Good options for HISA and TFSA | General comparisons | Discussion forum

I'll tell you how I set everything for myself, and you can pick what is relevant for you.

First, my preferences: online banking by Web and app is a must. I am in Ontario. I want all my funds to be CDIC insured and I do not exceed CDIC limits on each account I have.

For my emergency needs I keep enough cash to cover my annual regular expenses, and a bit more. That money stays with HISA. Used to be EQ at 2.75%, but I no longer have sufficient direct deposits to maintain that rate.
Instead, I opened accounts with Haventree (2.5%) and WealthOne (3.0% when HISA balance is over 25,000). I split EQ funds equally between these two for now, so as simple math will tell I am still getting same 2.75% for my HISA.
Opening accounts with both were easy, done online. Both have apps. I linked them both from my Tangerine account as external links.

You said you are not interested in GICs, but anyway. In my case, after parking enough cash to last me 1 year in HISA, I put what's left to Oaken 1 year GICs. Oaken offers monthly interest payout on GICs, which is what I need: principal can be locked for a year while I collect interest monthly at rates above 3.0%.
Oaken for me is just to hold funds there, not much else you can do with it.

My bills payments, Interac transfers used to be with Tangerine and EQ, but now that I moved funds from there it'll be Haventree, with WealthOne as a backup.
I'll keep direct deposits with EQ, as it is too bothersome to change them. Instead, I'll just Interac direct deposits I receive into EQ account to either WealthOne or Haventree.

As I have enough cash in HISA to cover my annual expenses, my TFSA goes to 1 year GICs. I'll only start taking from TFSA if I run out of cash in HISA. My TFSA is currently split between EQ and Tangerine, collecting just over 3% in interest annually in both places.

If I were in your situation I would:
1. Put it into 2.5% WS TFSA for now.
2. Focus on getting a job.
3. Read a recently published book (or two) on the subject of simple investing in Canada covering risk, ETFs, history and account types.
4. Figure out what to do when you get a steady income.

I don’t have an Oaken account so personally I wouldn’t bother for the sake of 0.3%. If you don’t have either account then sure, go for Oaken.

For what it is worth, if you are in Ontario I rate Saven Financial very highly for their HISA and TFSA rates. Website is easy to use and I have always found Customer Service to be excellent. Although some don't like the fact that you need a mobile to be able to log in to the website I view this as a positive security step. Another positive is that as a Credit Union they are FSRA insured (for up to $250,000) instead of CDIC for $100,000.

Also very happy with Oaken and their rates for HISA GIC TFSA.

Good luck!

arndis, don't assume financial stuff is hard, it's actually pretty easy, millions of regular people do their own investing. It's like anything else, lots of people making money off the perception that something is complicated when it's actually not.

To me, if you want zero risk you're using HISAs and GICs, end of story. If you are willing to take risk then you're into stocks/equities in one form/vehicle (e.g. equity etfs) or another, end of story. And most people blend the two, obviously. That's it, no need to complicate further.

You don't need a paid "professional" if you're of average intelligence and willingness to put a bit of time into it, the pros just pretend something that's pretty basic is not so you have to pay them. Not true, especially with discount brokers and basic info available online these days.

For the sake of brevity I've simplified, obviously, and everybody has their own twist on investing, there are people here happy to give you some specific investment instrument suggestions. My main point is don't assume you can't do this without paid professional help, many of us average joes do exactly that.

arndis said
… It can't be an accident that the big banks don't offer hybrid accounts or everyday high interest rates, but instead split up chequing and savings, and flip-flop between low base rates and dramatic promotional rates.

That's an old banking trick that even the credit unions can't resist using. Former Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moor, in his January 2016 Bloomberg interview, shared that about 70% of Canadians don't like to manage the money between their chequing and savings accounts. So, they just leave lots of money in the chequing account.

The big banks don't need more deposits. There isn't much left to attract. The Big 6 Banks already have 85% of deposits, according to Globe & Mail (July 28, 2026): The Big Six banks control 85% of deposits, yet their rates rank near last. Add the 6% that Desjardins has, that makes 91%. Everyone else is clawing for the remaining 9%.

Those large banks are now optimizing their deposit funding, not necessarily attracting more at any price.

arndis said

… I'm still going to consider getting a financial advisor for a while after things stabilize. I may need some personalized advice for setting up a strategy and learning what good results look like.

Be wary of people claiming to be advisers. But, don't be afraid to get good help.

It looks easy to invest. But, it isn't easy to do well over years and decades. Average people are not natural-born investors.

In the 1990's, there was a famous investment club, The Beardstown Ladies Investment Club. They claimed a 10-year performance record of over 20% per annum! Right up there with the likes of Warren Buffet. That record outperformed the S&P 500 which clocked in around 15% to 18% per annum for the same period.

The ladies had a best-selling book. Had many talk show apperances. However, investment advisors became suspicious after seeing their interviews and challenged their claims. They eventually agreed to have their performance audited by an account firm. Their audited ten-year return was under 10% per annum and trailed the S&P 500.

Apparently, they didn't know how to correctly calculate the return of their own portfolio.

Make sure you are one of those who can do-it-yourself well if you do it yourself. I remember one person who tried to "help" me. She explained that I was making a mistake having money in shares of Bank of Montreal instead shares in Nortel. Bank of Montreal was trading at its all-time high. In contrast, Nortel was trading near a multi-year low. So, Nortel has more potential for gains than Bank of Montreal.

I responded that approach was nonsense. A stock's price history neither supports nor constrains the stock's future price. There's no limit to how high the stock of a successful company can go over the years. Doesn't matter if a stock once traded as high as $124. The stock will hit $0 if the company fails.

AltaRed said

You could do a lot worse than educating yourself with various aspects of https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Main_Page a financial wiki for Canadians put together by the collective wisdom of members of the Financial Wisdom Forum. Even if you eventually consider a financial advisor, you will go into it a lot more knowledgeable than being led by the nose with wizardry and industry euphemisms.  

I've never heard of this. Thanks Alta...

P.S. Retired 10 years and still accumulating...