RBCDI | Financial Crooks

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

I’ve used a variety of online discount brokerages and I’ve found that even though they all seem to offer the same products and allow you to do the same things there are small differences. So before I try certain investments for the first time, I like to clarify the details with the brokerage. I prefer to do that in writing. Then I can review exactly what they said and not just assume I heard something they never actually stated. RBC Direct Investing allows me to contact their support team using a secure email system; I can send them a message from within my RBCDI account and they reply within that system.

Do Other Online Discount Brokerages Offer a Secure Email System?

BMO InvestorLine offers a similar secure email system called MyLink.

CIBC does not offer a secure email system. You can write to them with general questions at their listed email address but they will not answer questions that they feel require more security. Instead you’ll wait for their email reply which will just tell you to phone them!

How to Use the Message Centre to Send a Secure Email to the RBC Direct Investing Support Team

Sign in to your RBC Direct Investing account.
Click on the My Home tab.
Under the Your Communications bar, click on the appropriate phrase.
For example, I click on: You have messages
Under the Bar called RBC Direct Investing – Need Help?
Click on the middle link: Send Secure Email
OR
Click on the Customer Support link in the top right side of the screen.
Scroll down to the Send us a secure e-mail heading and click on the link to the Secure Message Centre.
From the drop-down To: list select
RBC Direct Investing
(or RBC Royal Bank; RBC Dominion Securities; RBC Wealth Management)
When you select RBC Direct Investing you will get another set of choices.
In the Subject: box, select the radio button beside one of the following:
- Account Opening
- Transfers
- Trade Inquiries
- Fees & Commissions
- Account Maintenance
- Other Inquiries
In the Message: field, type your question. There is a limit of 3000 characters.
The system will automatically add your name and the date before sending the message.
(It was interesting to me that it does not add your account or client number. BMO InvestorLine’s SecureLink adds your account number.)
Click on the Send link.
Your message will be saved.

To See Your Sent Messages

Click on the My Home tab.
Click on the You have messages link.
Your Sent Messages are listed in a table. You can sort them by date, subject, type and to (who you queried) by clicking on the appropriate arrowhead.
If your query was important, you may wish to copy it into a document and save it for further reference. I am not sure how long messages are stored online in the RBC DI Message Centre.

I found it amusing that if I I’m in the Message Centre screen and I click on the link Learn More About the Message Centre, I get an error message instead of more information. (I was hoping to find out if messages are automatically deleted after a certain amount of time. At BMO InvestorLine messages are deleted after 90 days so you have to cut and paste them into a document and save it elsewhere if you need them longer than that.)

To Read Your Responses from RBC Direct Investing in the Message Centre

Click on the My Home tab.
Under the Your Communications bar, click on the link: You have new messages
The Message Centre will open.
It is Divided into sections including
- New Messages
- Viewed Messages
- Sent Messages
Click on the Subject line for the reply you wish to read.
You can sort messages by date, subject, type and to (who you queried) by clicking on the appropriate arrowhead.

Related Reading

How to Send a Message Using BMO InvestorLine’s MyLink Secure Email Service

Join In
Have you used the Message Centre? Did you find it did the trick quickly and easily? Please share your experiences with a comment.

Newspapers, bank ads, and even financial websites are often a bit careless when telling people how much they can contribute to their TFSA. They all seem to assume that everyone is 24 or older (in 2015.) What if it’s 2015 and you’re under 24? What if you are 24 or older, but you moved to Canada in 2012 to 2015? What if you left Canada between 2012 and 2015? How much can you contribute to your TFSA if you just turned 18 or if you immigrated to Canada after 2009?

The Age of Majority Is Not the Same Throughout Canada

For younger investors it’s important to clarify one rule about TFSAs. The age of majority varies in different provinces in Canada. Banks and financial institutions will not let you set up a TFSA until you reach the age of majority.

If you are a Canadian Resident, have a SIN number, and you live in

Alberta
Manitoba
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec, or
Saskatchewan

you can open and contribute to a TFSA once you turn 18 years of age.

