TFSA Questrade has no opening fees and they hold both Canadian and U.S. dollars in the account at the same time. Open a TFSA in minutes. Contribute to your TFSA quickly and easily online.
Access TFSA Questrade page here
How do you invest with a Questrade TFSA?
It’s actually very easy and this monstrosity of a post will hopefully explain the how and why, and the step-by-step on how to set up a lean mean TFSA investing machine portfolio. I promise I will explain how to set up a TFSA investing portfolio, but first, let’s delve into what exactly is a TFSA is and look at the background behind it. There will be a TFSA with Questrade offer code at the end where you can get $50 in free trades too!
HOW TO INVEST YOUR TFSA WITH QUESTRADE
Now that I have piqued your interest in investing your TFSA instead of parking your money with high-interest savings, here’s how to invest your TFSA with Questrade.
I have been using Questrade for over 12 years (yeah, that’s a long time, and they have been on the scene for the past 20+ years) and have used different brokerage platforms including BMO Investorline and TD Waterhouse. Questrade is Canada’s fastest growing online broker and has the lowest commissions in Canada.
If you’re interested in looking at other online brokerages and the commissions they charge (and also any other promotions from other financial institutions available for signing up for a DIY brokerage account), you can see them here.
It has come a long way from the early days and although there have been a few platform updates and changes (and each time it updates I get frustrated because I grew accustomed to the previous version), once I use the new platform a few times I get the hang of it very easily. It is intuitive to use and you can’t beat the cheap prices to trade (and of course the free commissions on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) offer).
Here’s a detailed look at how to invest your TFSA with Questrade, and a look at some of the pros and cons of Questrade as a discount brokerage platform.
THE PROS AND CONS OF QUESTRADE:
Source: Questrade
QUESTRADE PROS:
- Very economical commissions– $4.95 per trade, you really can’t beat that! Max is $9.95 per trade (if you are buying high volume)
- It’s Free to Buy ETFs– This helps reduce the investing fees substantially and makes it comparable to investing in TD index e-series. This is one of the major reasons why Questrade is so great. I like to dollar cost average my ETF investing (mainly the VXC ex Canada ETF) so this is a great option for me. It makes it cheaper to use Questrade than investing with the TD e-series funds.
- Messenger/Phone/Email Options- You can chat with the customer service representatives online if you don’t want to wait by the phone. I find it’s much quicker than speaking to someone on the phone, especially if you have a quick question. I used to wait 30 minutes on the phone to talk to Questrade and it drove me crazy. Now it is much better with the chat option.
- 100% Online- You don’t have to see a financial adviser or anyone in person (this might be a con, depending on your personality!) which is great for me since as an introvert, I hate small talk.
- Easy to Fund the Account- It’s easy to transfer between accounts and easy to fund the account. I just set it up as a bill payment from my main banking to fund the account. When I want to transfer money from my non-registered to my registered (e.g. TFSA or RRSP), it takes only a few clicks and a few business days to transfer the money over.
- Can hold USD in RRSP Account- This is a great option to avoid the foreign currency exchange and you can fund your RRSP account directly with USD. You can also convert your CAD to USD via Norbert Gambit on Questrade too (very cheap way to exchange money)
- No Annual Questrade Fees- A lot of other brokerages charge an annual fee to have a registered account with them- I’ve seen anywhere from $50 to $100 a year. Questrade doesn’t charge you for registered accounts like RRSP or TFSA.
- Questrade has a free Learning Centre– where you can download free PDF ebooks on things like Options Trading for Beginners
- Easy Interface– As you can see below, I like checking my dividends, trades, and deposits and I can click on these clearly to have a glance at what happened last month, for example.