Investments beyond RRSP and TFSA, in non-registered accounts?
I quite like the Canadian Couch Potato which provides useful information targeted at investors in Canada. They specifically provide some model portfolios. Canadian Couch Potato generally suggests investing in indexed ETFs or mutual funds made up of four components. One ETF or mutual fund tracking Canadian bonds, another tracking Canadian stocks, a third tracking US stocks, and a fourth tracking international stocks. I personally add a REIT ETF (BMO Equal Weight REITs Index ETF, ZRE), but that may complicate things too much for your liking. Canadian Couch Potato specifically recommends the Tangerine Streetwise Portfolio if you are looking for something particularly easy, though the Management Expense Ratio is rather high for my liking. Anyway, the website provides specific suggestions, whether you are looking for a single mutual fund, multiple mutual funds, or prefer ETFs. From personal experience, Tangerine's offerings are very, very simple and far cheaper than the 2.5% you are quoting. I currently use TD's e-series funds and spend only a few minutes a year rebalancing. There are a number of good ETFs available if you want to lower your overhead further, though Canadians don't get quite the deals available in the U.S. Still, you shouldn't be paying anything remotely close to 2.5%. Also, beware of tax implications; the website has several articles that cover these in detail. You haven't looked very far if you didn't find index tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. There are at least a half dozen major exchange-traded fund families that I'm aware of, including Canadian-listed offerings from some of the larger ETF providers from the U.S. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) maintains a list of ETF providers that have products listed on the TSX.
Yes NRIs are allowed to open a DEMAT account in India from abroad.  Investments can be made under the Portfolio Investment NRI Scheme (PINS) either on repatriation or non-repatriation basis.  As per,the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India it is  mandatory for NRIs to open a trading account with a designated institution authorized by the RBI.  They must avail either a Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) or Non-Resident External (NRE) account to route the various investments. Short answer: yes. Long answer: you have to check with Desjardins if you can buy other funds using their broker, but if not you can just open another RRSP account with a better broker who gives you this option. You can open an many RRSPs as you wish. If you are really unhappy with Desjardins, you can then transfer your money from there to your new broker without being exposed to tax. http://www.getsmarteraboutmoney.ca/en/managing-your-money/investing/rrsps-for-retirement/Pages/RRSP-transfers.aspx#.VlOBSHpVKlM "This scheme doesn't work, because the combination of corporation tax, even the lower CCPC tax, plus the personal income tax doesn't give you a tax advantage, not on any realistic income I've ever worked it out on anyway.  Prior to the 2014 tax year on lower incomes you could scrape a bit of an advantage but the 2013 budget changed the calculation for the tax credit on non-eligible dividends so there shouldn't be an advantage anymore. Moreover if you were to do it this way, by paying corporation tax instead of CPP you aren't eligible for CPP. If you sit with a calculator for long enough you may figure out a way of saving $200 or something small but it's a lot of paperwork for little if any benefit and you wouldn't get CPP. I understand the money multiplier effect described above, but the tax system is designed in a way that it makes more sense to take it as salary and put it in a tax deferred saving account, i.e. an RRSP - so there's no limit on the multiplier effect. Like I said, sit with a calculator - if you're earning a really large amount and are still under the small business limit it may make more sense to use a CCPC, but that is the case regardless of using it as a tax shelter because if you're earning a lot you're probably running a business of some size. The main benefit I think is that if you use a CCPC you can carry forward your losses, but you have to be aware of the definition of an ""allowable business investment loss""." The relevant Canada Revenue Agency web site is Tax payable on excess TFSA amount  Withdrawing in the same year does not generate additional room. Details from CRA suggest it is best to avoid withdrawing if you expect you would replenish in the same year. Likewise, you can transfer among your various accounts without penalty.  If you change financial institutions, for example, there is no double reporting as you seem to be concerned about if it is tracked as a TFSA Transfer (similar to an RRSP transfer) from one registered account to another.  The paperwork is not as if it was a deposit but merely a transfer. Canada, like other second-rate economies with weak currencies, provides USD accounts.  It is not the same vice versa.  It is rare to find a direct deposit foreign currency account in the US as it is the world-leading currency. I have questions for you - As the others have stated, now really isn't the time to do anything to turn short term liquidity into long term investments. I'll contradict that only for matched 401(k) deposits. The answers to these questions will prompt more/better responses. You are not limited in these 3 choices. You can also invest in ETFs, which are similar to mutual funds, but traded like stocks. Usually (at least in Canada), MERs for ETFs are smaller than for mutual funds. If you place your emergency fund in your TFSA, you can withdraw it at any time (e.g. in an emergency), and then replace the withdrawn money in the next calendar year. Be careful there; you pay a hefty fine if you replace it in the current calendar year if this leads to an overcontribution. It's not an either-or thing, though. You could invest the money in a mutual fund inside your TFSA. I strongly recommend against this for your emergency fund, however. The whole point of an emergency fund is that you may need it immediately. So, keep it in an investment that you can liquidate quickly. Cash or very-near cash. While I obviously don't know your specific situation, I needed $10,000 within 24 hours and another $10,000 within two weeks during an emergency. In a world where you have large sums of money, you'd max out your RRSP and TFSA with investments and keep your emergency fund outside of both. But most of us aren't in that situation. In that case, it makes sense to use your TFSA for your emergency fund. I use some of my TFSA space for my emergency fund (savings account paying low interest, though people often like GICs) and some for investment (passive indexed stocks and bonds). Note that you need to pay taxes on your savings account interest, too, if held outside your TFSA and RRSP accounts.