$1,000 minimum for Equitable Bank GIC's. $5,000 minimum for Concentra Bank ones.

Equitable Bank family longer-term GIC rates are better there than via EQ Bank, Equitable Bank's digital channel.

Concentra rates should be the same as Equitable Bank rates through Scotia iTrade, given Equitable owns Concentra now.

Norman1 said
I suspect there aren't many Concentra Bank GIC's issued through that channel.

I never saw a credit union offer GIC's of another issuer. A credit union would more likely issue its own 5-year GIC at maybe 3.5% to the member and then quietly put the money into a Concentra Bank 5-year 4.34% GIC in its own name!  

Isn't there part of a slogan that goes, " ... and bank the rest " ?

I never saw a credit union offer GIC's of another issuer. A credit union would more likely issue its own 5-year GIC at maybe 3.5% to the member and then quietly put the money into a Concentra Bank 5-year 4.34% GIC in its own name!

Concentra Bank GIC long term

Non-redeemable GICs purchased directly from Concentra Bank, without the assistance of one of our referring agents, are no longer available. …

GICs, acquired with the assistance of one of our referring credit union agents, will continue to maturity and the financial terms honoured. If your Concentra Bank GIC is set to automatically renew, it will be done at the following rates:
…

Concentra Bank no longer offers retail deposits directly. They closed their digital channel Wyth Financial in 2023.

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

I am not so sure that would be what I would do today due to more 'volatility' in the bond yield curve, due primarily I believe to the absurdity and unpredictability of the nut job in the White House these days. I would likely be going shorter rather than longer albeit the bond yield curve is steepening making longer term bonds more attractive again just because of the antics of the White House.

FWIW, I never purchased a bond with a likely intention of needing to sell it before maturity due to being at the mercy of the dealer's Ask spread and thankfully never had to do that.

FWIW2, I was a buyer of BBB/BBB+ credit rated corporate bonds from the likes of 'cash flow predictable' firms like pipeline and utility companies, least likely to go insolvent in that credit rated space. Going 'long' in that credit rated space gets more uncomfortable.

AltaRed said
As an FYI, when I used to buy bonds at Scotia iTrade, I always bought face value of $25k or more, so my rule of thumb would be a 0.1% drop in posted Ask yield due to the $1/1000 commission, and effectively nothing as I would almost always buy ~5 year terms.

Bonds are one area where the discount brokerages have not 'given in' yet on reduced, i.e. $0-10 commissions, perhaps because there is little to zero fintech competition. It is a bit of a PITA because I assume they make something off the Bid-Ask spread.  

Thanks AltaRed.
Why would you buy only 5 year term bonds? Is it just because of yield?
What I was reading on chatgpt is that a shorter duration is better, if we intend to sell before maturity. Less interest rate sensitivity.

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

Norman1 said
When the site shows 200 shares of stock X and a $100,000 ABC Bank GIC, it means one is owed those by Scotia Capital Inc. Hopefully, Scotia Capital has 200 shares of stock X in their CDS account and ABC Bank has issued a matching $100,000 GIC to Scotia Capital.

CIPF insures one will somehow receive 200 shares of stock X and a $100,000 ABC Bank GIC or some equivalent current value of both in cash, should Scotia Capital fail as a brokerage.  

One clarification. 'Equivalent current value of both in cash' means as of the date of solvency. For the stock, it would be value of the 200 shares on date of insolvency and I presume for the GIC it would be principal amount plus accrued interest.

From https://www.cipf.ca/cipf-cover.....ragelimits

If securities, cash or other property (excluding property not eligible for coverage such as crypto assets) in client accounts are missing, CIPF will provide compensation for the value of the missing property as at the date of the member firm’s insolvency, up to the limits prescribed in the CIPF Coverage Policy.

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.