Canadians - help me re-arrange my $$

[Meggslynn]

So what I have now:

$15000 - in my RSP in a RBC mutual fund portfolio (has been averaging about 6.2% but MER's are killer at 2.12)
$11000 - in ING savings account (1.5%, no fees)
$12000 - in ING TFSA (1.5%, no fees)
$5500 - in chequing acount
$2500 - in a RBC savings account (.75%, no fees) this one I would like to leave with RBC for emergency car repairs etc.

This is does not include about 35K in my company pension plan. I don't have a choice in this plan but it does have pretty decent growth.
This does not include my hubbies money.

More details on me:
I am 30, mom of a two year and married.
I owe about $200K on a 350K house.
I make 80K a year, my H makes 65K
We live pretty basically but no too mustachian as we both have cars (though they are used and very commute friendly) and both commute about 20 minutes.

I was going to open a Questrade account today and follow one the couch potato portfolios (but do more 70/30 rather than 60/40) so if you have any opinions on which one or how much I should move over (if not all) I would really appreciate any insight you have.

[daverobev]

RBC has 'ok' index tracker mutual funds. (0.7% MER, approx).

When do you want to retire? That makes a difference to your bond allocation (but some people say, if you have a mortgage you don't need bonds - the mortgage will have similar characteristics).

People's Trust have a 3% cash TFSA - probably worth moving there for your emergency fund, if you want to.

I'd switch all of your RBC stuff to the Canadian and US index funds. The 'international' is currency hedged which isn't great. You could look into TD eSeries - simpler than Questrade.

Remember you can pull money out of a TFSA any time, so there is (if you have room) no point getting 0.75% taxable. I guess the ING savings also allows this so the 0.75% seems like a waste.

How much RRSP room do you have/want to use?

[Meggslynn]

That's a good point on moving the "quick access" cash to ING. Usually I can get my money from them in 24 hours.

I have about $28000 in RSP room. That will fall to about $22000 as I plan on putting my $6000 bonus there.

I want to go down to part time or seasonal when I am about 45/50.

I was thinking about the e-series as well. Does any Canadians have any experience with Qtrade?

[TrMama]

At the very least I would consolidate the RBC cash and the ING savings account into your ING TFSA savings account. I don't see any point in paying tax on the meagre earnings from those accounts when you have lots of room in your TFSA. If you do have a car repair, you can put it in on a credit card and still have time to transfer from ING in time to pay it off without interest.

Is the TFSA money earmarked for anything in the next couple years? If not, I'd probably invest about half of it in an index fund. Put the little green employees to work for you. If your uncomfortable with that, then use some of that money to pay down your mortgage, you'll still end up with a better rate of return.

MMM did an article on Investing for Canadians recently that discussed Questrade. I bet there's some feedback from other Canadians in the comments section.

[daverobev]

That's a good point on moving the "quick access" cash to ING. Usually I can get my money from them in 24 hours.

I have about $28000 in RSP room. That will fall to about $22000 as I plan on putting my $6000 bonus there.

I want to go down to part time or seasonal when I am about 45/50.

I was thinking about the e-series as well. Does any Canadians have any experience with Qtrade?

Just bear in mind your RRSP is best if you're earning more now than in retirement - I guess at $80k you should be!!

Qtrade or Questrade? I have Questrade accounts; it's great but more 'active' than RBC or eSeries funds - ie, you can set your bank to auto deposit funds to your Questrade account/s, but not auto-invest it. I have to nag my wife to get her to log in to invest her deposits and contribitions - so she has most stuff going into her RBC mutual funds (just the Canadian and US index, pretty much). If you like logging in and Looking at Your Money (TM) Questrade is great - you see the dividends come in, it has a nice display of what's going on, etc, etc. But really for your average punter, eSeries is the best as it allows enough flexibility, but (as the saying goes) not enough rope to hang yourself - you won't see the "BMO Junior Oil & Gas ETF" as an eSeries fund!!! Just the stuff you 'should' be investing in!

Sadly I like tinkering. I'm making some progress in selling the 'oooh that looks cheap, let me buy some!' stuff and reallocating to the index-tracking, low MER ETFs I should've bought in the first place.

Have you considered a line of credit as 'emergency'? Obviously you can get money out from a brokerage in say 10 days (quicker from TD eSeries I'd guess), and I personally can't think what you'd need physical cash for in a matter of two or three days - but our LOC, at least, allows the writing of cheques; it's ~6% so not a train crash if you use it for a bit, and assuming you don't use it you can have your money invested... At least at 3% in that People's Trust TFSA..