Canadian Capitalist

21 responses so far ↓

• 1 telly // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:15 am

  Thanks for this info CC.

  This is great news for me! As I’ve mentioned previously, my salary is paid in USD and I cringe to exchange at current rates, only to deposit a fair amount into my husband’s RRSP account.

• 2 Canadian Capitalist // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:18 am

  telly: I think this is great news as well though I won’t be running back to Questrade after my experience with them. It will force the big boys to be competitive. Rob Carrick writes in the same column that RBC and TD are planning on USD RRSP accounts. Now, it’s only a matter of time…

• 3 FourPillars // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:45 am

  This is a great move for Questrade - I’ll be posting about this tomorrow.

  I feel sorry for them however - regardless of their strengths/weaknesses they were the ones who introduced low commissions to Canadians only to the see the big boys lower some of their commissions which is enough to keep most investors who don’t want to move.

  I’m sure all the other brokerages will eventually offer this service too.

  Thanks for pointing out the $5 fee - I missed that when I first read the article.

  Mike

• 4 telly // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:54 am

  Does anyone know if it’s a) possible and b) if there is a transaction fee involved in purchasing mutual funds (i.e. buying TD e-funds within a Questrade account)?

• 5 FourPillars // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:58 am

  Not sure Telly - I thought you had to phone for that which means an extra fee?

  I’m going to be transferring my LSIFs mutual funds to Questrade soon so I can avoid the $50/yr fee at TD Waterhouse.

• 6 Canadian Capitalist // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:03 pm

  telly: TD e-Series funds are available only through an online TD Mutual fund account or through TDW. You won’t be able to purchase TD e-Series funds through any other online brokerage account.

  Mike: You’re right that the banks wouldn’t have lowered commissions if not for the pressure by the smaller online brokers. We were stuck at the $25 to $29 range for so many years.

  Currency fees are really bad. Just the other day, I sold about $11K worth of US stocks to buy VTI. If there were no wash trades, the conversion alone would have cost $350.

• 7 telly // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:10 pm

  Thanks for the info CC.

• 8 MillionDollarJourney // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:50 pm

  Wow! This is huge news. Thanks for the update CC.

• 9 FinancialJungle.com // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:20 pm

  Phil: The spread is over 2% now. H&R Reit’s yield is ~7.8% currently. Interactive Broker’s margin rate is ~5.75%.

• 10 WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:25 pm

  Sweet!

• 11 Steve Heath // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:29 pm

  I think Questrade lost out because of their customer service issues, not because of the big banks. I know a few people like myself who were just getting started and knew they didn’t like the banks, but couldn’t get responses or answers from Questrade, and saw negative reviews here and in newspapers, so we avoided it.

  That said, I went with Qtrade (very happy with them so far) and I sent them an email letting them know I’d love for them to copy this idea.

• 12 questrade offers usd RRSPs — award tour // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:30 pm

  [...] Questrade Offers US Dollar RRSPs. though the USD is out of favor, there’s real incentive to use this if you’re trading equities in USD. [...]

• 13 Dave // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:35 pm

  Great news! Since I have never had to sell my US securities and don’t plan on doing so I probably won’t switch from E*Trade just yet. Hopefully E*Trade will offer this soon along with all other brokers.

• 14 Cross the River // Jan 10, 2008 at 9:47 pm

  Service is still bad. Sorry, can’t seem to be positive on this topic.

• 15 Canadian Capitalist // Jan 11, 2008 at 9:04 am

  Steve, Cross the River: I totally agree with you. I did give Questrade a try and it didn’t work out well. I’d be very wary of switching my RRSPs to them now when in a few months, the big boys will match this move.

• 16 FourPillars // Jan 11, 2008 at 11:45 am

  The big boys must be grinding their teeth about this move. Currency conversion charges are like mutual fund MERs - invisible to most investors.

  I’m sure they are going to wait and see if they lose many customers before going ahead with it.

  Mike

• 17 Been waiting // Jan 12, 2008 at 7:01 am

  Perhaps to encourage the big boys, we should be calling them up and inquiring about the procedures of moving our accounts from them to others because of this.

  You don’t have to do it, but the inquiry alone should help keep the fire lit.

• 18 FourPillars // Jan 12, 2008 at 12:59 pm

  Been waiting - that would be a waste of time. The banks will look at money going out and that’s the only thing they will look at when they do their strategy. Phone calls mean nothing.

  Mike

• 19 Questrade USD RRSP and Referral Promotion | Million Dollar Journey // Jan 14, 2008 at 3:31 am

  [...] no more because Canadian Capitalist has broken the news that Questrade now offers the ability to hold U.S Dollars (USD) within their [...]

• 20 telly // Feb 18, 2008 at 12:14 pm

  CC: Just an fyi..
  I found out last week that TD efunds can be purchased with USD within TD Investment RRSPs. This works out really well for regular TD efund contributions (i.e. TD US index US$) within an RRSP with eventual “conversion” to ETF at Questrade without the forex fees.

  Maybe others were already aware of this but I sure wasn’t. Making regular contributions from my TD Borderless account makes a lot of sense for us at this time.

• 21 Marco // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:40 pm

  I think it’s safer to wait for the big guys like TD to begin offering USD in your RSP instead of going to Questrade.

  [the rest of the comment was deleted by the webmaster.

  While we encourage vigorous discussion, we cannot allow personal attacks or allegations.]

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