Should I open a TDwh account?

Welcome to the forum.

I'd suggest checking out the sticky in this section "Eight with Weight: A Reading List for New Investors".

From what you are describing - it may make more sense to setup a TD eSeries Funds account & avoid the commission fees. Once there is enough money to qualify for the cheaper commissions (or enough combined household assets to qualify), you can always setup the TDW account later and transfer the investments over.

Or you could go with a cheaper discount broker but if you know you need time to learn & don't need a broad range of choices - the longer you are commission free (assuming small MERs), the better your returns will be.

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/produc...ual-funds/td-eseries-funds.jsp?tab=what-is-it

There's also several threads on CMF discussing the differences between the two TD account, the process to set each up and the pros/cons/experiences of those using other brokerages.


If you like talking to people in person, you might consider joining an investment club or similar. Then too, I've seen libraries run seminars as well as colleges run courses on investing. If you keep in mind the question of "how is the seller/ad visor being paid", you've usually got a good idea of what to watch for/risks.


For the CIBC MF's, you'll have to check if TDW will accept them as MFs (I'm sure the eSeries account won't). Having these funds may mean that a CIBC brokerage account makes more sense. Worst case, you might have to sell them and transfer the proceeds as everyone accepts cash. Make sure to negotiate as sometimes if the receiving institution thinks they are gaining business, they'll pay for some of the expenses.

Cheers

2tire2work said:

I want to open a TDwh account and start investing. I will buy some GIC. Some e-series and some ETFs
Let's say I have 10k in each category. Do I pay a fees of a percentage on that category every year to TD or just a one time fee when I buy the products. (Of course GICs are fee free)

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GICs: no fees, you'll get the interest rate shown in this listing.

e-series: no fees to buy or sell units unless you redeem within 30 days of purchase in which case there's a 2% penalty. Other than that, yes there is an annual fee as a % (the MER, management expense ratio) that is taken from within the fund. It's transparent as in you don't explicitly pay cash out of your account, but the shares internally decline in value by the MER, 0.33%, each year. This is true for every mutual fund and ETF. In the case of e-series, that MER % taken each year goes to TD which is the fund manager.

ETF: you pay standard stock fees to buy and sell shares, such as $29 a trade or $10 a trade if you have > 50k assets. So when you first buy the shares, you will pay the $29 commission. There are no further fees paid to TD until you do another buy or sell. However each year there is an MER taken out of the fund, which goes to the fund manager. For instance 0.18% a year for XIU, paid to iShares.

The big difference between e-series and an ETF is that you have to pay stock trade commissions on ETFs but none for e-series. However, the annual MER % on ETFs is typically less than e-series. Sometimes it's a tough call on which is cheaper, overall.

james4beach said:

... The big difference between e-series and an ETF is that you have to pay stock trade commissions on ETFs but none for e-series. However, the annual MER % on ETFs is typically less than e-series. Sometimes it's a tough call on which is cheaper, overall.

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Good summary.

It's probably good to point out as well that an higher end MF will charge a 2 to 3% MER so while the e-series 0.33% might look like a lot compared to the ETF, both are likely much better than the OP's MFs with CIBC.

Also - for the ETFs, some of the smaller, discount brokers such as Questrade offer buying ETFs commission-free. One pays nothing to buy (the MER is still charged every year) and one commission to sell. This assumes that the ETFs offers the ETFs one is interested in.
http://www.questrade.com/trading/services/free_etf.aspx?pid=13-02-00-Qcom-Home-banner-ETFSmall


It's probably also good to point out that if the CIBC MFs being transferred are deferred sales charge (DSC), depending on how long they have been held a penalty that declines the longer the fund is held (ex. 5% if sold in the first year, 0% in year 6).
http://tridelta.ca/The-Canadian-Financial-Planner/2011/05/23/deferred-sales-charge-dsc-mutual-funds/

If it's a no-load MF, then likely there's smaller penalty for holding less than a year (most I've seen have been are somewhere between 30 to 90 days).

Regardless of the MF itself, CIBC may have a fee for the transfer and/or a fee for closing the account.


A good start is to find out what the MF is and checking out the fine print.



Cheers