National Post online GIC Rate Guide listing | GIC discussions | Discussion forum

Bill. Click Add Topic.....not Add Reply to do a new topic entry. Maybe a moderator can move this for you.

Good find. I always use the one below. The one you found is missing Implicity and Hubert and the one below is missing Implicity.

http://www.globeinvestor.com/s.....ndicator=N

I always verify to the financial institutions web site before investing.

So does the Financial Post one.

I don't look at them at all since I only buy GICs through one of my 3 discount brokerages and they give me the convenience of their full list as part of the Trading page.

Sometimes they are a bit lower, but not always. I just don't believe in proliferation of accounts (my executors/attorneys will thank me ).

It is my understanding issuers pay brokerages a commission of 25bp to sell their GICs.

The differences between rates at varius institutions might be more significant if rates were higher in the first place - may it be in our lifetimes!

kanaka, I am curious about your decision to sell off all stocks in due course. I am wondering how you came to this conclusion, as I am constantly struggling to decide if I want to get INTO any stocks, and I am in your age range. My ability to survive financially is not dependent on higher returns, but, on the other hand, I am concerned about currency risk (being almost entirely in loonies), inflation risk, etc. Every decision has risk of some sort, seems to me. Do you have any insights you'd like to share about your decision-making? (It's OK if you don't want to talk about it publicly.)

I appreciate your thoughts and experiences, Bill - and relieved I haven't been through the last year on the markets. I don't have an especially tough constitution.

The stickler for me remains inflation and currency risk, which, for my purposes, are almost one and the same. I would like to do some travelling but can't do it right now due to family concerns and may never get to it.

I may be wrong, but I see inflation looming large as a possibility due to our ever-sinking dollar. I think TPP will also be a factor, but others may not. At the very least, we haven't had inflation for a long time, so we're probably about due, as these things tend to come around every so often anyway. The question, given my suspicions, becomes what to do about it.

I was looking at my notes about real return bonds yesterday, but it seems they are only advised for longterm protection and within registered plans, whereas I am worried about the next few years and am more concerned with non-registered although could do either.

The only other protection I can think of is that, although my OAS and CPP started a while ago, we have decided to postpone spouse's until age 70. We can afford to do this; all four parents have lived to 93+; and I view it as a kind of inflation fighter because it will be worth a lot more later in income - just in case inflation gets to be more than I'm comfortable with. Hard to beat 36 and 42% over 5 years! I realize there's a loss on the short end but it matters less to me as I know we can get through that OK and I am looking for nice steady income streams for the future when I am perhaps less able to manage things myself (and more vulnerable to being financially "managed" by people less conservative than myself!). I am monitoring the situation annually in case it makes sense to take the OAS, given the clawback and potential future income, and may change that decision before 70. Fortunately, you have about a year's leeway to reconsider applying.

The other possibility, especially for the non-registered funds, is annuities, but this is a bad time to buy them (although could get worse!) and I think we are not old enough yet for this to be a good deal, so would postpone that to 70+.

It's hard to be one's own financial planner, having no professional background in it and knowing that most people make decisions they later regret. But, still, I have even less faith in most of the financial planning industry! All the advice says it's essential to find someone you "trust" and "feel comfortable with" but I have never found one who meets these criteria. They all have faith in something that I don't share. The only way they can make good money off me is if they are wealth managers who charge an overall fee, but with those people you have no say in the investment decisions but it still costs you 1%+ annually, which is an awful lot in this climate. And, amazingly (to me), there is no quality control or guarantee whatsoever. If they fail, well, too bad for me. I can't think of any other business that operates this way. In my view, compensation should be linked to benchmarks and returns. If they're going to say you're paying for the advice, as they do, then there needs to be some measure of quality of the advice, but I have never heard of any yet.

I think you have a good idea with your balanced fund, Bill. You mentioned it earlier, and it has certainly been very reliable. The problem with most managed funds is that they either don't really do any managing to speak of (the portfolios tend to look suspiciously similar and/or they simply invest in their other funds!) or they don't do it very well and/or they charge too much for not doing much.