BMO InvestorLine | BMO | Discussion forum

Why Investorline.....did you look at itrade or questrade.

InvestorLine is fine; not sure on their customer service. The only one I wouldn't recommend, really, is TD Direct Investing, though have never dealt with them.

Upside of BMO InvestorLine is you get access to S&P Capital IQ and Morningstar equity research reports, in addition to the BMO Capital Markets reports (Scotia iTRADE has basically CFRA and Scotia Capital). Since you deal with BMO primarily, it's a reasonable to sign up with them I'd think. Make sure if you're transferring in assets, including in cash, from other registered plans, that you ask about fee reimbursements (usually $135-150 per account with a value of between $15-25,000), as this will be in addition to any promotions.

I wouldn't worry about getting cute on the pricing of the bank stocks. All are priced attractively (though TD still has a ways to go to hit my average $30/share purchase price). Your first buy might possibly be BMO itself.

Cheers,
Doug

BMO Investorline is fine, especially with banking at BMO. The BMO Investorline/BMO Banking interface is clunky, outdated, and not integrated well but it works. I've written them before about doing a major overhaul of their systems.

When you are all set up at BMO IL, be sure to 'link' your BMO banking accounts with BMO IL so that you can use the "Move Money From" website tab.

toto said
Linked my bmo accounts , that worked great. Transferred in money, getting familiar with website.
I can't reach anyone at investorline as they have 45 minute wait time, but wanted to ask if your money sits there collecting 0 interest if you haven't traded yet.
If you put funds into one of the variable savings accounts, is that a trade?
Is capital gains on etfs treated like a Canadian stock? I see some have international companies.
Thanks for any info, I'm a rookie.  

By "variable savings account," do you mean a savings account held in your name with BMO InvestorLine, or a broker-held nominee form savings account that trades through FundSERV? If the latter, it's a "trade," but it doesn't count as a commissionable trade as there's no commission to place it. Commissionable trades are typically those which take place on a stock, bond, or options exchange. If the former, that sounds like Scotia iTRADE's Cash Optimizer Account, which I've never been able to find when logged in, so I just use the BNS and ADS savings "accounts" that trade through FundSERV.

Capital gains on ETFs are generally treated the same as on stocks, but keep track of your distributions in non-registered accounts. There can be so-called "phantom distributions" (i.e., capital gains distributions) and some return of capital on regular distributions, which you use to adjust your cost base. But yes, other than that, it's the same.

Hope that helps,
Doug

AltaRed said
Cash in a brokerage account does not earn interest. You can put the cash in BMOIL's ISA deposit account, bought and sold like a mutual fund while you wait but interest rates had dropped to about 1.1% and I suspect they will drop again this week after BiC's 50bp interest rate cut on Friday. Hardly worth the trouble if rates drop below 1%.
Added: AAT770 for CAD and AAT780 for USD.  

Yes, I know that, but they all advertise brokerage account cash that can earn interest, without using an ISA. I've yet to find out how one enrolls in Scotia iTRADE's Cash Optimizer Account. I suspect the marketing materials exist, but the product does not.

Cheers,
Doug

Norman1 said
The Scotia iTRADE Cash Optimizer account is a separate account.

One needs to open a Cash Optimizer account, in contrast to opening a cash account or a margin account. The Cash Optimizer account is not something that can be added to an existing cash account or existing margin account.  

Okay, fair enough, but I still haven't seen where one can open one, or whether there is a registered version of the Cash Optimizer account. On the one hand, it's directly in your name versus being held in nominee form, and you can transfer instantly between your non-registered Cash and Cash Optimizer accounts. On the other hand, I suspect the interest rate paid is quite a bit lower.

What's not clear is with toto's question, whether the BMO InvestorLine "variable savings" is like the equivalent of the Cash Optimizer account or whether it's an ISA in that context. That's why I suggested both answers, which are both valid.

Cheers,
Doug

Doug said

Okay, fair enough, but I still haven't seen where one can open one, or whether there is a registered version of the Cash Optimizer account. On the one hand, it's directly in your name versus being held in nominee form, and you can transfer instantly between your non-registered Cash and Cash Optimizer accounts. On the other hand, I suspect the interest rate paid is quite a bit lower.

Try to open another account while logged in. Under the "Individual Non-Registered Accounts" section, there will be these choices:

1. Individual Cash Account
2. Individual Margin Account
3. Individual Cash Optimizer Investment Account

As AltaRed mentioned, the Cash Optimizer account is not really worthwhile for its current rate of ½%. It's really for those who want to buy fixed income and don't have more than $10,000 with iTRADE to avoid the $25/quarter low-activity fee. The Cash Optimizer account is exempt from the low-activity fee.

What's not clear is with toto's question, whether the BMO InvestorLine "variable savings" is like the equivalent of the Cash Optimizer account or whether it's an ISA in that context. That's why I suggested both answers, which are both valid.

The BMO InvestorLine "High Interest Savings Offerings" are these two HISA's:

• AAT770: BMO CAD High Interest Savings, 1.10%
• AAT780: BMO USD High Interest Savings, 0.45%

toto said
It was the bmo high interest account that I was looking at to keep my funds until I decide to trade.
So can funds be immediately transferred out if I'm ready to buy equities?  

These ISAs (AAT770 for example) are bought and sold like mutual funds so they have a T+1 settlement. Which is fine because whatever you buy on the market will have a T+2 settlement. That way you can buy your stock on Day 1, sell enough of your ISA on the same day that you bought your stock, and the cash will be there at the end of Day 2, in time to pay for your stock when it settles on Day 3.

Added: The interest rates quoted by Norman will be lower this week sometime since the BoC lowered its rate by 50bp on Friday and the US Fed lowered its rate to 0 today. AAT770 will likely drop to about 0.6-0.8% and AAT780 may drop to 0.05%. It is hardly worth the effort any more.