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Alright, there's a couple that operate heavily around here in residential stuff in around the bracket I'm looking at so I'll grab a bit of each and stay around that 20%, maybe pad the rest with ZAG? Assuming this weird volatility in bonds isn't gonna hang around much longer.
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Jun 9, 2023 17:01
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Turbo Fondant posted:Alright, there's a couple that operate heavily around here in residential stuff in around the bracket I'm looking at so I'll grab a bit of each and stay around that 20%, maybe pad the rest with ZAG? Assuming this weird volatility in bonds isn't gonna hang around much longer. If you are following an index investing strategy, your allocation shouldn't depend on what is currently happening in a particular asset class.
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Jun 9, 2023 22:17
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In 2012ish, I bought some oil ETFs because I was annoyed at how expensive gas was. In retrospect, it didn't work out super well.
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Jun 10, 2023 01:09
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Does anyone have any guides for RESP's? My cousin had his first child a few months ago, and after talking to the kid's mom (at his dad's funeral, unfortunately) I suggested an RESP. Unfortunately other than the basics of how they work (after-tax income, attribution to beneficiary, up to 20% grant, etc.), I was really drawing a blank on how to actually set one up and how the investment itself fundamentally works. I mean, Questrade offers them, but the strategy of needing money for a 4-year period in about 18 years is different than someone like me who is looking to continually build a portfolio for the next 30-40+ years and draw down on it.
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Jun 30, 2023 17:59
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My wife and I got one for our kid through Canadian Scholarship Trust and they were very helpful. They sent someone to our house to answer all our questions.
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Jun 30, 2023 18:35
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I just tried to open up RESPs for my nieces and nephews and they really don’t make it easy if you aren’t the primary caregiver. Going to just do savings accounts and give the money to the parents every year.
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Jun 30, 2023 19:07
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My resp strat is self directed through questrade. 2500/year for 13 or 14 years to max 20% match, all piled into an all-in-one 80/20 growth index. It'll be ballpark worth-ish 80k by the time they'll need it which is enough to have some options. Drawdown methods and equity allocation TBD as life happens.
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Jun 30, 2023 19:24
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Subjunctive posted:I just tried to open up RESPs for my nieces and nephews and they really don’t make it easy if you aren’t the primary caregiver. Going to just do savings accounts and give the money to the parents every year. That is essentially my plan. I just thought I'd give them some advice for free money given how often that side of my family complains that the government/Trudeau takes money from them. Guest2553 posted:My resp strat is self directed through questrade. 2500/year for 13 or 14 years to max 20% match, all piled into an all-in-one 80/20 growth index. It'll be ballpark worth-ish 80k by the time they'll need it which is enough to have some options. Drawdown methods and equity allocation TBD as life happens. If it were my kids, that's what I do, but I'm worried that neither my cousin nor his girlfriend are that savvy to really trust it. I'm just trying to avoid the headache I had when my his mom decided she was going to "invest" some cash for her other son. No idea what he would need the money for, or how long to keep it, etc. but all she knew is that she wanted no risk. "What do you mean it lost money?" "Well, it's like, a 90% bond fund and interest rates are incredibly low right now..." (this was back in, like, 2018).
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Jun 30, 2023 19:34
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Gotcha. The account is still yours strictly speaking, you're just setting someone else's kid up as the beneficiary so the broad process is the same. I could see some brokerages/agencies making it difficult so it depends on how much  you want to put into family-proofing the money. CRA would be looking out for contributions over the individual limit of 50k too, but it sounds like that isn't a huge factor for you.
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Jun 30, 2023 19:40
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McGavin posted:My wife and I got one for our kid through Canadian Scholarship Trust and they were very helpful. They sent someone to our house to answer all our questions. We're also with CST, but know there's a big penalty in if you withdraw early (you pay the expenses upfront when you withdraw). You're also really relying on people leaving the plan early and getting to claim a portion of their fees for the bonus. If so you're good locking in, paying something each month and the morals of benifiting from people who withdrew then it's a solid option. They explain this all very clearly in their sales pitch, but people still act surprised and run to the media when the withdraw after 5 years and get nothing.
