My TD e-Series TFSA - 1 year later

It was a year ago in April 2012, that I finally transferred my whole TFSA to TD Waterhouse to purchase their e-Series funds. The initial process was a real pain in the ass but looking at the gains a year later I think it just may have been worth it.

On my original contribution of $20,347.37, I have posted a year over year gain of 12.0% amounting to $2,445.24 and including $448.72 worth of reinvested dividends.

Initial Contribution:

Market value as of April 10, 2013:
$22,792.61 (including reinvested dividends)
+12.0% or +$2,445.24

The Canadian funds posted marginal gains while the US and Intl funds performed impressively well by  posting gains of 17.7% and 18.2% respectively.

Here's a further breakdown of the funds I hold and their results.

TD Canadian Index - e (TDB900): +7.0% or +$431.55
TD Canadian Bond Index - e (TDB909): +4.6% or +$188.40
TD International Index - e (TDB911): +18.2% or +$749.05
TD US Index - e (TDB902): +17.7% or +$1,076.22

Total Dividends reinvested: $488.72

I'm looking forward to topping up my TFSA contribution this year and hopefully seeing further gains.

More info about TD e-Series Funds and their MER's as of June 30, 2012.


  1. Informative article, but you haven't included things like account and transaction fees for net return. Would you mind? :)

  2. The TD e-series funds are no-load to buy and sell so the only fee is the annual MER, which was taken automatically. The TFSA also has no fee associated with it.

  3. Awesome! I opening my a TFSA for the first time at TD. Hopefully I can buy some of the index Funds as well.

  4. Ok, so i have a e-series "noob" question that it looks like you can answer :)

    To figure out my growth, is the column marked "book value" my contributions? So I take the difference between my book value and market value, then see what % that is of my book value?

    For example, if book value is $10,000 and market is $11,000, my funds grew $1,000, or 10% of my original contributions. Soooo, is that it? That's how much my fund went up?

    If so, then I'm a happy camper :)


  5. Hi Dave, the book value shown = your original contributions + any reinvested dividends from your funds.

    For example, if you originally contributed $10,000 and your book value shows currently as $10,500 that would mean you've received $500 in dividends that were reinvested.

    If the market value was say $11,000 and you tried figuring out your growth based on the book value you would only see a $500 gain, or 4.7%. Whereas when you base it on the correct original contribution you would see a gain of $1,000, or 10%. ($500 worth of dividends + $500 worth of market value growth)

    For figuring out your overall return you should take the market value and subtract that from your original contribution, not the book value, and then divide by the original contribution.

    If your original contribution was awhile ago you'll have to look at your statements to see what you originally put in. It's a pain but it'll give you the correct growth percentage.

    Note that this is to figure out your overall growth and not your capital gain.

    Hopefully I've explained that well enough.

  6. Thanks, I think I understand. The number I want is my book value minus the dividends then? That will be only the dollar amount I have contributed. I'm not quite sure how to find the original contribution though. You're saying I have to check each statement? I contributed a lump sum 1.5 years ago and then I have contributed every paycheck since then, so there are at least two contributions each month. Eek, that could take some time.

    If you don't mind explaining, how do I determine my capital gain? if it's too complicated, don't worry about it. :)



  7. A word of caution: foreign dividends held within a TFSA are subject to Foreign Withholding Tax (15%+) which cannot be recovered. Conversely if they are held in a RRSP they are tax exempt (for US dividends) and in a Non-registered account (taxable) this can be recovered on your income tax return. Check out this paper for a full breakdown:

  8. I should add that if your goal is growth stocks and capital gains (i.e. you plan on selling in the short term) than a TFSA may be the better choice as the withholding tax on dividends will still likely be less than the capital gains tax (depending on your tax bracket).


Post a Comment