Financial Product Reviews
Since you can never really know what will happen, landlord insurance is good for some extra peace of mind for your rental investments. In most cases, it will help protect you from property damage, loss of rental income, personal liability, and other related unexpected costs.
- Covers all the basics of landlord insurance
- Optional extra coverage that’s easy to customize
- Cheap rates
- Quick and easy online quote
- Everything is done online
- Reports of them upping rates
- Not a thorough quote process
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
If you need condo insurance in Canada, you have lots of different options to choose from. But which should you go with? Sonnet condo insurance promises low rates with an easy online experience. It covers most of the major expenses – like personal liability, personal belongings, and unit improvements – but may not have everything you’re looking for. On top of that, it also offers some optional coverage and several different ways to save money on your premiums.
- Most of the major coverages are included
- Ability to add extra coverage as needed
- Easy and cheap online insurance
- Several ways to get cheaper premiums
- Online-only insurance company
- History of increasing premiums
- Not the cheapest or most comprehensive
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
- Coverage is the same whether you live there or rent it out
- High customer satisfaction ratings
- 1 year of free Telus 24/7 virtual health care
Since your landlord insurance doesn't cover any tenant belongings, tenant insurance is required in order to keep your rental safe, including everything inside of it. Sonnet Tenant Insurance is a well-rounded and reasonably priced insurance product from an online-only company, offering tenants peace of mind.
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
The BMO Premium Rate Savings Account is one of the few savings accounts that actually lets you get at your money whenever you want, including unlimited free Interac e-Transfers. And this is great for what is technically a free account.
- Is technically free
- Makes it easy to get at your money
- You need to have a BMO chequing account first
- The interest rate is a paltry 0.01%
- Doesn’t help you build your savings
- Has no welcome bonus or intro offers
- Age of majority
- Canadian citizen
- Share transaction limits with your chequing account
- Easy access to funds
- * Only available as an addition to your BMO chequing account. Transaction limits and fees are the same as the chequing account (fees shown are for BMO Performance)
The BMO Savings Amplifier Account is one of several savings accounts offered by the Bank of Montreal, providing a base interest rate of 0.7%. It's a very basic savings account that doesn’t offer much, but the security and peace of mind provided by a bank of this stature may just offset its flaws.
- High base interest rate (for a big bank account)
- High promotional rate
- No monthly fees
- Free to transfer money to yourself
- No minimum balance requirement
- Fees for external transfers
- No other interesting or useful features
- Age of majority
- Canadian citizen
- Free transfers between BMO accounts
- BMO Savings Goals feature
CI Direct Investing is one of a number of robo advisors available to Canadians, being in direct competition with other companies like Wealthsimple and Questrade. It offers a good range of products and services suited to varying levels of investing and all risk tolerance profiles.
- Good range of account types
- Tax-loss harvesting and automatic rebalancing
- Socially responsible investing options
- Real support from qualified humans
- Access to Private Investment Portfolios
- Higher than average fees for an online brokerage
- Transfer fees are only forgiven for large transfers, and have a cap
- Access to Private Investment Portfolios with broad diversification
- RRSP
- TFSA
- Individual
- RESP
- Joint
- Corporate
- LIRA
- RRIF
- LIF
- RDSP
- HISA
- Entity
- Spousal RRSP
Justwealth is a personal portfolio management company that takes an individual approach to investing your money. With a minimum investment of $5,000 (except for RESP and FHSA), any Canadian citizen can start an account with Justwealth and begin investing.
- Minimum monthly fee
- High $5,000 minimum investment
- Canadian resident
- Age of majority
- Personal portfolio management
- Canadian owned
- Covers transfer fees
- RRSP
- Spousal RRSP
- RRIF
- TFSA
- RESP
- LIRA
- LIF
- Non-registered plan
- FHSA
- RDSP
- Individual
- Joint
RBC Direct Investing is an online investment brokerage owned and run by the Royal Bank of Canada. It is designed for people primarily interested in managing their own investments. They offer flat fees for most typical trades, will cover up to $200 of transfer fees if you transfer more than $15,000 into your RBC Direct Investing account, and will do trades on your behalf for a commission.
- No minimum investment required to get started
- Practice accounts available to try before you buy
- Lower commissions for people who do lots of trades
- Royal Circle Membership for high wealth investors
- Purchasing fee for ETFs
- $25 per quarter maintenance fee
- Practice accounts to try out online investing risk-free
- Active Trader Program with reduced fees and better research and tools
- Royal Circle Membership with priority service, premium research, and preferred rates
- TFSA
- RRSP
- RRIF
- RESP
- Cash
- Margin
- Non-Personal
- FHSA
- LIRA
- Stocks
- ETFs
- Options
- Mutual funds
- GICs
- Bonds
- New issues/IPOs
- Gold and Silver certificates
If you’re experienced with managing your own investments or self-directed trading, the BMO InvestorLine online brokerage may be just what you need. With advanced tools for experienced traders, and extra perks and benefits for people with lots of money to invest, this brokerage has won several awards over the years.
- Advanced tools for active traders
- Exclusive “5 Star” membership for very active or very wealthy traders
- Flat fees and (relatively) straightforward pricing
- Live support by phone
- Higher than average fees
- No real tools or support for newbies
- Quarterly account minimum fee
- Zero welcome bonus to entice you to sign up
- Lack of automated tools to help simplify things and save you time
- Advanced tools for active traders
- Online demos and tutorials for new traders
- BMO InvestorLine 5 Star Program
- Self-Directed TFSA accounts have no minimum account balance fees
- TFSA
- RRSP
- RESP
- RRIF
- Individual
- Joint
- Cash
- Margin
- LIRA
- LRSP
- RLSP
- LRIF
- LIF
- Non-personal
- FHSA
- Stocks
- ETFs
- Options
- Mutual Funds
- GICs
- Bonds
- CDRs
- IPOs
In 2008, a still-unknown person developed Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s first cryptocurrency. Since then the market has exploded, now boasting over 200 cryptocurrencies. If you know what any of this means, you probably also know that there are a vast number of services that allow you to buy, sell, and trade these things, known as cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Easy to deposit Canadian funds
- Easy to buy cryptocurrencies with Canadian dollars
- Reasonable trading, deposit, and withdrawal fees
- Multi-layer security that hasn’t been directly compromised (yet)
- Special features for high wealth or high volume traders
- Deeply troubling and controversial corporate behaviour
- Limited mobile app
- Limited trading options
- Lacklustre customer support
- Requires 3 pieces of personally identifiable information to get started
- Limited number of supported cryptocurrencies
- Canadian resident
- Age of majority
- Provide proof of identity (passport, driver's license)
- Provide proof of address (bank statement or utility bill)
- Valid mobile number
- Mining venture arm and capital markets division for high net worth investors
- Referral program