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Jun 30, 2023 20:04
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Guest2553 posted:My resp strat is self directed through questrade. 2500/year for 13 or 14 years to max 20% match, all piled into an all-in-one 80/20 growth index. It'll be ballpark worth-ish 80k by the time they'll need it which is enough to have some options. Drawdown methods and equity allocation TBD as life happens. This is also what I would do ideally. Set up the cheapest possible brokerage account, then either put in $2500 as a lump sum every year, or $210 a month and buy VGRO.TO. This is Vanguard’s 80/20 ETF. Contributing more than $2500 per year is certainly an option, but past that point the government doesn’t contribute anything so you might get a better bang for your leftover bucks from topping up your TFSA or RRSP instead. As you get closer to the child’s 18th birthday you might start phasing in a higher fixed income allocation by switching to VBAL or something even more conservative. You have lots of time to figure it out. My kid’s RESP is through our bank and currently in a costly mutual fund. It’s a major hassle to change it to a self-directed account once you get going, so it’s a sunk cost as far as I’m concerned. I wouldn’t do that again.
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Jun 30, 2023 20:28
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mojo1701a posted:Does anyone have any guides for RESP's? My cousin had his first child a few months ago, and after talking to the kid's mom (at his dad's funeral, unfortunately) I suggested an RESP. Unfortunately other than the basics of how they work (after-tax income, attribution to beneficiary, up to 20% grant, etc.), I was really drawing a blank on how to actually set one up and how the investment itself fundamentally works. Here's a good video /.blog post combo if you go the self directed route: https://youtu.be/y70GqxHj8WY https://www.canadianportfoliomanagerblog.com/how-to-invest-your-resp/
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Jul 1, 2023 00:45
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One of our clients called the office all agitated because the CRA sent an assessment that she had overcontributed to her TFSA. Turns out she came to Canada less than 10 years ago so she didn't have all the contribution room that you can get. I don't know if this is kind of thing whatever advisor would have asked, but  . Guess that's one of the perils of my job. I want to tell them they should have checked their notice of assessment first where it specifically lists their contribution room (with a huge caveat), but I know full well the vast majority of people don't know poo poo about this and rely on someone to tell them. When I told her what any of this meant, she just said, "But it's tax free" a couple of times. Reminder: it's 1% per month for every month where it's over (based on the maximum balance in that month), and this is just the 2022 assessment. Unless she calls the CRA to get it forgiven, she's going to owe even more. Ouch. Oh, and she wants my boss to call on her behalf, even though she knows that he's retiring and she needs to find a new accountant. I don't know if he'll end up billing her for this or not. Honey Im Homme posted:Here's a good video /.blog post combo if you go the self directed route: Sorry for the late reply, but thanks. I'm going to bookmark this. I found out the kid's christening is in October or something, so that's a decent amount of time to go through this before I see them again.
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Jul 26, 2023 22:17
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I had an advisor mess up and cost me some TFSA over contribution penalties, it sucked.
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Jul 26, 2023 22:22
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My overcontribution story fortunately only resulted in writing the CRA a cheque for a buck twenty five-ish. Broker fed me bad dope about settlement prices when making a transfer in kind.
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Jul 26, 2023 22:33
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You definitely can get leniency from the CRA. I over-contributed to my TFSA over 2 tax seasons, and sent a letter of apology (and also a payment cheque just in case) when doing taxes each year. In both cases, they did cash the cheque at first, but eventually refunded me the penalty amount.
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Jul 26, 2023 23:31
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tragic_ethos posted:You definitely can get leniency from the CRA. I over-contributed to my TFSA over 2 tax seasons, and sent a letter of apology (and also a payment cheque just in case) when doing taxes each year. In both cases, they did cash the cheque at first, but eventually refunded me the penalty amount. Yeah, from the stories I remember reading, the CRA is most likely to be lenient on TFSA over-contribution. Her being a recent immigrant for whom English is a second language can only help. Still, she's just one of those clients that can never slow down and is always agitated, and my boss is not going to be happy that he has to deal with her again. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
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Jul 27, 2023 00:35
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Maybe if your boss was better at their work they wouldn't be in this position? Imagine being new to a country and your first tax year you feel like the govt is already mad at you for something.
