I use the Global Couch Potato with e-Series funds in my TD Waterhouse account, but I eventually want to use the Complete Couch Potato. Once my portfolio gets to $50,000 and I qualify for $9.95 trading commissions, should I move everything to ETFs? — Mark V.
If you’re a client of any other brokerage, it makes sense to use ETFs to build the Complete Couch Potato portfolio. But with TD Waterhouse you have the unique opportunity to combine the e-Series mutual funds and ETFs in the same account. For five-figure portfolios (and perhaps even much larger accounts) a hybrid approach is likely to make more sense than using all ETFs.
The Complete Couch Potato has three asset classes that are absent in the Global Couch Potato: real estate, real-return bonds, and emerging markets. There are no e-Series funds for these asset classes, nor are there low-cost index funds from other providers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a hybrid portfolio of e-Series funds and ETFs. It would look something like this:
Asset class | Â % | Fund name (ticker) | MER | |
Canadian equity | 20% | TD Canadian Index – e (TDB900) | 0.33% | |
US equity | 15% | TD US Index – e (TDB902) | 0.35% | |
International equity | 10% | TD International Index – e (TDB911) | 0.50% | |
Emerging markets equity | 5% | Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VEE) | 0.55% | |
Real estate | 10% | BMO Equal Weight REITs (ZRE) | 0.62% | |
Real return bonds | 10% | iShares DEX Real Return Bond (XRB) | 0.39% | |
Canadian bonds | 30% | TD Canadian Bond Index – e (TDB909) | 0.51% | |
100% | 0.45% | |||
A few words of explanation. Vanguard Total International Stock (VXUS), which makes up 15% of the Complete Couch Potato, includes both developed and emerging markets. TD International Index Fund (TDB911), however, includes only the former. So to keep the asset mix close you can use the TD fund for 10% and an emerging markets ETF for the other 5%. I’ve suggested Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VEE) here because it’s the cheapest available on the TSX. The US-listed version has a much lower MER, but an investor with such a small allocation will find it more efficient to trade in Canadian dollars and pay the higher annual fee.
To reduce ETFs commissions further, you might even substitute the PH&N Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (PHN650) for XRB. While this is not an index fund, its MER is just 0.55% and there isn’t a whole lot of active management going on: the Canadian government has issued only six real-return bonds and these make up the lion’s share of every fund in this asset class. Over the last three years the PH&N fund has lagged XRB only slightly. And again, in a small account ETF commissions would likely overwhelm that small difference.
Tallying the costs
The MER of the hybrid portfolio is just 0.16% more than the all-ETF Complete Couch Potato. On a $50,000 portfolio that works out to $80 a year. But it should save you more than that in trading commissions, bid-ask spreads, and currency conversion costs. It will also be far more convenient, since the mutual funds allow you to make preauthorized contributions and all the distributions are reinvested automatically.
As your portfolio grows much larger you can gradually phase out the e-Series funds, starting with those that have the largest price difference compared with ETFs. TD Canadian Bond Index (TDB909) should be the first to go: it has the largest allocation in the portfolio and iShares DEX Universe Bond (XBB) has a fee 0.19% lower. The comparable Vanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond (VAB) would knock off a further 10 basis points.
The larger the portfolio, the greater the advantage of using all ETFs. But you shouldn’t be in a huge rush to get there, especially if you have the opportunity to use the lowest-cost index mutual funds in Canada.
@Jeffrey: Sorry, I don’t. A quick call to their customer service desk will answer that for you.
Hi Dan,
Excellent post . I was wondering what would be asset allocation for the yield-hungry portfolio if we were combine ETF”s and e-Series.
Thx
Ashish
@Ashish: I’m not sure it would ever make sense to build the Yield-Hungry portfolio with some combination of ETFs and index mutual funds. The products in that portfolio were selected specifically for their income and tax characteristics, and there are no mutual fund equivalents.
If investing without further contributions to the complete portfolio with a mix of TD e-series and ETF…
Is it less expensive to keep a bit of Bonds in the e-series (instead of all ETfs) so I can rebalance between e-series bond and e-series equity? I know that this is not a perfect rebalancing, but this seems less expensive (but is it reasonable).
