GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I'll post here as there's no canada wide forum:With the new year's federal budget, has anybody opened up a tax free savings account? Seems like a great idea for savings that you want to have access to.

I work at Scotiabank and can tell you lots of people have opened these. If you have any questions about TFSA's I would be happy to answer them for you!

Thanks Matthew! I got mine opened up in December. Just wanted to make sure the other Canadian folks on genvibe knew about them. I didn't even hear about it until early December, so I'm not too sure how much resources went into making sure us Canucks heard about the new system.

No problem Jeremy! Yeah they didn't really come out until late November I'm pretty sure, and you couldn't contribute to them until after January 1st anyways. Anyone out there who doesn't have one, get one!

do I have to be a CAN resident to open one?

Either that or start paying Canadian taxes. Hahaha.

So how does it work?

i opened one in december with scotia bank ---- is there any fees for withdrawing? what types of accounts does the money sit in -- gic/high interest savings/etc.?

Quote, originally posted by bull77 »i opened one in december with scotia bank ---- is there any fees for withdrawing? what types of accounts does the money sit in -- gic/high interest savings/etc.?The only fees that you would incur, if I'm not mistaken, are the regular fees that you would have with whatever investment you purchased. The types of accounts are basically any investment that Scotiabank has to offer. Mutual funds, GIC's, etc. If you are worried about an early withdrawal you can always get a cashable GIC. Lower interest, but you can take it out.

ok -- i was going to use it to dump extra cash throughout the year and then transfer to an rrsp/resp in april.

Yeah you could pull that off. I'm 100% sure on this, but you can potentially open a power saving or money master under the TFSA. If you could then you can withdraw at any point with no charge. Don't quote me on it though haha

I opened one with ING

Quote, originally posted by ArcsVibe »I opened one with ING ING seems to have the highest rates. I'd refer you there instead of Scotiabank to be honest I don't know much about them though, do they have GIC's and stuff?

Quote, originally posted by Amtron »ING seems to have the highest rates. I'd refer you there instead of Scotiabank to be honest I don't know much about them though, do they have GIC's and stuff?Yup! GIC, RRSP, normal saving accounts (high interest) and mortgages check them out at http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/

Quote, originally posted by ArcsVibe »Yup! GIC, RRSP, normal saving accounts (high interest) and mortgages check them out at http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/Trying to make me switch my banking from my place of work, are we?

Quote, originally posted by Amtron »Trying to make me switch my banking from my place of work, are we? LOL! Nah just showing you the competition

I opened one in December with PC Financial. I had dumped $3K in there already but I have since taken it out to pay for my vacation. Hm, so much for that.

hey amtron --- article in the kanata paper last week about the SB on campeau being robbed....is that the branch you work at?

Quote, originally posted by bull77 »hey amtron --- article in the kanata paper last week about the SB on campeau being robbed....is that the branch you work at?Yup that would be mine! It was on my shift actually. The guy came in pretty much right after we opened the doors and did it. I was really suprised he robbed this branch since it's one of the most inconvenient ones to get in and out of. Plus there's lots of people around.

Quote, originally posted by Sputnik »I opened one in December with PC Financial. I had dumped $3K in there already but I have since taken it out to pay for my vacation. Hm, so much for that. Same here. I'm just using mine as a floating savings. Put it in there when I've got some extra and take it out when I need it. Still gains some interest that way. I've been putting most of my 'saving' money into the stock markets right now instead. The TFSA is acting as a cushion.