Some questions about investment advisors

[Sheky]

I'm fairly green about investing so I figure I'll get someone to create and manage my portfolio. That said, what's the difference between the major providers like Woodgundy, TD Waterhouse, RBC, Scotia etc? Do they charge different rates? Any info or exp relating to the whole process would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Thalo]

Waterhouse, Wood Gundy, Dominion Securities, Scotia McLeod, et al usually require certain minimums for different services (financial planning, investment advice, portfolio management are generally the 3 things they do) and by holding to those minimums they generally don't charge superfluous fees.

For example, each of their financial planning services generally require a minimum portfolio around $100K and sell only no load funds (that's TDW at least, I assume the competition is similar). Money is made by them through the MERs you pay on the mutual funds.

The Investment Advice/Portfolio management services have higher minimums and generally charge a small annual fee (smaller than mutual fund MERs) or trading commissions on stocks.

[Archanfel]

TD Waterhouse will not let you trade stocks with their adviser's service. Also, only your adviser will be able to make any transactions.

For some reason, they just need 100K minimum personal asset rather than 100K minimum with them. You can have 100K with ING direct and they would count that.

[Thalo]

TD Waterhouse will not let you trade stocks with their adviser's service. Also, only your adviser will be able to make any transactions.

For some reason, they just need 100K minimum personal asset rather than 100K minimum with them. You can have 100K with ING direct and they would count that.

Ummm... no. If you're talking about TDW Financial Planning you are correct that they do not trade stocks (only mutual funds and fixed income), but they do have a minimum of $100K investments with them. What would it matter to them if you have $100K with ING?

The full service brokerage (Private Investment Advice, min $300K) and portfolio management (Private Investment Counsel, min $500K) channels do trade stock.

[realist123]

Do not focus on which firm you end up with. They are all essentially the same.

Your focus should be on finding the best individual to help you. If it costs you an extra couple of bucks, who cares? You want someone who will be honest, diligent, knowledgable and accessable.

Interview many candidates from all firms and select the one you're most comfortable with.