Savings and Secure Investments

How to Accept an INTERAC e-Transfer from PC Financial and Deposit the Money In Your Bank Account

In which I complete the test transfer by accepting the money and depositing it.

How to Get T5 Tax Documents for Your Online Bank Accounts at EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, PC Financial, Tangerine, ZAG Bank

It’s almost tax time again. How joyful! Here’s how I rounded up some T5s.

What Is the Best Rate I Can Get Right Now (January 2017) for My Cash In a Savings Account?

It’s time to find the best place to park our roof and furnace funds.

How to Open a Tangerine Savings Account After You Open a Tangerine Chequing Account

It’s very simple to open a Tangerine Savings account if you are already a customer.

Why Might a Second RESP for a Niece, Nephew, Grandchild, Godchild or Other Loved Child be a Good Idea?

There are times when it might be better to open a second RESP for a child than to hand cash to the parents to put into the first RESP.

PC Financial Starts the Interest Wars With a 2.25% Offer

Time to transfer my cash savings around again to get a rate closer to the rate of inflation.

No Easy Answers to Saving in The Retirement Catch-Up Guide

I’m always looking for a quick way to enhance our retirement savings so I snagged this book from our library hoping for unconsidered insights.

How to Close an Extra Tangerine Savings Account When You Reach Your Savings Goal

Yep, I closed a Tangerine savings account.

Review: Why I Won’t Recommend Opening an Account at Zag Bank

I may be the only person who couldn’t successfully open an account at Zag Bank.

Where Should I Keep My Short Term Cash That I Need for Rent, a Reno, Buying a Home or Tuition to Make the Highest Interest?

So many banks, such low interest rates. Where should I park my money?

How to Deposit a Cheque By Taking a Photo Using the EQ Bank App

If a bank has no ABMs or ATMs and if they don’t want to get a lot of mail from Canada Post, they have to offer another way to deposit cheques.

How to Create More Savings Accounts at EQ Bank for Different Purposes

You can have more than one savings account at EQ Bank if you like to see at a glance what you’ve saved for various goals.

How to Open a Bank Account at EQ Bank to Get the 3% Interest on Its Daily Savings Account

Here I go again: this time I’m lured by a 3% open-ended offer for daily interest.

What Is EQ Bank and Why Should I Open a Savings Account There?

Yet another high interest savings offer from an e-Bank? I check out what EQ Bank has to offer.

I’m Opening an Account Today at Zag Bank So I Can Earn 2.5% on Cash in my Savings Account

I’m chasing interest rate offers again to try to keep up with inflation.

How I Unexpectedly Got a Discount on VIA Rail Tickets

It’s much more comfortable to take the train from Toronto to Montreal than to drive the 40/201 through a blinding snowstorm: especially if I can get a really good rate from VIA.

With the Drop in the Overnight Rate, What Interest Rate Can I Get On my Cash in my Brokerage Account?

If you have any cash parked in your brokerage account you may want to get it moving.

How to Contribute to Your TFSA Savings Account at Tangerine

It may be time to top up your TFSA if you’re using it as an emergency or short-term savings fund.

Fighting the Urge to Shop Too Much

Will anything stop me from shopping too much?

Planning the Best Way to Invest Our Emergency Fund

We needed a strategy to try to keep our emergency fund available but earning enough to meet or beat inflation.

How to Transfer Funds Into Your Oaken Financial Savings Account

In which I test a transfer into our new Oaken Financial bank account. And in which the true identity of PC Financial is exposed to all!

How to Buy a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, GIC, at Oaken Financial

Could I buy a GIC online? How long do funds stay on hold? Can I buy while my funds are still on hold?

How to Set Up Online Banking with Oaken Financial

Well that was fast: my savings account is open; my GIC is purchased and my ability to transfer funds between banks is set up. How long did it take Oaken to complete these tasks?

How to Open a Higher Interest Daily Savings Account at Oaken Financial

Would you pick a fund with a MER of 0.25% or an identical one with a MER of 0.59%? Then you know why I’m opting to open a non-registered account and buy a GIC from Oaken Financial.

How Many Bank Accounts Can I Open at President’s Choice Financial? Why Would Anyone Want More than One Bank Account?

I was surprised by the answer to this question.

Which is Better Tangerine or PC Financial: When Will I Get My Bonus Interest from PC Financial?

When will you get your promotional bonus interest? Does Tangerine pay compound interest?

Testing the Rules of the Tangerine Interest Rate Promotion by Moving Money Between Spouses

In which I introduce the Crooks Contrivance and report on its efficacy. (Or, in other words, how I gamed the Tangerine system to get some extra interest on our savings.)

PC Financial Offers 3.1% Short-Term Rate to Lure Customers from Tangerine

If only I’d published this on the 8th, it would have been a scoop. Ah well, here’s the details of the latest salvo in the savings account interest rate wars.

Do You Transfer Your Cash Between Tangerine and PC Financial to Get the Highest Interest Rate?

Instead of offering a decent annual interest rate on savings accounts, some banks prefer to offer short-term bonus rates but only on new deposits. That’s led some customers to fight back and game the system. Are you one of them?

How Many Bank Accounts Can I Open at Tangerine? Why Would I Want Several Bank Accounts?

Can I get five free cheque books from Tangerine by opening 5 accounts? Can I have an unlimited number of Savings accounts?

How to Buy a Mutual Fund at Tangerine for your TFSA, RRSP or Savings

If you want to start index investing with a small amount of money you easily can using Tangerine mutual funds. Here’s how to enroll and buy some units of the Tangerine Balanced Portfolio fund. As I checked into this, I discovered whether I could invest only $1 and whether a teenager could invest their lemonade stand profits.

What Kinds of Business Bank Accounts Does Tangerine Offer?

