I am a deal junkie and I love a good deal…and I love sharing the wealth of deals!  I also like a good financial product that makes my investing easier.  In addition, I like to save money.  I like to share what I love, too (hence this personal finance blog and personal finance blogging for almost 10 years lol).

Here are some of my favourite financial products and services in Canada, from savings accounts to investment accounts, to savings apps and shopping portals.  These are all free to sign up for!  My favourite word, FREE!

This page contains some affiliate links.  Please see genymoney.ca’s disclaimer for more information.  I may get a small commission if you sign up for these recommendations, and I thank you in advance as they help keep this blog running!

Canadian Financial Tools, Promo Codes, and Recommendations

Savings Accounts:

Tangerine Savings Account – This is a zero monthly fee savings account (you don’t have to pay them to bank with them, they pay you!).  Tangerine Bank has a very high savings rate for initial deposits in the Tangerine Savings Account.  Here are the most recent Tangerine promotions (like $300 cash).

EQ Bank Savings Plus Account 2.00% every day interest rate*-This is one of the highest rates in Canada without a promotional period (for example the Tangerine bank rate promotion ends after 6 months).  There are no fees and you get Unlimited Free Interac e-transfers®.  There is no physical branch, it is all done online.  It is a trademark of Equitable Bank, which is a Canadian bank that has over $23 billion assets under management.  Rates are of course subject to change without notice.  Here’s a bit more about the high-interest savings accounts in Canada. There is no minimum balance and zero fees.  Sign up for one of the highest rates in Canada now to stash your cash.  I signed up for it and it’s my favourite hybrid account- here’s my review of EQ Bank.

*Interest is calculated on the total closing balance and paid monthly.  Rates are per annum and subject to change without notice.

Investing:

DIY Investing:  Questrade- I’ve been using Questrade for over 12 years and love it.  It is the brokerage in Canada with the lowest commissions (well, Wealthsimple Trade will have zero commissions but only for non-registered accounts).  Each trade is only $4.95.  You can have RESPs, RRSPs, RDSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts… you name it!  The BEST thing about Questrade is that you can buy index tracked Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for $0 (sometimes a few cents are added because of ECN fees)- for example, the ever-popular Vanguard ETF VGRO.  This has allowed me to dollar cost average invest, which I feel more comfortable with since I’m not timing the market.  Here’s a step by step guide on how to invest your TFSA with Questrade.  Use my referral link to earn 10 free stock trades or $50 in FREE trades in the first 30 days (this is ON TOP of free ETF purchases) with Questrade

Robo Advisor: Wealthsimple – Is the largest robo-advisor company in Canada, and it has over $8 billion in assets under management.  It is backed by Power Financial Corporation (read my analysis of Power Corporation of Canada here) and was created right here in Canada (Toronto).  The account minimum is $0.  They reinvest your dividends for you so that your money will grow even faster.  They will even pay the fees to transfer money out of the other mutual fund that you are paying HUGE fees (2.5%+) on if you transfer out $5000.  With Wealthsimple basic (assets <$100,000), the fees are 0.5% + around 0.2% for the ETF MERs within the funds.  Compared to a typical mutual fund of 2.5%, 0.7% to manage your money on autopilot is fantastic for your growing portfolio since fees erode at your wealth.  They are also releasing Wealthsimple Trade shortly, where you can trade for $0 commission.  It is only in Canadian dollars though and in a non-registered account.  I don’t have Wealthsimple myself (as I DIY invest) but I would recommend this to friends who are looking to invest but don’t know where to start.  Click here to sign up for Wealthsimple to get a $50 bonus if you deposit $500.

Enriched Academy (as seen on Dragon’s Den) is offering a free Financial Assessment for Genymoney.ca readers, a one-on-one meeting if you’re interested in improving your financial knowledge and financial literacy.  Here’s my Enriched Academy review.

Expense Tracking

Mint App– I have been using this to track my credit card expenses for YEARS.  I don’t use it to link my bank accounts (just unfounded paranoia) but love it to track my credit card purchases.  It helps me keep my spending on track to make sure I am not spending too much.  It also sends you emails to let you know how you are doing on your budget (e.g. warns you if you are going over budget).  The only complaint I have is sometimes it sounds passive aggressive, like when it says “you spent $90 on dog grooming when you usually spend $45.  You might want to look into that” (the last sentence is unnecessary in my opinion, lol!).

