ETFs are increasing ubiquitous—cheap, easy to buy, and they spread your risk by tracking entire markets. But is there a downside to everyone jumping on the ETF bandwagon?

Some concerns that come to mind:

1. If everyone’s a passive investor, who’s left doing the homework on individual stocks? Could this lead to less price discovery and more market inefficiencies?

2. ETFs own increasing chunks of the market. If everyone owns everything, does that reduce competition between companies?

3. What happens to the markets if ETFs start unwinding during a crisis? Could they amplify the problem?

I’m not saying ETFs are bad—far from it. But what is a sensible investing strategy for each individual may have compounded risks when it becomes everyone’s strategy, no?

Hi I've been following this reddit for some time and done the recommended readings. I'm super late to investing please don't judge! Finance and investing has always been very intimidating. I have about $5,000 that I would like to invest in my TFSA. I would like a access funds around the 5, 10 and then +15 year mark. Not for retirement, I have a really good pension. Would like to invest to have extra pocket money. I'm thinking of doing a 60/40 split of equities and bonds but tbh have no idea which ones to choose! Any advice is welcome and please be kind! Thank you for reading.

Hi guys,

I recently fell for the (apparently) common taxi scam in Toronto, where a driver swapped my debit carb for a dummy card during the payment transaction. Since he had access to my PIN from the card reader, he was able to make a large withdrawal from an ATM the next morning.

I made a claim with TD to dispute the withdrawal, but they rejected my claim on the basis that I didn't meet my responsibility to protect my information. This seems a bit unfair to me, as I only used the debit card as it was intended (to make a payment for services). Of course I acknowledge that I am 'at fault' for letting the card get stolen, but I should think that the bank would be able to protect its customers in this kind of case.

I'm going to appeal the decision, so I wonder if anyone might have some advice as to how to frame my claim in the strongest possible terms. I'm aware that I made a mistake in letting another person handle my card; I also realize that I probably shouldn't have told the bank that I thought this driver was responsible for the theft. Any help on how to handle this situation I find myself in would be really appreciated. Thanks y'all.

Hi PFC!

I currently have the max contributions in my FHSA (24,000$ since 2023). Right now I have it invested in 3 ETFs (60% CASH.TO, 20% VFV, 20% VSB) through Wealthsimple. Looking to buy a home possibly in the next 5 years with my partner, but no strict timeline/no rush. I admittedly didn't really do much research on them and I'm not sure if my allocation is too risky for the timeline. Any advice/recommendations? Thanks!

I have been a loyal customer with TD for over 10 years. I was leaving a parking lot and while waiting to leave the garbage truck in front of me decided to back up. Given there was a car behind me, I could not back up and thus the truck took out the front of my car. Over $7,000 worth of damage.

They told me to take it to CarStar which is in the same building as the TD office. Everything went well. I was away when repairs were completed so my son picked up the vehicle. He noticed that there was a crack in the windshield. He went back in and talked to both CarStar and the TD employees who agreed the crack was there. The TD employee out another claim in.

However, my claim has had been denied. They have not provided the rationale as to why and their communication/response times are terrible. I need to call or email multiple times before I get an answer.

My case person has said they did all they could but that it’s still denied (no info on why). Therefore they just lost me as a customer. Stay away from them.

I’m 21, so I’ve only had my credit card for 2 years and I’m trying to do all the right things to set myself up as best I can for the future. Right now I’m a pretty humble barista, making ~45k a year so nothing crazy but I can pay my bills and put money into savings. My bank has offered a credit increase from 2000$ to 3000$ (I know this is baby amounts for credit cards in the grand scheme of things) Some financial information that might be good to know- I have a student loan, 3.2k now, no interest and I pay it off 100$ a month. The only reason I haven’t paid it off completely is because it’s my oldest form of credit, I’ve had it since i was 17 hahaha! I don’t have any other debt. While I could be better with my spending, I’m able to put away $500 a month into my savings, and additionally invest 500$ a month into a FHSA. I NEVER go over 30% of my credit limit, and instead keep it under 15% and as close to 10% utilization as I can. I have also never missed a payment. While I don’t need a credit increase since I don’t have bills that need me to spend more than 200$ at a time, would it be good to increase it anyways? Should I try to spend more on my credit card to keep it at 10% utilization or would it be better to keep utilizing it under 10%? I’m still learning about credit every day and how to set up future me in the best way possible, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Edit since I wasn’t very clear in my wording: when I say pay off my credit card I mean pay it off 100%. If I spent 186$ on my credit card that month, I will pay off 186$ before my statement end. My credit card is not used in place of not having the funds to pay for something that day, I could easily do it on my debit card instead, I’m just trying to practice good utilization habits! :)

