Typically, the biggest cost involved in buying stocks or ETFs listed in the US markets is the foreign exchange fees. Discount brokers typically charge 1.5% or more for converting Canadian dollars into US dollars or vice-versa. If you want to convert $10,000 Canadian into US Dollars, it will cost you at least $150 at your [...]
In Part 1 of this series, we examined the tracking error exhibited by the TD e-Series Canadian Bond Index Fund and the Canadian Index Fund and found that both funds track their respective benchmarks fairly well. In today’s post, we’ll look at the tracking error in the TD e-Series US Index fund and the International [...]
TD e-Series funds are popular holdings in many low-cost portfolios because the funds’ MERs are among the lowest for index mutual funds in Canada. We too own TD e-Series funds in our kids’ RESP accounts because, as I noted in earlier posts, these mutual funds are ideal for relatively smaller portfolios. However, I’ve never paid [...]
As you probably noticed, things look a little different around here. That’s because, I’m entering into a partnership with MoneySense magazine. I’m super excited about working together with MoneySense, the finest personal finance magazine in Canada, which as you know has long been a trusted source for advice on saving, planning, investing, retirement and real [...]
You have to pity the plight of the active investor as study after study demonstrates the merits of indexing for the average investor. But a recent column in the Globe & Mail by Dan Richards titled “Only the truly active fund managers lead the pack” provided many active investors an opportunity to taunt those in [...]
With the exit of Citizen’s Bank last year, President’s Choice Financial is now the only game in town in the free chequing account space. But perhaps not for much longer. There has long been speculation on whether ING Direct will start offering chequing accounts.
A reader recently got in touch with ING Direct and asked [...]
A recent episode of Marketplace on CBC featured cellphone customers who claimed to have Canada’s worst cellphone bills (you can watch it here). Cellphone customers had racked up thousands of dollars in charges either in air time, texting or, what appears to be fairly common, roaming charges while traveling abroad.
The typical phone horror story [...]
Our auto and home insurance renewal documents arrived in the mail the other day. The bad news is that insurance premiums are going up sharply in Ontario. Our auto and home insurance premiums went up by 22 and 14 percent respectively even though we did not have any claims in the past year. The hikes [...]
One of the measures in Budget 2010 (Pages 356 to 358) will be of special interest to Ottawa-area residents who elected to defer taxes on stock options. Some taxpayers who took advantage of tax deferral on stock options experienced financial difficulties when the value of the stock they received when exercising stock options declined in [...]
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his fifth budget in Parliament today. There is plenty of print, broadcast and online coverage of the budget in the mainstream press, but if you are so inclined, you can read the entire 451-page document here. If you are only interested in the bits that directly affect your pocketbook, feel [...]