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Jul 27, 2023 01:15
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VelociBacon posted:Maybe if your boss was better at their work they wouldn't be in this position? Imagine being new to a country and your first tax year you feel like the govt is already mad at you for something. This wasn’t her first year. She’s been here like a decade. It’s kind of hard to stop someone from doing this kind of thing if they don’t tell us. We’re not financial advisors. From what I heard this morning, the bank convinced her to put some extra money that was in her trust into another TFSA that they set up. Also: gently caress you. My boss knows what he’s doing. It’s the nature of dealing with clients.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:44
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mojo1701a posted:This wasn’t her first year. She’s been here like a decade. It’s kind of hard to stop someone from doing this kind of thing if they don’t tell us. We’re not financial advisors. I wish my dad loved me as much as you love your boss! Anyways not here to argue and whine, sucks for that person, they have every right to be upset, hope you get it sorted.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:47
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mojo1701a posted:Also: gently caress you. VelociBacon posted:I wish my dad loved me as much as you love your boss! wait, fights in the CANADA thread?? I finally get to use a letterkenny reference let's take about 20% off there
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Jul 28, 2023 15:47
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pmchem posted:wait, fights in the CANADA thread?? I finally get to use a letterkenny reference Sorry aboot that, bud.
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Jul 28, 2023 16:56
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Have I asked this before? Has anyone done an in-depth sort of review on Canadian credit cards to tell which one gives the best bang for your buck? The cash back rates are pretty poor for Canadian credit cards, but I was wondering if people had looked at the point system to determine whether you could get over three to four percent on general purchases.
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Jul 31, 2023 22:08
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Toalpaz posted:Have I asked this before? Has anyone done an in-depth sort of review on Canadian credit cards to tell which one gives the best bang for your buck? The cash back rates are pretty poor for Canadian credit cards, but I was wondering if people had looked at the point system to determine whether you could get over three to four percent on general purchases. The government runs the following handy website: https://itools-ioutils.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/CCCT-OCCC/SearchFilter-eng.aspx?lang=eng Ratehub also has a good tool: https://www.ratehub.ca/credit-cards/cardfinder/card-type?MS-CTA-Test-2 There are a lot of people who have figured out how to exploit reward points and sign-up bonuses to take big trips and other stuff, but that’s another tier of information you often have to pay for. I think there are specific forums where people talk about it, and PDFs you can buy.
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Aug 2, 2023 01:44
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Toalpaz posted:Have I asked this before? Has anyone done an in-depth sort of review on Canadian credit cards to tell which one gives the best bang for your buck? The cash back rates are pretty poor for Canadian credit cards, but I was wondering if people had looked at the point system to determine whether you could get over three to four percent on general purchases. On top of the links above it also depends on what you mean by "bang for your buck". For me, personally, I get the most value from airline points, because I then redeem them with Aeroplan to get business class flights overseas. For me, that comes out to being more worth it than say, straight cash back. There are also hotels that can be redeemed at if you're a frequent road tripper, that sort of thing. A lot of sites will assign a dollar value to what a travel point is "worth" so it's worth looking at those as well.
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Aug 2, 2023 18:19
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Is keeping my emergency fund in a basic savings account a bad idea? I’ve always thought I should avoid investing it so that it’s immediately available in case of, you know, emergency, but maybe this is wasteful? I have room in my TFSA. I also have a line of credit that I’ve never used, which I’ve heard I should be “counting” as part of my emergency fund, but I’m not. One of the times I had to use this fund was when my car was towed and impounded and I had to show up, cash in hand in the middle of the night, to get it back so I could get home. (Note this was not my fault, this towing company was later sued by other people who could afford to.) That was leaner times. I think there’s a good amount in here now for my circumstances, but I’m not sure if I’m throwing money away having it sitting in cash like this. Maybe that’s just a loss you have to accept so you have the security of it being quick to get at?
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Aug 2, 2023 23:54
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kaom posted:Is keeping my emergency fund in a basic savings account a bad idea? I’ve always thought I should avoid investing it so that it’s immediately available in case of, you know, emergency, but maybe this is wasteful? I have room in my TFSA. I also have a line of credit that I’ve never used, which I’ve heard I should be “counting” as part of my emergency fund, but I’m not. I wouldn't count a LOC as part of my emergency fund, definitely not at face value. A high interest savings account is your best bet to get liquidity without substantial risk. If you have a large enough amount you could ladder GICs or similar to ensure you always have X maturing where that's say monthly expenses.The big banks are awful for HISA's. I use EQ bank but as I understand it there are others with even better rates now. If you are at a point where you have a bunch of room in your TFSA, and understand the timing of when you get that room back (and have the follow through to make adjustments as needed) it's absolutely fine to maximize that return with a TFSA. There are HISA TFSA options and cash accounts. Think about what you want the emergency fund for to help understand why you want liquidity. The classic example is job loss, so have x months expenses where x is how long you think you can get a new job in. Usually 3-6 months is the number recommended. This also happens to cover any unexpected costs like car breakdowns, but you want to be budgeting general maintenance and replacements separately. You can and should adjust the number of months to reflect your own risk tolerance, job prospects and security, general level of expense shocks you might expect (e.g. more can be good if you own a home), whether you want to count any loans available (don't), family support, and/or whatever else you personally feel you can rely on.
