I no longer have main FI.
All direct deposits still go to Tangerine account, but promptly transferred to other FIs by Interac or EFT.
Currently, I pay my bills from my accounts in Tangerine, EQ and Haventree.

Credit Cards:
1) American Express SimplyCash Preferred Card (4% for gas and groceries, 2% for everything else, $120 annual fee)- primary credit card for my household. If business accepts AmEx, I pay with it.
2) For places and businesses that do not accept AmEx I have Tangerine Mastercard (no fee).
3) EQ Bank prepaid card- for rare cases when I may need to get cash from whatever ATM is nearby. This card covers ATM fees (to some extent).

Chequing/savings:
* Main: Wealthsimple. Reasons: Everything is faster and better than the alternatives and good integration with investment and corporate accounts which meet our needs. And nice perks. And yes, mostly joint accounts.
* Other accounts: RBC (hardly used these days but it's free because of the legacy HSBC transfer), EQ, Tangerine and Simplii (for the occasional targeted savings account promos)
Credit card:
* Main for groceries, restaurants: MBNA World Elite ($120 annual fee). I get circa 5.5% redemption value at Walmart; could be a bit more, at other shops.
* Main for other purchases (2% cash back): Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege, because there is no annual fee for my account level, it's a simple 2% cash back, and it also has no FX fees plus decent insurance.
* Others: I have a couple of other cards, like Amazon’s MBNA and Roger’s world elite mastercard.

Banking:
1) Scotia is my primary for personal Chequing and for our Joint Household Operating Account. Very basic accounts with no monthly service charges for either one due to limited transactions. It came about by default because my self-directed brokerage account was initially E*Trade Canada in 1998, bought out by Scotia and evolved to Scotia iTrade. I bank where I have my investment accounts.
2) Secondary is BMO because my secondary self-directed brokerage accounts are with BMO Investorline. The bank accounts are actually AccountLink attachments to BMO Investorline and have BMO Investorline transit numbers. Extremely basic accounts.
3) I also have EQ Bank for push/pull bridge between BMO and BNS, and for their prepaid MC for zero forex and minimal ATM fees when travelling ex-Canada. Only used when travelling.
I have zero interest in any other 'banking' services from 'banking' entities and no interest in account proliferation.

Credit Cards:
1) Rogers Bank World Elite cash back is primary household operating card due to us also having Rogers mobility and internet/cable accounts and the discounts that come with it albeit change is on the way commencing November. This card carries the majority of our transactions.
2) Primary personal CC is basic BMO MC cash back mostly to mitigate FI proliferation. Could just as easy be a Scotiabank card for same reason.
3) Secondary personal CC is basic CIBC Dividend Visa cash back for high credit limit for major travel expenses. I have had this account for 75 years.
4) Lastly, a Scotia USD credit card for USD transactions, sparingly used.

Being retired for 20 years, I have no interest in paying any annual fees for CCs and have no interest in loyalty cards tied to the likes of Aeroplan et al. Perks like travel insurance are meaningless for those of us beyond certain ages (for us, post-75).

Peter said
I could make a longer survey that's anonymized where I could ask some demographic information as well as specific questions about the importance of more detailed features.  

My take is designing a survey is difficult beyond base level information, simply because most of us have a specific set of various things for various reasons such as where we are at in our individual life's journey. What one might have at 30 yrs of age could be very different at age 50 and yet again post-retirement. Folk cannot convey that information well in a survey. That said, maybe some base level information would be insightful from the active members of this forum.

Credit card:
* Main for groceries, restaurants (5% if redeemed at Safeway or for travel): Scotiabank Gold American Express Card ($120 annual fee). Used to be the Amex Cobalt, but I didn't like the continuous fee increases for the additional benefit of being able to transfer the points to other programs like Aeroplan. The Scotiabank Gold Amex has a similar base rewards structure, but also has no FX fees and 6% back on Safeway purchases. Safeway is not our main grocery store, but it is part of our rotation.
* Main for other purchases (2% cash back): Wealthsimple Visa Infinite, because there is no annual fee for my account level, it's a simple 2% cash back, and it also has no FX fees.
* Others: I always have a couple of other cards that I only keep for 1-2 years to take advantage of sign-up bonuses or particular perks like waived fees on checked bags.

