To open an adviceDirect account, you must deposit a minimum of $50,000. Your initial balance can be a deposit, transfer, or a combination of both. Several accounts can be linked to form a billing group, but one of these accounts must have a minimum of $50,000 in total billable assets.

adviceDirect is designed for clients who prefer to manage their own portfolio, with guidance from tools and expert advisors. It might not be best for active traders, day traders and those who use other frequent trading strategies.

You can open the following types of accounts with adviceDirect: Cash, Margin, RSP, RESP, TFSA, RRIF, PRIF, RLSP, LRIF, LIF, RLIF and LIRA.

• You can get started any of the following ways:
• Complete an online application.
• Call us at 1-888 776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.
• Drop in to any BMO Bank of Montreal branch.
• Download and print an application, fill it in and drop it off at a BMO Bank of Montreal branch or mail it to:
  BMO InvestorLine adviceDirect
  Transit #3973
  First Canadian Place
  100 King St. W., Floor B1
  Toronto, ON M5X 1H3

adviceDirect specialists are licensed advisors who can discuss your portfolio, the advice you receive and how to take full advantage of the technology. They have many years of experience dealing with equities, mutual funds, ETFs and fixed income products.

adviceDirect continuously monitors your portfolio to ensure your recommendations match your investor profile. You'll be notified right away of any areas that need attention with buy, hold and sell recommendations so you can adjust your portfolio to ensure you stay on track.

We provide direction and help you maintain the right mix of equities and fixed income for your investor profile.

adviceDirect will send you notifications (either by email or a secure MyLinkTM inbox) alerting you to any issues in your portfolio and what action you should take to bring it back in line with your investor profile.

These include:

• Alerts advising you that there is an issue with your portfolio's asset allocation, diversification or risk
• Order fill notifications each time an equity order has been filled
• Rating change of an equity or mutual fund in your portfolio
• Corporate actions that need your attention
• Non-qualified securities in your registered account
• Market, stock and news alerts
• Alert that your eStatement is ready to be viewed

adviceDirect provides comprehensive ratings on equities, mutual funds and ETFs from our respected third-party partners Morningstar and MarketGrader:

Morningstar

Morningstar Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Morningstar's benchmarking and classifications are widely recognized as the industry standard by asset managers, fund companies and financial intermediaries.

Its ranking system analyzes individual exchange traded and mutual funds using a measurement of risk adjusted return of the past 3 years then assigns a score between 0-100 that indicates a buy, hold or sell recommendation.

Marketgrader

MarketGrader.com is an independent research provider who analyzes four key aspects of a public company's finances: growth, value, profitability and cash flow – for up to the past five years.

It assigns a daily score to these areas, based on 24 fundamental indicators, and combines them into an overall score between 0-100 for that company's security that indicates a buy, hold or sell recommendation.

Morningstar Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Morningstar's benchmarking and classifications are widely recognized as the industry standard by asset managers, fund companies and financial intermediaries.

Morningstar's ranking system analyzes individual exchange traded and mutual funds using a measurement of risk adjusted return of the past 3 years. adviceDirect then assigns one of the following recommendations for a fund based on Morningstar's ranking system:

• Buy - score between 60 and 100 displayed in green
• Hold - score between 50 and 59 in yellow
• Sell - score between 0 and 49 in red

MarketGrader.com is an independent research provider who analyzes four key aspects of a public company's finances: growth, value, profitability and cash flow – for up to the past five years.

It assigns a daily score to these areas, based on 24 fundamental indicators, and combines them into an overall score for that company's security. The security is then assigned one of three ratings:

• Buy – percentile between 60 and 100 displayed in green
• Hold – percentile between 50 and 59 in yellow; and
• Sell – percentile between 0 and 49 in red.

You must maintain the minimum of $50,000 in assets in at least one of their adviceDirect accounts. Our adviceDirect team monitors accounts to ensure they meet this minimum requirement.

Should the account size drop because of market fluctuations, you will not be penalized. However, the account will be reviewed and you may be asked to close your adviceDirect account if the account drops below the minimum for other reasons such as, withdrawals or transfers.

BMO InvestorLine is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

As such, your adviceDirect account will be covered by CIPF up to $1,000,000. However, CIPF does not cover clients' losses caused by changing market values. For more information, visit the Canadian Investor Protection Fund site.

You can transfer securities in-kind to your adviceDirect account or from another account or financial institution. To learn more, give us a call at 1-888-776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.

You can also deposit equity or bond certificates to your adviceDirect account. Just follow these three steps:

1. Complete the Power of Attorney to Transfer Equities or Bonds (128 KB - PDF).
2. Attach this form to the equity or bond certificates.
3. Send them via courier, Priority Post (two to three business days) or registered mail (up to two weeks) to:
   BMO InvestorLine adviceDirect
   Transit #3973
   First Canadian Place
   100 King St. W., Floor B1
   Toronto, ON M5X 1H3

Just follow these three steps:

1. Get the Authorization to Transfer Account form.
2. Complete the Authorization to Transfer Account Form. The transfer form consists of three main sections: Account information section, transfer details section and applicant information section
3. Print and Submit the Authorization to Transfer Account form. Submit the form with a copy of your most recent statement from the transferring institution by:
   • Fax:
     Toronto (416) 359-5607
     Montreal (514) 877-8191
     
     Note that some institutions may require original transfer forms. Credit unions, trust companies, foreign institutions and pension plans will not accept faxed copies.
   • Mail:
     BMO InvestorLine adviceDirect
     Transit #3973
     First Canadian Place
     100 King St. W., Floor B1
     Toronto, ON M5X 1H3

The recommended method of sending securities is via a courier or by priority post which typically takes two to three days to deliver. You may also send via registered mail, however, delivery time is much longer and could take up to two weeks.