If you live in

British Columbia
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut, or
the Yukon

you can’t open and contribute to a TFSA until you turn 19. Your TFSA contribution room starts accumulating once your turn 18 years of age, though. So you will lose one year of tax-sheltered growth of your investments, but otherwise you are not penalized. This is because in these provinces and territories you cannot legally enter into an agreement until you are 19 years of age.

So for people who have been Canadian Residents for each and every year since 2009, this table lets you lookup your TFSA contribution room, if
* you have never made any TFSA contributions before
* you are a Canadian Resident and have been one for each and every year since 2009
* you have a Social Insurance Number, SIN

Year You Were Born	Year You Make Your First Contribution to your TFSA	Maximum You Can Contribute that Year to Catch Up All Previous Years’ Contribution Room if you live in Alberta Manitoba Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan	Maximum You Can Contribute that Year to Catch Up All Previous Years’ Contribution Room if you live in British Columbia New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut, or the Yukon
1991 or earlier	2009	5 000	0
1991 or earlier	2010	10 000	10 000
1991 or earlier	2011	15 000	15 000
1991 or earlier	2012	20 000	20 000
1991 or earlier	2013	25 500	25 500
1991 or earlier	2014	31 000	31 000
1991 or earlier	2015	36 500	36 500

1992	2009	0	0
1992	2010	5000	0
1992	2011	10 000	10 000
1992	2012	15 000	15 000
1992	2013	20 500	20 500
1992	2014	26 500	26 500
1992	2015	32 000	32 000

1993	2009	0	0
1993	2010	0	0
1993	2011	5000	0
1993	2012	10 000	10 000
1993	2013	15 500	15 500
1993	2014	21 000	21 000
1993	2015	26 500	26 500

1994	2009	0	0
1994	2010	0	0
1994	2011	0	0
1994	2012	5 000	0
1994	2013	10 500	10 500
1994	2014	16 000	16 000
1994	2015	21 500	21 500

1995	2009	0	0
1995	2010	0	0
1995	2011	0	0
1995	2012	0	0
1995	2013	5 500	0
1995	2014	11 000	11 000
1995	2015	16 500	16 500

1996	2009	0	0
1996	2010	0	0
1996	2011	0	0
1996	2012	0	0
1996	2013	0	0
1996	2014	5 500	0
1996	2015	11 000	11 000

1997	2009	0	0
1997	2010	0	0
1997	2011	0	0
1997	2012	0	0
1997	2013	0	0
1997	2014	0	0
1997	2015	5 500	0

NOTES:

Wait for Your Birthday

According to the Canada Revenue Agency website, you can only contribute to your TFSA on or after your 18 (or 19) birthday. So if your birthday is December 31, 1996, and the age of majority in your province is 18, you must wait till December 31, 2014 to make your first contribution. If the age of majority in your province or territory is 19, you must wait till December 31, 2015. You cannot make the contribution on any date before then.

What If You Contributed Something Already to Your TFSA?

This article is meant for people who have not invested in their TFSA at all yet. You can’t use the numbers in this article to get the information you need.

What If You Contributed Something Already to Your TFSA and Already Took Some Out?

This article is meant for people who have not invested in their TFSA at all yet. You can’t use the numbers in this article to get the information you need.

What If You Were Not a Canadian Resident for Each and Every Year from 2009-the Present?

If you were or are not a Canadian Resident for one or more years between 2009 and the present, you must not include the maximum TFSA contribution limit for that year or those years in your calculation of how much you can contribute.

For example, if you were 25 in 2009 and opened a TFSA and contributed the maximum of $5000, and then for 2010, 2011 and 2012, you were not a Canadian Resident, and in 2013 you became a Canadian Resident again, you can only contribute an additional $5500 to your TFSA in 2013. You cannot contribute the ($5000+5000+5000 =) $15,000 for the years that you were non-Resident. When you are non-Resident you do not earn contribution room and you do not get it back later.

