BankTips.ca

Simple Bank Advice

1. A good banking relationship with a dedicated account manager will pay dividends! If you don't have a relationship manager, get one!

2.Consider consolidating your loans, investments and basic banking. Doing so will give you more leverage to negotiate better loan and deposit rates.

3. Pay your bills. Your loan rates depend on it! The better the repayment history, the better the loan rate next time you need it.

4. Want to understand how a banker thinks? Consider taking some banking courses (that interest you, of course) at the Institute of Canadian Bankers. These courses are available to all.

 

How good are your bank mutual funds, really?

How can you tell? First, go to GlobeFund.com and select Report. Select your bank in option A and you are off to the races. So what is important? Forget the standard report. Look at long term returns (ie. 5 and 10 year performance). Then look at quartile rankings. Your funds should rank in the top two quartiles, which means they are better than half of its peer group. If your funds are all ones and two's, that is a good start. Then look at MERs and make sure they charge less than 2.5% to "run" the mutual fund. Any actively managed equity fund less than 1.5% is very good. Don't put too much weight on the 5 star ranking. Remember: Past performance does not guarantee future performance!

 

More Simple Advice

Once you get comfortable with GlobeFund.com, you can try Morningstar.ca.

More to come! (Weekly)

 

Best Buys in Basic Banking

Check out the best deals in basic banking services. Do all the banks offer the same deals? No way. A review in December clearly found a winner. Full story...