Author Archives: BetCrooks

How to Check the Current Real Time Price for Shares or ETFs at RBC Direct Investing

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UPDATE: This article is historical, from 2013. I no longer invest with RBC Direct Investing.

When I signed up for a RRSP account at RBC Direct Investing I was rewarded with 25 “free” trades. That’s not enough for me to suddenly morph into a day trader, but it may be enough to make me want to try some dollar cost averaging on a “buy the entire index” ETF. (Especially since I expect to add some new money to this account over the next few months as we save it. Some analysts have concluded dollar cost averaging does not have an advantage over investing a whole chunk at once—but it might if you are adding to your savings over time. I’m not sure if their analysis is correct or not. ) Before I buy any shares or ETFs at RBC Direct Investing, however, I want to know what the current real time price is.

To Check the Price for Shares in a RBC Direct Investing Account

  1. Sign in to your RBC Direct Investing account.
  2. Go to RBC Direct Investing at http://rbcdirectinvesting.com/
  3. If Direct Investing is shown in the drop down list of Online Services, click on the Sign In button.
  4. To sign in to your account/s:
    1. In the Client Card Number: field, type your card number.
    2. In the Password: field, type your account password.
    3. Click on the Sign in button.

How NOT To Get the Real Time Quote

  1. From the tabs listed across the top of the screen, click on the Trade tab.
  2. In the small Quotes & Research box on the right side of the screen, in the Enter Symbol or Name field, type the ticker symbol for the stock or ETF you are interested in.
    For example, for the Bank of Nova Scotia (to see how much it has dropped so far today; I own some so you know it will therefore plummet often) I typed: BNS
  3. Select which country you are checking the price in by clicking to select the radio button beside the Canadian flag or the American flag.
  4. Click on the Get Quote button.

Rats. This is the 20-minute delayed quote. It does provide all the research and charts for review, however.

OK, starting again to get the Real Time quote.

To Really Get the Real Time Quote

  1. Click on the Trade tab.
  2. In the large Place Order block, in the Symbol: field type the ticker symbol for the stock or ETF you are interested in.
  3. From the Market: drop-down list, select Cdn or US.
  4. Click on the Show Quote button.
  5. The real time information is displayed in a narrow bar above the top of the Place Order block.
    The information provided includes:

    • The name of the company. That’s important to check so you don’t accidentally buy shares of a Tweeter Home Electronics TWTRQ instead of Twitter TWTR.
    • The date and time in hours and minutes of the quote.
    • The Last Price.
    • The Change to the nearest cent.
    • The Bid/ Size.
    • The Ask/Size.
    • The High.
    • The Low.
    • The Volume.

The Size of the Bid and Ask appears to be the number of lots at that price. Excuse me for a minute while I check on BMO InvestorLine. Yes, it is.

You have to click on the Refresh Quote button each time you want to see the current price. For an actively traded stock like BNS, the price can change several times a minute.

To Check the Real Time Price of an ETF

Next I checked the price for an ETF. From the Canadian Couch Potato’s Global Couch Potato model portfolio, I decided to look up the BMO S&P TSX Capped Composite ETF, ZCN.

  1. So, in the Symbol: field, I typed: ZCN
  2. From the Market: drop-down list, I selected: Cdn
  3. I clicked on the Show Quote button.
  4. Up popped the line listing the current price (17.89) and the fact it’s up 0.08 today. (I always buy high and sell low, consequently losing thousands of dollars, so this is no surprise to me.)
  5. If you’re done, click on the Sign Out button.
  6. For increased security, clear your browser cache and close your browser session.

That’s it. It’s that easy to check the real time prices for stocks and ETFs.

Does a Regular RBC Direct Investing Account Provide Streaming Quotes?

No. With a regular RBC Direct Investing account like mine you cannot get streaming quotes that automatically change to show you the most current price for a stock or ETF.

Related Reading

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How do you check real time stock prices? Do you even look at the current price before you place an order? Have you seen any Snowy Owls this winter? Please share your views with a comment.

An Exploration of the Many Ways of Giving

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Today I dropped off our Christmas Hamper to be delivered this weekend to a family in our town. (Although the hampers are organized by our church, the recipients don’t have to attend any place of worship to receive one. In fact, many recipients have no connection to any faith group.) I like performing this annual gifting although I know it only ensures one good day for a family. (Well, one week the way we stock the hamper.) Consequently, we give year round to other charities supporting people in our community who don’t have what they genuinely *need* to survive. (Krystal Yee is running an interesting poll on what we think we actually *need* if you’re interested in adding your opinion.)

Thinking about donations and gifts to help others sent me out reading around the internet. Here are a few articles I found that may be worth a browse:

Volunteering and therefore donating time is a great way to help a charitable cause. Somewhat to my surprise, however, StatsCan says that volunteers tend to give *more* money than non-volunteers!

“… in 2010, among people who had performed 60 or more hours of volunteer work in the previous year, 91% made donations, giving an average of $784. In comparison, 79% of those who had not volunteered during the year had made donations, averaging $288.”

The article has quite a few interesting insights into where we give (shopping malls anyone?) and why we don’t give more (asked at the wrong time of the day.)

Blonde on a Budget reminds us that giving can be of our time rather than of our money, despite what StatsCan reports. That’s an important message especially for people with debt or very small incomes. I had never thought of either of the two ways she would like to gift her time, have you?

Here’s another one I’d never thought of: Back in 2011/2012 some personal finance bloggers discovered a way they could encourage gifts to charity: by auctioning off a Guest Post spot. Michael James on Money hosted one of these posts and a charity was $100 the richer for it.  Perhaps in the New Year some adventurous bloggers will offer a similar idea.

A post on the NPR site says doing one thing can boost by 20% the likelihood that kids will donate their money. I wonder if that same technique would work with adults?

One way that adults can discourage other adults from donating is to bully them. I still remember one employer who bullied all staff to donate to the United Way because the employer wanted to report 100% employee participation and a huge amount donated by the employees. It was very uncomfortable for everyone. Apparently, others have experienced the same, as discussed in comments such as “But if you are going to shame, harass, and even penalize staff because they don’t support the UW you are a bad employer.” You can read more at http://www.askamanager.org/2013/06/how-to-handle-pressure-to-donate-money-at-work.html

BigCajunMan pointed out that you can help an organization such as a church or thrift shop by donating your excess unwanted goods for re-sale. The downside is that some people donate garbage for which the charity then has to pay for disposal. If de-cluttering your home is one of your New Year’s resolutions, please use some common sense in deciding whether something should be donated to a charity or to a big green garbage bag.

Some of you may have heard that the Federal Government Is offering a special tax incentive for people who have never claimed a charitable donation on their April return.  The Blunt Bean Counter reviews what the deduction looks like for a $500 donation—and gently chastises those who don’t donate even a modest amount while earning a monstrous amount. Personally I kind of resent that this reward is only being given to people who have never donated before, instead of being offered to everyone who donates this year.

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Have you read something interesting about giving or volunteering? Please share your suggestions with a comment.