New Canadian investor - Switching banks?

[mattieg]

Hello all,

I've been lurking on this forum for a while and feel ready to start investing, but I have some lingering questions about the process.

I have read Millionaire Teacher and have a decent (not great) handle on investment principles, but I've been with the same bank all my life and I'm completely overwhelmed with the process of opening a new account somewhere else and moving my money.

I am 28 and currently have 52k in a high-interest TFSA savings account. I have no debt and save around 45% of my salary. Not currently saving for anything specific, though I'm thinking I could always use a portion of my savings as a down payment in 3-4 years if it turns out I'm itching to buy something after all.

I seem to understand that the TD e-Series Funds would be a good compromise for my current level of saving and investing knowledge - does this sounds right?

And if it does, how do I proceed about investing? Do I:
1) withdraw a set amount from my savings account to put it into the TD account, making sure I don't exceed the TFSA contribution room
2) keep the savings account as a big emergency fund and start funnelling any new savings into the TD account - is it even possible to make regular transfers from one bank to another?
3) get approval to move my whole TFSA to TD and just make the full switch - I'm not too keen on this option as I'm at least familiar with my current bank, but maybe I just need to take the leap and get it over with
4) any other option I'm not seeing?

I'm aware these are probably very basic questions, but as I've said, I've been with the same bank my whole life and have never experienced managing two different accounts. Thanks in advance for your help and for all the information you provide on here, it is very much appreciated!

[NVDee]

Understand TFSA contribution limit and especially withdrawal rules first.  You regain your limit on this years withdrawals on January 1.  So if you withdraw from savings TFSA bank A in December, and add it to a new investable TSFA at bank B on January 2, then you steer clear of contribution limits and fees.   Otherwise, transferring a TFSA between banks likely costs a fee.

Have you considered your current banks self directed investing online brokerage?  The newish all in one ETFs are the simplistic and the cheapest, but you need to buy ETFs, which is a couple baby steps more complicated than TD.   

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/etfs/article-these-balanced-fund-etfs-will-help-you-build-a-well-diversified/


With saving 45% of your income, I suspect you are well within the ETF zone. 

Check out www.canadiancouchpotato.com. 

$52k is a pretty big emergency, unless you're saving for a house.  If you need to spend it in the next five years, keep the cash.