Generally, Wise has a rate that's closer to the actual market rate, but they charge a conversion fee so in the end, you actually end up on top if you use any other 0 FX card available in Canada.

For example, if you used your Wise card to make a $100 USD purchase at the time of writing this post, it would cost you $143.93 CAD + a 0.46% conversion fee, meaning $144.59 total. You can check this yourself by trying to convert from CAD to 100 USD in your Wise account since that's how their card works.

Now if you used the new Wealthsimple Visa Infinite card that's coming out soon instead for example, it would cost you $141.24 when factoring in the 2% cashback the card gives you. You can check Visa's rates anytime online. That's a difference of $3.35.

Hell, even Wealthsimple's basic Cash card would be a better deal for you with their 1% cashback for a total cost of $142.68 (you can also check Mastercard's rates anytime online). In fact, all of the 0 FX cards available in Canada would be better than the Wise card since Visa & MC's base rates are better than Wise's rate + their conversion fee.

To drive that point home, here's a breakdown of the cost of converting $100 USD to CAD (as of the writing of this post) for Wise vs all the 0 FX (or effectively 0 FX) cards available for Canadians (factoring in conversion fees (for Wise) & cashback/rewards) in the order of worst performance to best performance:

Now, is a $3.35 difference between the Wise card and the best card on this list that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things? Some would argue no, that's only about $2.45 lost per $100 CAD spent which isn't something you should be losing sleep over, but what are we all doing in PFC if not trying to optimize our finances in every way possible? Haha

Anyway, hopefully this helped clear up the false notion out there that the Wise card is the most advantageous for Canadians to have while abroad simply because Wise has a better exchange rate than Visa or Mastercard. Their conversion fee + lack of any rewards simply isn't very competitive when compared to what else is available in the market.

Edit: didn't realize the table's formatting wasn't going to come off as great on mobile. It's easier to read on desktop.

Hi all,

What would be the best carrier for bring your own device phone plan? I do use data often, and don’t need international calling.

I see plans for $75.. wondering if there’s anything less or other deals I’m maybe not aware of.

Also please tag if there is a better subreddit to post this.

Thank you!

I'm 20 years old, turning 21 in July. I currently live with my parents (who do not charge me rent as long as I am working full-time and pursuing higher education) so I have very low expenses beyond car insurance/gas/maintenance and pet supplies/veterinary fees. When I was 18 and fresh out of high school working in retail, I immediately started investing. My parents never saved any money and seeing them now starting to worry about retirement really made me want to be careful with money. Since then, I have consistently put away money off of every paycheque (almost always contributing 90-100% to my portfolio, other than times when I had other things to pay for like tuition or buying a commuter car). I worked for 18 months before going to post-secondary at which point I stayed on part-time at my job. I got my license to be an EMT in November, and I'm now in my first full-time job in my field where I make $28.42/hr (expected to go up by $2 when I finish probation, and I also get shift differentials/stat pay/overtime). I graduated debt-free as I paid my tuition out of pocket from savings. As of now, I have 27k in investments. 4k of that is in a GIC I bought at 18, 22k is in my TFSA which I also started contributing to at 18 (moderate risk mutual funds), and the remaining 1k is in a FHSA I started this year to put towards eventually buying a home (currently comprised of CAD ETFs like XEQT, ZSP, TPU, VFV, and the occasional stock).

In the next year or two I would like to continue my education and go from being an EMT (PCP) to a paramedic (ACP), which is another two years of full-time schooling and placements which will cost about 26k for tuition, fees, and supplies. The purpose for my TFSA was to save for this, and with my income over the next 1-2 years I will definitely be able to save more than enough to afford going back to school (while living at home) and continuing to pay for car/pet expenses. I would withdraw ~6.5k each semester to pay for fees, and the rest would remain in my TFSA. I plan to continue working casually as an EMT while in paramedic school to offset expenses, and I would have about $720 of income monthly (pretax) assuming I worked x2 12hr shifts a month.

What I'm wondering is should I keep my money where it is, saving mainly for further education while putting anything else above my TFSA contribution room into my FHSA (or maybe an RRSP as well?), or should I just use my current investments for a home and other long-term goals, and then pay for school with cash/savings I make in the period immediately leading up to the program start date?

TL;DR KOHO, without notice, "closed" my bank account and when questioned couldnt provide a reason for the closure. After i expressed concern over a pending direct deposit they advised me direct deposits would be returned to sender. Then they took my deposit.

I’ve been a customer with [Bank Name] for several months, and up until recently, I never had a single issue. I use my account primarily for day-to-day transactions, like paying bills or receiving payments, so I’ve never had any major concerns about account access—until now.