@Moving: It really depends on the specifics: i.e. how much money you’ll be holding in the more expensive mutual fund, how often you are rebalancing, etc. If you’re only making one rebalancing trade per year and the holdings are large, it’s probably better to just go with all ETFs.
Ok, let’s say on a ~ $100k portfolio with 20% in ETF and 10% in e-series, rebalancing once per year.
You recommend paying the trading fee for the sale + the trading fee for the purchase?
I am assuming that one must buy ETF share by the 100s.
@Moving to the Couch: If the ETF is 0.10% cheaper than the index fund, your cost savings would be $10 per year on every $10,000 held in the fund. Every trade you make also costs $10. So, really, we’re talking about nickels and dimes here. The choice will have zero effect on whether you achieve your long-term goals, so I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Just do whatever is most convenient.
No, you do not have to by ETFs in board lots of 100. You can buy any number of shares you wish.
Hello!
Great blog.
I’m a new reader, and I am wondering something here: If the difference between holding an e-series and an ETF portfolio is “nickels and dimes” (even for a one hundred thousand dollar portfolio)…when all factors are taken into account, such as ETF trades, forex, fees etc…then at what point does holding ETFs make any sense at all? In other words, it seems as if you would have to own a very large portfolio (say, around 300,000+) in order to really make the “nickel and dime” difference relevant.
I realize that with ETFs you can further diversify large holdings (such as with REITs etc..) but is that diversification really worth the hassle for smaller portfolios?
Any help you can offer to further my understanding of this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
@Matt: You’ve pretty much anticipated my answer. If you are currently using TD e-Series funds, it’s probably not worth switching to ETFs unless your portfolio is quite large (at least $100K) and you really want the added diversification of REITs and emerging markets. (And even then, you can use a combination, as described above.) This is especially true if you make regular monthly contributions.
Whenever you make a decision like this, it’s always important to do the math. The difference in MER between an e-Series portfolio and an ETF portfolio might be 15 basis points or so. That’s $15 annually per $10,000 invested. So at $100,000 your added cost is $150 a year. If you make eight ETF trades a year, you’re spending $80, so now your savings is down to just $70. If you are buying US-listed ETFs, you are highly likely to lose all of that on currency exchange. The index funds also give you the advantage of automatically reinvested dividends, etc.
I always like to remind people that index investing is not just about ETFs. The benefits are low cost, broad diversification and the discipline it imposes. The tools you use are important, but too many people agonize fund choices and it’s distracting them from what really matters.
I agree with you Dan. I have been using a combination of mutual funds (mainly e-series) and ETF and have found the use of ETF’s have only made a big difference with asset classes like emerging markets, short term bonds and real return bonds.
I still use some US-listed ETF’s as they are in an RRSP and from the calculations I have looked at the loss on currency exchange is nothing compared to the loss on the withholding tax on dividends. Does that sound correct to you or am I missing something with this calculation?
Keep up the good work.
Del
@delboyc: As you know, I’m a big fan using US-listed ETFs, but you do need to be careful with those currency exchange fees. The typical brokerage spread is about 1.5%, though this is a one-time fee, not an annual one. (There would be another 1.5% cost when you eventually convert back to CAD.) Plus you’re paying $10 per trade.
Meanwhile, the withholding tax on US equities amounts to about 0.30% annually, based on a 2% yield. Of course, you also pay a higher management fee for the e-Series fund, so let’s add another 0.25% for total additional cost of 0.55% annually. On the flip side, though, you have commission-free trades and reinvested dividends.
So if you can reduce your currency exchange fees dramatically (by using Norbert’s gambit, or by using USD you already have), then it absolutely makes sense to US-listed ETFs, especially for larger amounts. But the differences are probably smaller than many people believe.
@CCP: How about using CIBC’s emerging market index fund instead of Vanguard’s ETF? It has the advantage of being a canadian fund… The MER is reasonable at 0.65% if you qualify for the “premium” rate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/funds/summary/?id=87302
@Jas: To qualify for the premium class, you need $50,000. At that point I’d have to think using VWO would be a much better option.
