a novice mistake. Generally, they would not/should not do things like that.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

We had the same issue (although we don't have president's accounts). The TDDI phone reps were very firm that the account itself needed 25k to qualify for fee-free status. So my husband ended up closing his and moving over to the TD Bank side of the house.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

0xCC said:


> Sorry to hijack the thread here Gimme the Green...
> 
> Yes, my wife is living with me. I won't comment on the overall portfolio value but I think we were moved to Pres accounts when our household portfolio value hit a specific threshold or maybe when one of our accounts hit a threshold.
> 
> We opened the RSP account in a TD branch and I asked specifically if the fee would apply since she was transferring in less than the required $25k. The rep had to confirm if it would with someone else but he did say that it would apply. It didn't really matter for us because we had the cash available to top the account up to the $25k so I didn't push the issue.


Don't worry about it. That's the whole point of this place, bounce ideas around and share experiences!


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

humble_pie said:


> sounds like a good investment plan each:
> 
> trivia: TD doesn't charge RRSP fees for aggregated household accounts above $50k, so any registered account your wife might settle with them should mean you guys are home-free.
> 
> ...


I'm hoping to meet with someone at TD and just getting the definite answers on fees and what not. I think we will be around that 50K mark together so maybe we will be ok fee wise in that regard. I believe my wifes RBC account is registered so she would have to do the transfer. She says she is fine paying the fees as she just wants out of there and on to a fresh start. Her one investment there has done horrible to say the least.....

She hasn't really paid much attention to her savings up until this point. I've just been pointing out all the fees and expenses that can be cut out with a little more savvy investing. Index style would work great for her because she would really appreciate the ease in which it can be done. Overall she has done alright, she socks money away all the time so at least she saves. We have been paying off the mortgage pretty aggressively and are on pace to have it paid off by the time we are 38 (both 35 now).


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

I left TD-Waterhouse because of customer service. IMHO, you are better off going into the meeting already knowing the answers to your fee questions - I had a very frustrating time getting clear answers from their reps (mind you, they seem pleasant enough, just undertrained).

Make sure you keep notes about your meeting, and the names and phone numbers of the people you met with - TD might refund fees that your rep failed to tell you about, but you need some evidence.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Green i've just read your original post & it appears to me that, quite possibly, neither you nor your wife have brokerage accounts.

your account appears to be with TD Investment Services, the retail fund division of TD Securities.

ottomh i'd say your account is *not* with TDDI the discount broker.

this puts a whole new light on things. TD Investment Services (the fund people, including e-funds) do not charge any fees for RRSPs of any size.

to keep things simple, if your wife wishes to develop an e-funds portfolio similar to your own, then make sure she joins you at TD Investment Services. Their phone number is 1-866-222-3456. Personnel at all TD bank branches should also be able to help you.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

humble_pie said:


> Green i've just read your original post & it appears to me that, quite possibly, neither you nor your wife have brokerage accounts.
> 
> your account appears to be with TD Investment Services, the retail fund division of TD Securities.
> 
> ...


That is correct, no brokerage account for me at the moment. My wife is set up with a RBC direct investing account though. She is calling them today to get the low down on transfer fees and dsc fees on the funds she holds. I am interested in opening a TDDI account though as I eventually want to invest using ETF's and dividend stocks. My wife is also interested in high quality dividend payers. So when the time comes and our account is large enough to avoid fees, we will go with a brokerage.

Thanks for all the insight. We are definitely going to hold each of our investment accounts at the same institution (TD for now). We will each continue to use PC for no fee banking and Tangerine to hold each of our emergency funds. I'll continue to buy my e-series bi-weekly. My wife has decided that investing all her funds in one shot is not the best way to go (I discussed this with her after it being talked about on this thread). She will move her cash into TD and slowly start buying over time. This will at least get the ball rolling in the right direction. I'm happy just to have her investing in some form. Once the dust settles we will try doing some forecasts/set some goals and try to figure out what we have to do to meet those goals.


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

Questrade (broker) is free ETF and lower fees to purchase single stock than TD

You can set up to put 200$ a month there and just log on once a month and purchase your couples ETFs for FREE!!!!!



You use PC financial be smart about your brokerage account. 



Why you are so stuck on TD beats me. 

Go with whats cheap and works well
Questrade can hold US dollar.


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

SheaButters said:


> Questrade (broker) is free ETF and lower fees to purchase single stock than TD
> 
> You can set up to put 200$ a month there and just log on once a month and purchase your couples ETFs for FREE!!!!!
> 
> ...