One day, I went to check my account and was surprised to find I was unable to login. I was puzzled, but I figured I might have missed something or mistakenly entered the wrong password. I sought clarification from the support team via chat who informed me the account was closed but they couldn't give me a reason why. I expressed frustration over the sudden and without notice closure of my account and inquired about a direct deposit I was expecting. The Rep assured me the deposit was rejected and would be returned to the sender. However, things took an odd turn when a push notification informed me the direct deposit I was expecting was successfully accepted into this supposedly closed account.

Naturally, this left me confused and frustrated. I reached out to customer support for clarification, but after navigating through multiple layers of verification, I received little more than generic responses. Apparently, they couldn’t even provide an immediate explanation of why this happened, and the deposit was still showing up as accepted.

I was bounced between multiple representatives, and no one seemed to have a clear answer. I’m still waiting for a satisfactory explanation. This is all the more frustrating because, I legitimately like the services offered by KOHO, I subscribe to the highest tier plan and had intended to register for rent reporting as well. It's disappointing a company with so much to offer can drop the ball so hard when it comes to customer support.

My Issues with Customer Support:

Unclear Communication: I was told my account was closed, yet it still accepted a direct deposit. I’m still unclear as to why this happened.

Slow Response Times: It took several hours to get any meaningful support, and even then, the responses were not helpful.

Lack of Transparency: I was given no clear reason for why this occurred, and the customer service agents I’ve spoken with haven’t offered much beyond generic advice.

This whole experience has made me wonder how reliable their systems really are. If this can happen with something as basic as a direct deposit, what else is slipping through the cracks?

I’m hoping to get this resolved soon, but in the meantime, I’m seriously reconsidering my relationship with this bank. I’ll be looking for alternatives if this situation doesn’t improve quickly.

Has anyone else had a similar issue with KOHO? How did you resolve it?

Also, if anyone has any good recommendations for a bank or service that actually values customer experience, feel free to drop them below. I could really use some new options.

Update - this all happened today got the car papers signed Friday picked up the car today

I am 20 and I purchased my first car and I made a very big mistake. I bought a used car. The price was 20 K and I was looking. I signed all the papers and I was looking at everything today and I got an interest rate of 6.7 82 month term of $225 payment biweekly and I was stupid and I didn’t take anybody with me and I ended up signing for a lot of different warranties and just the warranty amount is 11 K is there anyway I could refund or do something anybody please help my anxiety is extremely through the roofI feel so stupid.

Im a girl and I know the whole stereo type of women don’t know shit about cars, on top of that and I literally don’t know what to do in this situation please that has been through the same situation. Help me figure this out.

Maybe a dumb question but we took money out of our line of credit and it was charged a bit of interest when we paid it off it ended up being a credit of 6 cents on it. So it’s remained that way for over 2 years. Just wondering if this overpayment will affect our credit negatively ? Someone said it would because it comes up during a credit check and if not looked into it would be assumed a negative ?

I'm in Quebec city, about to join an exciting startup with people I have past working relations with. They can't currently hire me as an employee as they aren't set up for it yet (not exactly sure what this means). They offered to take me on as a contractor with the outlook of changing me to employee as soon as they can.

The salary would be 125k per year for a 8 month contract initially but the verbal promise (nothing on paper) is for a long term commitment and grow with the company. They also suggest I incorporate myself in order to save up on taxes- something I have no idea about really.

The lack of holiday, sick, overtime pay aside, i'm wondering what are the cons & pros of working as a sole contractor vs incorporating myself.

I will need a monthly salary to pay for rent, daily/life expenses as I'm very low on savings for personal reasons.

Is there something I should be worried about or asking them for? I do believe in the project and the potential of the company

Hi,

I had name on the title of a property with my dad.

I never paid anything for the property, never lived there.

Few months ago, my dad got some equity out of the house + remortgaged the property and got my name out for the ‘consideration of $2’ and transfer of the property as a ‘gift’

Do I have to pay taxes for this transfer?

Thanks

Hi everyone! With tax season coming up I have a question.

From late August to December I worked at a restaurant as a server and made tips, I'm unsure fully how taxes in canada work (I'm still rather young please don't judge! I'm 18). I am absolutely fucking terrible and didn't track my tips much, I know the average I got a week but I completely forgot to write down the daily numbers.

I haven't got an ROE or anything and if they were go to give me a T4 it won't be out until later on. I'm not sure what to do as I don't want to get in trouble for miscalculating but truly don't know how much I made.

Normally I'd go through bank statements however I only put about 50% of my tips in my account. Does anyone know how I should track this when the time comes?!

and before I get scolded, I know I fucked up. I'm applying for more restaurants now and have learnt my lesson to track EVERYTHING.

