Rob Carrick
Find a broker with cheaper stock trading commissions
A flat $10 commission applies at almost all firms for all customers, no conditions applied. If you're paying more than that, ask yourself if you're getting enough value to justify the expense. The cheapest deal in stock trading is a penny a share at Virtual Brokers, with a minimum charge of one cent and a cap of $9.99.
Get your ETF trading commissions down to zero
Questrade and Virtual Brokers are online brokerage firms that let you buy exchange-traded funds at no cost (regular fees apply when you sell). If you plan on making monthly ETF investments, these firms could save you a lot over the course of a year. Qtrade and Scotia iTrade have limited menus of zero-commission ETFs.
Avoid account maintenance fees
Many online brokers apply these fees in cash and registered retirement accounts if you have less than a combined $15,000 to $25,000 in assets across all your accounts at the firm. Tip: If you have less than that, use a TFSA account. No maintenance fees typically apply on these accounts, and there are no costs to withdrawing money from them.
Get someone else to pay your account transfer fees
The final indignity when you've chosen the wrong brokerage firm for your account is the fee, often as high as $125 or more, to move your money to another firm. Tip: Ask your new firm to cover that transfer fee.
Mind your foreign exchange costs
U.S.-dollar registered accounts are key: they allow you to keep dividends from U.S. stocks and the proceeds from the sale of U.S. stocks in U.S. dollars, without a forced conversion to Canadian currency. If you're serious about investing in U.S. stocks, make sure your brokerage offers U.S.-dollar registered accounts. Exchange rates for converting Canadian dollars into U.S. currency vary among brokers, but not dramatically.
You'll find a quick snapshot of comparative foreign exchange costs at various brokerage firms in my latest online brokerage ranking. On the sample $15,000 (U.S.) transaction, the cost in Canadian dollars varied by as much as $300 or so in Canadian dollars between firms.
Rob Carrick