Category: DIY Investors

XEQT, TEQT, VEQT, ZEQT, HEQT Fee Showdown

RobHLeave a comment

Summary: Although iShares(XEQT/XGRO) and Vanguard(VEQT/VGRO) get all the love, the all-in-ones from BMO and TD are actually the current winners in the “lowest all-in-one fee award”. Given how similar they are to their competitors, I see no reason not to park money there.

I’m a fan of all-in-one1 ETFs in my retirement portfolio. If you’re new to the world of all-in-ones, you might want to start here. There’s at least five competing families of products out there, courtesy of iShares (XEQT, XGRO, XBAL et al), TD (TEQT, TGRO, TBAL et al), Vanguard(VEQT, VGRO, VBAL et al) BMO(ZEQT, ZGRO, ZBAL et al) and GlobalX2 (HEQT, HGRO, HBAL et al). We’ve taken a look at some of them “under the hood”, so to speak, but didn’t really find super-significant differences.

One facet I haven’t looked at yet is the fees each of these companies charge. As I’ve shown elsewhere, small differences can add up if you have significant investments or are holding them for a significant time.

With the news that iShares is reducing their management fees, (BMO did earlier this year) I figured it was time to do a head-to-head fee comparison for the four major families.

Here you have it:

CompanyRelevant TickersManagement Fee3
iSharesXEQT, XGRO, XBAL et al0.17%, effective Dec 18, 2025
VanguardVEQT, VGRO, VBAL et al0.17%
TDTEQT, TGRO,TBAL et al0.15%
BMOZEQT, ZGRO, ZBAL et al0.15%
Global XHEQT, HGRO, HBAL et al0.18%

TD and BMO are the low fee winners at the moment, but the gap has narrowed significantly from earlier in the year. I like low fees, and so I’ve started to invest in these families.

  1. Technically called “asset allocation” ETFs, which is good, since asset allocation is how I view my own portfolio. ↩︎
  2. Formerly known as Horizons, which explains the stock tickers used here. ↩︎
  3. Most of the time I use MER (Management Expense Ratio) to report on fees, but since a few of these companies have lowered their Management fees this year, and since MER is only calculated annually, the MER values only become relevant again on Jan 1. They are a few basis points higher than the management fee, but just a few. Most of the cost is buried in the management fee. ↩︎

News: HISA Table updated, TD adds free-to-trade ETFs

RobHLeave a comment

High Interest Savings Page Updated

As reported last week, the USA cut their prime rates while Canada did not. The latest rates are now reflected in the HISA and short-term bond table (Canada & US). No changes for at least 6 weeks at this rate. Most cash I hold in my retirement savings is invested in an ultra-short-term bond fund, namely ICSH (one of my ETF all-stars) so I can squeeze out a few more basis points on my cash holdings.

TD Cuts Trading fees on 100 ETFs

TD seems to be upping its game. Not only are they throwing free money around, but an observant reader (thanks, big brother 🙂 ) alerted me to a recent change. You can read all about it here, but the skinny is that they cut trading fees on a list of 100 ETFs. Paying trading fees of any kind seems to be a dying business model, so it’s nice to see TDDI join the free club, at least a little bit. Some of these ETFs are even worth holding; I’ll save you the trouble and show you which ones:

NameSymbolWhat it holds
Vanguard S&P 500 IndexVFVLargest US Companies
SPDR S&P 500SPYLargest US Companies in USD
Vanguard 500 IndexVOOSame as SPY
iShares Russell 2000IWMSmall cap US Equity in USD
TD all-in-onesTEQT, TGRO, TBAL, TCON100% Equity, 90% Equity, 60% Equity, 30% Equity. Read more here and here.
TD Aggregate Bond IndexTDBCanadian gov’t and corp bonds.1
TD International EquityTPEDeveloped international market equity.2
TD US EquityTPU/TPU.USimilar to VFV/SPY3
TD Canadian EquityTTP300 Canadian stocks (aka “the Canadian market”)4
TD Cash Management TCSH/TUSD.UUltra short term debt in CAD/USD5
Vanguard all-in-onesVEQT, VGRO, VBAL, VCNS100% Equity, 80% Equity, 60% Equity, 40% Equity
Vanguard Canadian Agg BondVABCanadian gov’t and corp bonds6
Vanguard FTSE GlobalVXCAll equity ex-Canada (65% US Equity)
Vanguard FTSE DevelopedVIUAll developed equity ex-North America7
Vanguard US Total MarketVUN/VTI~3500 US Stocks in CAD/USD (aka “The US Market”)8
Vanguard FTSE Canada VCNTop 200 Canadian Stocks, so similar to TTP9
Newly free-to-trade ETFs at TDDI that are moneyengineer.ca approved

All the above funds would be worthy of consideration since they adhere to my rules about being passively managed, low cost, and aligned with my asset-allocation strategy. The simplest purchases here would be one of the TD or Vanguard all-in-ones (new to all-in-ones? read about them here) best aligned with your risk profile. There’s a bunch of other ones that aren’t of interest to me — bitcoin, leveraged, actively managed, segment-based…nah, I’m good.

