Qtrade Now Offering Commission-Free ETFs
The discount brokerage price war is officially on. After Scotia iTrade became the first online brokerage to offer commission-free ETF trades last month, Qtrade Investor has followed suit. The...
View ArticleA Perfect Plan for the Holidays
In the spirit of holiday giving, Justin Bender, portfolio manager with PWL Capital in Toronto, has approached me with an offer for Canadian Couch Potato readers. As part of his firm’s charitable giving...
View ArticleVanguard Canada Gets a Six-Month Checkup
It’s now been a year since Vanguard set up shop in Canada, and just over six months since their ETFs began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This week I had an opportunity to chat with Atul...
View ArticleAn Overview of Commission-Free ETFs
Three discount brokerages in Canada now offer a menu of commission-free ETFs. Scotia iTrade pioneered this feature in Canada last September, then Qtrade Investor announced a similar offering about a...
View ArticleA New Service for Do-It-Yourself Investors
In the June issue of MoneySense, I wrote a feature that profiled three Canadian families who wanted to overhaul their investments and start fresh with low-cost ETF portfolios they could manage on their...
View ArticleComparing the Costs of Index Funds and ETFs
The growing popularity of index investing has a lot to do with the increasing number of ETFs available, and that’s largely a good thing. ETFs generally have lower management expense ratios (MERs) than...
View ArticleVirtual Brokers Becomes the ETF Leader
The Globe and Mail announced its annual discount brokerage rankings yesterday and crowned a new winner. Virtual Brokers took top spot for 2012, ending a six-year run by Qtrade. In his article about the...
View ArticleAsk the Spud: Combining e-Series Funds and ETFs
I use the Global Couch Potato with e-Series funds in my TD Waterhouse account, but I eventually want to use the Complete Couch Potato. Once my portfolio gets to $50,000 and I qualify for $9.95 trading...
View ArticleHow Much Are You Paying For US Dollars?
Currency conversion remains one of the biggest rip-offs in banking and investing. It’s made worse by the lack of transparency: if you call your discount brokerage they’ll quote their current rates, but...
View ArticleScary When They’re Down, Scary When They’re Up
It’s been barely a month since Alexander Green remarked that we’re currently enjoying “the most disrespected bull market in history.” Green described how investors who were shell-shocked by 2008 were...
View ArticleETF Investors: Avoid the After-Hours Club
One of the first rules of buying and selling ETFs is to always use limit orders, never market orders. A limit order allows you to specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay, or the minimum you’re...
View ArticleNorbert’s Gambit at CIBC: A Case Study
Norbert’s gambit is an excellent way to reduce the cost of converting Canadian and US dollars, but not every brokerage makes it easy. Recently Justin Bender helped a client of our DIY Investor Service...
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The Hidden Cost of Bid-Ask Spreads
Trading commissions get a lot of attention from ETF investors, and rightly so. But depending which ETFs you use and the size of your trades, the impact of bid-ask spreads may be larger than you...
View ArticleNorbert’s Gambit: The Complete Guide
Norbert’s gambit remains the least expensive way to convert Canadian and US dollars at a discount brokerage. For investors looking to buy US-listed ETFs, learning this technique can save hundreds of...
View ArticleWill Robo-Advisors Ever Come to Canada?
Every investor who’s fired a bad advisor and become a do-it-yourselfer has probably had mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s liberating to get away from a costly strategy that was performing poorly. But...
View ArticleAsk the Spud: How Are Investors Protected?
Q: My father lost a large sum of money when the company holding his investments in his home country defrauded its clients. As a result, I worry whether it is safe to keep all our investments in one...
View ArticleShareOwner: Canada’s First ETF Robo-Advisor
Back in February I wrote about the rise of robo-advisors, the online services that allow you to build an ETF portfolio that’s maintained by a computer. These services are already operating in the US,...
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