The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: K-ice on February 27, 2020, 12:53:53 PM
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So fellow Canadian MMMers.
Today I did my first Norbert's Gambit using this method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGLNj9wkqU
It worked well and everything was bought and sold within about 20 minutes. I did pause between the steps to make sure the orders were filled. And it doesn't look all cleared up in the accounts yet, as the end of the video shows with the odd -ve shares. (I'm glad the video shows that or else I might be worried.) But clearing up usually takes a business day anyway.
For example I paid $1342CAD to get $1000USD. It's a bit hard to tell if that is a good rate but this online RBC calculator said I would need to pay $1366CAD to get $1000USD today. The ICE exchange website at my local airport says $1384 to buy and $1304 to sell. (Google says $1336 but you never get the exact rate when converting because there is always a buy /spread)
https://online.royalbank.com/cgi-bin/tools/foreign-exchange-calculator/start.cgi
Those aren't my exact numbers and it appears just barely worth it with $1000 but certainly worth it with $10,000 or more.
Was it worth it for me? It was at least easy, and I will be sure to stockpile a few thousand before converting again. It's even a better deal with QuestTrade or somewhere you don't need to worry about the $10 trading fee.
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I'm curious why one would convert to USD (besides travel or moving to the US). Enlighten me?
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To hold VTI in my RRSP.
This kind of explains it.
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2013/12/09/ask-the-spud-when-should-i-use-us-listed-etfs/
You might also need to convert larger sums if you were a snow bird or buying an investment property in the US.