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AegisP
Oct 5, 2008
Huh, BMO has apparently steathily put into place commission free etf trading on up to 80 or so etfs?

I say steathily as there seems to have been no announcement other than a news pop-up that shows up only if you look in the Investorline 2.0 client.

I'm shocked; a bank promotion/benefit that actually applies to me.

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pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.
Assuming the list at https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianInvestor/comments/nng4ka/bmo_investorline_now_offering_commission_free_etfs/ is accurate, that looks useful!

quote:

Equities: CDZ / CIE / CUD / CWO / VCN / VDY / VEE / VFV / VGG / VGG / VGH / VI / VIDY / VIU / VSP / XDV / XEC / XEF / XFI / XHD / XIN / XIU / XMM / XMU / XSEM / XSP / XUS / ZCN / ZDH / ZDI / ZDM / ZDV / ZDY / ZEA / ZEM / ZLB / ZLE / ZLI / ZLU / ZSP / ZUE / ZUQ / ZVC

Fixed income: CLF / VAB / VCB / VGV / XBB / XCB / XHY / ZAG / ZCB / ZGB / ZHY / ZJK

Multi-asset class: VBAL / VCIP / VCNS / VEQT / VGRO / XBAL / XCNS / XEQT / XGRO / XINC / ZBAL / ZCON / ZESG / ZGRO

Thematic: ZAUT / ZFIN / ZGEN / ZINN / ZINT

ESG: ESGA / ESGB / ESGE / ESGG / ESGY / XESG / XSAB / XSEA / XSTB / XSUS

Mantle
May 15, 2004

I just got an unsecured LOC from Tangerine at bank prime (currently 2.45%). This is the lowest I've ever seen for unsecured revolving credit.

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

Is there a go-to ETF which provides a monthly income/dividend yield.. preferably in the 6-7% range?

I am aware of VRIF, but maybe something with a little, but not tons of risk over it for the higher yield?

Sputnik
Jul 21, 2003

I felt like a ninja, and my kung-fu was strong.

FIE is my go-to, but just remember that high dividend ETFs run the risk of eating their own out.

qhat
Jul 6, 2015


Keep in mind there isn’t really a good reason to invest in dividend stocks over ones that don’t pay. The day a dividend is paid out, the price of the stock falls by exactly the amount of the dividend. There is also no reason to believe that a stock that pays a dividend is any safer than a stock that doesn’t, despite what you might read in the globe and mail who are obsessed with dividend stocks for no good reason.

Mantle
May 15, 2004

qhat posted:

Keep in mind there isn’t really a good reason to invest in dividend stocks over ones that don’t pay. The day a dividend is paid out, the price of the stock falls by exactly the amount of the dividend. There is also no reason to believe that a stock that pays a dividend is any safer than a stock that doesn’t, despite what you might read in the globe and mail who are obsessed with dividend stocks for no good reason.

Is this not a good reason, assuming one could find a fund with eligible dividends?

https://financialpost.com/personal-finance/you-can-earn-50k-in-tax-free-dividends-but-theres-a-catch-you-cant-have-a-job

qhat
Jul 6, 2015



I don’t really know about this. I’m assuming expected returns from a strategy like this is not as clear cut as it seems, like federal tax credits in dividends is explicitly supposed to avoid double taxation (since dividends are paid out post corp tax). How does the expected returns of this strategy compare to a company returning earnings to shareholders through share buy backs (which is pre-tax I think?). Also, what is the riskiness of this strategy as opposed to investing more broadly in non dividend paying stocks and hence being more diversified? I feel less diversification is worse if you’re trying to get higher returns for less risk. I don’t have the answer to these questions though, I automatically assume there is no free lunch and the tax savings are probably already priced into the stock, I’d be interested to see some research or data on this though.

Mantle
May 15, 2004

My naive calculus is that in order to get an equivalent of $50k after tax in taxable capital gains, you only are paying an average of around 5% tax (simple tax calculator on mobile). I guess the drag on a dividend only portfolio could exceed 5% but I guess in order to make it worth it, the strategy would have to be 1) live on $50k income and 2) perform better than 0.95 of a standard indexed portfolio?

I think that there might be an edge case here where the dividend strategy would be better.