Things Are a Bit More Complicated for People Becoming Canadian Residents or Leaving Canada Permanently

Tax laws would be simpler to understand if no one ever moved. In reality people immigrate to and emigrate from Canada every year. Here’s some information for new immigrants to Canada.

I Am a New Immigrant to Canada; As a New Canadian Resident What Is My TFSA Limit?

Only Canadian Residents earn an annual TFSA contribution amount. Each year, a Canadian Resident earns a bit more TFSA contribution room.

If you were not a Canadian Resident in a given year, even if you were 18 or older, you have not earned any TFSA room for that year.

So if a person who was born in 1991 or earlier moves to Canada and becomes a Canadian Resident

In 2009, he or she has the same limits as someone born in 1991 or earlier in Canada
In 2010, has the same limits as someone born in 1992 living in Alberta
In 2011, has the same limits as someone born in 1993 living in Alberta
In 2012, has the same limits as someone born in 1994 living in Alberta
In 2013, has the same limits as someone born in 1995 living in Alberta
In 2014, has the same limits as someone born in 1996 living in Alberta
In 2015, has the same limits as someone born in 1997 living in Alberta

According to the CRA website you earn TFSA contribution room in one-year chunks. Even if you arrive in Canada part way through a year, you will earn the room for the entire year, not just part of it. For example, if you became a Canadian resident in November 2013, you will still have $5500 in contribution room for 2013.

What If I am a Grad Student with a Temporary (R prefix) Social Insurance Number

Not everyone living in Canada is a Permanent Resident. Some are students attending university. Those students may be working and paying taxes. They will have a SIN that starts with the letter R.

According to The Canada Visa website some students are considered Residents of Canada although they are not Permanent Residents. They are eligible to open a TFSA. The CRA definitions for a Canadian Resident are online.

If a person needs further clarification on whether they are a Resident, more information is available. The CRA website says “For more information, see Interpretation Bulletin IT-221R, Determination of an individual’s Residence Status, or contact the international Tax Services Office at 1-855-284-5942. If you are calling from outside Canada and the United States, call 613-940-8495.”

What Is My TFSA Limit If I Was a Canadian Resident but Left, then Returned and Became a Resident Again?

If you leave Canada and are no longer a Canadian Resident (and the Canada Revenue Agency agrees you are no longer a resident) you do not have to cash out your TFSA. You cannot make any new contributions however.

According to Canadian Tax Resource, while non-Resident, a person will *not* get any new contribution room. Even if they move back and become a resident again later, they will not get back those lost years of contribution room.

Be aware, also, that if you make a withdrawal from your Canadian TFSA while a Resident of a country other than Canada, that other country may consider the money to be income taxable by that country.

According to the CRA website, if you make a withdrawal from your TFSA while a non-Resident of Canada the following year you will be given the room to re-contribute that withdrawal, but you can only put the money back in after you re-establish Canadian Resident status, not before.

If you plan to move out of Canada and take up residence elsewhere, I strongly suggest you plan how to handle your TFSA with a Canadian tax specialist who fully understands the rules both in Canada and in the country to which you are moving!

How Much Can Old Timer Canadians Contribute to our TFSAs?

If you turned 18 in 2009 or before, and if you have always been a Canadian, and if you have never made any contribution to a TFSA, and if the current year is 2013, you can contribute $25,500.

If you turned 18 in 2009 or before, and if you have always been a Canadian, and if you have never made any contribution to a TFSA, and if the current year is 2014, you can contribute $31,000.

If you turned 18 in 2009 or before, and if you have always been a Canadian, and if you have never made any contribution to a TFSA, and if the current year is 2015, you can contribute $36,500.

If You’re Still Unsure Contact the Canada Revenue Agency

The fines for over-contributing to your TFSA are high. If you’re still not sure what you can contribute, I’d strongly recommend you contact the CRA to discuss your personal limit.