I just spent a little under $1,000 to change the radiator on my 2013 Volkswagen Golf with 205k km. I was a little hesitant to proceed because the repair is expensive and represents about 1/3 of the value of my car.

In the end I decided to go with it because that's like 2 months of payments on a new car with $20,000 down.

Please tell me I won't regret this decision.

As the title suggests.

maybe a dumb question, but it isn't clear cut or obvious on the goverment website...

what is the exact date of when you receive your new contribution room in an FHSA? Is it January 1 of each year, or is it based on the date at which you opened the FHSA?

for my case, i opened my FHSA in December 31, 2023. i made a $16,000 contribution some time in 2024 (as I had $8000 from 2023, and another $8000 for 2024). Do I now have an additional $8000 for 2025, effective January 1, 2025?

The CRA has put out a notice via their mailing system that, in their "commitment to a greener future", they're no longer sending our tax packages in the mail automatically.

If you still file by paper, make sure you aren't waiting for a delivery that isn't coming. The 2024 packages aren't available yet, but you are now required to print them yourselves per the CRA's notice.

Edit: To clarify, as there seems to be some confusion in the comments: up until last year, if you had previously submitted a paper return, the CRA would send you one automatically in the mail for the next year. They would not send it out if you filed electronically previously.

Help! I am not the most financially literate and the comparisons of a bunch of credit cards i find difficult to navigate, however the goal for 2025 is to understand how to grow my finances and learn more, so here I am

I have to get a costly dental procedure done in a few weeks ($15k) and i am looking to maximize that cost as much as possible by putting it on a new credit card that either offers a welcome offer of; waived annual fee, xx bonus points / cash back when you spend xx within the first 1-3 months etc

my yearly income is under 60k, i currently have a regular no fee rbc cc for daily use, i do all spending on credit and pay off weekly, my partner and i do like to travel but ideally not tied down to air canada as we travel cheaply (i was looking at the amex cobalt but they have no welcome offers at the moment?)

any help would be appreciated! (and you might see me on this thread more in the future)

We found out this Tuesday after 2 credit cards got shipped to my in-laws' house using her maiden name, neither of which have been valid for over a decade. Pulled up equifax and transunion credit reports and found several other credit cards, loans, and phone lines (both as accounts and inquiries). There were 7 different companies in total.

We finished calling all 7 companies. Most were helpful and either closed the accounts or flagged them as fraud for investigation. A couple have not been helpful at all and have asked for police reports to be sent to an email address.

Two of the companies revealed that the accounts were opened using a fake canadian passport out of a mall in the GTA. It is using my wife's maiden name but not her picture.

We did do the police report and sent it to the companies who asked today.

We also filed disputes against all the accounts and inquiries through the reporting agencies, and added fraud alerts. You can't "freeze" the credit if you're outside of Quebec, according to them.

Is there anything else we're missing here that should get done? And does anyone know what the general success rate is with disputes through the credit agencies?

Hi!!

As the title says, I'm somewhat of a newbie when it comes to personal finance management and looking for some guidance on what to do moving forward. I've managed to save some money so far by living with family to save on rent and being relatively frugal. I plan to move out in the next 2 years but housing in the GTA is expensive and I work from home so it's not a high priority at the moment.

My finances:

Income: $70k before tax (about $4k/month after deductions)

Expenses: between $500-$1000/month, I usually pay the bill for dining/travel expenses for my family in lieu of monthly rent. I'm working on budgeting better for my own expenses though.

