Broker account
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Luis Chacon
Apr 9, 2021, 2:26:46 PM4/9/21
to Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Hi Group.
Seeking for your advice. I'm new to this group and this type of investment.
I would like to open a brokerage account to invest in Canadian stock for my retirement, at least once a month. In order to benefit from DRIP (dividend Re-Investment Plan) and SPP (Stock Purchase Plans).
Based in your experience which company offers the best option with less fees.
Highly appreciate your comments, thanks.
Regards, Luis Chacon.
George L Smyth
Apr 9, 2021, 2:36:30 PM4/9/21
to Luis Chacon, Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Luis -
Are you an American looking to purchase Canadian stocks, or the other way around? If the latter then perhaps someone else can chime in. As an American I use Ally, though I cannot say that they are better than any other. (I hold Enbridge through them.) I believe that TD Ameritrade, E*Trade, and Schwab all offer fee-free purchases, so they may be possibilities.
If you are Canadian then that is a completely different matter and I do not have an answer for you on that (perhaps someone will chime in with an option).
Cheers -
george
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Luis Chacon
Apr 9, 2021, 2:45:26 PM4/9/21
to Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
I'm Canadian.
George L Smyth
Apr 9, 2021, 3:27:43 PM4/9/21
to Luis Chacon, Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Alas, I believe that that is a problem many other Canadians have encountered. I wonder if any might have an answer.
Cheers -
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dividend-investing---brokerage-ta--bank-accounts/e55ab869-2d04-41ef-aa89-4135cecb583bn%40googlegroups.com.
canuck driper
Apr 10, 2021, 7:26:40 PM4/10/21
to Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Hello Louis and George,
As Canadians we do not have as many options as in the United States but I will try to help if I can.
First: In Canada, I don't know of any good broker to drip fractional shares. Most brokers only drip if you have enough for one entire share.
We also do not have many options for low to no fees.
We have RBC Direct Investing, Questtrade, Scotia Itrade, I think something through TD as well, and Qtrade along with newer and smaller ones such as Wealthsimple Trade.
Personally I use a combination of Qtrade and Wealthsimple Trade along with individual drips through the transfer agents (which may be tough to manage later however as I am in my mid 20's I am okay doing so).
I use Qtrade which is about 8 dollars per trade (and has either a 25 k account minimum at the end of each quarter, 100 dollar deposit per month, or two revenue generating trades per quarter to avoid the 25 dollar per quarter administration fee) (as a young investor I put in $50 per month to avoid it).
Here is a link to their website that has more information.
I use Qtrade mainly for my US stocks along with some ETFS (as they have some that you do not pay fees with a minimum 1k trade). I originally started with Qtrade which is why I still hold some Canadian stocks with them as well but they also have drips for some companies which you have to set). I have both a Canadian Account, Us Dollar account, and TFSA. With Qtrade drips, if you have enough for minimum 1 share it will drip (not sure about discounts though) however if one month you just miss it then you have to reset the drip for the next payment as it cancels out so that is just something to watch for as it is not fully automatic.
Something to note is that on Qtrade you also have access to a variety of analyst reports, it calculates your gains (or loss) monthly, quarterly, annually, lets you compare to benchmarks and such so I think you get what you pay for.
Some people use Questrade because you do not pay fees to buy and only pay fees to sell but I think they have other pay only options and not too familiar with them.
Recently, I have moved to wealthsimple trade since they have a no-fee model if you are only trading canadian listed stocks or ETFS however it was only on mobile (although I think now it may be on desktop as well). They don't have an automatic drip so you would have to reinvest money yourself and to sell or buy us stocks there is a 1.5 percent currency exchange fee on top of the exchange rate and they don't have US accounts. It was also more difficult to get various tax-slips and such due to the current almost mobile/app only model.
Also with wealthsimple trade there was a three day hold on funds before you could trade (although now they have 250 dollar instant deposit that I think you can use 3 times a week) and have introduced (but not enacted) a subscription program that for $3 per month you get instant deposit up to 1000 and real time pricing data (because Wealthsimple trade has a lot of daytraders on it but I don't see the purpose of paying $3 per month if you are buying stocks to hold/to collect the dividends).
So there are a few options for you to look at if you wish.
I started with Qtrade because it was linked with my credit union and have been pretty happy and haven't had any major issues (other than the drip which I missed out on one month just because I didn't have it set up right as I had purchased more shares prior but didn't reset it).
Qtrade also happens to be listed as the top online broker in Canada but I have attached a link here that may tell you more about others.
My thoughts and views may be due to the fact though that I don't do more risky trades like daytrading, options, shorting and such so others may have different views. I basically buy and hold bluechips/established companies like Canadian Banks, Intel... collect the dividends, reinvest manually, and sometimes sell a position if it has gone up substantially)
Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Hope this helps you move forward though with your self-directed investing.
Happy Trading,
Jake
(sorry if you see this twice I wasn't sure the best place to post this so you would both see the reply)
George L Smyth
Apr 11, 2021, 10:00:35 AM4/11/21
to canuck driper, Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Jake -
Thanks so much for the information. This is the sort of thing that should be very helpful for Canadians. I am wondering if you would allow me to put this information on my blog in the hopes of offering it to a wider audience. Of course, you would get the credit, and if you would like me to include your last name then just send it to george...@gmail.com. It is great when helpful information can be offered to everyone.
Cheers -
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dividend-investing---brokerage-ta--bank-accounts/4d2a515b-1bd3-4d61-b945-413bfaed93c1n%40googlegroups.com.
canuck driper
Apr 11, 2021, 1:39:09 PM4/11/21
to Dividend Investing - Brokerage, T.A., & Bank Accounts
Hello George,
Yes it is fine if you put this on your blog.
Hopefully this information can be helpful to others as well. Please let me know if you would like further clarification or details regarding any of the points made.
All the best,
Jake
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