Few things in life are free. Sure, there are free samples of protein bars at grocery stores and free hand-me-downs from grandma, but it costs you time to wait in line for the snack and effort to drop unwanted items off at donation centres.

So it should come as no surprise that it costs you money to manage your money — whether it’s banking fees, ATM fees or mutual fund fees. Or maybe it is a surprise to you.

Many mutual fund investors don’t know what they are paying or even that they are paying anything at all. According to a 2013 study by Environics of Canadians over 25-years-old and with more than $25,000 in investable assets, 25% said that they did not pay their advisor either directly or indirectly.  Read More…

10 Comments

  1. What i stil lfind obsurd is the ATM fees when making a purchase in stores. Why? It wasnt bad enough that our banks are gouging us each month but they do so at each purchase? 🙁

  2. Do your homework people! There are countless ways to save money but too many of us are too lazy to do the research to get the best bang for the buck.

  3. Hey sometimes paying a little fees is a good thing. I just cant think of one 😛

  4. Most brokerage firms like Questrade have high interest accounts which also have no fees. It’s worth a look. I have used them for my Savings and for my Investment accounts. All together in one location. yay for me!

  5. LOL the article talks about going paperless. Call me silly but saving $2 by switching to paperless is the least of your problems if you are trying to avoid fees which amount to more than $2.

  6. After reading this i got to thinking about my overdraft protection i have with my TD value account. I have had it for years but after speaking to customer service i found out that the catch is i will pay $5 per day when i go in the red. Yikes!

    Thanks for the post! It saved me a tonne.

  7. @josh, i think it is more to do with hand holding. Many people still like to go into a bank and deal with a customer rep face to face. For me i see no point which is why i have never had my ScotiaBank account for years. I am now fully online.

  8. To this day i still have no earthly clue why someone would open an account with a big bank like TD CanadaTrust. Why would you be so eager to pay monthly fees or avoid them by keeping a giant balance where you could be earning higher interest for no minimum balance?

    Crazy world.

  9. So some investment fees are tax deductable? When did this happen? I really need to go read more about this. Interesting.

  10. What i find funny is most people still use email money transfer and not aware of electronc transfers which tend to be free vs email. Sure EFTs are for billing but there are cases like Interac that offer it for person-to-person.

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