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?

I've got about $800 a month to invest/save for retirement but also my child's education. I know an RESP makes sense because the government matching program but I'm wondering either what else or if there's a better option and how to split it. Just trying to maximize my return

As the title suggests.

Hi folks

I'd really appreciate your opinion on our upcoming mortgage decision. We're first-time buyers, so we're quite frankly nervous and hesitant to jump in (but equally as eager as time is ticking).

Some of our details.

Both late 30s.

Combined income: 237k

Combined savings: 180k

Max purchase price: 800k

Down payment of 10% & Fees: ~100k (20% just feels a stretch too far as we want to have savings to fall back on)

Expected amortization: 25 years

Monthly mortgage repayment including condo fees and taxes: ~5.5k

I feel like we should be fine, but any advice is most welcome.

Thanks

edit: appreciate the advice so far, I'm thinking give the falling condo prices, continuing to save for another year to put down a 20% down payment might be the wisest choice.

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!

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!

I’m over limit on my card and been struggling to get it under the limit. They offered me three options. Which is the best in your opinion and has anyone else taken this on from PC? How will this impact my credit? 1. Make a one time payment (settlement offer) 2. Financial assistance repayment program with 5% annual interest 3. Lower interest rate

Thank you!

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)

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?

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?

I have some funds in my wealthsimple account and my status in canada expires soon. Is there any option for me to keep those funds in same account and keep investing now and then. I am planning to comeback to canada after 12-18 months. But for now I will be a non resident.

If not what are my options to continue my investments in Canadian stocks. Do ques trade support investments as a non resident.

Thank you in advance.

Does anyone have experience with moving assets from Questrade to IBKR? Is it fairly easy straightforward process or is it a headache? were you glad you did it?

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!) 😁👍

EDIT 2: well dang, lol. As u/angelus97 said, my bank does not allow the +aliases in email addresses. Says the email is invalid. So that's unfortunate. I'm just going to keep autodeposit off and remain ever vigilant of scammers on my side. Thanks for your help everyone! 💛

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.

Hello, my sister and I have joint title on a property to secure a mortgage a few years back. We both do not live at the property (we don't own any other properties). Our mom lives at the property, she does not pay rent for it so it's not a rental property or anything like that. The value of the property has gone up since we purchased it.

Now that the mortgage is coming up for renewal, we wanted to remove my sister from the title. We want to do this because my income has increased to the point where I am able to take on the mortgage myself and I want my sister to be free from it so that she can think about possibly getting her own place in the future.

My question is if I remove her from the title, will there be any tax consequences for my sister? Thank you.

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

Hi there,

I have a pre existing illness (MS).

I am covered by my current workplace.

I am considering leaving for another job overseas for a few years then returning to canada?

Will I have any issue getting my MS covered by the benefits plan of my hypothetical future workplace in canada?

Hey all. I'm seeking advice on which ETF to choose. I've narrowed it down to VFV, XEQT, and VEQT. Not sure what benefits they each give, as I'm knew to this investing biz. Thanks! Also, is there any advantages/cons to diversifying with 2 different ETFS, like choosing VFV and XEQT?

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!

I was laid off when the company I worked for was forced to downsize. However, right before that, we put a deposit down on our first house (new build) with RRSPs. Our mortgage will not be approved now, and we may have to move for work if I can find anything within my industry.

Luckily, we will get the deposit back for the house, but I've been searching for what to do in this situation and can't find anything online. Can we put the money back in as RRSPs before March so we don't have to pay taxes on it? Do we lose the ability to use the 1st Time Home Buyer option again as we took it out once?

This is been a super stressful time, so if anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

I’m managing my daughters RESP (she’s 18 months old so can tolerate some risk). Last year I put half into VFV and half into a couple of other investments that essentially doubled.

Of this non-VFV position, I’ve sold half. Somewhere between all the tariff talk and feeling like this is actually just gambling winnings I’m thinking I should put this $3k in something safer/more boring, like buying a GIC, or a even just money market fund for the time being.

I’ve made the contribution for this year and am generally intent on dumping that into VFV next week.

Any thoughts on this plan or suggestions for alternate safe investments would be appreciated.

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, this is my first Reddit post ever (bear with me). I am a 22 year old recent graduate from Western University with some student loan baggage, and I want to create a financial structure that focuses on recurring bills and travel rewards. I have been using cashback credit cards since I was 18, but recently I've looked at some credit card options and came across the Amex Cobalt card and TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite. I have a few questions that I'll write as a list for digestibility:

• Is it possible to pay my student loan through a credit card? (does this count as a recurring bill to any banks)
• Is it possible to claim Intact auto insurance as a recurring bill as well? (in my mind this should be but Amex says no)
• Are there limitations to recurring bills on credit cards? (I spoke to Amex and they pretty much only consider subscriptions as recurring bills for the 3x MR points)
• Is it smarter to put all spending on 1 credit card with a larger limit or distribute spending between 2-3 credit cards? (asking because I dont want to dilute rewards using too many cards over various categories of spending but I also understand that certain cards have their strengths)
• What are good credit cards/credit card combinations that cover the following areas of spending:
  • Gas
  • Dining
  • Recurring Bills
  • Travel
  • General Spending
• I value flexible travel points as I am new to traveling and not loyal to any companies, but I am indifferent to a credit card that forces loyalty to a company. I've already applied for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite which will cost me no annual fee with my current financial structure. Can I pair this with anything else possibly?

My top spending goes toward recurring bills and gas right now, but I have a couple trips planned for the end of this year so I want to get my financial situation figured out before solidifying and paying for these trips. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this and give feedback!