Estate Planning to avoid merging of registered funds to exceed CDIC $100,000 | Investing | Discussion forum

AltaRed said

No one would have guessed a year ago or so that Smith Financial would be buying Home Trust/Home Bank/Oaken Financial and taking it private...as an example. I doubt anyone would have guessed any of the mergers that have taken place the last year or two.

Added: Expect consolidation to continue.  

Yes, I agree more consolidation. And HSBC will be absorbed as well. I am not familiar with the "private bank". Private meaning no share holders? Would they still be CDIC insured? Peoples is also owned by a family that owns West Edmonton Mall, or is that different?

Loonie said
I would forget about Oaken and Peoples. CDIC limits are lowish, and, with interest rates the way they are, you might exceed them sooner than you think and will have to continue to rearrange your investments regularly - a nuisance. That said, there is little to no growth to be had with RIFs due to mandatory withdrawals.

I really appreciate your comments @Loonie.
I assume your comments about Oaken and Peoples are because of the low CDIC limits? Or do you have some other reasons?

I have done well with GIC's over the years. I had numerous FI accounts and over the years I have closed some accounts and have never looked back and the ones I still have, I use them what they are good for, for me. ie. the only good thing about Accelerate, for me, is their Savings Account that has cheques, and ATM cards and can be the hub for push/pulls.

Because we live in Vancouver my preference is to keep Oaken and Peoples because they have offices, locally .... and their rates and level of services is good (ha ha I did not say excellent, though).

As far as BC credit unions blah!!! Coast Capital could be good but is a haywire outfit with real crappy service. I do use VanCity for my pension and bill payments .... all the freebies and the no fee ChaChing ATM's... but rates are not great. I did explore Blueshore Financial in North Van, but are not stable enough for good rates and ditto for Canada Western Bank. CWB could be a consideration and is CDIC covered but not sure if their rates are up and down too much.

Your no growth comment in regards to RRIF's with mandatory withdrawals could be correct but with some of the low rates we had vs today when I redid my wife's RRIF's in 5 yr GIC, I actual made enough "interest only" to cover her next 3 mandatory payments.

Rail Baron said

Remember when Wardair was merged into Canadian Airlines? Service dropped to the lowest common denominator. Remember when Canadian Airlines was merged into Air Canada? Same drop in service to lowest common denominator. It's the default model of Canadian corporate evolution, although there are always exceptions to the rule. Will Hubert be one of those exceptions? Or will it be like Wardair, fondly remembered for what was lost?  

Ha ha...I’m not that old!!

I worked for a major retailer and my first travel was to fly back and forth from Vancouver to Toronto every weekend for 5 weeks. The good part was....I was directed to fly Wardair, first class. And first class it was....first on, first off, champagne and orange juice within a minute and meals that weren’t all that bad. And very nice flight attendants.

Good old fashioned service! Some will never experience it from a Canadian airline in their life time.

Then later Air Canada was our official carrier. And the rebel in me was to book my own trips that save money by using WestJet. Good service and on time flights. But now....WestJet might as well as merge with Air Canada.

Then I was forced to use corporate travel. Air Canada with a bunch of real old curmudgeons for flight attendants, crappy food, always late and usually lied to as well.

So.....I guess this is what we see with Accelerate and soon Hubert .... bank of Air Canada. YIKES!!

Now that I am retired, the few trips we have done were not with Air Canada or WestJet.

Winnie said

Rail Baron said
How has Accelerate gone "down the toilet"?

I had very bad experience with Accelerate.
Closed all my accounts and membership.
Just my personal opinion.  

Would like to share why?

Was it before or after the merger?

A few problems, but the most difficult for me was the process how they managed withdrawal from my RRSP account.
Each time, when I asked for withdrawal of some money from my RRSP, I needed to call them and I was forced to write a withdrawal note with my signature.

Similar to Hubert. In years past I just called Hubert and they gave it to me. But it appears that Hubert is doing same as Accelerate. I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL. Probably a “who ever” kind of employee did not explain why...and if they had you might still be there. They have to do a CYA to ensure that you realize that there will be a tax withhold. The CYA covers them if you call back with an issue. The withhold is outside of the mandatory RRIF payment ... but I believe always if coming from a RRSP. They don’t make that decision .. they have to meet federal government guidelines. With Hubert you call them and they do an electronic form that shows your request like.....$1000 minus 10% and that you will receive $900. You then electronically sign it, then the funds show in your savings account.

Did you pull funds from savings account or from an non matured GIC?

Mandatory to include there, that I do understand, that Accelerate will withhold and forward some percentage to CRA from my withdrawal.

Yes they have to take 10% for up to $5000 and 20% for over $5000. Quebec is different. No matter what both RRSP and RRIF are taxable now or at end of year.

Yes, each single time I needed to do that, not just once.
And I needed to mail that note each time.

That’s there call. They did not do a good explanation for you. I usually do extra withdrawals from RRIF from savings or in the case of Oaken I direct them to move a matured RRIF GIC to my non registered savings. I have a brunch of $1000 and $2000 GICs to do that with. And I do mail in a signed form for that request. The form is their form..so not too much effort to handle.

Every one has different rules. Hubert and Oaken have them published on their website. Does Accelerate?