Overview

If you're surprised how low the interest rates your bank offers, you're not alone. You need to do some homework before you decide to park some money in mid to long-term.

Tips

• Make a booking with your financial advisor at bank, and have them walk you through the different financial products such as GIC, TFSA, RRSP, RESP, and such. Say "Thank you. I'll think about my options and make another appointment." before making any commitment.
• Check out & compare the interest rates of Savings account and GIC at sites like Ratesupermarket. Call your bank and ask them if they can match the interest rates from competing banks that offer higher interest rates.
• GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificates)s usually offer higher interest rates than chequeing or savings account, but there is a heavy penalty if you want to take money out before the maturity date. Instead of parking $5,000 into a single GIC account, perhaps you can split the same sum into 2 or 3 accounts of $1,500, $1,500 and $2,000 so that when you really need some of the money out, the remaining accounts can still be eligible for the higher interest rates you originally signed up for.
• Check out RoboAdvisors where the fees are significantly less than the traditional banks.

What I'm personally using and why?

• Wealth Simple

  Stock trading used to be an expensive hobby for Canadians, where each trading costs $7.50 to $15 per transaction, but Wealth Simple offered no fee for individual stock trading, or significantly lower fees on managed investment. Their website looks very modern, easy to understand, and I'm quite happy with their performance.

  

  

Resources

RateSupermarket.ca

Best Robo Advisors Canada 2020: A Complete Guide

Referrals

• Wealth Simple Investment Sign up today to get your first $10,000 managed for free