Price all five rungs of a $50,000 GIC ladder at the big banks’ average posted rates and it earns $1,569 in year one. Price each rung instead at the best rate for its term on our boards, current to our August 26 data, and the same ladder earns $2,070, a 4.14% blended rate. Nothing forces every rung onto one institution’s rate sheet, which is the part the bank explainers leave out.
The ladder itself splits one deposit across several terms, classically five equal rungs from one year to five, so that a slice matures every year. You keep most of the yield of the long terms while a fifth of the money comes back to you every twelve months. That’s the whole GIC laddering strategy in one sentence. The rest is pricing, and pricing is where most laddering guides go quiet.
The $50,000 ladder, priced rung by rung
First, what the structure fixes. Lock all $50,000 into a five-year GIC and the money is spoken for until 2031; if rates rise, you watch from the bench. Keep it all in one-year terms instead and you reprice annually, but a falling market catches your entire balance at once. A ladder splits the difference: one rung matures each year to catch rising rates, while the other four keep long rates locked against falling ones, so no single guess about the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate decides your outcome. (New to the product itself? Start with what a GIC is; everything below assumes the basics.)
Now the build: five rungs of $10,000, each at its term’s best rate on our GIC boards, non-registered lane.
| Rung | Term | Best board rate | Brand | Deposit | Year-one interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 year | 4.00% | Brunswick Credit Union | $10,000 | $400.00 |
| 2 | 2 years | 4.25% | Brunswick Credit Union | $10,000 | $425.00 |
| 3 | 3 years | 4.05% | Wealth One Bank of Canada | $10,000 | $405.00 |
| 4 | 4 years | 4.10% | Wealth One Bank of Canada | $10,000 | $410.00 |
| 5 | 5 years | 4.30% | Wealth One Bank of Canada | $10,000 | $430.00 |
Year one pays $400 + $425 + $405 + $410 + $430 = $2,070 in interest, a blended rate of 4.14% ($2,070 divided by $50,000).
Notice that today’s optimal ladder needs only two institutions: Brunswick Credit Union holds the short rungs, Wealth One Bank of Canada the long ones. That reflects this week’s leaderboard rather than any design principle. Wealth One moved eight of its term rates upward on August 26, the largest by 0.15 points, which is how it came to hold three rungs. The lineup will look different by the time your first rung matures, which is the argument for reading it off a live board rather than a brochure.
Where the extra $501 a year comes from
Bank laddering pages price all five rungs from their own rate sheet, for the sensible reason that no bank will recommend a competitor for your 2-year rung. A comparison site is under no such constraint. Here are the best GIC rates by term on our boards against the average of big-bank posted rates for the same terms, drawn from the same day’s data:
| Term | Best board rate | Big-bank posted average | Gap | Extra year-one interest per $10,000 rung |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 4.00% | 2.93% | 1.07 pts | $107.00 |
| 2 years | 4.25% | 3.06% | 1.19 pts | $119.00 |
| 3 years | 4.05% | 3.12% | 0.93 pts | $93.00 |
| 4 years | 4.10% | 3.23% | 0.87 pts | $87.00 |
| 5 years | 4.30% | 3.35% | 0.95 pts | $95.00 |
The big-bank-average ladder earns $293 + $306 + $312 + $323 + $335 = $1,569 in year one, a 3.14% blend against the shopped ladder’s 4.14%. Same strategy, same deposit, same maturity calendar, $501 more per year for picking each rung separately. The laddering advice is free everywhere — the rung selection is the product.
The same rates answer the classic 1-year vs 5-year GIC question. All $50,000 in the 1-year at 4.00% pays $2,000 in year one, with everything liquid in twelve months. All of it in the 5-year at 4.30% pays $2,150, with nothing liquid until 2031. The ladder sits between them at $2,070: it gives up $80 a year against the full five-year lock and buys an annual maturity with it, and it beats the all-1-year approach by $70 while leaving less of the balance exposed to next September’s unknown renewal rate.
