Anyone with Desjardins?

[lyson15]

I'm starting to look into opening a TSFA and I am currently with Desjardins (mostly known in Quebec, Canada).
Has anyone had experience with them?

Are they good in terms of service and rates/fees for investments compared to other banks in Canada?

[meghan88]

They're a solid company ... they've been around for as long as I can remember, and I'm pretty sure that the Quebec government would never allow them to fail.  But it depends what your TFSA will hold.  Mutual funds?  ETFs?  GICs?  High interest savings account?  And have they disclosed their fees?  Under the new rules (CRM2), they need to provide full disclosure.

Personally, I have my TFSA with Wealthsimple and I'm very happy.  It's diversified among a number of ETFs, they rebalance very often by buying more of what's low with whatever the distributions produce each month, and I don't have to think about it at all.  I just send them the maximum each January and let them have at it.  I have it linked to my regular bank account so that I can send the funds to Wealthsimple and I'm sure you'd be able to do the same with Desjardins.

[lyson15]

I am meeting with a financial advisor this weekend, I'll ask these questions for sure.

I want to invest in ETFs on the medium-long term but for right now, since I have very little to put towards investments, I am thinking a Mutual fund might be a way to get diversity for cheap.

I wasn't able to find all their fees on their website but I will ask the financial advisor.

Thanks!

[Heckler]

I was not impressed with the RSP plan they offered my wifes work. Preferred to follow Canadian Couch potato in my self directed.  Save yourself 10 years of too high fees like we lost elsewhere and get the CCP Guide to index investing before you give them a penny.

[Heckler]

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/couch-potato-faq/

[lyson15]

I was not impressed with the RSP plan they offered my wifes work. Preferred to follow Canadian Couch potato in my self directed.  Save yourself 10 years of too high fees like we lost elsewhere and get the CCP Guide to index investing before you give them a penny.

Have you seen their investing platform? Disnat Classic (https://www.disnat.com/frais-et-comptes) the first tier is free with 9,95$ commission for transactions, which reminds me of Questrades platform. And you can use it with registered accounts, whether it's RRSP or TSFA.

Am I missing something? They have a long list of prices associated with different situations, but I'm not too sure what would likely apply or not in my case...

[Heckler]

No I havent. Really, its more about what products they offer you, not thier platform.  You mention you will likely buy a mutual fund from a financisl advisor.  To me, that will lead you to high MER funds., which is what my wife was offered. Just educate yourself on what they try to sell before signing on the dotted line.

[Heckler]

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/recommended-funds/

Compare the MER of the dejardin fundss to the alternative index funds you could get yourself into instead. 

http://www.finiki.org/wiki/Management_expense_ratio

[meghan88]

I agree with Heckler re. the ETFs and how you can do it yourself, preferably through Questrade if you want to do a couch potato thing and avoid the advisor altogether, and I think most posters on this site would recommend that you do your own ETF portfolio so that you can save on fees.  Simple is best in any case, and I've never found advisors to be worth the fees they skim, unless you are about to retire and need specialized tax and other advice.  In which case, pay someone by the hour for that once they deliver.

The less you have to invest, it becomes even more critical to save on fees, IMO.

[YoungInvestor]

I'm using Disnat, their online brokerage service, and it does what I expect it to, while being very easy to use with my regular checking account and being a reputable company that has been there since long before I was born and will likely be there long after me.

 To me, it's worth the extra couple of dollars in commission over, say, virtual brokers or whatever, especially since I trade so rarely.

Also, I buy individual stocks and not ETFs, so the free trades at Questrade don't really help me.