Mantle fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Jun 2, 2021

qhat
Jul 6, 2015


I’d be wary about any strategy that specifically targets dividends, especially in the 6-7% range which is bordering on the more junky stocks. I assume people get these dividend paying portfolios because it feels like a replacement to fixed income, but more often than not those returns are a result of taking a lot more risk than the person probably realizes. Like VDY is the vanguard high yield dividend ETF, but it comprises of only 40 companies, the vast majority of which are Canadian banks. This is obviously not well diversified and certainly not a replacement for fixed income.

Regarding the eligible dividend tax credits, I still feel if there is a benefit to holding those stocks then it would represent an opportunity and it would evaporate pretty quickly as people bid up the price of the security. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable betting on it making some extra alpha on the tax savings alone without a lot of data to back it up.

qhat fucked around with this message at 08:56 on May 31, 2021

Arc Hammer
Mar 4, 2013

Got any deathsticks?
On Pokeyman's recommendation I'm crossposting from the CanPol thread. Partly my frustration at how bad government websites are to navigate and deal with government websites and partly my frustration at how student loan repayments keep derailing any attempts I make to save money and maybe actually spend it on things beyond necessities.

Dunno if there's a more appropriate thread for this. I absolutely hate navigating government websites. I'm out $500 this morning because of the national student loans website, which somehow gave me maybe four different responses that were each wrong.

So I'm repaying student loans and I've been using the repayment assistance plan. My last six months expired at the end of April so I reapplied. Now what is supposed to happen is when your application is being processed, your payments are frozen until your application is approved or refused. Not that this really matters because I'm set up for direct deposit.

Anyways, after two weeks in May where it wouldn't even let me reapply for RAP because it thought I had another application on file I finally got my application submitted. Then I received an email from NSLSC addressed to another applicant with the wrong reference number saying there were going to be processing delays. Then i checked the website again and saw my application had been rejected because I have outstanding payments. Payments that should have been frozen while the application was being processed. So I drop $500 to clear my late payments and I try to reapply, only for the website to tell me that I can't start a new application while my current application is being processed. The application that I just checked and was told had been refused.

I never received an email telling me the status of my application, my NSLSC account inbox hasn't sent me any notifications, I got someone else's email about their account payments and I'm out $500 just to put my repayment back in good standing because government websites are run by chimpanzees. Either they should hire more people to actually have human eyes read over application s or they should fire whatever programmer automated their websites.

I dont make that much money so a $500 payment on top of my other expenses like rent and food isn't something I'm too keen on unless I never want to take a vacation or travel before I'm 40. It's been pissing me off all morning.

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

Ugh that sounds terrible. I've never had to deal with student loans thankfully but it sounds like you are mixed up with someone elses account?

Hopefully you can actually talk to someone? I'm getting premonitions of those other stories when hear about someone who is declared dead but they aren't and it's a gong-show to fix.

Cyril Sneer
Aug 8, 2004

Life would be simple in the forest except for Cyril Sneer. And his life would be simple except for The Raccoons.
Struggling to understand how exactly one goes about getting a mortgage (pre-?) approval.

I called my bank (CIBC) and told them I was interested, and was directed to their pre-approval department. Spoke to a guy - he asked me some questions - then informed me they could offer a laughably tiny amount. He then informed me that if I wanted to proceed, he'd forward me some documents for email signature. I politely declined.

I mentioned this to my friend (who has purchased multiple properties) who laughed and said (to paraphrase) "they're not going to give a good offer to someone just walking in off the street / the final amount isn't determined until your financials get looked at by their underwriters [which didn't happen, since I was never asked to submit anything]"

So this just leaves me even more confused. Is there some incantation I'm supposed to utter to get the "real" offer? Would it be more fruitful going through something like Nesto?

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Cyril Sneer posted:

Struggling to understand how exactly one goes about getting a mortgage (pre-?) approval.

I called my bank (CIBC) and told them I was interested, and was directed to their pre-approval department. Spoke to a guy - he asked me some questions - then informed me they could offer a laughably tiny amount. He then informed me that if I wanted to proceed, he'd forward me some documents for email signature. I politely declined.

