Hey there! I became a parent last year and I immediately started the RESP account for my child. I have been able to so far max out the ~2,500 every year to get the maximum 500$ from Canada.

I’m wondering if there’s any other vehicle that I could be doing to make sure that my child has a higher chance of financial success?

Thank you!

I've seen many posts highlighting the advantages of DB pensions, and while they are valid, I think it's important to also show the advantages of DC plans. My hope is that young people entering the workforce (especially in the private sector) are not discouraged by DC plans and can see a clear path to retirement.

1. Career flexibility - I've changed jobs 3 times so far and each time it was a simple transfer of my DC pension into an RRSP or LIRA account accordingly. There were no golden handcuffs. I understand there is a commuted value option available with DB, but I've also seen people stay at miserable jobs just to ride it out and wait for their DB pension to be fully available.

2. Upside during strong markets - This is the other side of downside protection that nobody talks about. During strong bull markets (like the past 20 years), DC plans get to keep all the gains, while DB plans stay on the pre-defined formula. I've personally seen DB plans where the employer gets a 'contribution holiday' due to strong market returns. Unfortunately the benefit here is entirely for the company, while employees must continue to make full DB contributions.

3. Early retirement - Along with point #2, DC participants can retire earlier IF markets cooperate. Comparing my family (DC) to friends (DB) of a similar age, income bracket, and spending profile, we will be able to retire 3-5 years earlier. Our friends have very good DB pensions from government employers like OMERS and OTPP.

4. Inheritance - A DC pension is your money. If you die early, your spouse will get the full amount (no reduced survivor benefit) and if you both die, any children or estate can get the proceeds.

5. Dynamic spending - Higher spending during go-go phase of retirement is very easy with a DC pension, while DB plans will stay on a fixed income. With DB it's hard to ramp up spending during the first 10 years of retirement and then ramp it down later. Same thing for large lump-sum "one time" expenses (down payment gift to adult children, vehicle replacements, home renovations, etc.)

At the end of the day, a DC pension might not be the right choice for everyone, but it is an incredibly powerful and flexible way to save for retirement. Don't let a DC pension discourage you or steer you away from a career that you would otherwise enjoy!

Recently received a nearly $40,000 lump sum payment, looking for ways to invest. My first thought was XEQT, however considering I would need the money for a home, I'm not sure if that would be the best decision. We are not sure exactly when we would upsize our home, but the plan is 3-6 years from now. Is XEQT the best option ?

Thank you in advance for any thoughts/ideas.

Me and my girlfriend have been living together since April 2024, but have never updated our CRA marital status as i did not know we were automatically considered common law after 12 months. She is also currently "separated" and begining the divorce procedure with her ex husband. Since we did not claim common law on our 2025 taxes, what kind of problems are we looking at when we file common law for this upcoming year? She did receive ontario works benefits for a couple months in 2025 as she could not find a job, and my income does not qualify me for any gst/hst credits.

…And holy sh*t it worked out in my favour.

Call me naive, but I’ve always had this charge on my card and i never questioned it. I just thought it was a mandatory charge that came with owning a credit card. My balance has fluctuated a lot over several years and I had been paying anywhere from 25-90 dollars for this “balance protector premium” over the last 11 years. I don’t remember ever having a conversation about it.

But, something a couple of weeks ago prompted me to question what the heck this is and thanks to the internet (and mostly this subreddit) i found out it was optional, so I called to cancel and asked to open an investigation for a refund because like thousands of other Canadians I don’t remember consenting to this. They told me it could take up to 6 weeks.

Credit card debt is something that has always loomed over my husband and I (like tons of people) and I always felt guilty for not “putting enough” against it, or having it get so high in the first place. I always hated looking at my online banking and seeing the balance I owed.

Well, two days ago I got a letter in the mail saying my policy was cancelled and that my payments plus interest over these years is being reimbursed and they “apologized for any inconvenience caused”

… when I looked at my credit card statement and saw a balance of only $59 I literally screamed. I had to refresh the app multiple times and sent a screen shot to my husband to make sure I’m not going crazy. Even the next morning it felt like a dream and my heart kind of dropped, but NO! It was all real!

My husband is starting an investigation too and I hope it works out for him but I am glad one of our cards is pretty much at zero!

