Where to park cash safely for 2 months to one year | Page 2 | General comparisons | Discussion forum

COIN said
Back in the day you could buy treasury bills, Bankers Acceptances and/or commercial paper for short term investment. Not sure about now.

All those are still around and available through brokers like Scotia iTRADE. But, the yields are quite low.

For example, Government of Canada 90-day treasury bills are yielding under ½% per annum.

That being the case, you might want to put a disproportionate amount in Simplii, bu I'd still wait for their next new-customer promo. A rating service is not the same as a guarantee, but when the rating is higher than the insurer's creator, they might come out about even in terms of risk. I don't know how one would ultimately calcuate that. (And yes, I realize the insurer is not the govt of MB exactly.)

Other random bits of advice: When you do buy your property, give yourself enough time to get all your money transferred to a bricks and mortar financial institution, and cleared, where you can get a bank draft in short order. Some are more tedious to work with than others; get all the rules and routes worked out well in advance. You will need this for the deposit when you put in the offer and also for the closing.

Re: TFSA. If you don't yet have one, remember that your contribution room depends on your age. If you are only 25 or 30, you will not have as much room yet as older people. I am guessing you are inheriting some money and might still be relatively young.

To OP:
Buy the house you can afford, not at current mortgage rate, but stress test your comfort zone even with rates higher than the govt's prescribed stress.

Timing re whatever experts and your uncle and someone on a forum, they have been wrong the past 10 years+... However with rates going to be much higher in the next 12 months, and inflation a real problem that is not going away, you can afford to be more choosy.

Some use the word "investment" when it comes to house buying. Dont think that, think of it as you need a roof over your head, and then decide whether rent vs own makes more sense long run. This way you wont concern too much about "buying the high" or "miss the dip". Your investment should be something that earns you a combination of income and capital gain. A house is a huge cash drain UNTIL you actually sell it and downsize. Its a all or none, you can not sell part of your bathroom to fund a car purchase or a year of living expense after retirement...

Newbie said
Thanks to everyone that responded so quickly to my questions and a lot of questions I didn't ask too, with information that you thought I might need. I am pretty blown away with the response and helpfulness of everyone on this forum. I so appreciate you all!

As for BC credit unions, I can confirm that you can't get much there - while the credit unions I have dealt with have great service and values, the rates have not been great for some time. with the exception of the occasional special GIC. Right now the savings rate is .05% with Vancity for example. Coast Capital is a credit union and would not be insured by CDIC, but with the BC credit union deposit insurance, like all credit unions here.

https://www.bcfsa.ca/public-resources/credit-union-deposit-insurance/about-cudic  

Coast Capital is a Federal Credit Union. It is insured under CDIC and not provincially.

Some people use the rating services to decide how much they will put in a given FI. On that score, the big banks look pretty good, as good as provincial governments in many cases.

I don't know how Investors Group stacks up on other criteria but I know that, in general, I don't trust them. I once watched some of their staff work a large room after a free lecture sponsored by local library. They were explicitly prohibited from soliciting clients by their agreement with the library, but they did it aggressively anyway. It was pretty much impossible to leave the room without being accosted by one of them, clipboard in hand, and a lot of people were falling for it. I complained to the library management, and I'm happy to say that, after the library investigated, they haven't been back. Other companies who came and spoke followed the rules.

So I consider IG to be an organization that can't be trusted. If they say your money is safely deposited at one of Big Five, I would want to see evidence that it was deposited in my name. If a trust account, I wouldn't trust them to manage it in my best interests. Everything is always fine - until it isn't, and then it's always a big surprise.

I do know one couple who are happy with the service they've had from IG. I just wouldn't put a penny there myself after what I saw.