Money all over the place. What to do, what to do? | Page 4 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Loonie said

Personally, I wouldn't go for a secured LOC, especially if you think you're not going to use it anyway. The rate may be lower, but there are costs to set it up, as it's a lien, and costs to take it off later. I'd just take an unsecured one. If it starts to look like you're going to be using it regularly, then switch to secured.

If frittering it away is the alternative, then, yes, you're better off without a lot of access to cash.

We specifically got a secured LOC last year when we bought our house on the recommendation of my lawyer. We had an unsecured one before. With the high level of title and identity fraud going on in Canada at the moment, it is a cheap and easy way to block it (as a secured LOC is a mortgage against the property and makes it difficult for fraudsters to get another one).
It helped that at that time TDCT had a deal for us where we were refunded all opening costs for the secured LOC after 90 days.

One thing I've learned from experience is to avoid managed portfolios. I went with a qtrade package through a credit union. Mostly bonds and some stocks. Low risk. It looked great. The graph over years showed nice returns. Wrong!

The only ones that made money were the CU and qtrade. Nice of me to assume all the risk so they could take all the profit.

I should also note these managed portfolios are not keen on showing you fees and costs. Duh. Stay far away.

You gotta bite the bullet and look after your own money. Hunt around for GIC, term deposit, and savings account rates. Safe and secure. You don't want to risk your hard earned cash on stocks and bonds with TrumptyDumpty in the political scene.

Don't get excited about investment brokers either although I'm sure they may be some good ones out there. I was able to find better rates than the brokers I talked too. They are just sales people and go after what pays "themselves" the best. Beware.