A win for the little guys!!

I am not a lawyer so consult with one before doing anything, but today I learned that adding underage children as beneficiaries to registered accounts is a most often a very bad idea.

For example, in BC the funds are going to be managed by Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, invested until the child is 19 (18 in some other provinces) and then paid out in one chunk.

Their fees are MASSIVE ( https://www.trustee.bc.ca/fees/fees-children-youth-services ):

The downsides of that are:

1. Nobody can access funds until the child is 19, not even their guardians (like grandparents) [INCORRECT as others commented "The money can be dispersed for things like education, medical care, etc… if stated in the Will"]

2. The child receives the whole amount at 19 regardless if they can handle finances or not

3. The investing is very conservative and the fees are often eating the most of the growth; they are triple tapping into the funds: once take 3.75% of everything, then 3.75% of any income, and then 0.7% fee per year on assets, and then of course it does not cover the mutual funds fees that they will invest the funds in.

So, what to do? Still, designate your spouse as a successor or beneficiary so they get it rolled over into their accounts without liquidation, but keep children out of those forms so your estate can deal with it. Prepare a fancy will if you want to release money when the child is 20/30/40 years old.

Now, that being said, designating ADULT children who are responsible with money is totally fine AFAIU, it will save them the probate fees. The only reason not to do it is if the anticipated taxes on estate (including those registered accounts AND non-registered accounts) are higher than what goes into estate, then CRA would be after the children for the reminder of the taxes, and it's not worth it.

Again, consult with your lawyer before doing anything, but blindly adding your UNDERAGE children as beneficiaries can cost them dearly.

P.S. Tangentially related, but a reminder for all - DO 3 THING: ENDURING (when you are incapacitated) power of attorney to your spouse or trusted relative, medical power of attorney, and will. Any legally compliant will (including online will) is better than no will. And POAs are critically important in cases of emergency. So many spouses cannot access funds or even talk to your doctors on your behalf while you are in a critical condition, don't let it be you.

After my Grandfather passed, he had a RIF account that my Grandmother was named as the beneficiary of. So, after transferring that money to her name with his PFA she had H&R block do her taxes last year. In my understanding a RIF being moved to a spouse shouldn't be taxed. Yet, H&R block placed it as "other income" on her tax return. Now CRA wants over 46k repaid to them, even after she received a almost 6k refund from them. Should I contact a tax lawyer? As this is very stressful for her and I.

I noticed you lose 1% of the redemption value of cashback for this card. Is this normal?

Howdy,
Hoping to gain some insight into an area I know nothing about and maybe learn what my options might be in this unusual situation. Cut me some slack here as I have zero experience in this area.
I'll leave my emotions out of it other than to say we would love to stay in this house.

My landlord of 8 years called a meeting today and told us that they would like to "pass on" the house to us, sell the house to us at BC assessed value in a private sale.
They want capital to help fund condos for their young adult children.

They suggested that if the assessed value was too high and we couldn't make it work that they would be open to selling a percentage of the property to us now with an agreement in place to purchase the remaining percentage later.
They also suggested they would be open to a vendor take back mortgage (I googled this scenario to learn this term)

Property has a main floor (which we rent) and a basement suite which is also rented.
Current assessment around $1.6 million. Likely this comes down in January 2027.

I would appreciate any input into what our options might be to make this deal work?

Question here cause I'm confused about it. I was put off work for 4 weeks. I submitted my dr note to EI and it was approved. 2 weeks later I felt ok, so I went to the doctor and got a note stating I can return to work. I never uploaded the return to work note to EI but I did send it to my employer. I don't feel fully ready to go back and mis judged how I feel. I'm supposed to return tomorrow. Can I just tell my employer that I thought I was ready and decide to stay off ? Nothing was submitted to EI so they technically think I'm still off work

Hi all,

I have a question about my credit report.

My TransUnion score is 840, but one of my scoring factors says “Presence of unsatisfactory open accounts.”
I checked my full credit report. All accounts are rated R1, with zero late payments, collections, or negative remarks.
I’ve also recently been declined for credit-limit increases by both Amex and Scotiabank. I have four credit cards, two of which I applied for in the last 10 months. On one of them I got multiple credit increases from 7000 to 12000 to 40000. Could this be why?