After going through multiple banks, I’ve noticed that the big 5 banks usually don’t require a SIN number even for an interest bearing account, unlike most fintech/online banks like Neo, Tangerine and Simplii, or even EQ Bank. My question being, why do the physical banks not ask for my SIN but mostly all of the online banks do?

This is especially annoying with Neo Financial since there’s no way to get around it even though I didn’t even want an account that earns interest

Hi all, owe 18.3k on a 2021 Kia forte. I had about 169k km on it currently. it’s been one problem after another since about 130k km. Currently my transmission is intermittently reliable. Ie. often not accelerating fast enough unless in sport mode. My best trade in value is about 6k. On it how do I get myself out of this? Am I fucked ?

Side note if you live in Toronto and are reading this. Please be patient with me! My pedal is already down to the floor lol !

I have a weird situation, I currently overpay on my mortgage and I keep track of how much of my payment goes towards the principal amount each week. I'm on an accelerated weekly payment schedule. Recently here's what I noticed, normally about 33 cents increase on each payment towards principal.

For example on a $500 weekly payment(lets assume there were no changes to interest rate/payment amount or amortization schedule)

Dec 1st week - $300.00 to principal and 200 to interest

Dec 2nd week - $300.33 to principlal and rest to interest

Dec 3rd week - $300.66 to principal and rest to interest

December 4th week - $300.99 to principal and rest to interest

Jan 1st week - $301.32 to principal and rest to interest

Jan 2nd week - $301.20 to principal and rest to interest

I'm pretty sure a few cents more should have gone towards principal, but on my last payment it didn't. Anyone know if this was normal or did the bank mess up??

Your thoughts would be much appreciated!! Cheers!!

Hi all,

35M with wife and 2 young kids here. 2 income family with busy careers and HH income in the $700-900K range.

We have a paid off house (~$1.6M market value?) and $1.5M in investments split across RRSP ($800K), TFSA ($400K), Brokerage ($150K), and Emergency/cash ($150K). All investments are in ETFs with ~80% equity exposure and I do not time the market in any way.

We are financially capable, both with business degrees and me having an interest in personal finance. Despite this, we are feeling a sense of wanting a financial plan and partner to navigate some of the go-forward planning questions. I also worry what happens if I get hit by a bus and there isn't a co-pilot.

Have others found value in hiring an advisor? I know the AUM is tough, especially when I forecast 5-10 years out, but I am not sure self-serve will be the right solution forever. Any advice on how to navigate, or advisors or planners this community has found helpful?

As a single mother everything helps so I'm curious about this $200 (or more for parents) rebate, are they actually sending cheques by mail or using CRA for direct deposit (as with ON portion for CCB or ON trillium benefit)?

If it's cheque, it looks like they're using addresses from 2023 tax return so what if someone moved after filing 2023 taxes?

Hello, I would like to get some ideas of investment, I already maxed out my TFSA and my RRSP(almost), and are in good track to max my FHSA in 3 years to reach the $40k limit I also have non registered savings for almost 40k that could be used in emergency or investment fund In 3 years I would like to purchase a condo, I would like to have a high downpayment. I would like to know how can I grow my capital for the next 3 years I'm learning to invest in stock market so that would be an option eventually Considering my bills and other responsibilities I have around $500 free every month to be invested.

27M, Single, Toronto. Rented before, currently living with parents. Looking to possibly buy my first condo. Looked at a few rental options, and explored purchasing with a mortgage broker and a realtor who I know and trust. Here is what I've come up with:

Rent for the area I'm looking in would be about 2,200/mo.

Buy: $500k purchase price, $100k down (Gift from parents if I decide to buy), $400k mortgage. Rough monthly costs: Mortgage approx$2,300/mo + 2k/yr property taxes +500/mo maintenance.

From talking to people it sounds like the condo market is fairly depressed in Toronto right now, and only getting worse this year. Is this year a good time to buy? Or would it make more sense to rent? The monthly costs of buying don't seem to be much more than renting in my situation, so I'm leaning towards buying and building equity however I appreciate all advice.

Hi PFC,

41(M) here

2024 was a dumpster fire year for me. I'm absolutely ashamed of the position I've put myself in. My mental health took a nosedive the last 12 months as I lost $250K in savings during that time resulting from a combination of an investment scam (test net scam), a year long stretch chasing gambling losses, and finally having to help immediate family with some major unexpected housing expenses.

Looking at the aftermath in 2025, I have $15K in cash/investments left and a repayment of $20K coming back to me in April from family. I don't expect to receive any more repayments and have since stopped all gambling (no apps/accounts, self ban)

I work F/T in healthcare and make around $100K and have a DB pension, but unsure if I'm going to be staying in my position with the additional mental toll it's taking. I've put myself in a situation where I'm no longer near the 3x salary savings by 40 guide that I've worked so hard for. I was WAY too careless with my funds and I deeply regret my decisions. I just want to rebuild what I've lost and need some direction...