  1. Used in TGRO, TBAL, TCON ↩︎
  2. No “emerging” market exposure. Used in TEQT, TGRO, TBAL, TCON ↩︎
  3. TPU is used in TEQT, TGRO, TBAL, TCON ↩︎
  4. Used in TEQT, TGRO, TBAL, TCON ↩︎
  5. Similar to my use of ZMMK/ICSH ↩︎
  6. Used in VGRO, VBAL, VCNS ↩︎
  7. Used in VEQT, VGRO, VBAL, VCNS ↩︎
  8. Used in VEQT, VGRO, VBAL, VCNS ↩︎
  9. Used in VEQT, VGRO, VBAL, VCNS ↩︎

News: TD offering up to $5k to transfer in

RobH1 Comment

The gravy train continues for those willing to put in some effort. TD’s offer is listed here, but I’ll give you the highlights:

  • TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, LIRA, LRSP accounts: 2% cash back on new transfers for new or existing customers
  • Non-registered accounts (margin or otherwise) are eligible for 1% cash back
  • Not eligible: RRIF accounts (boo!)
  • Register before March 2,2026; complete transfers by March 31, 20261
  • Keep the money there until March 31, 2027, and get paid by April 30, 2027
  • $5000 limit on free money provided (meaning $250k in assets transferred).

I myself have no experience with TD’s product, but per their fee schedule, I see they still charge for stock/ETF trades, $9.99 a pop2. It’s zero for mutual funds, if that’s your thing.

Given that Questrade is still giving me free money for another year, and given that RRIF accounts aren’t eligible, I’ll be sitting this one out. But this TD offer looks pretty generous, so of possible interest to others out there.

  1. You might not want to wait until the very last minute to register; the Ts and Cs make it sound like you’ll be out of luck if your transfer in doesn’t land by the 31st. ↩︎
  2. Reduced to $7 a pop if you trade a lot, defined by TD as >150 trades a quarter. ↩︎

News: Wealthsimple now supports spousal RRIFs

RobH1 Comment

Well, that figures.

Right after the final, final deadline of Wealthsimple’s last free money offer, it appears that Wealthsimple is now offering spousal RRIFs as an account type for the DIY investor (they’ve had them for quite a while in their robo-advisor accounts).

This had always struck me as silly, especially since they have offered spousal RRSPs for a while now.

Full instructions on how to open one found here.

With this development, Wealthsimple is nearly a viable option to host all of my retirement funds1. My needs are pretty simple:

  • support for all the account types I need (RRIF/Spousal RRIF, TFSA, joint non-registered, individual non-registered)
  • zero cost ETF buy/sell
  • support for Norbert’s Gambit (which implies support for USD accounts, naturally)

Norbert’s Gambit is planned in early 2026 for Wealthsimple, per the very limited info found here.

So, if you’ve been on the fence about Wealthsimple, here’s one more reason to consider them. Once Questrade’s free money gravy train ends for me in March 2027, they become a personal serious contender, especially if they are willing to throw free money my way, which, historically, has certainly been a recurring theme. On that note, if any reader wants to give them a whirl, I have referral codes, just shoot me a note at comments@moneyengineer.ca; if you act quickly2, there might be some free Apple gear in it for you too.

  1. QTrade and Questrade both offer all three. There may be others. ↩︎
  2. Register by December 23, 2025 ↩︎

News: Interest rate cut in US, Canada stays the course

RobH1 Comment

The Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve both had their last rate setting meeting of 2025 today. These meetings are of interest to the DIY investor because they set the bar for the interest rate paid on short term loans / high interest savings accounts. I track a universe of HISAs and ETFs of interest over at https://moneyengineer.ca/hisa-and-short-term-bond-table-canada-us/.

The Bank of Canada announcement is here, and the US Fed announcement is here. The Bank of Canada kept things the same, with a rate of 2.25% while the US cut their rates by a quarter point, so they’re now sitting in a range of 3.5-3.75%. Anyway, the gap between the US and Canadian rates is narrowing, but the US overnight rates are still 1.5% higher (aka 150 basis points) and so it pays to use USD money market funds and HISAs if you’re able.

The next opportunity for the banks to mess with interest rates is January 28, 2026.