u/Far_Fault1094

Could a caseworker please answer this?

I have a TFSA segregated fund account. My caseworker insists that it's not exempt. I have an RDSP, and the caseworker suggested I transfer the funds to my RDSP to become eligible for ODSP. I have enough RDSP contribution room to do this, but I would prefer to keep the segregated funds since I can withdraw from them without penalty. If I withdraw early from the RDSP, I would have to repay grants.

The advisor who set up the TFSA segregated fund account said it would be exempt, but provided no real proof. Perhaps they were lying to me just to make the sale and get their commission. Should I bother with fighting this, or just listen to the caseworker and do what they say?

Does anyone on here have segregated funds within a TFSA? How were you able to convince your caseworker to treat it as exempt? Did you have to escalate it to a manager, or do an internal review, or go to tribunal? Did ODSP have to get their legal department involved?

This just feels like so much trouble, I feel like I'd be better off just listening to my worker and transferring to the RDSP. ODSP policy clearly states the RDSP is exempt, and that you can transfer funds to the RDSP immediately before applying and this is perfectly allowed according to the rules. Even if I lose some grant money, I'm also losing money by not being on ODSP. This might be the cost I have to pay if it means securing my ODSP.

Edit: I know I'm not going to get a lot of sympathy from people on here for having some savings. But I'll never be able to work in my life again, so I need to protect what little I have now.

I'm in Ontario. They are an independent financial advisor. I have a segregated fund TFSA with them. Luckily I am not locked in, and can withdraw funds at any time. My MER is just under 3%. Long story short, they threatened to drop me as a client because I kept on asking them too many questions, and this is taking up too much of their time. This isn't untrue, although I wouldn't consider my questions excessive and feel like it is my right as a client to be asking these questions. My guess is that he isn't making a significant commission off me, so I'm not worth his time. If he does drop me as a client, what would that process look like? Would it be a forced withdrawal of my entire TFSA, with a cheque mailed to me? Or would I be allowed some grace period to transfer my funds to another institution (without having to withdraw and recontribute)? Is he even allowed to do this? Perhaps I should be proactive and look for a new advisor. Maybe that's what he wants so he doesn't have to go through the process of dropping me as a client.

For those wondering why I'm in segregated funds, it's because ODSP considers it an exempt asset. The only other exempt asset is the RDSP, but if I withdraw early, I'll have to repay the government grants. Whereas you can freely withdraw from segregated funds. My RDSP is self directed, I'm not with an advisor. I could theoretically cash in my TFSA and transfer everything to the RDSP, the only downside is losing the government grants for early withdrawal. I feel like the extra MER I pay for segregated funds would still be less than the government grants I'd have to repay if I withdraw early.