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Aug 3, 2023 00:05
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Seconding not counting the line of credit as an emergency fund, whoever told you that is a moron. It can be taken away at a moments notice, like for example when the bank gets nervous about people losing their jobs. If something might not be there in an emergency, then it’s not an emergency fund.
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Aug 3, 2023 00:10
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Toalpaz posted:Have I asked this before? Has anyone done an in-depth sort of review on Canadian credit cards to tell which one gives the best bang for your buck? The cash back rates are pretty poor for Canadian credit cards, but I was wondering if people had looked at the point system to determine whether you could get over three to four percent on general purchases. As others have echoed, it really depends what you want as your bang for you buck. I prefer travel credit cards - often have a decent signup bonus (~$100 - 150 of points) and fun perks (lounge access). Most of these cards are intended to have point redemption for travel (this includes nearly any transit) or entertainment (theme parks), but some offer straight up redemption for any cc purchase. I used to have the BMO World Elite due to the sign up bonus and the waived yearly fee, have since switched to Scotia Passport Infinite. Not as impressed with scotia as they rely on SCENE points which have less value than other rewards-centric point programs. Though this card does not charge ForEx fees which I like. Now if you're looking for cashback, my research looked towards sources outside the big 4 banks. HSBC had some great looking value if you qualified, though you may have to put in some phone calls to get that yearly fee waived. Also would suggest RateHub, GreedyRates or (less used) Nerd Wallet. I suspect they're all run by the same sources but worth a look!
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Aug 3, 2023 00:57
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I checked and they're all the same and also unless you funnel 20k+ a year through those bad boys you probably aren't making money back on typical more premium cards. I thought the AM Express ones would be a better value proposition, but I found them somewhat lacking as someone who doesn't travel. DeadMansSuspenders posted:Though this card does not charge ForEx fees which I like. I personally never trust claims like that, because there is a 'fee' called a spread that is often associated with currency exchange that usually isn't couched in the phrase fee. I haven't read any documents but I'm assuming they're still charging 2.5% both ways on currency conversion. ( Lets say market rate for a USD is 1.35, the bank buys your USD at 1.325 and sells you at 1.375, for people who don't get it.) Toalpaz fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Aug 3, 2023 |
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Aug 3, 2023 03:58
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Toalpaz posted:Have I asked this before? Has anyone done an in-depth sort of review on Canadian credit cards to tell which one gives the best bang for your buck? The cash back rates are pretty poor for Canadian credit cards, but I was wondering if people had looked at the point system to determine whether you could get over three to four percent on general purchases. How much work do you want to do? If you don't count your time, the highest return is churning through welcome bonuses (WB) and it's easy enough to beat your 3-4% hurdle rate. Keep an account at TD and rotate through their cards yearly, rotate through the Aeroplan cards, go through each Amex card once (there's now a lifetime once-per card WB limit so you can't repeat on the same card like you can on, for example TDs cards), follow what other promos come up. Sign up for card, use it for as long as it takes to hit the minimum spend for the WB, move onto the next. The average WB is $200, but can be up to ~$1000 of "value", depending. For "keeper" cards, it's hard to do better than ~2%, but it depends on what you value and something with Aeroplan card count be 7-8% if you were going to pay cash for business fares and ended up using points instead. If Amex works for you, the Cobalt card has 5x on a number of good categories. There's a lot of info in the credit card forum on RFD. I believe many of the interchange are being capped through regulation, so the "golden era" of WB and points in general may be behind us and we may end up like Europe where you get basically nothing back.
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Aug 3, 2023 04:22
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spoof posted:How much work do you want to do? If you don't count your time, the highest return is churning through welcome bonuses (WB) and it's easy enough to beat your 3-4% hurdle rate. Keep an account at TD and rotate through their cards yearly, rotate through the Aeroplan cards, go through each Amex card once (there's now a lifetime once-per card WB limit so you can't repeat on the same card like you can on, for example TDs cards), follow what other promos come up. Sign up for card, use it for as long as it takes to hit the minimum spend for the WB, move onto the next. The average WB is $200, but can be up to ~$1000 of "value", depending. honestly, it just feels morally wrong to hop around for welcome bonuses, although I could really use the 6x a year WB for all banks/cc. I feel like there's some way they must punish you for it eventually.