I mentioned this to my friend (who has purchased multiple properties) who laughed and said (to paraphrase) "they're not going to give a good offer to someone just walking in off the street / the final amount isn't determined until your financials get looked at by their underwriters [which didn't happen, since I was never asked to submit anything]"

So this just leaves me even more confused. Is there some incantation I'm supposed to utter to get the "real" offer? Would it be more fruitful going through something like Nesto?

No, what you went through was their pre-approval, essentially. It's basically the same thing as what's on their mortgage affordability calculator on their website, FWIW. It is true that the final amount isn't determined until you get the financials officially looked at, and generally they can probably find a little bit of leeway here and there if you really need it, but essentially the number they gave you will be what you can afford.

Also the actual rate they'll give you doesn't matter for approval purposes, the pre-approval amount has to follow the stress test to make sure you can repay at a higher rate.

That said, I'd recommend going to a mortgage broker and seeing what they can do for you if you're considering buying a place and you're not happy with the amount CIBC says you can borrow. You might get the same from everywhere else, but you never know.

Cyril Sneer
Aug 8, 2004

Life would be simple in the forest except for Cyril Sneer. And his life would be simple except for The Raccoons.

HookShot posted:

No, what you went through was their pre-approval, essentially. It's basically the same thing as what's on their mortgage affordability calculator on their website, FWIW. It is true that the final amount isn't determined until you get the financials officially looked at, and generally they can probably find a little bit of leeway here and there if you really need it, but essentially the number they gave you will be what you can afford.

Also the actual rate they'll give you doesn't matter for approval purposes, the pre-approval amount has to follow the stress test to make sure you can repay at a higher rate.

That said, I'd recommend going to a mortgage broker and seeing what they can do for you if you're considering buying a place and you're not happy with the amount CIBC says you can borrow. You might get the same from everywhere else, but you never know.

I actually used their online calculator. The phone offer I received was a like 1/3rd of what the calculator indicated.

Pivo
Aug 20, 2004


That’s strange. Maybe there was a miscommunication. My recent experience is that the amount offered is literally just the debt service ratio calculation. The differences between lenders is in the rates and pre-payment allowances, early termination penalties and things like that - at least in my experience but that seemed to be the common wisdom. 1/3 means one of you is waaaay off.

Edit: I second going with a brokerage. I used CanWise, the volume brokerage owned by RateHub. People said you don’t get good service with a volume brokerage but my guy had serious fast reply game. YMMV. TD didn’t even return my request for a phone call (well, I clicked a button on EasyWeb, not exactly high touch) but my broker arranged my pre approval with them, lol.

Pivo fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jun 9, 2021

Sheeple
Nov 1, 2011

Cyril Sneer posted:

Struggling to understand how exactly one goes about getting a mortgage (pre-?) approval.

Like others are saying talk to a broker. We just went through this exact same confusion ourselves.

They'll be able to tell you almost exactly how much you'd qualify for based on your finances and can shop around to get you a good rate when you finally need the actual mortgage.

Then you get to stress about appraisals, yay.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
Yeah, that is weird. When I did it (at CIBC) the guy literally did it on the calculator online because he liked the graphs it spat out, and then punched the numbers into the official backend system to get exactly the same figure for the official preapproval.

Honey Im Homme
Sep 3, 2009

Talk to a broker and if they're not upfront about their servcies being free to you(in most cases), or are pushy with insurance, find another broker.

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

Honey Im Homme posted:

Talk to a broker and if they're not upfront about their servcies being free to you(in most cases), or are pushy with insurance, find another broker.

Sheeple posted:

Like others are saying talk to a broker. We just went through this exact same confusion ourselves.

HookShot posted:

That said, I'd recommend going to a mortgage broker and seeing what they can do for you if you're considering buying a place and you're not happy with the amount CIBC says you can borrow. You might get the same from everywhere else, but you never know.

n'thing

Cyril Sneer
Aug 8, 2004

Life would be simple in the forest except for Cyril Sneer. And his life would be simple except for The Raccoons.
Alright thanks, I'll try my luck with a broker instead.

large hands
Jan 24, 2006

Cyril Sneer posted:

Alright thanks, I'll try my luck with a broker instead.

We're working with a Verico broker right now and they're great. Based on your income and assets they'll very quickly let you know what you can get, then walk you through supporting documents you'll need when you decide to take it further. They'll typically be able to recommend lawyers etc. too, if you don't have one already.