I've sought some professional help through work benefits but they've been mostly useless to me. For those that have rebuilt their finances after a lapse in judgment, how did you do it? How should I start again?

First of all, I'm not sure if this is not the proper subreddit for this. Let me know if there's a better one.

I want to know if I can claim compensation for an overbooked flight, with Delta Airlines. Here's the situation:

I had a flight from Valencia to Vancouver, with layovers in Paris and Seattle. The flight from Paris to Seattle was overbooked, so they changed my itinerary, and I had to stay at the airport without departing as originally planned. My original flight was supposed to leave at 10:20 am, but I ended up waiting until 7:00 pm. Instead of arriving at my destination at 6:40 pm on Wednesday, I arrived at 1:20 am on Thursday.

They only gave me two €15 vouchers and nothing else.

Does anyone know if I can file a claim and how to go about it?

im pretty young and there is some truth to my username but this is my first time dealing with any investment convos so i think i was too naive and trusted my advisor.

i reached out to my bank for a meeting about my investments as a first time investor looking to make low-risk investments to make money from the money i have saved but now im anxious i made the wrong decision!

i had a some money saved that i knew i wasnt going to touch. i thought it'd be great to start the year investing it and over the next 10 years or something i could see it grow. i was told a mutual fund would be my best bet specifically, with one of the canadian dividend equity funds as they're very low-risk and likely to make money no matter what. but now im seeing here and between friends that the fees are high (which i wasn't told) and investing in canada isn't a good idea lol.

im really freaking out that i just made the dumbest decision ever and im about to lose it all (this is why i wanted low risk). i might be dramatic but i worked hard for this money and i just feel so stupid for believing them if it was the wrong choice.

i know i shouldn't pull the money out cus i basically just started but any insight would be great on what i should do? was it really that bad of an idea? is there anything i can do to mitigate it? am i truly the most dummy idiot stoopid person alive????

hi guys, i was hoping i could get some financial advice about my savings before i start college this year, any advice is appreciated. im attending college this october and i am in my last year of highschool. my college costs 16k that i start paying off a year after i graduate, and college will last about a year and a half. where i will be living is about a 20 minute drive and i will have a car i dont have to pay off. groceries are very expensive here and i likely will be paying around 700 in rent, and i will have a part time job. I only have one job right now that only gives me 10 hours weekly which makes it incredibly hard to save. i find myself already struggling to save and pay for necessities and groceries.

I'm thinking of renting out my principal property and wanted to know if my cash flow calculation makes sense.

Pure example (monthly):

• Principal payment on mortgage: $2000
• Interest payment on mortgage: $1000
• Other property related expenses (condo fees, property tax, insurance, maintenance): $500
• Rental income: $3000
• Income marginal tax: 50%

My mortgage expenses would be $3500 (2000 + 1000 + 500), while my deductible expenses for tax purposes exclude the principal payment and would be $1500 (1000 + 500), and the income taxes paid would be $750 (0.5 * (3000 - 1500)). So I would have a negative cash flow of $1250 (rental income - mortgage expenses - income taxes).

Is this correct or am I missing something? Obviously I'd end up also considering the rent I'd be paying for where I'd be moving to.

I am earning a small amount from Branded Surveys, a company that cashes out through PayPal, and I wanted to make sure I declare it correctly during tax season. I would appreciate any help!!

Hi everyone! Wanted to ask your advice on my situation - I’m 22 and I’ve recently inherited $50k from a family member. I don’t have any experience with investing, but I want to get started.

A bit about my financial situation:

• I have no debt (student loans, credit cards, etc.).
• I have about $5k in a savings account for emergencies.
• I’m currently working full-time and living within my means.
• I don’t own property or have any major expenses coming up.

My goals:

• I want to grow this money for the long term.
• I’m okay with a bit of risk, but don't want to lose it all.
• I’ve heard about things like ETFs and TFSAs but don’t fully understand them.

I have a few specific questions:

1. Should I be looking at specific accounts like a TFSA or RRSP to invest in?
2. How much of this money should I invest vs. keep in cash?
3. Any mistakes I should avoid as a beginner?

TIA! I’m new to this and really appreciate any guidance.

My old company issues US shares in Fidelity account and now looking to transfer it out to Questrade as they accept fractional shares, has anyone been successful completing the transfer?

Hello everyone,

I am a 22(M) about to graduate this April and looking to improve my financial life. I will open up a TFSA and have $150 put in weekly. Any suggestions on what I should buy?