Best fixed-income ETFs for Canadian investors 2026 + MORE Apr 29th

If the only investment account you have is a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), you probably don’t need to concern yourself with cash or cash-equivalent holdings. But let’s say you’re in the market for your first home and you’re saving up a down payment. You can’t afford to lose money and you could need to cash it in at any time, but you still want to earn enough interest to keep pace with inflation.

This and other short-term purposes are where cash alternative ETFs can come in handy. They are considered safe (though not covered by deposit insurance), yet liquid. Unlike a guaranteed investment certificate (GIC), you can sell them at any time—but they’ll still give you GIC-like returns and will hold their value if interest rates rise.

Featured accounts

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Savings account

Get up to 3.00% interest on your savings without any fees.

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1-year GIC

Lock in your deposit and earn a guaranteed interest rate of 3…

With the downturn in stock markets in 2026, many investors are grudgingly coming around to the realization that they need exposure to other asset classes in their portfolios. And the most readily available is bonds, which have the advantage, historically, of being negatively correlated to stocks. That is, they tend to increase in value a bit when stocks fall.

Of course, the bond market globally is bigger than the stock market, and seasoned bond investors have all manner of strategies to play it. Long-duration bonds usually generate higher than average income but can be volatile. Conversely, short bonds can save investors from taking a loss, at the cost of lower yields. Government bonds have the lowest risk and lowest returns, high-yield bonds the highest.

Featured accounts

featured

Savings account

Get up to 3.00% interest on your savings without any fees.

go to site

featured

1-year GIC

Lock in your deposit and earn a guaranteed interest rate of 3…