VelociBacon
Dec 8, 2009

Is it true that I could put 12k into an RRSP today and claim 6k contribution on this year's taxes and 6k on the next year's taxes? I've never heard of this kind of thing being alright with the CRA but a family member is telling me it's the case.

Square Peg
Nov 11, 2008

Yes, though you still have to have 12k worth of RRSP contribution space.

xtal
Jan 9, 2011

by Fluffdaddy
Could be wrong here but I believe you have to report the contributions, the thing is that you can claim the deduction (actually using it to reduce your income) at a later point.

Cold on a Cob
Feb 6, 2006

i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually

College Slice
Yeah, I'm almost certain they mean when you claim the deduction and you have to have the contribution room. There's a small grace amount for overcontribution but i think it's only 2k and you don't get the deduction for it.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

xtal posted:

Could be wrong here but I believe you have to report the contributions, the thing is that you can claim the deduction (actually using it to reduce your income) at a later point.

This is correct.

VelociBacon
Dec 8, 2009

Square Peg posted:

Yes, though you still have to have 12k worth of RRSP contribution space.


xtal posted:

Could be wrong here but I believe you have to report the contributions, the thing is that you can claim the deduction (actually using it to reduce your income) at a later point.

Thanks guys. If I understand correctly that I can contribute up to 18% of my last year's earnings, then I have some space above the 12k. I largely neglect my RRSP in favor of TFSA contributions (work in healthcare, have the govt pension) so I also have a lot of contribution room carried over from previous years.

So I report the contribution but claim only 6k this year and 6k next year. Thanks for the clarification on the terminology.

Nofeed
Sep 14, 2008

VelociBacon posted:

Thanks guys. If I understand correctly that I can contribute up to 18% of my last year's earnings, then I have some space above the 12k. I largely neglect my RRSP in favor of TFSA contributions (work in healthcare, have the govt pension) so I also have a lot of contribution room carried over from previous years.

So I report the contribution but claim only 6k this year and 6k next year. Thanks for the clarification on the terminology.

Posting the obligatory "RRSPs are more confounding than you previously thought" link.

TLDR; deferring your deduction is almost never worth it, estimate how much you will want to deduct for the year and make that your contribution. There's a good spreadsheet on the website you can use to model different strategies with break-even points helpfully calculated etc. There are a lot of weird things like the child/workers benefits that can be minmaxed for by way of RRSP contributions as well.

VelociBacon
Dec 8, 2009

Nofeed posted:

Posting the obligatory "RRSPs are more confounding than you previously thought" link.

TLDR; deferring your deduction is almost never worth it, estimate how much you will want to deduct for the year and make that your contribution. There's a good spreadsheet on the website you can use to model different strategies with break-even points helpfully calculated etc. There are a lot of weird things like the child/workers benefits that can be minmaxed for by way of RRSP contributions as well.

I'll read this - thanks.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

Forgot how good this link was. I think the last time you (?) posted it I got hung up on some particular point and missed the well done explanation at the start.

Cold on a Cob
Feb 6, 2006

i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually

College Slice

Nofeed posted:

Posting the obligatory "RRSPs are more confounding than you previously thought" link.

TLDR; deferring your deduction is almost never worth it, estimate how much you will want to deduct for the year and make that your contribution. There's a good spreadsheet on the website you can use to model different strategies with break-even points helpfully calculated etc. There are a lot of weird things like the child/workers benefits that can be minmaxed for by way of RRSP contributions as well.

Spousal rrsps are also like the one above board way to income split so don't forget they exist if you and your spouse have wildly different incomes.

MrAmazing
Jun 21, 2005

pokeyman posted:

Forgot how good this link was. I think the last time you (?) posted it I got hung up on some particular point and missed the well done explanation at the start.

Great link, but there are definitely some assumptions that should be challenged to determine if they apply to the reader. For instance, using median/average incomes or saying future tax rates cannot be predicted both suspect in certain circumstances. The population of "all income earners" isn't necessarily the population that uses RRSPs heavily (or, I'd expect, the population reading that post). For certain subsets of the population (trades apprentices, white collar professionals starting out etc.) the spread between income now and in the future can be predicted with enough reliability that certain advice, such as "start with a TFSA and contribute to the RRSP when you're established", can be useful.