@CCP: Good point. Although I would argue that with VWO, which is a US fund, there are two levels of withholding taxes but only one you can recover. As you already explained in another post (see below), the additional withholding tax on international equities would amount to about 0.30% annually, based on a 2% yield. So if you add 0.3% to the 0.2% MER of VWO, it comes out just a bit cheaper than CIBC’s fund (0.5% vs 0.65%)
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2012/09/17/foreign-withholding-tax-explained/
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DFA-Foreign-Withholding-Taxes.pdf
@Jas: Yes, though another important issue to consider is tracking error. I am not sure whether the CIBC fund tracks the index as tightly as Vanguard’s ETFs typically do. Note also that VWO recently switched to the FTSE index, so these two funds no longer both track MSCI.
Either way, if you do qualify for the premium pricing of the CIBC the convenience of trading in Canadian dollars with no commissions may well make it a better choice.
Dan
I make contributions every two weeks, which are matched by my employer, into my global couch potato e-series portfolio. I also make a lump sum contribution every year matched by my employer. My portfolio is now above $50,000 and was going to start a complete couch potato portfolio with this annual lump sum while keeping the other portfolio for the biweekly contributions. Does this make sense? Any suggestions?
Thanks Rob
@Rob: I’m increasingly inclined to recommended people just continue to use the e-Series funds until the MER difference becomes really significant. With a $50,000 portfolio, 20 basis points works out to just $100 a year, and all of that will likely be eaten up by trading commissions, bid-ask spreads, currency conversion, the drag from cash dividends, the limited ability to rebalance, etc. Don’t underestimate the value of simplicity and convenience in your portfolio.
My wife has about $175K in 3 different Group RRSP’s due to multiple jobs in the last few years. I plan to merge all of these grrsp’s to a discount broker of our choice into the Global Couch Potato Portfolio. I am thinking to use a combination of TD’s e-funds and ETF’s to create a hybrid portfolio to keep annual re-balancing costs low. Am I over-thinking this. She has no allegiance to any brokerage as this will be a new account and we were only thinking TD due to its e-funds. At this time there will no additional contributions. Would appreciate our thoughts.
PS: Excellent work on the CCP. Really informative and appreciated… Ike
@Ike: Your plan sounds totally reasonable to me. I think the e-Series/ETF combination is a great way to go.
Hi CCP,
For the fund, PHN650, do you know if there’s a commission that I have to pay to sell the mutual fund? Whenever I try processing the transaction, my discount brokerage, TD Waterhouse charges me a commission of 33.50 regardless of the amount that I sell. I’ve checked the prospectus, and it says its a no load fund. I also don’t see anything about commissions being charged for selling it. I contacted my discount brokerage and the person said there is a fee, but he can’t direct me to the information because his info was from his internal system..
@Jeffrey: I think what’s happening here is you are being charged an “early redemption fee.” The brokerage or the fund itself often charges a fee of $30 to $50 if you sell units of a fund within a certain period after buying them: usually 60 to 90 days. This info should be available from TD Waterhouse or PH&N.
I’m currently in the process of building up the Complete Couch Portfolio using a hybrid of e-Series funds and ETFs. I have 75% of my portfolio at Questrade; the remaining 25% is at TD, and it’s my group RRSP from my employer. The balances at Questrade will be pretty static, while the balances at TD will (hopefully!) grow continually with contributions by myself and my employer.
I was originally thinking about using the Questrade portion to hold the portions that are a bit expensive or unavailable in e-Series form: Canadian bonds (XBB), real return bonds (XRB), REITs (ZRE), International equity (VXUS) and maybe some US equity (VTI). For the e-Series side of things I was planning to hold Canadian equity (TDB900) and the remainder of the US equity portion (TDB902). However, as I start to plan the portfolio I realize that the continual additions to the TD side will start to skew the percentages–for example, the REITs and real return bond percentages will decline as more money gets added to TD.
I wonder if it would make rebalancing easier to simply set up the TD portion following the e-Series version of the Global Couch Potato and then have the Questrade portion follow the Complete Couch Potato model? Each institution would be a self-contained portfolio, each following their own model.
I’m certainly enjoying the free ETF purchases at Questrade. The majority of the funds at Questrade were moved by me from TD, which took about a month to complete. Since TD charges transfer fees and Questrade doesn’t refund fees for (I think) transfers of under $50K, I don’t expect to move funds from TD to Questrade very often…
@JM: Without knowing the specifics I can’t offer any concrete suggestions about how to allocate the funds across two accounts. I would certainly avoid transferring any money from one account to the other: come up with a solution that is as simple as possible.