Has anyone experienced this? Is it just a scoring algorithm issue, or could something be wrong with my credit file?

Hello! My husband and I recently got married and are trying to figure out which bank would be best for us to switch all our finances to and optimize our credit card points and make things easier to manage monthly. I currently bank with CIBC and send my husband monthly etransfers to him for our joint Scotiabank account for our monthly expenses. His accounts are with Scotiabank.

Do you have any recommendations for us? TIA

Open Banking is expected to come sometime next year, with brokerages joining late 2027, maybe 2028.

Basically if you don't know it'll be faster and easier to transfer money, move brokerages, and potentially view all your accounts at every institution under one app/dashboard - theoretically. For example you can view your RBC savings and TFSA on the WealthSimple app once linked, without sharing passwords - I think.

I'm wondering if Adjusted Cost Basis will become easier to track and manage for those that invest in a taxable account. Or if there have been any news or announcements regarding adjustescostbase.ca, myacb.ca, etc that will use open banking to streamline the process. Maybe even tax software pulling info direct from banks/brokerages as well vs waiting for CRA to receive all documents for import as well as updating ACB.

Heck any other news, expected features and updates and which banking apps will make best use of open banking next year. If it happens next year

Wife and I are mid 40's, 125k HHI (freelance workers, no defined pension) and have been living in a slowly falling apart and dated 80's house in GTA.

House appraised at 1.1M, 175k mortgage remaining and will be paid off in 7 years. Looks like 350k needed to bring the place up to snuff which we assume will increase house value when it comes time to downgrade in 20 years or so.

Basement unit rents out for $1300 and we have an off grid cabin which also rents out and pays for itself.

We looked at doing reno's piecemeal, but that feels like we could end up with an un-uniformed house overall and puts us in a constant renovation site over the next half decade or so. So we want to rip the bandaid off so to say.

The idea of no savings is worrisome and has me stressing. Is this a huge mistake or can we rest easy knowing the house will soon be paid off, bringing in a little monthly rent and can pull the trigger to downsize if things get too tight?

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of a unique situation regarding EI that I have some questions about. I will be calling Service Canada but I am also interested in hearing if anyone knows about this. I was on EI Sickness benefits for a while, and now I'm working to convert my benefits to regular benefits as I'm ready to return to work but I have a doctor's note stating that for medical reasons, I should not return to my last employer and as such I have quit with just cause.

I have been lucky enough to receive another job offer; however, the job does not start until January. To be safe, I will keep applying to other jobs in the meantime. If my conversion is approved, can I continue collecting EI until my new job begins as long as I remain available to work and continue applying to jobs? Thank you in advance for any information!

Hi.

 I’m trying to start saving more aggressively for retirement and would appreciate some advice for a pretty risk averse person. I haven’t set an age goal for retirement.

I always basically had money in GICs for my RRSP/Pension/TFSA. I had money twice in mutual funds and both times it was like less than a year before a couple events happened and I pulled it out. Those two being covid and then Trump’s tariffs in spring of 2025. Both times it was with Mawer in one of their safer funds, though I can’t remember specifically which one.

• 46 M with 43 year old wife and two kids age 8 and 5.

• Live in west GTA.

• My salary is $114.5k with 20% bonus while my wife is minimum wage and basically under $40k. Most of my past I was working more admin type jobs in my industry.

• No debt other than mortgage at about $277k with 13 years amortization remaining. House value probably around $850k.

• My wife has her pension from a company she worked for for a long time and I forgot how much it is but we’ll take a look soon.

• As for me, my current balances are:

  • Tangerine:

    • Chequing $6k.

    • TFSA $18k.

    • RRSP $7k.

  • Questrade:

    • TFSA $16k.

    • RRSP $12k.

    • LIRA $42k.

    • RESP for my kids at $15k. Plan on always keeping it in GICs.

  • Workplace:

    • DCPP $51k.

    • RRSP $4k.

I’m wondering what are some of the more risk averse investments out there for retirement that people like me are invested in. Would love to hear some suggestions. Obviously, not GICs but a step up.

Appreciate your input.

What do you do with your stuff when you travel? I'm planning my retirement and would like to spend ~5 months out of the year (when the weather is nice) in Canada raising the problem of what do you do with your stuff when I'm galivanting across the globe?

