Friends,

I have about CAD 260K cash sitting in saving accounts. Pls suggest some good options for fixed monthly income. My risk appetite is zero. I was looking at RBC monthly payout solution.. Is it a good investment? Or are there any other options available?

Thanks

TD bank recently offered me 2.18% on 2-year GICs. You can split the amount such that all of it stays within CDIC limits (explore this option with TD folks; they have ways of accommodating upto 400k to stay within CDIC limits). In two years, it is more than likely that the rates go up and you get to earn more. Be careful when you take advice from these fellers who might be gung-ho about stocks, mutual funds and forex crap. Before you heed their advice, ask them to show you real proof of success in their own investment activities. often times, you find that ppl talk wise but may not have any real substance.

Mutual funds may be attractive if they are linked to index funds but the problem is the banks, while blowing their toot loud to get your monies into their mutual funds, often do not show you exactly how they performed during last year or before. They are likely to show graphs about market trends but these are not enough to invest. I know some of my friends lost heavy thru mutual funds. Scotia Bank took huge hit during recent years but they still brag about their mutual funds.

SBI gave good rates on my GICs until recently but now I moved to TD because of their 0.18% higher rate (which adds up if you are rolling in 100s of thousands). I also bought about 80k US but you may have to wait before the US pulls ahead, pulling their green back ahead and yielding you the profits!).