Most critically, this type of analysis also assumes each dollar has the same utility for the recipient when it discusses the impact on tax rates. RRSPs have a significant hedging effect against poor retirement outcomes. Consider the following scenario (grossly oversimplified using made up rates to make this easy to follow).

I make a medium income and contribute $100k at 30% tax rate. There are three possible retirement scenarios. I'm high income and paying 45% tax on my withdrawal, I'm medium income and paying 30% tax on my withdrawal or I'm low income and paying 15% tax on my withdrawal. What gets missed in the math is that if I'm low income the $15k is more important to me than $15k is if I'm high income. It could be the difference between paying rent and eating (low income) v. driving a nicer car in retirement (high income).

RRSPs also have additional protections in bankruptcy and are more commonly considered in tax treaties with other countries. If there is a reasonable chance of working or living in a foreign country before you retire or have a long time frame to retirement this can have an additional benefit for you.

There are also a few technical issues. Last I checked people were able set up automated RRSP deposits and have withholdings on your pay adjusted to reflect them, avoiding the time value of money issue around contributing the refund.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.
I believe all of those points are mentioned in the two pages about RRSPs on that site (there's more than one), though as you say any individual's particular circumstance won't be emphasized over the median/average. Fortunately, that site provides the tools (often literally, as spreadsheets) to apply its teachings to one's own situation.

I'm also still turned off by the author's tone. "I've sent this webpage to everyone who's written an academic paper on the subject and nobody has mounted an effective challenge!!" could mean buddy's got it right, or it could mean their (no doubt politely-worded) email found the spam folder. Would be nice to have the useful info without the massive chip on the shoulder, but at least they're sharing I guess!

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
I've skimmed through the thread and I think I'm on the right track, but can I get a quick confirmation? I became a Canadian permanent resident a few years ago and have been saving some cash up over the last few (horrible) years. My bank's 'savings' account is a complete joke so need to get that doing something useful asap.

I have just enough investing knowledge to know how little I know. I have very little free time and realistically won't have time to actively manage things. In the past, I seem to have gotten a decent return on investment with a handful of managed funds in Australia (mostly Vanguard), so EFT or similar managed funds are my best option (I think). I was kind of surprised to find Canadians can't open a Vanguard account here so It looks like I need to open an EFT trading account.

My plan is: Open Questrade account, dump the majority of saved cash in one or two appropriate EFTs and maybe put a very small amount in stocks for speculative investing gambling. Then going forward continue dumping most savings into EFTs until I can afford to buy a house. I have a bit of money in RRSP's and might put in more depending on level of income. Broadly speaking, is this a not-terrible idea?

Outrail fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jun 28, 2021

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.
Do you have an emergency fund? I keep ~6 months' expenses in a bank account (a "high interest savings account" works, check out https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/chart/) so I can avoid going into debt or selling investments at a bad time to cover unexpected costs/lack of income.

If you're investing in stocks to buy a house anytime soon, be prepared to delay your house purchase by a few years. You can expect your portfolio to take a dump or two every decade, and if that happens at an inopportune time it can take years to recover. If you can't be that flexible, you'll need to settle for lower return to take away the variation.

In general, if you have TFSA room (not sure how that works for permanent residents, can maybe check via your CRA account?), that's usually the best place to put money away. Don't worry about the name, you can invest within a TFSA. It's better than an RRSP because you get the room back when you withdraw, plus all the other reasons you can read about in that link a few posts upthread. Look into the home buyer's plan to temporarily take up to $25k (?) out of your RRSP without losing the contribution room.

You mean ETF (exchange-traded fund); EFT is for moving cash between accounts (electronic funds transfer). An "asset allocation ETF" is a single convenient, cheap fund that's thoroughly diversified: look into VCIP, VCNS, VBAL, VGRO, and VEQT from Vanguard or XINC, XCNS, XBAL, XGRO, and XEQT from iShares. (You would pick only one of those, there's not much point mixing multiple.) And yes, you'll need a brokerage account to buy the shares. Questrade has commission-free buys and relatively cheap sells. Weathsimple Trade charges no commission in either direction. I use Questrade because Wealthsimple Trade didn't exist when I got started, but if I was starting today I'd probably go Wealthsimple Trade. (Wealthsimple Invest is basically a more expensive version of the funds I listed above, though it is a bit easier to execute.)