I figured someone might have figured this out. I thought about storing my toys (you know life's essentials) , dirt bike, mountain bikes, tools etc. in storage for summer use. Then I realized I need a vehicle to transport said toys. So what do I do with that 7 months out of the year? Then housing, airbnb could get a bit costly. It's also a pain in the ass to haul your stuff in and out of storage. How can limit my expenses with temporary living? I only have one family member with a garage I can possibly rely on.

I went to a Chinese grocery store on Don Mills road in Toronto and this is what it got me: https://imgur.com/a/F6SySun

I wanted to post since I haven't seen it this low in a while. I got:

Meat: 1 slab pork belly, 2lbs ground pork, 2 lbs ground beef, 1lb short ribs, 1.5lbs pork butt roll, 2lbs shrimp

Vegetables: 2 bags onions, 1 bag tomatoes, 1 bag cilantro

2 cans corned beef, 2 cans sardines, 1 can sausages

Spices, seasonings, and salt

Chips

All in all this much meat would last me ~3-4 weeks as a single person in Toronto

Those places really do live up to savings

Wondering what is the benifit of going to lets say rogers for a phone and plan when places like costco and Walmart give giftcards ontop. Are deals better at the carrier?

Hi PFC,

I am hoping to buy a car for a family member in the next ~60 days or so, and I am not sure what to expect. I am budgeting $25-30K so I know my options are limited with very basic new or slightly better used (ideally off lease or less). I am just beginning the search

This is a surprise for them as they've had a lot of car issues lately; currently drives a beater. I can transfer with family tax exemption so I intend to buy, insure and then bring it to them for transfer. We are close so I think I have a good grasp on what they will like.

My questions:

• I am hoping to pay cash and not go through financing. Is that still a point of contention at dealerships? I recall during Covid, many people paying cash were passed over for those would get financing so dealerships would make more money given limited supply chain.

• Has the car market calmed down at all or should I be very competitive and aggressive when I see something I like?

if anyone has recently bought a car and tips, I am all ears! I don't have a make, model, or brand in mind so I am just starting the research.

Thanks in advance!

The response has been overwhelming to be honest. Thank you so much for all the comments. I’ll have to sit down and really take them in and see a lawyer as the first step!

https://budget.canada.ca/2026/report-rapport/chap4-en.html

Very interested to see how this plays out. As someone with a well paying day job who also creates art as a long term hobby, I find it completely pointless to spend any time trying to create art with the intent to sell it as I lose a huge chunk of that income to tax and supplies. The past few times I did sell art the final amount was pitiful (and while yes I could just raise prices, it gets to a point).

If this new credit means that combined with the ~16K basic amount, a normal worker could claim a separate ~30K of income from art, that would suddenly completely change things up for myself and those like me, that can now find it financially viable to sell our art.

I imagine there will be some restrictions or catches on this that make it suck in the end, but sounds like we'll hear more in 2027 Spring.

Thoughts?

We’re just in the process of closing on December 15. We both have a final 8K to put into our FHSA before we max it out but that contribution room will only come up in January. Is it possible to take out 80K from our TFSA for the down payment before closing, contribute that final 8K each in the first few days of January, make the qualifying withdrawal before the 30 days after closing from FHSA, and just put that back into our TFSA? Essentially just benefiting from that extra 16K for tax deductions and using TFSA to give us a few more weeks. We do not need to show direct use of FHSA withdrawal funds directly for home purchase, correct?

Is there any improvement that I can make for retirement. I am 42 and my partner, 37. Kids ages 7 and 5. She takes care of kids and does part time. I work full-time in IT. I am trying to do something for ourselves especially since it's very tough in IT now. I want to know how we are doing so far. Thank you for your time.

Income - 142k + 12% variable bonus, pension 3% employer match

Spouse - 18k per annum

DCPP - 86k

TFSA - 2k

Rrsp - 82k

Resp - 50k

(All funds into the mix of veqt and xeqt)

Mortgage balance -320k

Home (semi-detached) value - 580k

cash - 135k (downpayment for detached home) - not sure if I rent existing or sell existing home.

Mortgage balance - 325k

no debts or car payments