One more reading from the same data: the curve is humped. Rates run 4.00% at one year, up to 4.25% at two, down to 4.05% and 4.10% in the middle, then 4.30% at five. A buyer picking a single term has to guess which bump to stand on. A ladder holds all five points, including the 2-year rung at 4.25% that currently out-pays both the 3-year and the 4-year.
The fine print: tax lanes, deposit insurance, upkeep
Registered lanes run their own leaderboards, and they do not match the non-registered one. On our boards, the RRSP and TFSA lanes match the short rungs (4.00% at one year and 4.25% at two, Brunswick Credit Union in both cases) while their 3-, 4- and 5-year rungs top out at 4.00%, 4.05% and 4.25%, all Oaken Financial. The FHSA lane runs lower, from 3.45% at one year to 4.00% at five. Price your lane on the TFSA boards or its siblings before assuming the non-registered rate travels with you. Which lane fits is a tax question; which rung wins inside the lane is a rate question, and the boards answer the second one.
Deposit insurance is the other piece of multi-institution fine print. Wealth One Bank of Canada deposits sit under CDIC, where coverage runs to $100,000 per depositor, per insured category, per member institution. Brunswick Credit Union deposits are covered provincially instead. A $50,000 ladder split across two issuers sits inside every limit involved. For larger ladders, our deposit insurance guide covers how spreading issuers extends total coverage rather than straining it.
Upkeep is one decision a year. A rung matures; you reinvest it into a new five-year term at whatever rate leads that day. After four years of this, every dollar earns a five-year rate while a fifth of the portfolio still matures annually. The trap is auto-renewal: left alone, a maturing GIC typically rolls into the same institution’s posted rate for the same term, which is precisely the rate this whole exercise exists to avoid. The renewal mechanics and grace windows are covered in what happens when a GIC matures. A maturity date in the calendar and a fresh look at the board cost a few minutes a year; the table above prices what skipping them costs.
Skip the ladder entirely when it does not fit. Five rungs can mean several accounts and several minimum-deposit rules, a lot of admin for a small balance. And money with a known spending date belongs in a single term maturing just before that date rather than spread across five of them.
Pricing your own rungs
The ladder above will be stale within weeks. That is not a flaw in the post; it is the reason boards exist. Price your own rungs from the live per-term leaders on the GIC boards, and set a rate alert for each term you hold so that every maturity rolls at the best rate available that day instead of the posted one. If the buying mechanics are new to you, how to buy a GIC walks through opening the accounts.
Frequently asked questions
What is a GIC ladder?
A GIC ladder is one deposit split across several GIC terms, usually five equal rungs from one to five years, so that one rung matures every year. Each maturing rung is reinvested into a new long term. The structure keeps most of the yield of long terms while returning part of the money annually.
Is a GIC ladder better than a 5-year GIC?
At current board rates a straight 5-year lock pays more in year one: $2,150 versus $2,070 on $50,000, using the 4.30% board leader. The ladder trades that $80 for an annual maturity and for spreading renewal risk across five different years. Which trade wins depends on when you need the money, not on the rates alone.
How do you ladder GICs across more than one bank?
Open an account wherever a rung’s best rate lives, split the deposit, and put the five maturity dates in your calendar. On the August 26 boards, that means only two institutions for the whole ladder, since Brunswick Credit Union and Wealth One Bank of Canada hold all five leading rungs between them. Each maturity can move to a new issuer whenever the leaderboard has changed.
Can you build a GIC ladder in a TFSA?
Yes. Rungs inside one institution’s TFSA are the simple version; spreading rungs across institutions means each needs its own TFSA account, and moving registered money between issuers takes paperwork and time. The registered lanes also post their own rates, so check the TFSA board rather than assuming non-registered pricing carries over.
Rates referenced in this article were checked against Ratehunter's data on the publication date shown above and may have changed since — the rate boards always carry the current numbers. See our editorial standards andadvertiser disclosure.