By all means ask for any clarification on any of the above! And I'm sure others will chime in with other ideas or if I've said something dumb.

RuBisCO
May 1, 2009

This is definitely not a lie



Hi thread,

I would love to also ask for a peer review on my current financial situation and plans. I do really, really apologize if this comes across as humble bragging or something, I truly don't mean it, but I've only started being financially responsible in like 2018 so something like a "am I on the right track" would be lovely.

I'm in my early 30s. I have my TFSA maxed and currently investing towards my RRSP, both are with Wealthsimple's Invest platform. I have a DB pension from work, so I only have about 12k of room left. That said, I kind of only started investing in my RRSP for lack of a more defined goal, though I realize achieving untaxed exponential growth is still ideal. I contribute about 1k every month to my registered funds, and hopefully I max out my RRSP by the end of next year.

I have a mortgage with ~180k left on a 2.39% term for another 3.5 years. I was waffling between contributing to my RRSP or paying off my mortgage, but figured 2.39% is relatively low rate anyways. I have no debts otherwise, save for a small car loan.

My emergency fund is a bit, uh, pathetic, only covering about 2 months or so of living costs. It's also just an undefined pile that I plan to use for vacations and stuff too. My job is ultra secure (knock on wood) and I don't have any dependents or anything so I figured I'd be okay. That said, I recently got a short-term pay bump so I hope to shore it up a bit. I know this super isn't the point, but with savings accounts interest rates cratering, fiscally responsible people just feel punished more than anything else.

I plan to top off my registered funds every year. After, I suppose I would split my remaining income between paying off my mortgage faster and short term goals like vacations (at like 2025, or never, at this rate). I want to have 10k in a HISA that I would use as a combination emergency fund/vacation fund that I keep at 10k. Ideally, I would like to move to a larger place but I live in Metro Vancouver and that feels hopeless.

I don't really know how much to save for retirement. I have no idea what income I'd need because it's so far off into the future and I don't know what an inflation is. I hope to get at least one more promotion in my career that would put my pension in retirement at ~70k annually.

How does it all sound? My biggest questions are:

1) Should I keep contributing to my RRSP and max it out every year? My pension will give me a nice income in retirement, but I figured the untaxed growth in an RRSP on the way there is still really valuable. I'm not too concerned about being taxed in retirement because honestly at that point I'd probably deserve it.

2) What should my priorities be after maxing out my registered funds per year? Should I make lump sum payments towards my mortgage or, something else? I don't think an unregistered fund is necessary for my retirement, right?

3) Am I contributing too much to my registered funds? 1k a month is achievable for me, though it doesn't give me much room for short term goals. I started investing late for my age, so I've been heckbent on overcompensating to make up for it. However, I wonder now if I'm saving too much and I'm not really enjoying my life on the way to retirement. Though COVID means I don't really have anything to do at the moment, anyways.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

To be concise:

Yes, I try to keep 6 months available in some form of relativity stable form (cash, bank balance etc)

I'm not super obsessed with home ownership, but given the way real estate and rent is going in my area it'll be a nesessity at some point, but yeah that's a good point. I'll have to think about that one, I can be a little opportunistic about. When that happens.

ETF, yes. Not EFT.

I haven't actually researched which Vanguard ETF I'll go with. Not sure how it goes up here but in the past I had a 50/split between a more stable mutual fund and a slightly my more volatile Australian shares fund. I'll be looking for something similar here.

TFSA, I know one site said that it was only eligible for citizens. I'll be looking into that a little closer but I read it had a $6k max and I'll probably be looking to do something with a little more than that.

I'll look at wealthsimple. Really I just want to buy the ETF and dump more cash into it every month/few months until I have something better to do with it. So commission and fees are really my only major concern.

Thank you for the advice, sounds like I'm not making huge mistakes just yet.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

RuBisCO posted:

I'm in my early 30s. I have my TFSA maxed and currently investing towards my RRSP, both are with Wealthsimple's Invest platform. I have a DB pension from work, so I only have about 12k of room left. That said, I kind of only started investing in my RRSP for lack of a more defined goal, though I realize achieving untaxed exponential growth is still ideal. I contribute about 1k every month to my registered funds, and hopefully I max out my RRSP by the end of next year.

