I’m not a big fan of mutual funds but I have a few old ones that I brought into our BMO InvestorLine account while rounding up all the bits and pieces of our RRSPs. This week I sold one of them as it was seriously underperforming although it had done reasonably well over the long term. Here’s how to sell a mutual fund you’ve been holding in a BMO InvestorLine account.

Selling any stock-based mutual fund, especially an index one like this, is a speculative venture.

You don’t know what price you’re selling it at until long after you make the sale. Since the underlying index (or stocks) can go up or down in the hours after the cutoff time, your profit (or loss) can be unexpectedly high or low. I think that’s part of what makes ETFs popular: you know exactly what price you’re agreeing to sell an ETF for before you make the sale.

To Sell an InvestorLine Mutual Fund

To receive today’s price submit the order before 2 p.m. ET.

1. Sign in to the InvestorLine account that holds the mutual fund.
2. From the Trading menu, select Mutual Funds.
3. In the Fund Symbol field, type in the fund’s code.
   For example, type: PHN110
4. In the Amount area, select
   • All; or
   • type the amount to redeem in dollars or units and select Dollars or Units from the drop-down list.
5. In the Contact Phone # field, type your phone number.
6. If desired, click on the Recent Closing Price button.
7. Click on the Review Order button.

Review the description of your order to ensure it is accurate and complete.If it’s ok:

1. In the Password field, enter your trading password.
2. Click on the Submit Order button.
3. Print or copy and save the Mutual Fund Order Confirmation including the Order Reference Number.

The next business day you will see the order has filled if you check the order status. The cash will not be in your account yet, though, and the mutual fund will still be listed under My Holdings.

The second morning after I made the sale (which was a Saturday morning) the cash was available in my account and the transaction history reported the volume and price of the sale of units. The mutual fund name and price was still reported under My Holdings, but the number of units held was reported as 0. I expect that listing will also be erased on the next business day.

Related Reading

• The Benefits and Drawbacks of Mutual Funds
• Be Wary of the Unrealized Gain or Loss Column for Re-invested Mutual Funds with BMO InvestorLine

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Did you sell any under-performing mutual funds in your InvestorLine account? Or perhaps sell one to crystallize a fabulous gain? Please share your experiences with a comment.