Tag Archives: us dollars

Where Can I Find My US Ledger Stocks in My BMO InvestorLine RRSP or TFSA Account?

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Recently I set up a US dollar sub-account within my BMO InvestorLine RRSP account. Then I transferred some shares in TD into the US side. I intend to sell them there and buy something on the NYSE using the US dollars I will get for the sale. So I’ve been keeping an eye on my account waiting to see them journal over from the Canadian side to the US ledger. After a while I began to wonder where they would show up.

When I made the request to move the TD shares to my new US sub-account within my RRSP, I asked for only 100 shares to be transferred. That left me with some TD shares still in the Canadian dollar side of the account.

The first business day after the transfer, when I checked My Holdings under the My Portfolio tab, I could see two lines for TD. One line was for the 100 shares I had transferred. The other was for the balance of shares that I didn’t move. Both lines reported the current share price and value in Canadian dollars. So I thought, mistakenly, that the 100 shares had not yet been moved to the US dollar ledger.

How to See the US Side of a BMO InvestorLine RRSP or TFSA Account

A few business days later I began to wonder why nothing seemed different in the My Holdings view. Rather than just phone and ask, I decided to check around the screen. Sure enough, I had overlooked something:

To see the US dollar side, or ledger, or journal, or sub-account or whatever it should be called, you have to change the display in My Holdings. Here’s how:

  1. Sign in to your account/s.
    1. Go to https://www.bmoinvestorline.com/
    2. In the User ID or Account # field, type your account number or if you have grouped your accounts under one User ID, type your User ID.
    3. In the Password field, type your password.
    4. Click on the Go button.
  2. From the drop-down list at the top right of the screen, select the account within which you created a US dollar side.
  3. From the My Portfolio tab, select Holdings.
  4. From the Categorize by: drop-down list, select: Asset class & settlement currency.
    Click on the Go button.
  5. When you are finished reviewing your InvestorLine holdings, be sure to click on the Sign Out button. For increased security, close your browser session.

What You Will See When Displaying the US Journal for your InvestorLine Account

In the Cash balances section you will still see a line item for Canadian $ Cash and for U.S. $ Cash. They don’t move these lines under the next sub-headings.

The next new sub-heading reads: Portfolio held in CAD

Under it are the usual suspects:

Cash equivalents

  • GIC
  • Mutual funds

Fixed Income

  • Mutual funds

Equities

  • a list of your stocks with no heading. (Huh!)
  • Mutual funds (Remind me to sell that loser soon.)

Keep moving down and you’ll reach another new sub-heading:
Portfolio held in USD

For now I only have one sub-heading beneath that:
Equities
and a list of my shares.

Under this Portfolio held in USD: Equities section I finally see the two items in USD.
They are:

  • the Market Value, in USD; and
  • the Unrealized gain/loss in USD.

For some reason the listed Average Cost and Current Price are both still reported in CAD.

I can understand the Average Cost might be, since I did buy these shares in CAD.

I’m not sure why the Current Price isn’t listed in American dollars. Maybe the program just can’t pull prices from two sources easily?

I did go over to the Equity Order screen and check the spot prices for TD on the Canadian and American exchanges. They are not even close to the same price (because of the exchange rate.) They are trading about for about 4 cents less in USD than in CAD. The correct trading price (15-20 minute delayed) in CAD is being reported on both the Portfolio held in CAD and Portfolio held in USD sections of the screen.

How Can I See What Exchange Rate InvestorLine is Offering?

There’s also a little line at the bottom of this Holdings screen that says the current Exchange Rate is:
I USD = 1.0410 CAD; 1 CAD = 0.9606 USD

As you can see, these numbers are not opposites, so these must be the Exchange Rate INCLUDING the foreign currency exchange fee charged by BMO InvestorLine. (Otherwise if it costs 1.0410 Canadian to buy a US dollar, you should get 1.0410 Canadian if you sell a US Dollar.) I have no idea what I was trying to say here. What it does say is wrong as Peter politely pointed out.

Conclusion

I learned from this that I should click around more on my InvestorLine screens if I want to find out what’s going on in my account.

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Did you catch on right away that your US dollar shares could be found by sorting your Holdings? Or did it take a day or two like it did for me? Please share your experiences and tips with a comment.

What to Watch for When Transferring a Stock to the US Dollar Side of an InvestorLine Account

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First I set up a US dollar ledger or journal for my InvestorLine RRSP account. Then I transferred some shares of TD that I already owned from the Canadian dollar side of the account to the US dollar side. I forgot to watch out for one detail before I did this transfer though.

Receiving Dividend Payments in US Dollars within a BMO InvestorLine RRSP US Dollar Sub Account

I asked a BMO InvestorLine agent to move 100 TD shares from my Canadian dollar RRSP account to my US dollar sub-account. They journaled the shares over, as requested, on July 11.

I felt rather smug about that because they pay a dividend on July 31 and I wanted to see how that would work. For instance, what exchange rate and fee would I have to pay to receive the dividend in US dollars?

Watch Your Dividend Dates Before Requesting a CAD to USD Transfer

Unfortunately, I forgot the dividend PAYMENT date is not the important one. It’s the dividend RECORD date I should have tried to beat.

TD declared the July 31 dividend to be payable to shareholders on record on July 9. On July 9, I still held the shares in the Canadian dollar side of my account.

What Happens to a Dividend Payment In This Situation?

I don’t actually know how this will play out. I guess on July 31 I will find out. Actually it will be August 1, as InvestorLine does not pay dividends till one day later, then backdates the transaction. So I will report my findings in August.

I still have TD shares in my Canadian dollar account. I also now have TD shares in my US dollar account. The dividend could

  • Be paid for all of the TD shares in CAD to the cash account in the Canadian ledger; or
  • Be paid for the Canadian-held TD shares in CAD to the cash account in the Canadian ledger, and be paid for the US-held TD shares in CAD to the cash account in the US ledger but be converted to USD after applying an exchange rate and a foreign currency exchange fee.

I already had been puzzled about exactly what they would do for the dividend payable on the shares held in the US ledger:

  • would they pay the dividend in CAD and only apply the exchange rate; or
  • would they pay the dividend in CAD and apply both the exchange rate and a foreign currency exchange fee; or
  • would they pay the dividend is USD at an exchange rate set by TD.

That puzzle will not be solved until Hallowe’en!

Why Transfer TD Anyway?

Some of you may be wondering why I moved TD in the first place. It’s just that I bought it during the recent dip and I’ll be selling it soon to crystallize the capital gain. Then I’ll want to re-invest the money, preferably in a US stock. This was an easy way to move the value to the US side to have it ready to sell when I find something I want to buy.

The Moral of the Story

Be smarter than me. (I know that’s not much of a challenge!)

If you are transferring shares from your Canadian Dollar account to your US Dollar account, try to do it before the date of record. And I guess if you’re transferring them the other way, also keep an eye on the Record date.

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Have you ever been caught by this quirk? Did it all work out as you expected? Please share your experiences with a comment.