So I recently switched over from Questrade to TD Waterhouse because I foolishly thought ETF’s were traded commission free with them. So now I’m having second thoughts about it and am hoping someone could justify my actions so I don’t feel so bad. I don’t mind the extra work of managing my own ETF’s so I don’t stand to benefit from the conveniences of TD Waterhouse.
Mainly… I’m just wondering approximately what the difference in profits I’m looking at between the two brokers given a $25k account.
TDW has a promotion now. Up to 50 free trades if you open an account with them before dec 20th, i think. You have to fund the account by the end of Jan next year and make the trading by the end of March. Check the details.
Very interesting stuff here.
I know the TD e-series presents a lower MER fee than most index funds, but I haven’t seen any discussion regarding the trailing commission fee they charge (0.25%). I understand the basics when it comes to MERs, but when reading the fund facts, I noticed a ‘trailing commission’ of upto 0.25% is paid out each year.
Does this mean those that invest in this series pay the MER as well as the 0.25% each year?
@Prasanna: Trailing commissions are included in the MER. I doubt whether these are even paid with the e-Series funds, since TD is both the fund manager and the dealer, so it would effectively be paying itself.
Hi Dan,
Great post! My question is: if I create the hybrid portfolio of td e-series and ETFs, when I make preauthorized contributions, how does this avoid the ETF trade commissions since the funds allocated monthly will include three asset classes that are ETFs: emerging markets equity, real estate, and real return bonds?
Also, what do you consider a large enough portfolio to start phasing out a td e-series fund?
Thanks!
@Newbie: You can never avoid the ETF trading commissions, and you can’t make preauthorized contributions to ETFs either. But you can make all the preauthorized contributions to the e-Series funds and then make just a few trades when rebalancing.
I would not be in a big hurry to drop the e-Series funds if you are making regular contributions. That’s what really makes the difference at this stage. I would be at least $100K or so before looking at all ETFs.
Hey Dan – some great information and insight throughout your site! Quick question for you on this same topic.
I am with TD DI and am gradually setting up the Couch Potato program. Total portfolio value between $200-250K. Monthly contributions around $5K. Could it make sense to apply a hybrid ETF/E-Series model as you’ve described in this post, but funnel your monthly contributions only into the E-Series funds. I would knowingly be going overweight in e-series in between re-balances (every 6 or 12 months), but I would still capture the benefit of the lower ETF MERs and limited trade fees. Worth the extra hassle?
Thanks for all of the great information!
@Corey: I would suggest not getting into the habit of contributing to mutual funds and then selling shares every few months: you find yourself getting hit with early redemption fees. Plus it’s just a big hassle. A better idea might be to set up an systematic investment plan to each e-Series fund in proportion to its target weight in your portfolio. For example, if you contribute $5,000 a month and Canadian equities are 20% of the portfolio, set up a SIP for $1,000 a month to the Canadian equity fund. Any amounts that would be allocated to ETFs can just sit in cash for a few a months and you can make a few trades a year as necessary.
Question 1: With a small RRSP and broker that allow US$ RRSP, would that be a good idea to buy US-listed EFT if using Norbert’s Gambit?
Question 2: If we don’t use Norbert’s Gambit, how much should we have to trade in US$ before using US EFT?
Question 3: If not using Norbert’s Gambit, is is OK to start with a Canadian EFT then switch to the US equivalent as soon as we get the amount specified in your answer for Question 2 ? If not, when should we do the switch?
I wish I can find answers here. Thank you in advance for your time.
@Sebastien: There are no simple answers to your questions. It all depends on the details, including how much your brokerage charges for trading commissions. In general, I would say doing Norbert’s gambit with less than $10,000 is probably not worth it if you are paying $10 per trade. And yes, it is always OK to use Canadian-listed ETFs if you don’t have enough to do Norbert’s gambit. This blog may help:
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2013/12/09/ask-the-spud-when-should-i-use-us-listed-etfs/
Does holding the 4 core assets with TD e-series should delever better return on the long term compared to a mutual fund with 2% MER or do I need the 3 other assets listed in the Complete Couch Potato to beat most of the mutual funds on the market?
Does someone with 500 000$ or more could stick to the 4 core assets and still get better returns than 80% of mutual funds on the long term.
