hwyc said
As a final remark, the cash offer was deposited on Friday September 11  

It was my first time trying out the TD bonus offer, I was wondering when and if they were going to pay out, sure enough it finally showed up on Friday, 44 days after the offer ended.

Norman1 said

Bill said
Be interested to know: how many people on here who, given their age, are satisfied with their net worth and also consider financial advisors to be the main reason for that success?

Investments help. But, they don't make one wealthy. What one does for a living and intelligent spending are what do it.
  

It's primarily driven by income. Saving rate is largely the function of income. In 2019 Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) found that 84% of households in the highest income decile were savers versus only 46% in the bottom half. Higher income both permits more saving and is strongly associated with higher net worth. Stock-market participation also rises very steeply with income; SCF-based research finds participation rates of only around 20% at the low end of the income distribution, rising toward 80% at the top.

For people in 50s and older investing largely determines the actual net worth. People who invest in the stock market consistently end up with capital gains and compounded investment returns accounting for the vast majority of accumulated wealth.

Stats also suggest that wealthy households are not indifferent to savings rates. They tend to be financially price-sensitive, and because their cash balances are larger, small rate differences can be meaningful in absolute terms.

Bill said
Be interested to know: how many people on here who, given their age, are satisfied with their net worth and also consider financial advisors to be the main reason for that success?

People like that wouldn't be here. They would be off doing other things besides hunting for the best GIC and savings accounts rates themselves.

Investments help. But, they don't make one wealthy. What one does for a living and intelligent spending are what do it.

Brokers themselves don't earn most of their wealth from investment gains. They earn that from the commissions and fees from selling the investments.

Norman1 said

arndis said
…
I'd rather pick accounts with good everyday interest rates than be chasing promotions or changing accounts frequently. …
…

Manulife Bank is offering to add 1½% for two years to Advantage accounts opened between July 2 and September 11. That brings the interest rate from the regular 1½% to 3%.

Pre-authorized debits, cheques written, and transferring funds out to linked external accounts are free. Bill payments, ATM withdrawals, Interac POS debits, and Interac e-Transfers are free with $1,000 balance.  

I agree with Norman1 ... although this is technically a 'promotion', the fact it's an unprecedented TWO Year term, could be just what you're looking for in a HISA, while you find a new job, etc ?

It also has the advantage of being both a Savings and Chequing account all in one. They even sent me 50 Free cheques to start. 😉

Be aware that their regular interest rate, currently 1.50% can fluctuate in lock-step with changes to the BofC rate. The other 1.50% (promo portion) will stay that way for the 2 year term.

I can't see a downside for you, or most anyone, to setup one of these accounts at Manulife Bank ... BUT, you only have 11 days to decide. 😉

Effectively, if you need regular and immediate access to your money, Oaken might not work as the only savings option for some expenditures.

Writing as someone whose financial knowledge was below the minus mark - and remains, sadly, barely above this - I attribute my remarkable solvency in part to this forum. Check out some archival topics. Maybe contributors can recommend some. (I completely understand your experiences with the Trillion Tabs of Dubious Definition...)

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.  

Link ➡️ https://www.financialwisdomforum.org

Dean

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...

arndis said
I do think that I can learn the basics of investing in the medium or longer term, but it will take more work and be less fun than learning usually is for me. Mordko's suggestion to get a beginner textbook which lays out a single big picture might help a lot. Bill's point that the principles are simple is right, but the devil is in the details which control the results, and there's a lot of them, often hidden in the fine print that many people don't read or don't fully understand.

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.   

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.

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.

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 . . .   

Know the Difference, and choose Wisely . . .

Investopedia Link ➡️ https://www.investopedia.com/a.....022704.asp

.
Good Hunting,

Dean

I'll probably pick one of the higher interest plain savings accounts as the short-term solution. (It was good to hear from some happy customers of outfits with higher interest rates, and get realistic details!) It's simple and safe and a lot better than my status quo -- something like $1-2K of extra interest per year better. Later it can turn into an emergency fund when circumstances allow me to move some of the money into GICs or investments. Also, I ran into a chart of cumulative TFSA contribution room, and realized that I have enough room to put *all* of my savings in tax-free accounts.

I do think that I can learn the basics of investing in the medium or longer term, but it will take more work and be less fun than learning usually is for me. Mordko's suggestion to get a beginner textbook which lays out a single big picture might help a lot. Bill's point that the principles are simple is right, but the devil is in the details which control the results, and there's a lot of them, often hidden in the fine print that many people don't read or don't fully understand.

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. I had a lot of lean years where staying alive and out of debt was a pretty good outcome, and retirement planning was out of reach. Hiring an advisor would be like getting a set of training wheels so that I can learn to ride the bike. Watch, learn, ask questions about why this not that.

I also followed NorthernRaven's advice by pulling out a spreadsheet and looking up how to calculate compound interest. Once I had the formula working, I made a grid of rates and years, and calculated how much interest I could get for each bucket of money at a range of interest rates year-by-year for 1-10 years, with no additional principal. I knew the principle of compound interest, but hadn't seen the effects laid out like that in a long time, if ever. Then I worked out a few proportions: moving from 0.5% to 1.5% gave 3 times the return, from 0.5% to 2.5% gave 5 times, and from 0.35% to 2.8% gave 8 times...in year 1.

My conclusion is that very low interest rates, like the sub-0.5% rates big banks offer on their savings accounts, disguise the power of compound interest so well that many customers will remain ignorant of what's possible. Life feels so much easier and better when you finally have enough to afford a few little treats, a few impulse buys, instead of watching every dollar, every penny. When you only have a few hundred to a few thousand dollars spare at once, and the only wealth-building tool in easy reach is a low-interest savings account, being careful about where to allocate your spending money feels more effective than earning interest. You give up some things you don't care much about to get ones you want more, and that feels rewarding. Meanwhile, the savings account creeps up so slowly that the interest feels pointless. Now muddy the waters with some random spikes in expenses which mean you can't contribute reliably and sometimes need to pull some money out. There's no natural path into learning how effectivly earning interest can build wealth.

Now let's say that we've got the same amount of money in a hybrid account with interest of at least 1-2%, maybe 2-3%, instead of traditional chequing + saving accounts. You can organize money by goals instead of banking features. The same amount of spare cash is now bringing in visible, motivating returns, your banking takes less effort, and there's no NSF fees unless you really screwed up. Some time and some good luck, and there's enough to start a TFSA or buy a GIC. 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.