Being Canadian...I recommend PC Financial. Their high interest savings is great, and no fees!
With 2 mil, I would personally:
-Buy a place to live in the 400k range. Housing is probably overpriced right now, but generally speaking the Canadian housing market is not too badly bubbled. I really don't see a Canadian crash coming, but there may be a slight price reduction.
-Put 200k into a high interest account. Easy to access, guaranteed return, etc.
-Put 200k into a new business. But that is because it is what I enjoy doing, if you want to learn to paint, go to school, etc throw the money there.
-Put 200k in the stock market. Canadian financial institutions are amazingly underpriced currently, and so are several commodity based companies.
The remaining million I would use for stability/hedging. Hedge against the Canadian dollar, inflation, etc. I would probably get some professional help from investment banking friends, but this would probably be a combination of US bonds, CDN bonds, gold, etc.
The Canadian economy is currently almost untouched by the current recession. There will be a bad 2-3 years at a minimum coming up so plan for that. I would plan on shifting into the stock market cautiously over a period of time and not throw it all in at once, we could easily see another 50% decline over a few months.
Lastly, I would take a month and travel around before doing anything at all.
If the OP feels he has enough money now, why would he consider the stock market at all? His only concern would be keeping up with inflation. I'd also suggest reading "Fooled by Randomness" before talking to any investment bankers.
Never risk something you actually need for something you don't need. Also, don't convince yourself that you don't really need something you actually do need.
One might be better off buying supplies so that one could survive for a week-long power-outage, say, than playing the market, right now.
A few months ago, an apartment building near me had one of its electrical transformers blow up. The residents had to evacuate that day, and were not allowed back into their building for a few weeks. Some suites were looted.
It made me realize that I was completely unprepared for that kind of scenario. How many people who pride themselves on their retirement plans are equally unprepared for this kind of rare event?
With 2 mil, I would personally:
-Buy a place to live in the 400k range. Housing is probably overpriced right now, but generally speaking the Canadian housing market is not too badly bubbled. I really don't see a Canadian crash coming, but there may be a slight price reduction.
-Put 200k into a high interest account. Easy to access, guaranteed return, etc.
-Put 200k into a new business. But that is because it is what I enjoy doing, if you want to learn to paint, go to school, etc throw the money there.
-Put 200k in the stock market. Canadian financial institutions are amazingly underpriced currently, and so are several commodity based companies.
The remaining million I would use for stability/hedging. Hedge against the Canadian dollar, inflation, etc. I would probably get some professional help from investment banking friends, but this would probably be a combination of US bonds, CDN bonds, gold, etc.
The Canadian economy is currently almost untouched by the current recession. There will be a bad 2-3 years at a minimum coming up so plan for that. I would plan on shifting into the stock market cautiously over a period of time and not throw it all in at once, we could easily see another 50% decline over a few months.
Lastly, I would take a month and travel around before doing anything at all.