Thank you for your advice.
I tried different places on the blog, but alas could not locate information I’m curious about (I’m guessing it’s in the blog somewhere). I think this is the most apporpriate place for my question. I’m finalizing my TD eSeries set up today and I have a silly question. Most people reference TD eSeries US-TDB902 and Ineternational-TBD911. What’s the difference between the above indexes vs US-TBD-904 (0.16% higher MER) and International-TBD905 (0.03% higher MER) besides the higher MER’s and when should one consider the later options (if at all)?
PS. Currently enjoying ‘Guide to the perfect portfolio’…Thanks!
@IP: THDB904 and TDB905 use currency hedging, which is designed to protect Canadian investors from a rise in the Canadian dollar (which would cause the value of foreign equities to fall). This post may help:
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2010/08/11/will-the-real-sp-500-please-stand-up/
I don’t recommend using currency hedging because it adds cost without reducing risk:
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2014/03/06/why-currency-hedging-doesnt-work-in-canada/
@CCP: What about replacing VEE (actual MER of 0.44%) by XEC (actual MER of 0.37%) ? I know that XEC holds more emerging markets equity, but as you suggest to use XEC in your model portfolios, I am curious to know why you don’t recommand XEC for a mix between TD e-series and ETFs.
@Sebastien: This blog post is two years old. VEE has since dropped its fee to 0.23%, but XEC is also a fine choice. I am mostly indifferent between the two.
What about holding your E-Series funds with TD and holding (assuming you have $5k minimum to avoid their $19.95 quarterly inactivity fee if you’re not trading) in another brokerage, say Quest Trade, for your ETFs ($0 commission to buy)?
Currently I hold about $17k (worth 18) in a mix of E-series (CDN/INTL/US/CND BND), REIT (ZRE) and one dividend stock. I also have in non-registered about 10k (book/$13k market) in another company (company stock plus company matching) which I was thinking of eventually moving a chunk of to either my TD or Quest Trade (to cover the $5k balance) in TFSA (TSX/CDN stock). I can’t afford to top up my TFSA (16.3k still in room, moving all of the stock would eat up a lot of that, which is good since it’s CNR, but bad since it also eats up room for E-series to contribute to down the road.. hence a chunk of it) at this time so moving some of that stock now protects it years down the road (capital gains, dividends) – although they will continue to take my voluntary contributions and put it into a non-registered account for me (holding company – nice perk is the company pays for all fees with the holding company, I just have to pay any transfer or withdrawal fees).
Thoughts?
@Greg: In my opinion, spreading your invests across multiple brokerages is inconvenient and likely to limit your ability to rebalance and manage the portfolio efficiently. If you have an employer plan with a match then it’s unavoidable, but I would not recommend using two discount brokerages just to save a few bucks in trading commissions.
I have a RRSP with TD Direct Investing invested in ETFs following the Complete Couch Potato portfolio. There will be no more contributions to this account. As I start to think of future withdrawals from it I am wondering if it would be wise to convert the ETFs to TD e-series funds moving towards the Global Couch Potato portfolio so that withdrawals do not incur a trading commission only a withdrawal fee?
Also I am trying to figure out a way to get the USD investments (VTI) de-registered and withdrawn into a USD bank account to avoid currency conversion as I use USD every year. TD has told me it would be a multi-step process.
1. Move VTI from USD side of RRSP to Canadian side of RRSP
2. Withdraw to CAD unregistered account in kind and pay withholding taxes from CAD cash in RRSP.
3. Move to USD unregistered account in kind.
4. Sell VTI.
5. Transfer to RBC USD savings or chequing bank account linked to TD accounts.
Seems more seamless at RBC as they tell me I can withdraw USD from my RRSP have them directly deposited into my RBC USD account. I am wondering if perhaps I should move my whole account to RBC but this would take away the option of moving to the e-series funds?
Unless I’ve mis-read the TD lit, the $9.95 fee applies to all trades now, you don’t need $50,000 invested.
I ran into a slightly different issue. While contemplating how closely to adhere to last year’s CCP B template, I was tempted by Mutual Fund ETFs such as XIC, XSB, XBB CBO CLF and so on. However, my Basic ($25 per year, free with over $25,000 invested) Waterhouse account, while it allows purchase of Mutual Funds, does not allow stock trades, so Mutual Fund ETFs are out of line for me, at least until / unless I get the account status changed. This is something to keep in the back of your mind when setting up a TD Waterhouse account.