Wealthica also does expense tracking and this is free as part of an add-on.  The add-on is called Budget Wizard.

Investment Portfolio/ net Worth Tracking & Dividend Tracking:

Wealthica – For net worth tracking and investment portfolio tracking, I use Wealthica because it has API authorization and is like Mint in that it is read-only.  I like that I can see all my investments in one place.  It keeps track of my investment portfolio in Questrade and I can see my dividend income (even converted to Canadian dollars from US dollars) all in one place.  It has been a huge time saver for me.  It also aggregates my shares of certain stocks (I have a few stocks split between my non-registered accounts and TFSA accounts because I run out of room in my TFSA) so I can see how many shares I have and the average price.  You can read my review on Wealthica, the Canadian version of Personal Capital, here.  My favourite part of Wealthica is that it is FREE.  This is a great replacement for Google Finance Portfolio, the Google Sheets Export.

Try Google Sheets Export Free for 3 months ($18+ tax value) when you link $100K in investments to your Wealthica account! Contact me for the PROMO CODE.

Dividend Yield Spreadsheet Tracker – I use my own spreadsheet to track my forward annual dividend income.  It is similar to this one my husband created just for this blog that you can download here for free as well.  You can read how to use a dividend yield spreadsheet tracker here.  Download the dividend yield spreadsheet for free.

 

Saving Money:

We use Square One to save money on home insurance, it’s one of the most economical home insurance providers in Canada because it skips the middle man and you can ‘pay what you need’ instead of additional insurance options that you don’t need.

Flipp This is a digital flyer aggregator in Canada.  I don’t look at physical flyers anymore because I don’t get them delivered to my apartment anymore.  I love using the Flipp website and the Flipp app to check out what’s on sale.  For example, I just search “Red Bull” (husband loves his Red Bull) and I can see which stores have it on sale.  I ‘circle’ items in my Flipp app flyer and can review it later when I am in the store and check off the items when I find them throughout the store.  It keeps me on track with my grocery shopping- when I follow my grocery buying algorithm.

During my down time (like when I am vegging out on the couch after a long day of parenting) I like to do mindless surveys for $0.05 which take seconds to do.  Caddle usually has at least two surveys per day, and you can also scan receipts for $0.10 from different retailers.  You can cash out your cheque once you hit $20 in the Caddle app.  Here’s my Caddle review.  Use this link to get $1 after you complete your first 3 second survey.

Rakuten Canada – I used to be wary of Rakuten Canada  because I thought the cash back didn’t amount to much, but now I love it.  I’m converted!  We received our first cheque from Rakuten just recently and the cheque was over $60 from a purchase of Stanley Cup Finals hockey tickets!  If you do online shopping you can get anywhere from 1-15% cash back from online shops such as Sephora, Best Buy, eBay… a lot of retailers are on Rakuten.  They mail their cheques quarterly.  The best thing is that the amount you need to cash out a cheque is very low, it is only $5.01!  So basically you can get your cash during the next quarter.  Receive $30 in free cash when you sign up here!   

FYI: The $30 bonus is deposited into your Rakuten Canada account when you make your first purchase of $30 or more within 30 days of signing up.  

Great Canadian Rebates is similar to Rakuten and offers cash back for visiting online retailers through their portal.  They also have offers for cash back if you sign up for their credit cards through their portal.  Click here to sign up for Great Canadian Rebates and get $3.  The threshold for payout is $12.

Credit Card Hacking Tools

I am a fan of using credit cards responsibly (paying them off each month) and like to sign up for credit cards to get the welcome bonus.  Sometimes I am overzealous with it and then I check my credit score to make sure my credit score isn’t affected.

Borrowell Credit Score– You can check your credit score for free with Borrowell.  Contrary to popular belief (including my own!), checking your credit score doesn’t lower your credit score.

I like to check my credit score after I apply for a credit card for my travel hacking adventures (since it is considered a hard pull)… just to make sure it doesn’t get affected too much.  Click on the banner below to check your credit score for free.

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