Suggestions for Hubert member surveys | Page 2 | Hubert Financial | Discussion forum

Loonie said
The confusion in finding clarification on this actually cost me a bit of money this time.
  

For the benefit of those of us who have GIC's there, would you explain the source of the confusion on the Hubert interface, to increase our awareness of where their deficiency in clarity can lead to confusion.

What do we have to look out for and how can we stay ahead of their deficiency on our own?

Loonie said
You need to keep track on your own of the 4 escalating rates and their dates.   

Yes, you're right, especially for folks like many here who juggle GIC's, record keeping and automated future notifications are crucial.

I use two systems for my record keeping, an Excel spreadsheet that outlines each GIC in detail including a countdown formula (DATEVALUE) to let me know the number of days to maturity.

Additionally I use my electronic calendar where I the maturity date of each GIC I book is indicated on the date of maturity, with an alarm that alerts me seven days prior to the maturity date.

For the Hubert quarterly GIC's the notification occurs on each quarterly date, along with the seven day alarm, and each entry includes pertinent details such as the schedule of interest rates for that GIC.

The calendar/ contact & task manager/ email client I use is Chaos Intellect that allows me to synchronize my information across all my devices and systems, so the information is always readily available.

My memory is not worth a darn, so this kind of detailed record keeping has worked for me.

It's not easy being obsessive....

Stephen

Hubert Advisory Council survey received today by email, linked to a Survey Monkey survey for input about services and suggestions

Loonie said
New suggestion for Hubert questionnaires:
They should offer a one-year GIC for RIFs, even if it's not the same as the one they offer for other kinds of accounts.

Because of this omission, we have decided that our RIFs will be deposited elsewhere, although we would have preferred Hubert for other reasons.

The problem is somewhat similar to the problems encountered at places like Oaken which do not offer RSP/RIF savings accounts, namely a lack of necessary flexibility.

For my RIFs, I like to keep some in one-year GICs so that, towards the end of the year, when the term is up, I can, when desired, withdraw some extra for tax purposes. Theoretically, this could be accomplished with a GIC ladder, but mine do not all mature at the same time of year, and I prefer to keep a one-year going for this purpose. I could use an RIF savings account, which Hubert does offer, but it doesn't pay as well and the amounts lost annually do add up.
At this stage,we are looking to keep all our RIF GICs at one FI, so are looking for a FI that has consistently good rates, unlimited insurance coverage, and good service. Hubert fits the bill, but without the one-year GIC, it is not good enough. If they improve this aspect, we will very possibly move our RIFs back to Hubert.
It doesn't have to be the tiered cashable one-year rate that they currently offer to other accounts. I can appreciate that that would be a pain to administer with RIFs. Just a simple one-year rate would suffice.  

Yup me too. I am not the age of mandatory RRIF payments but will manage some on my own at Hubert. Plan to move from RRSP to RRIF a bit more than $12,000 for TFSA and then just leave the rest in RRIF savings. Then if the amount of a matured GIC left in RRSP is over $1000 will put in another term.