Self Directed Employer RRSP

[nzwasp]

Has anyone transferred their work employer RRSP into a self directed RRSP before? I found out we have this option. Basically our work puts all our contributions into a RRSP and then manulife invests them in some shitty mutual funds that might get 4-6% per year. Today I found out you can just transfer that out of there to any other RRSP account.

[ercchry]

I’m in the process right now, be we’re actually moving from a dinosaur pension fund type thing to another provider all together, so my contributions get dropped right into the direct investing portfolio, hopefully that works out well. Haha

[Mitsu3000gt]

That is the first thing I do anytime I switch jobs. Every company matched plan I have ever experienced just tries to link you up with a Bank salesbro who is paid commission based on how badly they can screw you over haha. Sounds like yours is slightly different, but same overall idea. Mine is with RBC and they tried to sell me the S&P 500 with a 2% MER

I'd suggest getting it into a self-directed account ASAP and then buying an ETF or similar of your choice. I buy VGRO with mine but anything decent will likely outperform those mutual funds.

[tonytiger55]

Double check to see if its a LIRA (Locked in). If its a RRSP LIRA, it has to go to a RRSP LIRA account. It was only I left the company that I could transfer the cash out and into a regular RRSP.

[bjstare]

If you have the option, do it. You just go to your bank (who has the destination RRSP) with a recent statement and ask them to initiate the transfer and they'll do everything.

My work RRSP is also self directed, but I prefer to consolidate so once annually I empty out my work one into the self directed account with my bank.

[vengie]

I've been doing this since day 1

[nzwasp]

In my experience the only time my company RRSP would become a LIRA is when I leave the company.

My coworkers already transferred the RRSP into questtrade and it was a very simple process.

[dirtsniffer]

My companies policy was for a while if you pull money out of the group fund they would stop matching for 3 months. Never actually did. Self directed for sure.

[never]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In my experience the only time my company RRSP would become a LIRA is when I leave the company.

My coworkers already transferred the RRSP into questtrade and it was a very simple process.

Then what are you waiting for...DO IT!

[gqmw]

I feel your pain - the Manulife funds are brutal.

For us, we have a DC portion that I have to leave in Manulife (which sucks), but the rest of my contribution (and the match) can go to RRSP or TFSA, which I will just transfer out every 1-2 months into my own accounts.

Oh how I miss our DB plan.

[tonytiger55]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In my experience the only time my company RRSP would become a LIRA is when I leave the company.

My coworkers already transferred the RRSP into questtrade and it was a very simple process.

I wish my company would allow this.

[nzwasp]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I wish my company would allow this.

I dont think its based on your company. I think its based on the service your company uses for example my company uses manulife. I didnt ask my company if I could do this, to me its none of their business and Im pretty sure if I did ask them they probably either a) wouldn't know or b) would say no. My companies HR/Payroll arent very smart at all.

[Asian_defender]

100% recommend this, my employer does the same thing but with Sunlife and the returns are shit. Few pointers
-Most likely Manulife has these invested in their own version of securities. I thought it was mutual funds at first and they even give me the tickers but found out the hard way that its their own version. When you transfer you'll want to transfer it out in cash because you cannot transfer it in kind
-You have to be very precise in saying what the security name/amount invested in there
-You'll likely pay a fee (mine was $25)
-Takes up to 15 business days once it leaves your account so don't sweat when it disappears for a while
-Think this has been mentioned but the institution where is money is going has to initiate the transfer

[nzwasp]

Yep I initiated on Friday. It asked for approximate value of current amount which is 41004 I put 41000. The institution I transferred too says in their docs they pay the fees.