TD eFunds

Since I’ll be out of debt soon, and will be saving $2,000/month for my condo down payment, I’ve decided to try using TD eFunds and open up a non-registered account. Basically in exchange for a low MER (yay!), I’ll have to manage my portfolio online – which is fine, because I want the freedom to choose what I invest in anyway. Plus they give you a really handy “portfolio planner,” which assesses your risk tolerance and suggests how you should allocate your money. Then you can choose eFunds that match the suggested percentage.

My condo down payment fund is currently being held with TD in a non-registered Balanced Growth mutual fund at a 2.14% MER, so I’ll just convert it over. It seems easy enough, and my MER will drop to well below 1%! Part of the reason I want to switch is because I want to get more for my money, but the biggest reason is because I want to try to take control of my investments, instead of paying someone a percentage of my earnings to do it for me. Plus, I’m scared of the stock market. :) My BF has most of his money in stocks right now, but that’s just too much for me right now. Baby steps!

My RRSP is also with TD in the Balanced Growth mutual fund, with the same 2.14% MER. I’m going to keep it like that for now, and see how I do with handling my own portfolio. If I feel comfortable with it, then sometime this year I’ll convert that one over as well.

So, starting in May, $1,000 of my money will be direct deposited into my TD eFund (where I hope it will earn more than 10% interest), and the other $1,000 will go into a high interest savings account, earning 4% interest. These numbers may change, depending on how much risk I want to take, how well the eFunds are doing, and how good I am at investing. :)