Tag Archives: us dollars

If I Transfer a Stock to my US $ InvestorLine RRSP After the Record Date Where Does the Dividend Go?

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Earlier this month I set up a US $ side within my InvestorLine RRSP. Then I funded it by moving some stocks I owned from the Canadian $ side to the US $ side. Unfortunately, I outwitted myself and moved them after the Date of Record for the next dividend payment. So where did the dividend appear?

TD Pays a Dividend on July 31 to Owners of Record

When I transferred some TD stock, I left most of the shares on the Canadian dollar side of my RRSP. I only transferred a portion to the new US dollar side.

The entire July 31 TD dividend payment appeared on the Canadian side of my RRSP account.

I had not been sure whether InvestorLine would push part of the dividend through to the US dollar side of the account to follow the shares or not. And I had wondered what exchange rate and fee they would apply if they did. They didn’t so they didn’t apply anything.

The Moral of the Story: Watch those Dates of Record Before Shifting Stock

As I mentioned in my earlier post, pay more attention to the date of record than I did and you can avoid this confusion!

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Has anyone else ever made a mistake about the Date of Record that cost them? Please share your experience with a comment.

Which of the Big 5 Brokerages Offer a US Dollar Side, Journal, Ledger or Sub-Account for an RRSP?

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The Big 5 Canadian banks are BMO, CIBC, RBC, ScotiaBank, and TD. Each of these has an associated discount brokerage. Only some of these brokerages, however, allow you to keep US stocks in a US dollar part of your RRSP account. This is a recap of which ones have this option, which is variously called a US dollar side, journal, ledger or sub-account.

What Use is a US Dollar Side to an RRSP Self Directed Brokerage Account?

Recently I set up a US dollar sub-account in my BMO InvestorLine RRSP account. This lets me buy and sell stocks in US dollars and receive distributions, dividends and profits without paying any foreign currency conversion fees.

I knew I couldn’t do this for our CIBC Investor’s Edge RRSP. They don’t offer this option.

Then today I was reading an article by the Canadian Capitalist posted in a roundup by Michael James on Money. I was surprised to read that at TD Waterhouse you can’t just set up this kind of US ledger in your RRSP.

That led me to do some quick checking into this issue. Here’s what I found out:

Which Brokerages Have US Dollar RRSP Accounts or Sub-Accounts

Brokerage US Dollar Sub-Account Available?
BMO InvestorLine Yes
CIBC Investor’s Edge No
RBC Direct Investing Yes
ScotiaBank iTrade No
TD Waterhouse Direct Investing No but with ***

*** According to the Canadian Capitalist article TD Direct Investing does offer a sort-of compromise. It lets you buy and sell stocks in US dollars and keep the monies in US dollars between buys. It does not, however, let you receive distributions and dividends in US dollars.

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Do you use a self-directed brokerage for your RRSP? Can you keep all of your profits, distributions and dividends in US dollars till you’re ready to spend them? Please share your experiences with a comment.