HISAs, for those in the know¹, are “High Interest Savings Accounts” and offer a nearly zero risk, highly liquid², way to earn some interest on your cash holdings. If your broker doesn’t give you access to HISAs (or you have to pay large transaction fees to acquire them³), then there’s also ETFs that fit the bill, and some of them are now in this table, too.

As both Canada and the US lowered their policy rates last week, the interest rates you see here are lower than what you could get last month⁷. US rates remain quite a bit higher than Canadian rates, which I took advantage of recently.

CASH and HISA are ETFs that hold HISAs; I’d expect their rates to drift lower next month. ZMMK is a very short-term bond fund that carries more risk than a HISA, but gives a slightly better return as a result. ZMMK appears in my ETF All-Stars list.

Since I hold a substantial amount of USD-denominated ETFs, I also track US interest rates.

UCSH and HISU invest in HISAs exclusively; I instead use ICSH which is a rough equivalent of ZMMK in terms of portfolio makeup. Like ZMMK, I enjoy a slight premium in yield as a reward for taking a bit more risk.

1. You can read an intro over at Earn money with your cash: The HISA table February 2025 ↩︎
2. I don’t like GICs for this reason. And they tend to not be very portable between brokers, either. ↩︎
3. For example, Questrade, my current go-to broker. ↩︎
4. As of August 29 distribution. ↩︎
5. As of August 27 distribution ↩︎
6. As of August 28 distribution ↩︎
7. Except for the ETFs I track…they are a bit more volatile month to month, which makes sense given what they hold. ↩︎
8. As of August 29 distribution ↩︎
9. As of August 27 distribution ↩︎
10. As of September 2 distribution ↩︎

HISAs, for those in the know, are “High Interest Savings Accounts” and offer a nearly zero risk way to earn some interest on your cash holdings. Read all about them here. “Class F” funds are usually available via your online broker, often bought and sold in the same module as mutual funds, although they are NOT mutual funds.

Both central banks in the Canada and the USA declined to decline their interest rates at their last meetings, so there’s no significant changes to report in the table from last month.

If your broker doesn’t give you access to HISAs (or you have to pay large transaction fees to acquire them¹), then there’s also ETFs that fit the bill, and some of them are now in this table, too.

Since I hold a substantial amount of USD-denominated ETFs, I also track US interest rates.

UCSH and HISU invest in HISAs exclusively; I instead use ICSH which is a rough equivalent of ZMMK in terms of portfolio makeup. Like ZMMK, I enjoy a slight premium in yield as a reward for taking a bit more risk.

1. I’m looking at you, Questrade. ↩︎
2. Per July 31, 2025 dividend ↩︎
3. Per July 29 dividend. Given what HISA holds (mostly National Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia HISAs), it’s puzzling how they managed to increase their per share dividend by 1.5 cents from last month, but that’s where it’s at. I wouldn’t expect that rate to continue. The website shows 2.58% yield (net). ↩︎
4. I combined the two dividend payouts issued in July to come up with this number. Not sure why there were two; it’s certainly not the norm. ↩︎
5. Per July 31, 2025 dividend ↩︎
6. Per July 29 dividend. Same comment as for the Canadian side. This rate doesn’t make sense. Website shows 4.22%. ↩︎
7. Per August 1, 2025 dividend. 30 day SEC yield shows 4.52% ↩︎

HISAs, for those in the know, are “High Interest Savings Accounts” and offer a nearly zero risk way to earn some interest on your cash holdings. Read all about them here. “Class F” funds are usually available via your online broker, often bought and sold in the same module as mutual funds, although they are NOT mutual funds.

The table hasn’t changed since May¹, but I’m going to start adding HISA-alternative ETFs to the table just for comparison purposes. CASH and HISA are frequently-used Canadian ETFs that buy HISAs exclusively. I instead use ZMMK, which does not invest in HISAs at all, but instead uses very short term bonds to generate income. This is admittedly a bit riskier than the alternatives but as long as it pays me a bit of a premium, I’m ok with that. I did a market overview of cash and cash-like ETFs back in March, if you’re interested.

Since I hold a substantial amount of USD-denominated ETFs, I also track US interest rates.

UCSH and HISU invest in HISAs exclusively; I instead use ICSH which is a rough equivalent of ZMMK in terms of portfolio makeup. Like ZMMK, I enjoy a slight premium in yield as a reward for taking a bit more risk.

1. The next possible change to Canadian interest rates will be on July 30. The next possible change to US interest rates will be on July 29 or 30, so next month’s table may have some changes, most likely downward. ↩︎
2. Calculated by dividing most recent distribution (June 30, 2025) by NAV price and multiplying by 12. What the providers show on their ETF fact sheet seems a bit random. ↩︎
3. Based on June 26 distribution. ↩︎
4. Based on June 27 distribution ↩︎
5. Based on June 30 distribution ↩︎
6. Based on June 26 distribution. ↩︎
7. Based on July 1 distribution. The 30 Day SEC Yield as of July 2, 2025 shows 4.73% which is in the right ballpark. The SEC Yield appears to be a US effort to provide the investor with apples-to-apples comparisons of current yield. ↩︎