I'm with TD because I like investing in the e-series funds. My portfolio is not large enough that I would bother with Etfs at this time. As stated before, when my portfolio is large enough to consider ETFs, I will see where I am at. Trust me, I hate fees but for the time being, TD is where its at for me!

Edit: are you saying forget e-series and just start buying etfs in questrade instead? If the transactions are free I guess it would be the same. Do people abandon e-series funds to do this in questrade? Next question, do we trust questrade with the bulk of our investment money? I feel comfortable with my retirement sitting at a big bank, not so much with an online discount broker......


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

Your stocks belong to you, not Questrade

Questrade could be bought out by a big bank eventually, or go under... both are unlikely, i think one of the bigger banks will buy them out in a few years once the banks start looking for more ways to find profit. Example is TD Bank buying MBNA (smart cash credit card) or BNS buying ING Direct (Tangerine)

either way you would still own/have your stocks



You could open a questrade, buy some ETFs and play with real money

They have 4.95 stock trading for up to 495 shares, which is 5 dollars cheaper than TD, once your account is big enough(50k+) you can switch to TD and TD will likely pay for your transfer fees of 200some dollars.
Also FREE ETFs which would be 9.95 cheaper than TD, and this way, you could buy 10 ETF this month, 10 ETF next month, etc... just keep adding to!



One option is for you to keep your current e-series set up, and experiment with QUESTRADE's free ETF's, dont buy too many different ETFs because it will cost you $4.95 dollars to sell

Questrade requires you to fund the account with $1000 start up
and purchase at least 1 stock or ETF per quarter OR have $5000 to waive their account fee




I think people generally stick with what they know, and what is easy, like the TD e-series

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2014/01/09/couch-potato-portfolio-returns-for-2013/

shows the TD e-series (barely) making the most last year, 

side note, someone like Dave Rasmey, the king of "debt free" suggests you don't need bonds, and bond allocation is stupid, just dont touch your money for a long time, then you can take it out when you retire at 6-8% a year, because over 30+ years that's below the average of what the markets have returned 10%/year


Questrade would be for someone who wants a bit more hands on.... Someone who will instead of buying Canadian index, will buy their own mix like, BNS, TD, FTS, CNR, THI, CNR, POT, SU, T, L and perhaps beat the index because you eliminate some poor stocks in the index and only buy the huge names you like
the US market is probably too large so stick with VUN, or BRK or VFINX(S&P etf suggested by buffet)
Then some international if you choose

It's all the same stuff, just a little more hands on than E-series
So stick with simple, or take a leap of faith


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

green you've just been looking at the frying pan of transfer fees that are applied to tiny accounts when they are transferred from one financial house to another. Why would you want to jump into the fire with yet another small account at yet another broker-dealer?

some small investors never seem to think when they open up investment accounts here, there & everywhere. With a very few exceptions, there are transfer-out fees. When accounts are large enough, a receiving institution is usually ready to pay transfer fees; however this is not the case for small accounts.

suggestion: i for one do believe that you have been moving in the right direction in growing your e-funds account. Your wife, too, will benefit as she begins a new investment chapter. There could be charges & fees as she seeks to exit the roybank mutual fund - these have been discussed - but one could consider that a learning situation. 

when it comes time for you to have a broker account, there might or might not be transfer-out charges from TD Investor Services. No doubt if you were to move the account to the TD discount broker - now calling itself TDDI - there would be no transfer fee, as it's a sister company. 

but, in general, transfer fees are an unpleasant fact of life for smaller accounts. If you open a small trial ETF account at questrade ... & if you would want to move that account ... there would be ... transfer fees ...


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## Gimme the Green (Feb 4, 2014)

At this point I feel pretty comfortable with TD and it is not costing me anything fee wise. I'm happy to build my account up with e-series funds. My wife discussed her account with an RBC rep. 135+tax to move accounts. She is fine with it. Lesson learned. I'm confident it will be the last moving fee we pay going forward. As I said, I hate needless fees. I know there may be cheaper account options out there but for what I'm doing right now, what i'm comfortable with, TD works for us. Once the money starts accumulating and my wife and I get more educated, maybe we will want to get more hands on. At that point we will see where we are at account wise. Banks will pay the moving fees for us at that point should we move. But who knows, maybe TD will have USD in rrsp's by then!?!


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