With the Basic account, you can “order Mutual Funds”, but there’s no blank for “Bid price”, so even if the server accepted your symbol, you’d be at the mercy of the traders.
@Grape: It’s true: since this post was written TD and most other brokerages have lowered or eliminated the need to maintain a certain balance before qualifying for $10 trades. Annual account fees may still apply.
The Basic RSP at TD is still a good choice for those who plan to use the e-Series funds. To be clear, mutual funds never trade with bid and ask prices: instead you simple indicate the number of dollars (or less often the number of units) you want to buy or sell and the order is filled at the net asset value (NAV) at the end of the business day. This is actually a benefit for investors, as there is no bid-ask spread, which saves you on transaction costs. So you are not “at the mercy of the traders.”
Thanks for the clarification, CCP. Sorry, I meant that last paragraph to apply to ETF (only) Mutual Funds. In retrospect, the implication that the TD Waterhouse server would reject an ETF symbol, when input as a Mutual Fund order, was not sufficient to make that distinction.
Another thing I discovered today is that while TD Waterhouse pays you 0% on cash, you can shovel the money into a pseudo Mutual Fund called “Investment Savings Account”, symbol TDB8150 which earns 1%, deposited monthly. It’s not as good as cash because of the Next Business Day waltz, but both the interest rate and liquidity are better than you get at TD / Canada Trust bank proper with a GIC. So if you’re waiting for a downtick to lock in your Couch Potato investment, you don’t necessarily have to forgo ~all~ opportunity while you wait.
Another day, another discovery. When after a day the e-series orders I had made still showed unchanged, as “open”, I thought maybe the order had been held up or even cancelled, but after having phoned TD Direct Investing it turns out that the orders just sit there unchanged for up to three days. That yes you get the price from day X, but you don’t know that price until day X+3, unless you use other methods. It’s not difficult to find out, just that your account status stays rather uninformative for three days.
I was aware of the “three days to settle” from the old VSE, but I didn’t imagine that it would apply to non-Exchange TD sales to TD customers on TD’s own web broker network.
@Grape: All mutual fund transactions take three business days to settle, the same as stocks or ETFs on an exchange.
Thanks for the confirmation, CCP. It would have been easy for them to make this clear on the Order Status page or on the page where they discuss order fulfillment:
http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/investing/mutual-funds/help-order.jsp
In the same vein of not making things clear, and going back to the pseudo-Mutual Fund “Investment Savings Account”: More than a day after ordering, the following note appeared on my “order status” at WebBroker:
“Fixed Income orders are not currently available. Please try again later. If the problem persists, please call us at 1-800-667-6299 or 416-982-6000 for assistance. [BAP10036]”
What they mean by “not available” and “try again later” is not clear, as the Investment Savings Account order is still there, still open, unchanged. Perhaps they mean to keep checking the “order status” page, and when the status of that order changes to something like “cancelled”, then try again, wait another day or so … A cynic might ask why they should pay 1% when they already have it at 0%.
@CCP: In your recommended funds page, you list TD investor serie funds. Does F-Series would be better to buy with TD Direct Investing account as their MER is lower than the Investor series?
Also, what do you think about TD Emerging Markets – F (MER of 1.40%) and TD Real Return Bond – F (MER of 0.61%)? Would that be OK for someone who want to build a 100% Mutual Fund portfolio with an expected better return than standard mutual funds with MER over 2.00% ?
@Sebastien: F-Series funds (with a few exceptions) are not available through discount brokerages. They are only sold be fee-based advisors, who then add their own fee on top of the MER.
Hey there
I’m a newbie investor living in b.c who likes simplicity , and I’m currently trying to decide weather to go with td eseries index funds or etf’s through virtual brokers who offer free purchase of etfs. It seems like e series funds would be way easier and would accommodate my monthly investing style/ while also providing me with technical support from td. Etfs from virtual brokers would be cheaper but a bit more involved and not as simple at least that’s what I’m gathering.
Are e series funds still a good option considering that etfs can be purchased free from many discount brokerages now?