• -no trading minimums/ inactivity fees
• -no account opening minimum or fee
• -free, automatic dividend reinvestment on each security
• -$9 commission for single buys or $36 commission for as many buys as you want
• -option to cancel individual reinvestments to re-route dividends into your cash balance. eg., If you own EnCana, you can choose to take the dividends in cash in quarter one and let them reinvest again in quarter two. You do this online, on a case-by-case basis. The default option will always be to have your dividends reinvested.
• -the only Canadian discount broker that automatically reinvests FRACTIONAL AMOUNTS up to four decimal places. So you don’t have to wait until your dividends are large enough to buy whole shares outright, either.
• -they sell ETFs. This means you can DRIP ETFs here!
• -they sell U.S. and Canadian stocks
• -easy, simple, reliable online account/trading interface
• -great customer service (sometimes with long wait-times, though)

Having said this, there are a few drawbacks. But let me be clear: as the title of this post indicates, I fully recommend using Canadian ShareOwner. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

Drawbacks include:

• -only a select amount of securities available for purchase (but there are still many, and all of the more commonly traded ones)
• -securities are purchased on a set timetable only
• -there’s a $107 fee for removing your account: transferring whole share amts to another broker (usually the other broker will pay this fee)
• -I’m told there’s also a $19 fee for cashing out what’s left of each stock (i.e., the fractional amount) and sending you a cheque for it. Can anyone confirm this?
• -ordering certificates costs $40.00 (eNorthern is cheapest for this at $20.00)

Is Canadian ShareOwner for you?

YES, if:

-you have lower income and/or lower net worth (below $50,000)
-you don’t want to make an initial deposit of $1000 just to open your account
-you want the benefits of full dividend reinvestment (i.e., not just on whole shares)
-you’re already used to DRIPPING and you don’t mind investing on a predetermined schedule.

NO, if:

-you’re willing to plop down a $1000 initial deposit and pay an extra 95 cents per trade (if so, you should check out TradeFreedom)
-you have enough income to be a more active trader and qualify for the active trader discounts at the big bank brokerages
-you have enough net worth ($50,000-$100,000) to qualify for the high net worth discounts at the big bank brokerages and brokers like E*Trade

At the very least, if you’re Canadian, you should check it out. If anyone has any other experiences they’d like to share about ShareOwner, let me know. Especially concerning closing and moving your account somewhere else.