Tag Archives: InvestorLine

Why You Should Group Your BMO InvestorLine Accounts Under a Single User ID

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If every account you have at InvestorLine has over $500,000 in it, this article doesn’t apply to you. On the other hand, if you have that much money at InvestorLine, why do you even need to read articles on my website? You could stimulate the economy by paying someone else read them for you. For the rest of us, here’s why you should group your BMO InvestorLine accounts under a single User ID.

Like a late night talk show, I’ll list the reasons you should group your accounts in order from least important to most likely to make you nod your head in agreement:

Reason Five: Grouping InvestorLine Accounts Can Help You Manage Your Passwords

While for maximum security you should have a unique sign in password and trading password for each of your InvestorLine accounts, you may find it difficult to remember all of those alphanumeric strings without using string theory. It’s nice to only have to remember one password if  all you want to do is check your portfolios, not change them.

When you sign in using your User ID, you can look at your holdings for each account linked to the id. You can only look at the holdings in one account at a time, however.  You decide which account to look at by clicking on a drop-down list of the linked accounts.

Reason Four: Grouping InvestorLine Accounts Can Save You Time

One Id. One password. Access to all of your account information. Quick. Fast. Simple. Easy.

Reason Three: Grouping InvestorLine Accounts Can Get Your Deeper Kowtows

Why would this one surprise anyone? If you have over $250,000 in your User ID-linked accounts, you can get “exclusive access to a dedicated service team.”

Well, at least between 8 and 8, weekdays, Eastern Time.

I guess that shows Westerners how prejudiced InvestorLine can be. Frankly, it’s a bit bizarre given how many millionaires live west of Ontario.

Reason Two: Grouping InvestorLine Accounts Can Gain You More Information

This one will take a LOT of money.

But, if you can amass a group of accounts with over $250,000 in them, you qualify for Real Time Quotes and Level II Quotes.

From what I’ve been able to find out so far (I don’t qualify for the 5 Star program) it appears these quotes include some information on who is buying or selling and how many lots they are offering or seeking.

One article I read listed about 6 ways large dealers can conceal what they are doing or even deliberately enter buy and sell orders to trick the market. So if information is power, make sure you know who’s got the true data and what they plan to do with that wattage.

If you can combine over $500 000 in accounts, you can also get the Market Streamer and some additional reports and research information.

According to the short summary on the InvestorLine website, the research on offer is “access to BMO Capital Markets research on only the top 60 TSX stocks.”

Perhaps they figure if you already have $500,000 in assets you already know what you want to buy?

The Market Streamer is a tool to “track a virtual portfolio throughout the day.” You can see an image of it on the InvestorLine website. The data should be real-time.

Reason One: Grouping InvestorLine Accounts Under One User ID Can Save You Money

It used to be you needed to group accounts to achieve $50 000 in assets so that you could qualify for $9.95 trades. As of February 2014, though, all accounts of any size now qualify for $9.95 trades. So this incentive is no longer relevant.

Being honest, the $9.95 trades was the best advantage most of us could hope to achieve by grouping only our personal accounts. Getting to $50 000 was quite do-able. I’m not so sure about that $500 000 stuff, unless I get my Mom to shift all her GICs and CSBs to an InvestorLine account. : )

However, if you can get your grouped assets to $250,000, you also get

  • reduced margin rates on non-registered accounts
  • discounts on agent trading costs for some types of assisted transactions
  • reduced annual fees for accounts such as small RRSPs

And if you get up to $500 000, you get

  • even further reduced margin rates
  • even more discounted agent trading costs, and
  • some lower administrative fees for non-trade transactions

(Frankly, I think most people find the Market Streamer described in Reason Two as the only real perk at this level.)

I Guess I Want a User ID; What Now?

So have I convinced you to set up a User ID for your InvestorLine accounts? If so, you can tune in for the next exciting article: How Do I Group InvestorLine Accounts Under One User ID and Whose Accounts Can I Group?

The problem is I haven’t written it yet because I’m still trying to find out the rules about whose accounts can be grouped. After all, maybe I *could* get Mom to move those GICs and CSBs. A girl can dream!

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Do you group your InvestorLine accounts? Does it provide a benefit I’ve overlooked? Please share your views with a comment.

Online Brokerage Price Wars Spell Savings for Investors

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It’s been an interesting two months for investors trying to pick an online brokerage. RBC Direct Investing decided to start a price war and it soon heated up – the best thing is that the fighting has resulted in savings for investors.

RBC Direct Investing Drops the Trading Fee for All Customers

RBC Direct Investing was the first company to make a major price change recently. This January, they reduced the cost to execute a trade to $9.95 for all of its clients, regardless of their account balances. So if one of their clients wants to buy 57 shares of BCE it will cost them just $9.95 plus the current trading price for 57 BCE shares.

TD (Waterhouse) Direct Investing Follows Suit

The next to drop its fee to $9.95 for all customers was TD Direct Investing. They changed their fees in February.

BMO InvestorLine Folds

InvestorLine has now also dropped its fee to $9.95.

Scotia iTrade and CIBC Investor’s Edge Are Still Studying Their Hands

As of today, February 11, 2014, iTrade and Investor’s Edge still require a minimum balance or a certain activity level or other related assets for their clients to qualify for $9.95 trades.

I give it about another week before they see the way the cards are falling.

Warning! Check for Minimum Balance and Inactivity Annual Fees

Don’t let the price per trade be the only factor in your decision to pick a brokerage. Look at all of the costs, including any fees for having a small balance or for not being an hyper-active trader.

I discuss the required minimum RRSP balances for most brokerages in Questrade Has the Lowest Annual Fee RRSP Brokerage Account with No Minimum Balance: Or Does It? but you should always double check for changes before opening an account.

Discount Online Brokerages Vs Big Bank Online Brokerages

There are a variety of other brokerages available to Canadians some of which offer trading fees which are even lower than $9.95. Their offerings vary considerably so you should check the details carefully. It’s also a good idea to look for reviews of their services and for any complaints before enrolling. (That holds true for all brokerages, independent or bank-affiliated.)

What Are Some Other Key Cost Differences Between Online Brokerages?

  • RBC Direct Investing has a good RRSP offer: If you sign up for pre-authorized contributions of $100 or more per month, the fee for having a low balance in your RRSP is waived.
  • CIBC Investor’s Edge has a no annual fee, no minimum, RESP account.
  • RBC Direct Investing and BMO InvestorLine let you have a USD side to your RRSP for no fee.
    CIBC Investor’s Edge and TD (Waterhouse) Direct Investing do not have a USD side to their RRSPs.
    Scotia iTrade charges a fee for a USD side to their RRSPs.

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Are you pleased to see the costs to trade stocks and ETFs dropping for low asset investors at the “Big Bank” online brokerages? Please share your views with a comment.