CanadaLife to Questrade was faster and way easier than I expected

I was part of a CanadaLife RRSP group plan at my former employer and the account just kind of hung around for the past couple of years after they unceremoniously early-retired me (best worst thing that ever happened to me tbh).

I DIY with Questrade and this was a nice chunk of change that just kind of felt trapped inside the confines of CanadaLife.

I’d called CL not long after being let go and they made transferring the funds out sound like open heart surgery, but it turns out the process is dead simple and QT handles the whole thing.

I just went to the Move Money section in QT and chose Transfer account to Questrade. There was a small amount of information to provide, nothing out of reach, and they took it from there.

I got multiple emails from QT along the way (and not a peep first or last from CL, which should tell you something), and the whole thing took just over a week (though they say it can take around two).

My RRSP holdings were sold off in CL, the funds transferred to my QT RRSP, I’ve reinvested them and it feels great.

Being let go early can be scary, but if you’ve been saving and investing, you might be more ready for retirement than you think. I used SafelySpend to figure that part out and am loving early retirement. 

Now with my CanadaLife account closed and all my retirement funds under my control in Questrade, I feel better than ever. If you’ve been putting off pulling funds out of an old group plan, it’s probably a lot easier than you think.