Tag Archives: stocks

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.

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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.

Can I Take Stocks Out of my BMO InvestorLine RRIF Without Selling Them?

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At this stage, we’re still adding to our RRSPs each year. But all too soon it will be time to change our RRSPs into RRIFs. And once you have a RRIF whether you want to or not, you have to take some assets out each year and pay tax on them. The federal government sets a minimum withdrawal schedule generally starting at age 72. But what if I don’t want to make my withdrawals in cash? I wanted to know if I could take stocks out of my BMO InvestorLine account without selling them.

Why Would I Want to Transfer Out Stocks from my RRIF?

There isn’t a lot of benefit to making a withdrawal “in kind” from a RRIF. Basically, it saves two trading commissions: one for the sale of the stocks inside the RRIF, and one for re-purchasing the stocks in a non-registered brokerage account outside of the RRIF.
There is one other advantage: it reduces the risk that you might sell for a lower price than you have to pay to re-purchase the same shares.

Because you will pay tax based on the deemed value of the shares on the day you transfer them out (not based on the book value, or the price you paid for the shares when you first invested in them) you will not avoid any tax on the capital gain.

In fact any increase in value is not even considered a capital gain. The entire withdrawal is treated as “income” by the government and unfortunately you pay regular tax on it, not just capital gains tax. You can’t claim any capital losses in a RRIF or when making a sale to make a cash withdrawal from a RRIF either. Sorry.

Why Most People Don’t Transfer Stocks out of Their RRIFs

Most people don’t care if you can transfer stocks out or not. They need cash!

If you need the cash right away, there is no need to transfer the stocks out. It’s only worth transferring the stocks out if you have plenty of cash and you want to keep holding that stock for the long term.

For example, you might need the cash value of those stocks to either
(a) live on or
(b) pay the deferred taxes with.

Remember, when you make a withdrawal from your RRIF you have to pay income taxes on it. Generally, you will have to pay when you file your quarterly or annual tax return.

If you withdraw more than the required annual minimum, you will have to pay a portion of the taxes immediately though as tax is “withheld” and submitted to the CRA by your financial institution.

Checking Whether “In Kind” Transfers Out are Permitted to Meet RRIF Withdrawal Requirements

I used the BMO InvestorLine MyLink secure email system to ask whether it is possible to make a required RRIF annual withdrawal “in kind” rather than in cash.

Specifically, I asked whether stocks could be transferred in kind from a RRIF to a regular non-registered InvestorLine brokerage account in order to meet the mandatory government withdrawal schedule.

Stock Transfers Out of a RRIF Are Permitted at InvestorLine

Good news!

Yes, you can transfer shares directly out from an InvestorLine RRIF into a non-registered InvestorLine brokerage account.

The detailed reply included the following information:
“With InvestorLine, the default option is cash payments. If you would like to setup an in-kind payment, they are done on a manual basis. What you would be required to do is contract us, 2 weeks in advance from the scheduled cash payment, and request an in-kind payment. The agent assisting you will submit the request for in-kind shares to be moved to your non-registered cash account and ensure to cancel the cash payment.

Ensure [that a non-registered cash account] is opened prior to the payment being requested to ensure smooth processing of the minimum in-kind RIF payment.”

So it can be done, but you have to be prepared:

  1. Set up your InvestorLine non-registered account well in advance of your first RRIF withdrawal. (I’d suggest opening it at least 2 months in advance.)
  2. Two weeks (or earlier if they will let you) ahead of transfer time, contact InvestorLine and request the schedule cash payment be cancelled.
    At that time request the in-kind transfer. You will have to specify

    • which shares to move,
    • how many shares to move,
    • and how you will pay the withholding tax required by the government if you are withdrawing more than the required minimum (which is likely as the shares are not likely to divide evenly into your minimum requirement).

Let’s  hope we can all transfer the shares in kind –and hope it’s because we’re all rolling in so much cash we don’t need the money!

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Have you done an in-kind transfer of shares from your RRIF to a brokerage account? Did it go smoothly? Please share your tips or tricks with others facing this same challenge by leaving a comment.