High Interest Savers | General comparisons | Discussion forum

GSmall99 said

I believe each of us has our own mentality when it comes to finances and the discussions here seem to bear that out.

I have come to the conclusion that there are probably four main types of people when it comes to "banking/savings".

1. I don't know what I am earning on my savings and don't care.
2. My parents banked at [fill in the blank] Bank and so I do too. I trust I am getting a good deal as my father was good friends with the bank manager [fill in the blank] years ago.
3. I have investigated some banks that pay higher interest rates, and have picked [fill in the blank] Bank and have opened an account and deposited my extra cash there and trust they will do right by me over time.
4. I have investigated all the banks paying a high rate of interest, and have chosen one and deposited my extra cash there. Then I discovered another bank was paying a better rate, so I opened an account there and moved most/all of my cash to the better payer. One to twelve years have passed and I now find I have 6 accounts and just move the money to follow the highest interest rate. Then I discovered https://www.highinterestsavings.ca and that has given me even more options as to where I can move my money.

I am type 4. I did a count today and find I have high or higher interest relationships with six different financial institutions and have just opened a seventh.

What type are you? And how many relationships do you have? AND, could your executor (we ARE all going to die) figure out your holdings?

Greg

I am sort of #4. I dealt with banks that I found on my own and have always had the policy of having 2 banks that I associate with, as if one ticks me off I move!! And I like to deal face to face if I need to borrow money so those 2 are local. I found Trade Freedom 9.99 per trade) also on my own, now Itrade (24.99 per trade), as a result of my adviser recommending to buy bonds in a TFSA account and the company he worked for did not offer TFSA's. I kind of consider Itrade as a bank too as it is owned by the BNS. Still not sure if they are the less expensive online brokers but I have learned a lot. If there is any one out there that can trade for less than 24.99, please let me know. Itrade also has a number of commission free ETF's. And I found here the credit unions in Winnipeg and deal with 2 of them based on my personal policy of of having 2 CU's that I associate with as if one ticks me off I move and as well I was a bit leery of the guarantee (but no longer). At the time of finding this web site I was interested in Ally but when you see where they came from and that they were part of a bail out by the US Treasury I faded away. Years ago I was interested in ING but they would not confirm if there had CDIC insurance and then found Citizens Bank (a subsidiary of Vancity savings) and they were my first virtual bank experience although they did have one branch in Vancouver downtown. They were fantastic and in hindsight I had no respect for ING. So that makes 5 banks that I deal with (times xx accounts per bank) not to mention my RRSP account with Peak, now Manulife. With the recent change over to Manulife I also have a new adviser as our guy retired. So far....not impressed. I dont like the idea of dealing with an insurance company and as well their reputation is not that good and my new adviser appears to be more greedy than helpful.

And as far as the executors go.... absolutely. I have paper copies (and some soft copies in pdf format) of all of our statements, original applications, GIC, ETF, etc purchases. The places that I deal with that do not offer monthly or semi annual statements in the mail, I print them based on the dates that I get from my Coast Capital statement and yes I am one of those that balances the cheque register to the statement. I dont know how the young folks manage their banking when they dont know what they really have or where it comes or goes to!!! I have a humungous excel program that tracks all of my investments (not bank accounts) that I update monthly. I have heard that there is some software ...Quicken.... that does this too. I would like to see how it works and if it would do what I wanted as my excel program is getting more and more complicated as things change. I also have envelopes that will be with our wills that hold all of our banking and investment information along with any forms that we have signed off with beneficiary information and it also includes copies of other major purchases.

maxi said

I'm glad to read there are others like me with multiple accounts and in-depth records of their savings & investments Now... I will also add, while rate is important, so is ease of doing business, longevity and consistency in how a bank applies their pricing --- not offering teaser rates and changing their rate every other week!

Now, some how we need to be certified with a nice gold gilded certificate so our wives will recognize our accomplishments!!! lol!!!

GSmall99 said

kanaka said

[snip]

I have heard that there is some software ...Quicken.... that does this too. I would like to see how it works and if it would do what I wanted as my excel program is getting more and more complicated as things change.

[snip]

I have mentioned previously I am using Quicken extensively. It takes work to make full use of it. I have been using it since the early 1990's and have everything since then in it.

It would be possible to use it as much or as little as you wanted.

I don't use a lot of its newer features (it is updated annually) as many of them are not what I need (budgetting, debt repayment, planning, forecasting, etc). I used to buy it every third year as the bank linkages were discontinued for the four year old and older versions each year.

Now I buy it almost annually as part of a TurboTax Suite purchase as I do taxes for friends and relatives for a fee and so the Quicken purchase becomes part of that "business".

I'd be more than happy to answer any and all questions and/or provide some sample screens/reports for anyone interested.

And, if anyone wants to take the plunge I would be happy to do some hand holding to get you going.

Greg

Sounds good. Would any version be ok...just to try. ie 2002?