[dotnet_nerd]

New user here. I searched the forums for Mortgage-Backed Securities ("MBS") and was surprised to find nothing.

I have no experience with them but they seem appealing. According to the TD website:

Key Benefits

* Safest Canadian investments available in Canada, regardless of the size of the investment.
* Fully guaranteed principal and interest when held to maturity.
* Provides guaranteed regular payments of income.
* Very competitive yields.
* High degree of liquidity.
* Low minimum investment required.
* RSP/RRIF eligible.

Any thoughts on the pros/cons of MBS's? The minimum investment is $5000 which is perfect for my new TDW TFSA acct.

TIA

 

[Mandie]

MBS info

I am also a new user here, and this is my first post, so glad to be able to give some info on something I know. Very few in my bank were familiar with them when I first started investing in them.

I have had 4 or 5 MBSs over the past few years and have always been pleased with them as they are easy to buy and set up.

Yes, they are safe and fully guaranteed.

I believe the minimum amount is $5,000 tho, and return is a bit of capital plus the interest which is more. Payment is monthly.

However, rates right now are similar to GICs.

There is a secondary market for them, but best to hold them to maturity, which can vary.

 

[FrugalTrader]

Welcome to the forum Mandie! Do you have links to popular MBS's in Canada?

 

[Robillard]

First of all, there are multiple types of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs). Some are simply "pass-through securities", which flow the payments of interest and principal to the investor without any fancy structuring. Other MBSs have a tranche structure designed to give the investor some protection from defaults and prepayments. These are made by pooling bunches of pass-through securities.

There are some advantages to MBSs compared to other fixed income instruments. In particular, they have specified collateral that the trustee can seize and resell in the event of default (foreclosed properties). By comparison, government bonds typically do not have any collateral. Furthermore, MBSs offer a steady stream of mortgage payments. These payments can include both repayment of principal and interest. I think the frequency of payments is usually monthly, instead of two payments per year for the most common types of bonds. Lastly, because of their peculiar structure, MBS prices may not correlate exactly with other fixed income securities. This can be advantageous in a portfolio of fixed income securities.

They key downsides, in my opinion, are the prepayment and reinvestment risks. Prepayment risk is the risk that the repayments of principal come earlier than expected. Some degree of prepayment can be forecast, but there can be a high degree of uncertainty. Depending on how the MBS is structured, the prepayment risk can be high or low. It also depends on the situation. If current interest rates are lower than the interest rates of the underlying mortgages, then the prepayments tend to come in very quickly. The reinvestment risk has to do with the investor's inability to reinvest the interest and principal repayments at the same yield. If the investor cannot earn the same or higher yield on reinvestment, then the actual yield from their investment in the MBS will be less than the quoted yield at the time of purchase.

Mandie also alluded to another problem with MBSs. The secondary market for these securities is not as liquid as that for other securities. This means that the bid-offer spread on these may be wider than government bonds with similar maturities. MBSs typically do not have fixed maturity dates rather they have expected maturity dates. The actual maturity of the security depends upon the speed of prepayments.

 

[dotnet_nerd]

Thanks Robillard for your helpful explanation.

I'll check with TD and see what the current yields are.

 

[ddkay]

Does anyone still invest in these?