Security certificates should be sent to:

Attn: BMO InvestorLine
Transit #3973
First Canadian Place
100 King St. W., Floor B1
Toronto, ON M5X 1H3

Here are approximate transfer times once we receive your documentation:

• BMO Nesbitt Burns:
  one to two weeks
• BMO Bank of Montreal:
  Cash or mutual funds: two to three weeks Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs):
  four to six weeks
• Brokers using ATON (Account Transfer Online Notification):
  up to 10 business days, transfers of mutual funds may take longer.
• Non-ATON brokers:
  four to six weeks
• Mutual fund companies:
  three to four weeks
• Pensions, trust companies and insurance companies:
  four to eight weeks

Note that missing or incomplete documentation may result in delays. During times of heavy volume, transfers may take longer than expected.

You can deposit or transfer cash to your investment account in four ways:

• Make a deposit in person
  Simply visit any BMO Bank of Montreal branch or ABM location.
• Use your online or telephone banking service
  
  • To move cash from your existing BMO Bank of Montreal account to your investment account, just use your online account transfer option
  • To transfer cash from another financial institution to your investment account, simply add BMO - InvestorLine to your list of payees
  • You can also call us to request that we transfer cash from one of your existing BMO Bank of Montreal accounts to your investment account. To arrange a transfer, call 1-888-776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.
• Set up pre-authorized debits
  You can arrange pre-authorized debits to withdraw a recurring amount from your bank account for deposit into your investment account. This option makes it easy to maintain your deposits to your investment account – plus it could entitle you to tax benefits.
  
  Follow these three steps to set up pre-authorized debits:
  1. Complete the Pre-authorized Non-Registered Deposit Enrolment form (90 KB - PDF).
  2. Attach a void cheque.
  3. Submit the form at any BMO Bank of Montreal branch, or mail it to:
     BMO InvestorLine adviceDirect
     Transit #3973
     First Canadian Place
     100 King St. W., Floor B1
     Toronto, ON M5X 1H3
• Make a wire transfer
  You can make wire transfers to or from your investment account, whether you're in Canada or outside the country. To learn more, give us a call at 1-888-776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.

You can contribute cash to your registered account in three ways:

1. Contribute in person: Simply visit any BMO Bank of Montreal branch.
2. Use your online or telephone banking service: You can contribute online to your registered account from one or both of these accounts:
   
   • BMO Bank of Montreal account
   • Cash or margin account
   To contribute cash from another financial institution to a registered account, simply add BMO InvestorLine to your list of payees.
   
   You can also request we contribute to your registered account from one of your existing BMO accounts. To arrange this, call 1-888-776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday. You can also transfer securities in kind to your personal or spousal RSP from your registered account online. To learn more, give us a call at 1-888-776-6886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.
3. Set up pre-authorized debits: You can arrange pre-authorized debits to withdraw a recurring amount from your bank account for contribution to your RSP. This option makes it easy to maintain your RSP contributions.
   Follow these three steps to set up pre-authorized debits:
   • Complete the Pre-authorized Registered Contribution Enrolment Form (90 KB - PDF).
   • Attach a void cheque.
   • Submit the form at any BMO Bank of Montreal branch or mail it to:
     BMO InvestorLine adviceDirect
     Transit #3973
     First Canadian Place
     100 King St. W., Floor B1
     Toronto, ON M5X 1H3

Unlike traditional online brokerages, with adviceDirect, you pay an advisory fee instead of commissions.

Fees are assigned as a percentage of your total billable assets. They’re calculated on the average amount of assets in your account(s) on the last business day of all three previous months. Clients are billed in arrears every quarter.

For more info, please refer to the adviceDirect Fee Schedule & Trade Guide(277 KB - PDF).

Please refer to our fee schedule (277 KB - PDF).

No, all adviceDirect registered accounts are automatically exempt from administrative fees.

These charges apply if you exceed your annual trade guide for the year. They are not subject to GST and are treated as commissions for income tax purposes. Typically they are $7.95 per trade, based on the currency of your account. We recommend you refer to our fee schedule (277 KB - PDF) for more details.

The trade guide is the upper limit of trades you're entitled to on an annual basis. You may be subject to excess trade charges if you exceed this trade guide in the anniversary year.

You aren’t limited by your included trades. If you do exceed your annual trade limit, you may be subject to an additional charge of $7.95 per trade, based on the currency of your account. Excess trade charges are not subject to GST and are treated as commissions for tax purposes.

For more info, please refer to the adviceDirect Fee Schedule & Trade Guide (277 KB - PDF).

The following products are not allowed to be purchased in adviceDirect:

• Options (puts/calls)
• Gold/Silver Bullion/Jewellery
• Worthless Securities
• Bonds in default
• NHA Mortgages
• Foreign Currencies
• Segregated Funds
• Pooled funds
• Private/Small Business
• Restricted securities
• Non-approved mutual funds
• Certain 30-day Cashable GICs
• Non-approved GICs (i.e issuer not found on the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada's website)
• RSP Mortgages