Comments on: ING Pre-TFSA Plus $25 Referral Bonus For New ING Account

By: Old new guy

Old new guy — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:35:07 +0000

This could be a long question but I will try and keep it short. I am almost 38 married with 2 young kids, 2 and 3. I have about 40k in a pension fund with my old job ad my new job does matching RRSPs which is at 10%. My wife has rrsps aswell likely closer to about 5%. We both have lots of top up room in our RRSP’s. I was looking at a TFSA with RBC, but realise ING or someone else will likely be cheaper. I am thinking of using the TFSA for a combo of emergency money, kids educations, retirement top up etc. The TFSA would hold some MMF’s, ETFS, maybe some divedend stocks. I never really thought a lot about these things when was on the pension plan, but now I am playing catch up and trying to learn quickly. I appreciate any feed back.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:33:12 +0000

DAvid – I’ll have to think about this. Given that I’m probably not going to use the EF, taking a chance on termination fees is probably a good move. I’ll take a closer look at the fees and see what comes out.

Thanks for the suggestion – I suspect a post might come out of it.

By: DAvid

DAvid — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:30:18 +0000

You could buy a 1 year GIC. ING is offering
1 year 1.25%
1.5 year 1.50%
2 year 2.25%
3 year 2.50%
4 year 2.50%
5 year 3.25%

so even if you looked at these options you’d be ahead. Since your plan is to remove the money for emergencies only, you might take a hit on some of the interest, but since you have no real plans to spend the cash, why not lock it in for a year or two (or five) and get a better deal. Once you have set up the GIC ladder, you’ve got cash coming due each year, with no penalty.

I expect rates to start to climb. Mortgages are starting to ease, so interest rates should follow soon.
DAvid

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:15:49 +0000

DAvid – that’s not a bad thought. I’m not as confident that the interest rate offers will be high enough in the spring to make it worthwhile. And will they stay at those rates?

By: DAvid

DAvid — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:48:42 +0000

Strikes me there will be a bunch of higher interest rate offerings during RRSP season. Why lock into ING Savings, when other options will be available come spring which will likely pay more than $9 over the life of the savings vehicle.

DAvid

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts on Liars

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:28:56 +0000

[...] Four Pillars talks about ING Pre-TFSA Bonus and why it is a good place to put your emergency funds. Good idea. Free at 45 asked Do you Have [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:05:22 +0000

Squawk – all our carrots were somewhat bitter. However with some cooking and sugar coating they turned out ok.

IS – everything is theoretical with the TFSA because of the low limits – but give it time. Eventually everyone will have significant TFSA accounts/contribution amounts.

By: Squawkfox

Squawkfox — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:00:12 +0000

I’ve been waiting for that twisted carrot. You never mentioned how it tasted…

By: IS

IS — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:48:04 +0000

FOF – Good point yes. Not sure how big of a difference it would make when you only have 5K in the account but over time it will indeed make a big difference.

Good post FP, thanks for bringing that up!

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:37:04 +0000

FoF – I agree, putting non-registered high income investments (if you own any) into a TFSA makes a lot more sense than keeping your emergency fund in there (if you have one).