Moving from Advisor to TD or Questrade? (Canada)

[SandyBoxx]

Hello,

We are trying to get ourselves organized to move from our high MER funds (through our advisor) and into either TD Direct Investing or Questrade.

We currently do 95% of our banking through TD, and have TD Direct Investing accounts (with e-series access) already established on both our personal and business side (one TFSA (Hers), and one non-registered for the business.)

We have various other accounts currently with our financial advisor:

RRSP (His)
RRSP (Hers)
RRSP (Spousal)
LIRA (His)
RESP (Kids)
Non-Registered (Smith Maneouvre)
and another (non-registered) account with some gift money from a great-grandparent, in trust for the kids.

All accounts have values over $25K (except for the final one for the kids which has <$10K, and the advisor waived his fees on it).

In the past we have made annual lump sum contributions, but going forward I do not know that that will be the case.

I would prefer to move everything to TD to keep life simple, but is there a reason that Questrade would be a much better choice for us?

Also, has anyone been through the process of moving from a broker to either of these companies?  Any tips on the process?  Should I be moving things to cash, or transferring them in-kind, and then selling to purchase ETF's or e-series?  I know most companies allow a sale of up to 10% of units annually - any idea if this is calendar year, or 12 month periods?
I will (of course) get assistance from whichever company we decide to go with, but thought I would pick your minds for any guidance as well.

I understand the high-level of what needs to happen, but the nitty-gritty details of getting it going are causing me to stall out!

Thank you in advance,

SandyBoxx

[Jjawt]

Hi

I am new to this site and live in expensive Vancouver BC! I am looking for Canadian sites that offer same counsel but with info on affordable Canadian credit cards, cell plans, insurance plans etc. Any ideas? How is Questrade going for you? I am at TD but want to start with loer cost investing options but know so little about investing.....so am dependent on bands. I am 53 and have already lost so much maoney in redoing our mortgage several times.

[fullpampers]

I transferred some rrsp's from Desjardins to Questrade last year.

Transfer was in money as my investments had come to term at desjardins and I didn't reinvest them.

The transfer had to be done from the Questrade side. Filled out a from, mailed it to Desjardins if I remember correctly. After that everything took care of itself.

I haven't done any transfer in kind so I can't speak for that.

Advantages for going to Questrade are free to buy ETF's, and low MER's. I don't have any complaints as far as Questrade goes.

J-S.

[Stashasaurus]

Sandyboxx Congratulations from stepping away from an adviser, do you feel that extra 1% you just gave yourself?  I have moved from BMO Nesbitt Burns to the TD Self Directed. All of the account transfers was handled by a TD Rep ( I had to book an appointment to see them, and sign off on all the paperwork) and was simple from my side.

Now for the transfer in kind or cash, it is really indifferent for the tax advantage accounts. (RRSP, LIRA, RESP, TFSA) If you are intending to move into different securities I would move it over in cash. For the Smith Manouver account/taxable, remember that any sale is a taxable event. This means capital gains/loses. Fit this into your tax planning as you see fit.

As per your TD Direct Investing/ Questrade question, I would rank that as a personal style question. I chose TD because I make purchases once a month, and wanted to use the TD E Series of funds. If I was intending to make annual purchases, and use ETFs I would move to Questrade.

I don't know anything about a limit to the sales of any funds. If there was, I would assume that it would be disclosed in your prospectus. Sorry for not helping there.