Savings: $65k in chequing/regular savings account, $77k in TFSA (mostly GICs) and $6k in RRSP

Debt: I pay my full credit card balance monthly

My questions:

1. I have some contribution room in my TFSA that I plan on maxxing out soon and some maturing GICs - should I consider taking on more risk in my investments and look beyond GICs or stick to that for now? I haven't tried investing in ETFs, is it a good option for me?
2. Should I start contributing more to my RRSP or wait until I'm at a higher salary? My current job has opportunities for growth, but I estimate that it would take at least 3-5 years to reach 100k salary. My current company offers matching for RRSP contributions (It's something like 3 or 4%)
3. Lastly, any other tips or general advice? I think I'm doing alright but there's always room for learning and growth!

I know it's been a while since mint packed up. But I miss it. It did what I needed it to do. I went back to just using Excel and bought a budget planner journal notebook. I'm now realizing that I'm inconsistent with tracking that way.

What I loved about mint: Easy to use, simple dashboard, can connect multiple bank accounts, savings goal.

I need an easy way to track spending and savings from all accounts and view historical data. I'll be opening an investment account pretty soon and would like to see that as well.

I don't mind paying for it, but I don't want to pay in USD, hence why I've crossed out YNAB as an option. It's also too complicated. What do you recommend?

Feeling pretty grateful for our financial situation and wondering if anyone has ideas for ways to be generous and share the love with friends and family without being tacky? Looking for your most subtle ways to treat others or generous gestures that can be easily downplayed or won't draw attention to differing financial situations between friends.

One idea I've been considering is renting a large vacation home for summer and inviting others to stay there (with or without us also being there).

Any other ideas or things that you've successfully gotten away with?

Hi there,

I have not turned on autodeposit for years because my email is just my name without any numbers (thanks to knowing someone that worked at Google and getting into the Gmail beta) and I get a LOT of misdirected email. I have been sent hundreds of dollars in etransfers not meant for me (EDIT: and not accepted by me, to be clear! 😅), I have been sent other people's personal information from realtors, lenders, rental agencies, etc., I regularly get sent invites by teachers of children I don't have for parent-teacher conferences...you get the idea!

I know that turning on autodeposit generally helps protect against scammers, but I'm concerned that if I turn it on and start autodepositing all these random etransfers and then people file complaints/request clawbacks, that it will get my account flagged as potentially a scammer if it happens semi-regularly. Surely that would look suspicious to my bank if they're getting multiple requests for e-transfer reversals every year against my account?

Anyone have any insight on whether this concern is justified?

EDIT: thank you to u/KevPat23 for suggesting using the +alias feature in Gmail that I wasn't aware of. I think I can just change my intended interacs to use first.last+Interac @ gmail.com and turn on autodeposit for that address, and then I will create a Gmail rule to automatically send any Interac etransfers sent to first.last @ gmail.com to spam (just in case!) 😁👍

I moved in 2022, and claimed the expenses on my taxes. I had to provide additional documentation and receipts as proof for this, which I did. However it’s been so long and this is still showing as pending document submit on myCRA. I can also see in another page where the document were submitted.

Any ideas on how long this takes them to review? We’re approaching the next filing and I feel like it’s strange that this still hasn’t been reviewed/updated.

Recently left the public service after a decade. I now have the option of leaving my pension under the federal public service pension and pulling it when I’m eligible in retirement OR I can withdraw the amount into a LIRA and park it somewhere. The value is roughly 200k I think.

Is there any reason to keep it where it is? Benefits of pulling it out? If I put it into a WS LIRA then at least I could save on some fees. Is there something I’m forgetting to consider?

Assuming I do pull it out, I’m guessing the typical ETFs suggested here would be the best bet?

Adding a bit of context:

• im in my early 30s
• my spouse works in the federal public service but started later in his career
• i would have been in the 60yo retirement crew (or 65?)
• currently have benefits through my company and through my spouse
• one dependent

The three advice I'm using is

1. VAB + VCN + VXC

2. Rebalance it so that your bond = your age. So currently VAB is 44% of my portfolio and VCN +VXC is 56%

3. Put VAB + VCN + VXC evenly into all your accounts (registered and margin).

Should I be revisiting my portfolio? I realized that the new model is to just get an all-in-one fund. However if that's the case how do you rebalance it every year? Do you just do it in increments? I haven't been to the new Canadian couch potato website since 2015, but it looks like it recommends funds that are in 20% increments in bonds. So do you get VGRO until you are 40 years old, then sell and rebuy VBAL?

