I am dealing with BMO. The bank allowed you to open a TFSA account sometime earlier than Investorline, as I understand it. But Investorline is where you trade securities. They started to open accounts Nov. 17. I had gone to my local bank in mid-October. So I had to wait until Nov. and I have opened an account for myself and my wife. We signed all the papers etc. I can link all my accounts so I can transfer money back and forth. However, we cannot transfer anything into the TFSA until Jan. 02, 2009. Pretty much anything one can do with a RRIF or RRSP can be done with a TFSA account. The one question I have that they could not answer is how the transfer is going to work. I'd like to switch as easy as doing money. They are looking into an answer for me. It may involve a sale and commission fee. I'm hoping not. But like you, I am loading my cheapest and best hope for a killing so it will be tax free to withdraw. One other bit of information I gleaned as we filled out the papers was, if you die it goes to your spouse tax free. However, upon the last survivor's death, it becomes taxable to your next of kin. This I want to check further to be sure, but to both the bank advisor and myself, it sure gave me the idea under that scene, it would be taxed. Look into that aspect for your own satisfaction. I am not knocking any other discount broker, but I do like BMO. I also have accounts with TD, and have no problem there either. Both are good, I just favour BMO because I bank locally with them. Hope this helps.