The TD e-series funds are a way in which you can get a mutual fund without having to pay an arm and a leg for the MER’s.  I have had a TD e-series fund for my RRSP since last year and regularly contribute a set amount to it per month.  It’s a great way to employ dollar cost averaging without having to pay for trading commission fees each time you do a transaction.  It’s wonderful for us young people who don’t have time to go to the bank (really, how do people do their banking regularly when they work the same hours you’re working?) and are internet savvy.

However, TD e-series are notoriously difficult to acquire, it takes a bit of time and a bit of patience to be able to set an account up, mainly because when you walk into any TD branch, no one knows what the heck you’re talking about.

The reason, I believe, that TD bank branch employees do not know what you’re talking about is because it is an e-series fund.  That means that TD bank doesn’t waste their money teaching branch employees the details of the fund because it is all done online.  This my friend, is where they save you the $.  You don’t have to pay for the services of a Mutual Fund Specialist because there are none!  The MER’s for TD e-series are low- 0.31-0.48% is the average compared to a whopping 2.5% for full service mutual funds.

It took me about 6 weeks to get my TD e-series fund in working order (long story- I think I tried to mail it in, and they told me I needed a card after I had no response for a 3 weeks, then I went into the branch and had to go back twice because no one new what I was talking about, then finally got my beloved e-series), so I’m going to try and save you the time and headache by learning from my mishaps.

So without further adieu, here’s the most hassle-free way on how you can get in on the action:

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As promised, I hope to explain the basics of personal finance on youngandthrifty.ca.

Mostly everyone I know has a mutual fund.  So, what REALLY is a mutual fund, you ask?

Mutual funds are a collection of stocks that are professionally managed by a high-paying fund manager.  They collect everyone’s money (or whoever is interested in buying the mutual fund) and then pools it together to buy the selected stocks, bonds, and money market funds that they think will provide good return.

They then distribute the gains (or boooo, losses) back to you, the investor.

Mutual funds can be held in:  TFSA’s, RRSP’s and non-registered accounts.

The pros of mutual funds are:

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In my monthly net worth updates, I categorize my assets into stocks, cash, RRSPs, TFSA,  and other, to name a few.  In this month’s net worth update,  Investing Newbie wanted to know what my “Other” investments are.

Well to answer that question, I’m going to tell you a story of how NOT to invest.  So don’t try this at home, kids.  The Other investments basically consist me flashback 4 years ago tagging along with my mom and having her introduce me to her financial advisers.  Note the plural form of financial adviser.

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Now we want to think OUTSIDE the box (aka RRSP).

What should we keep outside of the RRSP or Tax Deferred Shelter?

Well, after you maximize your RRSP’s and TFSA, then you can keep investments in the “spillage”

Basically you want investments that are the least “taxing” to you, to keep outside of an RRSP.

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