That's fantastic! I know exactly what you mean by not wanting this to sound like a humblebrag, there's very few people in real life at whom I'd feel comfortable blurting out "I've used all my registered account room!". This thread is a great place to do that.

quote:

My emergency fund is a bit, uh, pathetic, only covering about 2 months or so of living costs. It's also just an undefined pile that I plan to use for vacations and stuff too.

That's not enough emergency fund for me personally, but I'm pretty sure there's people in this thread who hold less and intend to rely on lines of credit or similar to handle the unexpected. If it worries you, maybe pause the RRSP contributions and bulk it up. If it doesn't worry you, maybe it's fine! Just think about how you might handle money surprises. Big unexpected car repair the same week as your sibling hits you up for a loan and you just can't say no, and the washing machine ate itself last week so the new one's already on the credit card? Try to get creative. The plan doesn't have to be "I pay for everything, immediately, from my emergency fund" but it's good to think about it.

And it's entirely up to you how you organize things. No harm with an undifferentiated pile if you're keeping it straight in your head. I keep my emergency fund at a different bank than my everyday account so it's generally out of mind, but that also makes me less likely to use it for its stated purpose, so it's a tradeoff.

quote:

1) Should I keep contributing to my RRSP and max it out every year?

I would. (Though I don't have a DB pension.)

quote:

2) What should my priorities be after maxing out my registered funds per year? Should I make lump sum payments towards my mortgage or, something else? I don't think an unregistered fund is necessary for my retirement, right?

What's the rate on the car loan? And given the choice between less mortgage and more savings, I think you can't lose. Maybe fiddle with a mortgage calculator and see how much debt you can shave off with extra payments, see how that feels?

Once you're out of registered space and you're ok with your debt situation, an unregistered account is the obvious next step. Honestly, off the top of my head, it doesn't sound necessary on top of a pension and a fully invested TFSA+RRSP. But the only way to make a good guess is to figure out what you'll spend in retirement and whether your pension + registered savings will allow for that spending.

quote:

3) Am I contributing too much to my registered funds? 1k a month is achievable for me, though it doesn't give me much room for short term goals. I started investing late for my age, so I've been heckbent on overcompensating to make up for it. However, I wonder now if I'm saving too much and I'm not really enjoying my life on the way to retirement. Though COVID means I don't really have anything to do at the moment, anyways.

I would say you are not contributing too much, but I'm a saver with fairly inexpensive hobbies and no dependents. If you're depriving yourself or your family (and think about that personally, don't try to compare yourself to friends, coworkers, or some vague sense average/typical Canadian) then maybe it is too much. It's a really hard question to answer. All I can really offer is I don’t think it's too little.

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pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

Outrail posted:

Yes, I try to keep 6 months available in some form of relativity stable form (cash, bank balance etc)

Excellent!

quote:

I haven't actually researched which Vanguard ETF I'll go with. Not sure how it goes up here but in the past I had a 50/split between a more stable mutual fund and a slightly my more volatile Australian shares fund. I'll be looking for something similar here.

The asset allocation funds I listed hold varying proportions of bonds and stocks, automatically rebalanced. All of their stock components approximate the whole world market. More bonds should mean less variation. Vanguard Canada has a bunch of other passive funds, so you can assemble all kinds of portfolios on the cheap.

For what it's worth, Canadian mutual funds are almost universally expensive garbage. The only ones to consider are TD e-Series funds, which are slightly more expensive market cap-weighted index funds like those asset allocation funds and most of the other offerings from Vanguard.

quote:

TFSA, I know one site said that it was only eligible for citizens. I'll be looking into that a little closer but I read it had a $6k max and I'll probably be looking to do something with a little more than that.

With the caveat that I know nothing, CRA says

quote:

Any individual who is 18 years of age or older and who has a valid social insurance number (SIN) is eligible to open a TFSA.
so definitely check it out. You get ~$6000 of room each year you're a resident and at least 18 years old, and tax-free profit can't be beat. CRA can tell you exactly how much room you have if you're not sure, they're quite friendly on the phone.

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