BMO recommended RRSP options

Before people start with ETFs/Roboadvisors/Cheaper options....


First things first, you are asking us to say whether an investment is appropriate when we have zero information about you. Your age, risk tolerance, time frame, financial situation etc. all makes a huge difference in the selection of an appropriate investment vehicle. Keeping this in mind, it is impossible for anyone to comment whether these funds are good or not. So before anyone can answer, you need to disclose this information otherwise no-one can effectively answer you.

Two, when you are not 100% sure of the investment you want to make, you shouldn't rush into a fund. Because of the RRSP contribution deadline, people rush into these choices. For you it is kind of too late, but one recommendation I can make is have the funds deposited into a savings account RRSP. Too late for you probably to have an account at a competitive bank, but Achieva pays a really high rate and has free transfer-outs, so when you have decided On the fund and strategy to pursue, you can transfer the money to the fund/institution of your choosing without the cost. You could stick it in a BMO one for now and decide what to do later. By doing this, you meet the deadline and can get the RRSP deduction.

Finally, the point everyone is going to jump on. Costs. I am assuming you bank at BMO, hence the selection of BMO investment funds. Mutual Funds, especially Series A funds at retail banks are frankly expensive compared to the alternatives out there. There are many options including ones where you don't have to do any more work that are still cheaper. Even BMO has Smartfolio that invests in their ETFs. Kinda ironic as the BMO advisor suggests an "... ETF portfolio" in a rather expensive mutual fund format costing 1.76% MER when you can buy more-or-less the same ETF portfolio through their Smartfolio program. Keep in mind, not a fan of Smartfolio, but it is significantly cheaper for pretty much the same thing with that equity growth ETF portfolio mutual fund.

Thank you for your response.

I agree with you and here are my details - age (40), risk tolerance (medium), time frame (10 to 20 years), financial situation (stable as of now with no huge debts)

Yes, I do bank with BMO and have RRSP account with them which I opened in the past. Due to time constraint, I think my only option is to stick with BMO and put money in Saving account RRSP for now to meet the deadline.

I will ask BMO on smart portfolio option to see what they offer.

sirisak wrote: ↑Thank you for your response.

I agree with you and here are my details - age (40), risk tolerance (medium), time frame (10 to 20 years), financial situation (stable as of now with no huge debts)

Yes, I do bank with BMO and have RRSP account with them which I opened in the past. Due to time constraint, I think my only option is to stick with BMO and put money in Saving account RRSP for now to meet the deadline.

I will ask BMO on smart portfolio option to see what they offer.

BMO Smartfolio isn't offered via the branch I believe, but you can ask. Longer term, if you are thinking of cheaper optiOns, we can discuss this as frankly keeping all your investments where you bank isn't ideal or really all that beneficial.

For sure look at the savings account RRSP as a holder for now.

I guess OP wants to make use of this current market conditions (6% down so far) to buy the equity funds though the MER's are high compared with low cost index funds (VAB/VUN/VCN/XEC/XEF) thru Questrade or other brokers.
I agree with you @xgbsSS to park in savings until OP comes up with actual strategy and the products that ideal for him/her.

If RRSP timing is an issue and need the deduction, open a RRSP savings account.

But for longer term, open a BMO InvestorLine RRSP account so that you will have access to ZGRO, VGRO, XGRO or any other choice of lower cost ETFs (depending on how much you want to be involved in managing your portfolio).

Then transfer RRSP savings account monies to BMO IL RRSP.

fastlayne wrote: ↑ If RRSP timing is an issue and need the deduction, open a RRSP savings account.

But for longer term, open a BMO InvestorLine RRSP account so that you will have access to ZGRO, VGRO, XGRO or any other choice of lower cost ETFs (depending on how much you want to be involved in managing your portfolio).

Then transfer RRSP savings account monies to BMO IL RRSP.

I finished the 2019 contribution last month (when market is high :-( ) and i know roughly how much room for 2020, can i go ahead buy again or will that be considered for 2019 as the deadline for 2019 still few more day?
I am thinking of waiting until march 3rd to contribute for 2020 but the market might rebound from this corona dip...
any suggestions ?

I'm in the same situation as the op. How do you open a RRSP savings account? I'm with TDDI and have transferred cash to my SDRSP but have not made any purchases. Will I be able to use that towards my 2019 deduction or is there more to it?

Shepherd214 wrote: ↑ I'm in the same situation as the op. How do you open a RRSP savings account? I'm with TDDI and have transferred cash to my SDRSP but have not made any purchases. Will I be able to use that towards my 2019 deduction or is there more to it?

If the transfer was made prior to the deadline, you are fine.

If it is in an RSP account, the contribution is already made. You could do absolutely nothing with the cash if you wanted.

Thanks for the info. Was on hold with TD for 20 min and gave up. I deposited the cash into my self directed RRSP account last week but I'm just waiting to see how the markets go. So they will send me a tax reciept even though it's just cash sitting the account?

Shepherd214 wrote: ↑ Thanks for the info. Was on hold with TD for 20 min and gave up. I deposited the cash into my self directed RRSP account last week but I'm just waiting to see how the markets go. So they will send me a tax reciept even though it's just cash sitting the account?

Exactly. Remember the RRSP account is where you make a contribution. It can contain investments. From the CRA's point of view , all they care is that funds are deposited into the RRSP account, not that the funds are actually invested

Shepherd214 wrote: ↑ I'm in the same situation as the op. How do you open a RRSP savings account? I'm with TDDI and have transferred cash to my SDRSP but have not made any purchases. Will I be able to use that towards my 2019 deduction or is there more to it?

As others mentioned with TDDI you just have to deposit the funds in your SDRSP account before the deadline and it is considered an RRSP contribution. TDDI will send you a contribution receipt (or if you get your documents online you can download it from WebBroker under Accounts-> Documents (eServices).

The interest rate on cash in your SDRSP account will be very low. If you won't invest it for a while you can use TDDI's TDB8150 HISA which I believe currently pays 1.6%. To purchase it go to the mutual fund order screen and enter a buy order for TDB8150. It is purchased like mutual fund units but it is actually a CDIC insured savings account. Here are some TD links that describe it:
https://www.td.com/ca/en/asset-manageme ... solutions/
https://www.tdassetmanagement.com/docum ... atures.pdf