Accounts are like the pots that you will plant your investments in. They are simply containers, but each has their own size and characteristics. Different accounts are optimal for different purposes. Select the ones that suit your situation to start, and then add more as you build your garden.

Use your tax-sheltered accounts first and tax deferral if you are in a higher tax bracket now than you will be in the future.

Usual sequence: FHSA -> TFSA -> RRSP -> Corp and/or Cash Accounts. If saving for kids: RESP -> Informal Trust

Opening your first account will take the most time. Usually under an hour. Subsequent accounts go very quickly because your login, profile information, and identification verification are already done.

Corporate accounts and Informal Trusts require a paper application. Don’t worry, I have done some leg work to make that easier!

You may have done this as part of the account opening process above. If not, or if you want to add a funding method or bank account link, this section goes over the options and processes in detail.

Use Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) to link a bank account.

Use Transfer Accounts to transfer from another brokerage. Transfers in kind, US-listed holdings, cash transfers, and partial transfers are all discussed. This is where people often get stuck. So, there are pictures.

Risk tolerance is your ability to stick to the plan when your investments fluctuate up & down in price (volatility). It is about emotion and predicting how you will respond to future events. So, it is hard to quantify or be precise. Fortunately, you do not need to be perfectly precise, and can gently adjust course with experience. Use multiple approaches to get off to the best start that you can. Quick and simple is also ok. 

Use the tools and exercises in this section to choose a stock:bond allocation that takes enough risk to maximize potential returns with enough stability for you to stick to the plan.

You assessed your risk capacity to find how much you can invest & what asset allocation will ensure invested money is there when you need it. You also did your best to consider what asset allocation would suit your emotional risk tolerance from multiple angles.

In this step, you combine those asset allocations to determine what you should start with. Use the more conservative of the two possibilities. Further, if risk capacity due to a 3-to-10-year timeframe is your limiter, learn how you can adjust in the future as it improves.

Skip this if you are just starting investing, have few other assets, or it will paralyze you from action. Also, if you aren’t soothed by your other assets when your DIY investments drop, then skip this.

If you are comfortable and have multiple assets like a pension, managed investments, a marketable business, whole life insurance, or real estate. Consider how they mesh with your DIY investing & use the Portfolio Blender tool to help.

If meshing with other assets: Your DIY investments may have a higher or lower stock:bond ratio to blend with your other assets. The portfolio of your total assets (DIY & otherwise) should have the stock:bond ratio from the Choose Asset Allocation Step #6.

Skip this if you are just starting investing, only use tax-shelters, or don’t have a high income. It is clearly Not worth the execution risk in those cases. Read below to understand why.

If still considering tax optimization, learn more about the complexities and considerations.

If you face a high tax burden, understand it, and can do it easily. Consider an approach that you can reliably execute.

If using a more complex approach, research and choose the ETFs, stocks, or bonds that suit you.

This is as simple as using online banking with the Qtrade platform. However, it is often still scary for people the first few times that they do it. They don’t want to make a mistake when money is involved. Understandable, but fortunately surmountable with some help, reassurance, and experience.

In this section, I will show step-by-step, with screenshots how to buy an ETF to help give you confidence. After you have done it a few times, it is a simple 5-minute process.

All-In-One Asset Allocation ETFs: If using an All-In-One ETF, just buy more when you have the money. They automatically rebalance for you.

If using separate ETFs: We rebalance occasionally to keep our portfolio from getting too concentrated in one area. That is to maintain diversification and control risk. The good news is that you don’t need to do it very often nor be super-precise. Rebalance when you have money to put in or 1-2 times per year. That will often simply mean buying more of what has been lagging. When your portfolio becomes really large, then you may need to trim (sell) small bits of what has done really well.

Tax Preparation: Your tax forms become available on the Qtrade site at the end of February or March on this schedule. There will be RRSP contribution receipts, T5008, T3, T5 etc as appropriate. I simply print these out and give them to my account for when they file my tax returns. That would be in April for personal accounts and at the close of the fiscal year for corporate accounts.

Don’t worry about the tax forms and your corporate year-ends aligning. They won’t align perfectly unless your corporate fiscal year end is Dec 31st. Your accountant will deal with it. No biggie.

Transactions & Adjusted Cost Basis: When you do eventually sell holdings, you will realize a capital gain or loss. That is calculated from the difference between what you sold for and the adjusted cost basis (what you paid). The cost basis is the average cost and changes each time you buy or sell units. You can simply print off your transaction history and give it to your accountant to track. That is what most people do. If you want an extra safety net for accuracy, you can keep track on your own as well.