# TD Canada Trust e-Series TFSA vs TD Waterhouse e-Series TFSA



## rondonotional (Nov 9, 2010)

Hi All,

Given that you can get the maintenance fee waived and you can purchase TD e-Series mutual funds transaction-fee free in a TD Waterhouse TSFA account, is there there any difference between that and a TD Canada Trust Mutual Fund TFSA that uses the same e-Series funds?

Thanks!


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## Soils4Peace (Mar 14, 2010)

At TDW you deal with people who understand investing. You can deposit cash in the TFSA. I have done this without trouble.

At TD Canada Trust, you will likely be assigned someone who doesn't know how to set up e-series. You must buy the funds directly when you contribute. But you can put it into money market and divvy it up later. I haven't put in the effort to figure it out yet.

I would pick TDW. It also makes an easier transition to etfs or a mix of both when the account gets bigger.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

rondonotional said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Given that you can get the maintenance fee waived and you can purchase TD e-Series mutual funds transaction-fee free in a TD Waterhouse TSFA account, is there there any difference between that and a TD Canada Trust Mutual Fund TFSA that uses the same e-Series funds?
> 
> Thanks!


If you mean a TDW TFSA brokerage account, then another difference is that the only restriction in what investment you buy is that it is a TFSA qualified one. So when it suits, you can also buy stocks, bonds, GICs etc. in addition to MFs.

The last I looked at the MF types (in my case it was RRSP account), the trade off was that only MFs could be purchased, in exchange for a lower annual fee.


Cheers


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## cdnpennystocks (Oct 27, 2011)

A few tips for buying in a TFSA

Like the name suggests you don't pay taxes on the income earned from your investments. For this reason I try to buy high yield stocks OUTSIDE the TFSA (you pay less income tax on dividend earning so don't take up all your room with those types of stocks)

Don't invest too much in risky stocks in your TFSA, the tax-free works both ways, so you can not write off your losses.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

I like TD mutual funds for the easy ability to "switch" mutual funds without losing time in the market. Otherwise you have to wait 3 days for trades to settle. 

Can you do this in Waterhouse TFSA?


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## rondonotional (Nov 9, 2010)

Eclectic12 said:


> If you mean a TDW TFSA brokerage account...


Your clarification confuses me. Are there multiple TFSA accounts at TDW that would allow you to purchase e-Series funds?


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## Soils4Peace (Mar 14, 2010)

Oh, there is another difference, an important one. The TDW TFSA only allows one free withdrawal per year. The TD Canada Trust one might allow more.


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## Potato (Apr 3, 2009)

The others have touched on most of the differences. Some others:

With TDMF, you'll have to fill out an investor profile, and if you try to buy funds that don't match your prescribed asset allocation, your transaction will be blocked. At TDW it's self-directed, so you're free to set your own asset allocation.

With TDMF, you can't hold cash, and the reps can't handle e-series funds. That often leads to confusion when you want to withdraw (e.g.: from an RRSP for the HBP or LLP) since you need to first switch to a fund that a rep _can _handle (like a money market fund). With TDW, you just sell to cash before withdrawing.

If you do need to work with a live person, the TDW reps just want to help complete your instructions, whereas the TDMF reps are salespeople. (My "last straw" case with TDMF involved a friend whose purchase of an equity e-series fund was blocked by the investor profile; when she went into a branch to adjust it, she got the hard sell from a rep for an hour, and walked out without having had a chance to actually update the IPS, which was the whole reason for going in!)

TDMF will update your balances more quickly than TDW, which can take 3 days to update your transactions. If you're in the habit of frequently fiddling, you could run the risk of entering a transaction twice with TDW.



Jungle said:


> ability to "switch" mutual funds [...] Can you do this in Waterhouse TFSA?


Yes!


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

rondonotional said:


> Your clarification confuses me. Are there multiple TFSA accounts at TDW that would allow you to purchase e-Series funds?


When I setup my TDW TFSA account, I wanted the full range of investments so I didn't ask about other types of TFSA accounts.

Since there are two types of RRSPs offered (one that allows all types of investments and one that does not allow equities), I assumed that there may be more than one TFSA type offered.

[ I know ... silly me for assuming! ]


Checking out the TDW website, it mentions TFSA only so I suspect there is just the one type of TFSA. However - I'd call the 1-800 number to confirm this is true. 


Sorry for any confusion.


Cheers


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## behappytoday (Sep 16, 2011)

cdnpennystocks said:


> A few tips for buying in a TFSA
> 
> Like the name suggests you don't pay taxes on the income earned from your investments. For this reason I try to buy high yield stocks OUTSIDE the TFSA (you pay less income tax on dividend earning so don't take up all your room with those types of stocks)
> 
> Don't invest too much in risky stocks in your TFSA, the tax-free works both ways, so you can not write off your losses.


I am confused about this. If we don't pay taxes on the income earned from the investments, then the high yield instruments should be within the TFSA, and not outside them? Because they are high yield, they are supposed to bring more income, right? If they are within TFSA, the income should not be taxed then. Do I see it wrong?


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

cdnpennystocks said:


> A few tips for buying in a TFSA
> 
> Like the name suggests you don't pay taxes on the income earned from your investments. For this reason I try to buy high yield stocks OUTSIDE the TFSA (you pay less income tax on dividend earning so don't take up all your room with those types of stocks)


I'm not so sure.
High yield usually means it's not just qualified dividends.
Often it includes RoC, interest, etc.
Those can be an accounting nightmare if held outside registered accounts.

Also, only 50% of capital gains are taxable, so it is perhaps best to hold those outside of the TFSA (and other registered accounts like RRSP, RESP).

Ceteris paribus, of course.


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## yupislyr (Nov 16, 2009)

Soils4Peace said:


> Oh, there is another difference, an important one. The TDW TFSA only allows one free withdrawal per year. The TD Canada Trust one might allow more.


I noticed that TDW has a new fee schedule out for Jan 2012 and it doesn't mention this anymore. I was able to confirm with TDW that they no longer charge any withdrawal fees on TFSAs


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

yupislyr said:


> I noticed that TDW has a new fee schedule out for Jan 2012 and it doesn't mention this anymore. I was able to confirm with TDW that they no longer charge any withdrawal fees on TFSAs


Cool ... that's great news!!


Cheers


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