The business account Tangerine offers is very simple but there was still one twist to application process that I didn’t expect. I was also curious whether you could deposit cheques for free into their business account because many business accounts charge a fee even for deposits. So I checked with Tangerine.

How to Connect a Tangerine Account to a Bank Account at Another Big Bank

You don’t have to mail in a cheque to connect your Tangerine savings account to another bank’s account. Also includes as a no-fee bonus: a sexist saying with which my Grade 8 teacher used to irritate us.

ING Direct is Now Tangerine.ca: an Update on Tangerine in 2014

Why you might need to call your insurance agent and your municipality and what happened to Streetwise and THRiVE plus how to get a bonus or a few bucks in extra interest. And a big thank you!

Be Forewarned: Move Your RESP BEFORE You Want to Make a Withdrawal

I wasn’t expecting this rule when I skimmed a federal government document.

Retirement Planning: How Much Do We Really Spend Now and How Much Will We Spend Then?

In which I survive two near heart attacks while trying to figure out how much we spend a year.

Why It’s Worth Eating Out for Lunch and Why It’s Not

What things are worth more than their cost to you?

How to Make a Contribution to your RESP Account at BMO InvestorLine

You can easily make a lump sum contribution or set up a monthly deposit into your BMO InvestorLine RESP account if you have a BMO bank account. Here’s how.

Is It Worth Joining Swagbucks and How Do I Do That?

If you want to get a kickback of some of the money you spend online shopping at stores like Amazon, TigerDirect and Walmart, this is one option to check out.

Who Pays the Income Taxes on the Interest and How Can My Children Cash Their Canada Savings Bonds?

In which I reflect on income attribution rules, the benefits of bricks-and-mortar banks, and wonder just when *are* those retina scanners going to be ready?

How to Buy a GIC in a RBC Direct Investing Online Brokerage Account

As I test how to purchase a GIC at RBC Direct Investing, I discover a bug and compare the process to making the same purchase at BMO InvestorLine or CIBC Investor’s Edge. And do brokerages REALLY think that we will buy a lower-rate-paying GIC from their affiliated bank just because they list that product at the top of the offerings?

How to Buy Units in a High Interest Savings Account Fund at RBC Direct Investing

Is anyone else skittish about investing quickly into these high-priced stock markets? While I’m dithering, I tested parking some cash in a HISA fund at RBC Direct Investing. There were a few differences compared to doing the same at InvestorLine and Investor’s Edge that surprised me.

Should You Save For Your First Home in your TFSA or your RRSP?

Where you should save depends in part on where you have to live. Here’s some interesting math for those who need to live in ghost towns in northern Ontario.

Why an Ontario Pension Might be a Good Thing

I’d support an Ontario Pension scheme. Here’s why. (And if anyone can come up with a decent acronym for such a plan, PLEASE start using it now before we get stuck with something awful!)

How to Cancel a PC Financial Automatic Savings Transfer

If, like me, you’re no longer earning bonus high interest from PC Financial, it may be time to cancel an automated transfer of money into your account. Here’s how.

Back to School and Registered Education Savings Plans

As we get ready around here for back to school and we cheer on yet another niece beginning her first year of university I spent some time reading up on RESPs. Here are some of the better articles I found.

Five Things I Forgot This Summer While on Vacation that Cost Me Money

I fell for the “my money is in the car” gambit again this year. If only I would learn these 5 rules, I could save some money on my next vacation. Something tells me, though, that I may never learn…..

Free Education Money for Low Income Canadian Families’ Children: Apply Today

Families can have a low income for various reasons. All of them can benefit from this federal government program to provide free money towards their children’s future education costs.

How to Set Up Automatic Transfers to a PC Financial Account

Setting up automatic transfers to your savings account or to your chequing account to pay bills can simplify your monthly banking chores. Here’s how to create scheduled transfers for your PC Financial accounts.

How to Transfer Money into Your PC Financial No Fee Bank Account

If you can get PC Financial to hook up your no fee chequing account with your bank account at another institution then you can transfer money in and out. Here’s how.

Why Do We Think We Can Own More Stuff than Our Parents?

When I saw this $1499 loveseat I thought of sinking but it wasn’t into the fluffy cushions.

Investing in the AAT770 Daily High Interest Savings Account Fund, HISA, for BMO InvestorLine RRSP, TFSA and Other Accounts

BMO InvestorLine has made a significant improvement to its HISA option, changing it from the absurd to the reasonably useful. Please read on to learn about this new high interest savings account fund, the rate it pays and the required minimum investment.

How to Buy a GIC in a BMO InvestorLine Account

Lists which types of GICs are sold by BMO InvestorLine, what fees are payable, how to buy one, whether the GICs rollover at maturity, and when to expect interest and principal payments to land in your stash of Cash.

How to Order Cheques for a Tangerine (ING Direct THRIVE) Chequing Account

How to order cheques for your ING Direct, now Tangerine.ca, THRIVE account so you can pay for all of those Scholastic Book Club orders, field trips and pizza lunches. Oh, sorry, I suppose you may have a life beyond parenthood: these cheques are also good for paying regular bills for utilities, (sport and otherwise.)

How to Setup and Pay Bills Online from a Tangerine (ING Direct THRIVE) Chequing Account

How I managed to pay Bell online using my ING Direct, now Tangerine.ca, THRIVE account with only two phone calls and minimal cursing! Normal people (who do not constantly run into problems with Bell like I do) should find this a very fast, efficient, FREE way to pay bills.

How to Open an ING Direct THRIVE Chequing Account

If you are an existing ING Direct, now Tangerine.ca, customer opening a THRIVE chequing account just takes seconds and you score you 50 free cheques. For those of us endlessly writing cheques for pizza lunches, field trips and music books, every free cheque helps!