HISAs vs. bonds and GICs: Where should Canadians hold their cash? + MORE Dec 18th

If you’ve sold your home or are planning to soon, you may have a large amount of cash that needs a temporary parking spot while you prepare for your next move. A regular savings account pays very little interest—so unless you need the money right away, it makes sense to seek higher returns.

Several options are available—but what is best for your situation? Short-term investments such as bonds and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) pay interest but might not give you the flexibility you need. Stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer potentially higher yields but also come with higher risk. A simpler and more accessible solution is to use a high-interest savings account (HISA), like Simplii Financial’s HISA.

Simplii is a Canadian digital bank with over two million customers. It offers 24/7 access to online and mobile banking with no monthly fees, as well as access to one of the largest national ATM networks through CIBC. With Simplii’s HISA, you can earn high interest, and you don’t have to lock in your money for a set period of time, as you would with a bond or GIC…

This year you want to make holiday gifts extra special. Why not? You worked hard for the money and you want your family to enjoy it—heck, you want to enjoy it. These “big gifts” might be a family trip, a down payment on a house or even renos.

In addition, three of the year’s busiest shopping days are coming up: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day. In the meantime, whether you’re holding out for the lowest prices on big-ticket items or preparing to give a sizable monetary holiday gift, putting your cash in a high-interest savings account (HISA) can help those funds grow until you’re ready to use them.

sponsoredSimplii Financial High Interest Savings AccountGO TO SITE
Simplii’s HISA has no transaction fees or monthly fees, and no required minimum balance.

Welcome offer: Earn 4.60% interest on eligible deposits for the first 153 days. (Limits apply. Offer ends Feb. 28, 2025.)Interest rate: 0.35% to 3.75% (depending on your balance)
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Where to hold cash intended for gifts this holiday season

Using a HISA is an easy way to grow your cash savings…

“Bonds are back,” you may have read on a financial news site or heard a financial advisor say recently. True enough, money is flowing into these fixed-income investments at the highest rate in years, and for good reasons.

In fact, Canadian savers have an abundance of good choices right now for places to earn rates of interest that will keep their money growing ahead of inflation. So, where should you put your money: in bonds, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) or a high-interest savings account (HISA)? You may be surprised at how similar these are for interest rates. But there’s more to the story.

Is it time for Canadians to invest in bonds again? 

The talk of bonds coming back only makes sense if you understand where they went. For most of the past decade, bonds have been a terrible investment as interest rates fell to historic lows, meaning they paid almost no interest. Then inflation took off as the global economy lurched out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and central banks were forced to raise interest rates—fast…

Congratulations! You’ve shopped around and found the car or truck you love. But you’ll need insurance before you drive it off the lot—it’s required in Canada. And when it comes to getting a great insurance rate, it pays to comparison shop, as it does with any major purchase. 

Want to know about the ins and outs of doing this well? Read on to learn how to compare car insurance quotes for Toronto and get the best deal.

What affects auto insurance costs in Toronto?

Insurance companies in Canada make rate decisions based on a driver’s financial risk, and they account for a number of factors when they choose how much to charge for insurance.

Insurers set premiums based on the following details: personal characteristics, where you live, your vehicle type and how much you drive. Let’s take a closer look.

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In under five minutes, compare personalized auto insurance quotes from Canada’s top providers…

In our working lives and in our post-work retirement or semi-retirement phases, taxes are one of if not the single biggest expense. This hits home with the annual tax-filing deadline in April, but the time to start thinking about the yearly ordeal is before year-end.

The complexity of this task is compounded by almost-annual changes to tax brackets, the Basic Personal Amount (BPA), Old Age Security (OAS) thresholds, inflation adjustments and much more. 

For starters, I recommend reading an excellent article by CIBC Wealth’s tax guru Jamie Golombek. The column appeared in the Financial Post on November 23, shortly after the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) released its new tax numbers for the year 2025.

Let’s start with inflation, the second serious scourge retirees face, if they live long enough. Here, a useful tool suggested by certified financial planner Morgan Ulmer is Statistics Canada’s Personal Inflation Calculator, which lets you compare your personal inflation rate to the general Consumer Price Index (CPI)…