If you hold some cash in a self-directed registered account with a discount broker, you’ve probably resigned yourself to earning a pittance in interest. TD Waterhouse, for instance, pays nothing if your cash balance is less than $500,000. A slightly better choice for parking cash for investors who have accounts at a big-bank affiliated discount broker is the big bank’s own money market fund. But with the overnight rate stuck at 0.25%, money market funds also pay very little interest. For instance, the TD Canadian Money Market Fund (TDB164) has a current yield of 0.11%.
If you have a TD Waterhouse account, you can earn an interest of 0.7% on your cash balance with the Renaissance High Interest Savings Account. I learnt about this product through a reader comment in an earlier post on TD Canada Trust’s cash offer for new bank accounts (Hat tip to Cogsy).
The Renaissance Savings Account can be purchased as a mutual fund in registered accounts and non-registered accounts with the product code ATL5000. TD Waterhouse confirmed that there is no minimum holding period or no any fees of any kind are charged. The Savings Account is insured by CDIC. The initial minimum is $1,000 and the subsequent minimum is just $1. As the Renaissance Account is a product issued by CIBC Asset management, other discount brokers may carry the product. More marketing materials are available here and here.
