Source
r/PersonalFinanceCanada•
RedRev15

Planning to pull out from Edward Jones

Hello everyone,

So I have been lurking PFC for a couple weeks and I think I'm finally ready to ask for opinions about my specific needs. I've picked up a copy of millionaire teacher (haven't started reading yet) and I've read through the CCP model portfolios.

Long story short I have a maxed out TFSA with Edward Jones and a little more in a taxable account. The more ive been reading on PFC the more I'm convinced I want to pull out and invest myself. I've been very very hands off with my portfolio up until recently.

My biggest concerns are pulling the money out, setting up a new account, and being taxed. From what I read, if I pull out all the money before Jan 1, I will avoid any TFSA transfer paperwork because my contribution room will reset with the calendar year. I know I have to find out if there are any cost associated with selling the mutual funds and I know the small amount in the taxable account will be taxed.

I currently don't have my own RRSP and plan to open one up as well. I have an employer RRSP that is matching their contribution.

My plan is to close both accounts, and reinvest in the new year. I want to max out my TFSA room first and then with the remaining money set up an RRSP and add to my emergency fund. I've read over the CCP model portfolios and I'm either going to go the Tangerine all in one approach or TD direct. Before now I was completely hands off so these two seem to be the best approach for me. I also considered wealthsimple but I don't see any advantage over Tangerine.

Besides rebalancing my portfolio, will the customer experience with TD direct be as easy as tangerine?

Does this plan make sense? Is there any reason for me to just leave it with Edward Jones? And am I missing anything?

There's a lot of information to digest and I guess my biggest fear is pulling out the money and screwing it up. I'd appreciate any opinions or suggestions you may have and if I'm missing any information please let me know

Edit: Thanks everyone for the replies. I have been doing more research and I think I'm going to go with TD direct and follow the asset allocation CCP method. I like the simplicity, and I will be only making annual lump sum contributions. I will be reading up further and make the transition later in the new year. Cheers

Posted Dec 21, 2019, 8:21 PM UTC · edited

110
DanLynch•

If you plan to do the December-January TFSA shuffle this year, you have very little time left. Edward Jones could easily screw you by delaying the withdrawal transaction until the new year. You need to be very careful. It may be smarter to do a real transfer, and let your new brokerage compensate you for the transfer fee.

The advantage of Wealthsimple over Tangerine is in cost: Wealthsimple will be cheaper than Tangerine. The TD e-Series will be cheaper than Wealthsimple, but more complicated and hands-on to work with.

5
RedRev15OP•

See I didn't even know that the shuffle was a thing. I have no problem doing a proper transfer in the new year however. I have heard of advisors making withdrawls a hassle and I don't expect it to go smoothly

I'll have a second look at wealthsimple, because the simplicity does appeal to me

1
pfcguy•

Leaving Edward Jones is not a rush... You could do it now or 6 months from now with no real impact to your retirement goals.

So take some time to read the books, also read The Value of Simple by John Robertson if you'd like to understand more about how to invest in your own.

When you are ready you don't close the accounts, you transfer them. The receiving institution initiates the transfer.

5
Strix780•

(i) Essentially everyone here will agree you're right to get out of Edward Jones-- unless they're a salesperson for Edward Jones.

(ii) Your biggest danger right now is not making the deadline. The next business day is December 23, and you need to have your Edward Jones investments liquidated and in your bank account before the end of the calendar year. If that transaction date is recorded as Jan 1 or later, you will have lost that room until Jan 4, 2021.

Don't let the Edward Jones slimedog screw you over on that one. See if you can get something in writing saying it will be recorded by Dec 31. If not, then you should effect an inter-institution transfer in 2020 between EJ and whoever you choose-- not a withdrawal where the money is in your hands. It might cost a few bucks. Meh.

(iii) The RRSP will have to be an inter-institution transfer. The money can't touch your hands without being taxed.

(iv) I have no opinion about the robomanagers, don't use them. Discount brokerages like TD DI are a great benefit to 21st century retail investors. (I use CIBC IE.) If you want to deposit more frequently, consider Questrade, which has no fees on ETF purchases. The new asset allocation ETFs (VGRO, VBAL, etc.) make it trivially easy to manage a balanced investment program.

3
RedRev15OP•

Time flies, I didn't even realize how close end of December is. I will probably wait until January now. My biggest fear with Questrade is jumping in and being overwhelmed by it, but obviously I don't want to pick one and switch over prematurely

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1
BigCheapassBritish Columbia•

Questrade is surprisingly easy to get the hang of.

Setting up the TFSA account is easy, contributing is just making a bill payment from your chequing to the account.

After that buying ETFs is pretty easy, you just select what you want, decide how many shares you want (how much money you want to put in divided by cost per share).

There's plenty of videos on YouTube for how to do this correctly.

All in all now that my TFSA is full I probably spend an hour per year re-maxing it. It's pretty low effort. I'll probably open up an RRSP in the new year and start contributing to that too.

1
FUNTR6•

I would choose TD Direct Investing over Tangerine for the flexibility.

Nothing wrong with Tangerine but they only offer a handful of investing products. If one of those fits your current and future requirements that's great, but if you want the ability to change your mind, implement the CCP pattern, or add a small position in a specific stock/fund to your mix, then you should consider a discount broker.

You can still achieve the all-in-one pattern by choosing VGRO/VBAL/VEQT (or their X equivalents).

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RedRev15OP•

So I did a quick Google, if I open a TD direct investing account I'll be able to buy the vanguard products through TD, but I will pay the fee to purchase. Where as if I used Questrade I wouldn't pay that purchasing fee. Am I understanding this correctly? But if I'm doing a one time initial purchase and then a yearly rebalance that's not a big deal.

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FUNTR6•

I understand that Questrade is free to buy but not to sell. TD is $10 per trade.

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ArcherAuAndromedus•

I did this a few months ago. Fairly simple, I just filed the correct paperwork with Questrade. I believe it took about 3 weeks. I had my advisor sell everything to cash maybe a week before I started the paperwork.

After a while the new account was open with the funds minus some fees from EJ. But with Questrade I just filed an additional form with the EJ statement and they compensated me with the transfer fee. The hardest thing to do is to get reinvested...

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