Question regarding Questrade

[ransom132]

Every month, I invest in the canadian couch potato ETF portfolio model (VXC, VCN and VAB). I noticed as of now, everytime I buy VXC and VCN shares that I pay a small commission for each buy...for example the last one I paid 28 shares for VXC at 28.14$/share (795.48$ in total)....however I also noticed I paid 0.10$ of commission...now that number seems small, but if you accumulate that in years, it may add up quite substantially,right???

Should I start piling up my money until I reach 1000$ or an X amount of money and then buy my three ETF's or should I continue what I am doing and invest every month a small amount? The previous month I paid 0.05$ in total for all three VXC VCN and VAB, but that was because I invested less money. So I am confused on wether I should continue what I am doing or change it all up and invest in large amounts instead.

[Mother Fussbudget]

With such small commissions, it doesn't add up as much as in a standard on-line brokerage (i.e. Schwab, TDAmeritrade, CapitolOne Investing, etc) where the commissions per trade are anywhere from $4.95-to-$8.  While it makes sense to consolidate trades to a larger dollar value, don't do it if it means you have large amounts of cash (little worker dollars) sitting around not doing anything for you.

The only way I know of to buy these*Vanguard* ETF's with ZERO commissions is to buy them in a Vanguard brokerage account.  (i.e. not via Questrade)  But I have no idea if Vanguard offers brokerage accounts to Canadians, eh.

[Retire-Canada]

Should I start piling up my money until I reach 1000$ or an X amount of money and then buy my three ETF's or should I continue what I am doing and invest every month a small amount? The previous month I paid 0.05$ in total for all three VXC VCN and VAB, but that was because I invested less money. So I am confused on wether I should continue what I am doing or change it all up and invest in large amounts instead.

I wouldn't. You are likely to lose more value than the cost you are saving by holding cash until you have a specific amount accumulated.

[Ottawa]

Hey there, you are likely being charged ECN or ATS fees. 

Here is the way to avoid:
https://community.questrade.com/b/diy_investing/archive/2013/05/22/inside-track-exchange-fees.aspx

[Filliteracy]

Ransom,

You need to look at your costs as a percent of your investments. If you are paying 10$ to invest 1000$, then your costs are 1% (which is rather high). Personally, I save up 2000$  a month and invest every two-three months and haven't automated it because I want the added flexibility and I know I won't spend the money instead of investing it. I'm with Itrade, so it costs me 9.99$ per transaction for stocks. I have chosen to buy in chunks of 6000$, to lower my investment cost to .16% 10/6000)

[Retire-Canada]

Every month, I invest in the canadian couch potato ETF portfolio model (VXC, VCN and VAB). I noticed as of now, everytime I buy VXC and VCN shares that I pay a small commission for each buy...for example the last one I paid 28 shares for VXC at 28.14$/share (795.48$ in total)....however I also noticed I paid 0.10$ of commission...now that number seems small, but if you accumulate that in years, it may add up quite substantially,right???

So let's say you get charged $0.10 per transaction with 3 transactions per month to invest in your CCP portfolio. That's a total of 12 x 3 x $0.10 = $3.60/year.

If you saved that $3.60 and invested it at 7% for 10yrs you'd have $7.08 or enough for a fast food meal.

[okits]

Every month, I invest in the canadian couch potato ETF portfolio model (VXC, VCN and VAB). I noticed as of now, everytime I buy VXC and VCN shares that I pay a small commission for each buy...for example the last one I paid 28 shares for VXC at 28.14$/share (795.48$ in total)....however I also noticed I paid 0.10$ of commission...now that number seems small, but if you accumulate that in years, it may add up quite substantially,right???

Should I start piling up my money until I reach 1000$ or an X amount of money and then buy my three ETF's or should I continue what I am doing and invest every month a small amount? The previous month I paid 0.05$ in total for all three VXC VCN and VAB, but that was because I invested less money. So I am confused on wether I should continue what I am doing or change it all up and invest in large amounts instead.

That won't help.  As you can see from the link Ottawa posted, the ATS fee is per share, not per transaction or by dollar amount. 

I honestly don't think they add up to enough to worry about, as a cost.  Trying to save $0.0035 a share?  If you buy 10,000 VXC shares the damage is $35.  Thirty five bucks to invest ~$281,400?  I figure I can save more money (and more easily) by just optimizing my grocery shopping a tiny bit more.

[ransom132]

Glad it is minimal, I am not good with math especially when it comes to calculating how much all those commission fee's would cost long term.