I could make a longer survey that's anonymized where I could ask some demographic information as well as specific questions about the importance of more detailed features.

Does anybody have any interest and/or suggestions on what would be interesting to them? I'll share some quick notes about my day-to-day banking in the next post to give everybody an idea of what I have in mind.

zgic said

I do a total of just < 100k (principal+interest) as each CDIC GIC with each separate institution.
Currently RBC Direct says they have over over 20 Canadian financial institutions.
Also just started my first GoC bond of 10k  

Yes, this deals with the CDIC issue (at the expense of added complexity) but my point was a little different. The only reason I have fixed income is to do with risk management for the overall portfolio. So, I keep a fixed allocation of 70% equity and 30% fixed income. Say the stock market tanks… That's the only time I really need my fixed income - to rebalance by selling bonds and buying stocks. If it's all sitting in GICs then it becomes unusable and therefore useless. I can have some GICs as long as most of my FI is in liquid assets. That's what I need to manage risks that matter to me, and which are far higher than those covered by CDIC.

mordko said

For myself the choice was bond ETFs and cash because rebalancing is a key part of my overall risk management approach. I can’t lock in by having most fi in GICs, it's too risky. Ben Felix has a good video on this.  

I do a total of just < 100k (principal+interest) as each CDIC GIC with each separate institution.
Currently RBC Direct says they have over over 20 Canadian financial institutions.
Also just started my first GoC bond of 10k

“ To earn interest income from part or ALL of their portfolio“

zgic said

But when someone said that, one could make their entire portfolio with GICs, it did not get any positive comments here I believe.  

That is where we part ways. I do not believe for one minute, nor do I believe Mordko believes, nor do a majority of other people believe that one can have an entire portfolio in 'secure' investments such as GICs and HISAs and build any wealth.

At the best, one can likely only stay even on a post-inflation, after tax basis over rolling periods of time of 3, 5, 10 years. That will vary a bit depending on one's individual marginal tax rate and how much work people are willing to put in to 'reach for yield' in promos and non-CDIC/CUDIC insured vehicles such as corporate bonds, long(er) terms such as 10 years, etc.

'Staying even' may be good enough for some and I accept that premise, but if one really wants 'their money to make money', they will need to have a portion of other investments in their portfolio that have capital risk and pricing volatility to them to receive additional 'reward' (return). There are many ways to do that in a measured, calculated way that is beyond the scope of this forum/website. Hence my linked references to the Stingy Investor Asset Mixer in post #49. It is why resources like https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Main_Page exist. Investing has never been easier and never been more investor friendly than it is today.

To the extent we cannot agree, as evidenced in 50 or so posts in this thread, we will simply need to agree to disagree.

AltaRed said
Bill's post is indeed succinct and to the point. Many folk have a fixed income component to their portfolio, some more than others and are willing to accept various degrees of certainty relative to yield.  

But when someone said that, one could make their entire portfolio with GICs, it did not get any positive comments here I believe.

Bill said
zgic, this site is for people who are interested in earning some interest income from part or all of their portfolio, simple as that.

And no-one said GICs are not a good tool for that. They may or they may not be depending on various factors in each person's situation.

Nor would I assume you can't "lose on a real, after tax basis". You may, or you may not, depending on what happens with inflation rate and taxes during the time you hold them.  

Thanks Bill. You summed it up nicely in 1 sentence. “ To earn interest income from part or ALL of their portfolio“

And no-one said GICs are not a good tool for that. They may or they may not be depending on various factors in each person's situation.

Nor would I assume you can't "lose on a real, after tax basis". You may, or you may not, depending on what happens with inflation rate and taxes during the time you hold them.