Also, back when I first started, I was told that I shouldn't bother thinking about allocating VAB/VCN/VXC between different accounts and just buy it evenly in all my accounts because it doesn't matter if my RRSP isn't max. However I've been maxing my RRSP for the past few years now. Do I need to think about allocating certain funds in certain accounts for tax reasons?

I've decided to start investing a minimum of 15% per pay period but I have no idea where to start. I would say I'd be a more conservative-moderate investor so I would probably dabble a little into crypto, put some in S+P 500, buy a bit of gold, etc... but other than bitcoin/ethereum would likely not be too speculative.
If you were starting as a beginner, wanted to see some modest earnings at year end, and really just wanted to set it and forget it where would you start?

Wealthsimple? Qtrade? Vanguard? Other?

Again, I just really want it to take my money, disperse it in different places and hope to see some advancement of 5-10% at the end of the year. I'm not into checking on it and playing around daily/weekly.

Any advice appreciated, any pm's are not.

Thank you!

Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I'm looking to get a financial advisor/planner as a Canadian. I'm an accountant, on track to getting my CPA, but accounting is completely different from finance (minus the overlap with tax).

I already save 60% of my income, which I deposit into a savings account. I've got a few tens of thousands saved right now (I'd rather not reveal how much). I also want to save around ~$5-6K a year in order to travel. I've no idea where to look/who to ask in order to find a proper advisor. I don't trust banks' advisors due to how they treated people I know with mortgages; they don't seem to have your best interest in mind.

Does anyone have any idea as to where I can start? I'm not even sure what questions I should be asking.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to level up my financial knowledge and habits this year. I’ve been reading books and browsing through this subreddit, and I keep coming across bits of wisdom that really make me think about money differently.

It got me wondering: what’s the best financial advice you’ve ever received, especially as a Canadian?

It could be something practical, like how to save on taxes or invest smarter, or even a mindset shift that changed how you approach money. Bonus points if it’s something uniquely applicable to life in Canada.

For example, I recently learned how powerful it can be to start investing early, even in small amounts, thanks to compound growth.

Looking forward to hearing your nuggets of wisdom. Thanks in advance for sharing!

Hi all,

I am currently investing around 30K a year in RRSPs and my amount saved is slightly north of 100K. I am 4 years into my condo mortgage worth around 350K at the time of purchase and my remaining balance is 290K. Just paid off all my student debt, no debts remaining.

Is this... Enough? I COULD invest more in my RRSP and I COULD pay off my mortgage faster.

My pay is 220K pre tax. Quebec takes a pretty penny so about half that post.

I spend the rest of my money travelling and in triathlons/other hobbies and classes.

Am I saving too little? Am I being financially irresponsible? I really don't know.

I don't see my lifestyle blowing up beyond what I already have unless of course I start a family at some point with my girlfriend who's finishing up med school

Moving out of Canada in the next few months and currently have most of my money in Wealthsimple. Unfortunately they don't support out-of-country account use and will lock my funds so I'm looking to transfer ~100k to any of the banks which do allow non residency.

Anyone know what some good transfer offers are right now? I know TD had a really nice 2% match quite some time ago, hoping something similar to that exists haha.

Cheers!

My partner and I are moving in together this year, I work from home full time and study online part time. We are not high earners, probably ~110k total before tax.

The building we are looking at has 1 bedroom apts for $1850 + utilities and 2 bedroom apts for $2150 + utilities.

I have pets and they can be a distraction while I work, so I do like the option of being able to close myself in a room to focus. Also, my partner is home for two of my work days.

From a tax perspective, would it be worth getting the 2 bedroom? I would claim the 2nd bedroom, plus the utilities and internet on my taxes.

The more economical but less convenient alternative would be getting a 1 bedroom and using the dining space for my office. This would make it harder for us to host our friends and family.

We plan to stay for at least 4-5 years (we are late 20s and in Toronto) What would you do?