Renaissance High Interest Savings Account | Page 2 | General comparisons | Discussion forum

dougjp said

So if you had a broker account at, for example, CIBC Investor's Edge, what alternative to ATL5000 (CIBC owned Renaissance Cdn. Savings) @ 0.3% would you look at to preserve capital that is in cash, and do better in terms of return? Maybe there is no answer, they "gotcha"? People with RRIFs in particular generally keep some $ in cash for the future withdrawals, rather than put everything in stocks and bonds.  

Yes, they "gotcha" as you put it. The standard alternative for holding cash is the various bank ISAs, but those rates have all cratered down to 0.25% along with everything else.

If you want or need to be in cash and can't commit to term, you're hooped

dougjp said
I'm actually glad this subject got resurrected, because savings rates on cash are so bad compared to what is routinely available outside Investment Accounts (and always has been so), lots of people are trying to figure where else to go.

So if you had a broker account at, for example, CIBC Investor's Edge, what alternative to ATL5000 (CIBC owned Renaissance Cdn. Savings) @ 0.3% would you look at to preserve capital that is in cash, and do better in terms of return? Maybe there is no answer, they "gotcha"? People with RRIFs in particular generally keep some $ in cash for the future withdrawals, rather than put everything in stocks and bonds.  

Good question, dougjp. You are captive, yes, but these brokerage HISAs are still useful in that they allow you to earn something on your funds that are otherwise earning nothing. And, as AltaRed said, many people have fixed income components to their RRIF portfolios. And, as you've pointed out, you do usually have to keep a portion of your fixed income component in cash to cover mandatory minimum withdrawals. These are great for that.

And, really, 0.30% isn't that bad when you consider it's comparable to the Simplii Financial and Tangerine base, non-promotional savings rates, and directly matches the Manulife Bank HISA held directly.

I've used them for the past five years (the Scotia and ADS Canadian Bank equivalents, through Scotia iTRADE). Product literature is generally available on the asset management subsidiary websites of the major banks.

Cheers,
Doug

Starting March 7, CIBC will begin charging an upfront fee of $6.95 a trade to buy or sell mutual funds on Investor’s Edge. I hold the HISA fund in self-directed RSP. Now with a charge like that, it's hardly worth to hold or maintain.