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Aug 3, 2023 04:36
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Anyone use Canadian Western Banks online subsidiary, Motive financial? They seem to have a good high interest savings rate (standard, everyday not promo). Only thing that seems bad with them is their app supposedly sucks rear end, but I don't use phone apps so it doesn't really bother me. I haven't really found much else about them. Anyone have experience with them?
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Aug 3, 2023 17:14
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Toalpaz posted:honestly, it just feels morally wrong to hop around for welcome bonuses, although I could really use the 6x a year WB for all banks/cc. I feel like there's some way they must punish you for it eventually. Don't feel bad for banks lmao, they're more like drug dealers giving you free tastes in the hope you get hooked on their supply. You might be able to Just Say No but the pusher don't care, it's the fiends subsidizing your hit. Guest2553 fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Aug 3, 2023 |
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Aug 3, 2023 17:34
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Jenkl posted:I wouldn't count a LOC as part of my emergency fund, definitely not at face value. qhat posted:Seconding not counting the line of credit as an emergency fund, whoever told you that is a moron. It can be taken away at a moments notice, like for example when the bank gets nervous about people losing their jobs. If something might not be there in an emergency, then it’s not an emergency fund. This advice felt suspect to me so I ignored it but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Thanks, now I have an answer if anyone brings it up again, which will hopefully keep them out of a risky situation too! Jenkl posted:If you have a large enough amount you could ladder GICs or similar to ensure you always have X maturing where that's say monthly expenses.The big banks are awful for HISA's. I use EQ bank but as I understand it there are others with even better rates now. These are interesting ideas. I’d never thought about laddering, that might be something I could work toward. Sounds like I should revisit how much is in there and figure out if this makes any sense for me. Wealthsimple also has a HISA with 4% that you can only access once you’ve deposited 100k with them. Maybe that’s a good long term goal, since I have an ETF there already? If the offer still exists by then lol.
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Aug 3, 2023 20:12
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I would just weigh the opportunity cost of not investing your emergency fund, vs the loss you might take selling stocks during a downturn. Look at 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc and consider the risks you face. Do you have a maxed out mortgage and no family support? Well, that's much more risky than renting somewhere with lots of family help. I think for some people, an emergency fund has more psychological benefit.
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Aug 3, 2023 20:38
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I'm not trying to put words in anyone's mouth, but a psychological benefit is a real benefit though, it's just harder to put a $$ to it and will have variable value to depending on the person. Someone who grew up dirt poor and had the misfortune of their family home repossessed by the bank might value owning a home mortgage/title free as the absolute primary driver for them... even if their mortgage rate was quite low and affordable and they could have made more money investing the money instead of prepaying their mortgage. Keeping a % of your portfolio in liquid cash in a vehicle that is *hopefully* earning more than inflation is a reasonable thing to do for diversifying. That could also be utilized as an emergency fund. kaom posted:Wealthsimple also has a HISA with 4% that you can only access once you’ve deposited 100k with them. Maybe that’s a good long term goal, since I have an ETF there already? If the offer still exists by then lol. Current best GICs rates Status: Still inverted.
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Aug 3, 2023 23:13
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slidebite posted:Anyone use Canadian Western Banks online subsidiary, Motive financial? I switched from EQB to Motive for a savings acct and you’ve hit the key points: the app is trash. I had to send a void cheque so that I could pull money to my chequing acct at another bank as well, it is definitely old software. The only other item is that there’s only 2 free withdrawal transactions per month, but this doesn’t impact me at all. But hey, 4.1% ain’t bad to put up with some minor inconvenience.
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Aug 6, 2023 20:28
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I have had a savings account at motive for years. I've had to contact them more than you'd expect, but they're an insured bank and all that so they don't worry me. Their website is pretty bad. I wouldn't use them for something I was regularly interacting with to do intricate things, but if you're just dumping money in periodically and letting it sit then it'll be fine. They consistently keep their rate high enough that it's in range of the best ones and have for a number of years, so it does what I need.
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Aug 7, 2023 21:04
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Just a quick question, I have a rrsp through an old workplace and a rrsp through my current workplace that are both run through the same brokerage. Should I call them to have the two accounts merged together? Just wondering if there's any pro/con to doing that aside from my budget sheet looking a little cleaner
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Aug 13, 2023 21:45
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