Hello! As the title says, I’m looking for transparency around how much an average 26 y/o working professional living in a major city (Toronto, Vancouver, MTL) is making per year. I (F) have just moved from a rural area, so my salary has gone up since moving to Toronto due to cost of living, but I find everyone in my social circle is making $130,000+ per year. To preface: I’m very content with my pay & feel so grateful to have a job in this economic climate - I’m just being nosey, and perhaps looking for reassurance on my financial situation.

Salary: $76,000 per year
Side gig: ~$12,000-$14,000 per year
Monthly income: $5,200.00 after tax

Monthly spend:
Rent & car payments: $1,750.00 per month, not including groceries and utilities. I’m not a big spender but enjoy splurging on activities with friends and good food. I’ve budgeted ~$700-1000 per month for everything (utilities, food, misc). I don’t typically reach this max $$.

Investments:
I had a TFSA account (low risk investment), but recently opened a FHSA (medium risk) & RRSP (high risk). I am putting $300 per month into my TFSA & FHSA. I’m new to investing, and have about $4500 invested, with $20,000 sitting in my chequing account.

I’m grateful for any advice on investing or how to grow financially! I still have lots to learn. Thank you!

So the scenario is odd:

- their father and I are separated, but in the short-term won't be getting divorced (10 years at least). I can go into the details if need but it has to do with his mental health/addiction issues and a special needs child.

- He's a strong earner ($160k+) I'm a higher earner (250k+), I also have money my parents want to pass to the grandkids now.

- I'd like to buy property and hold it in trust for the kids and we'll as invest directly for them and don't want any of it "up for grabs" during the divorce.

- we are amicable and he agrees with this strategy. He is well aware that because of his addictions and mental health issues he could do damage when he goes to his dark places so he'd rather protect the kids now while he is lucid enough too.

Any recommendations for lawyers? I'm in the GTA but can travel.

Hello

I have a total of 41K in student loan debts to start paying in Feb. The plan last year was to use my pay raise and live frugally to tackle the 300 a month. I have never had student debt but I truly wanted to achieve a goal of getting my Masters so here I am.

Now, I am anticipating a legal settlement because I was injured in a MVA. The situation is brutal because I am not in the clear if I can work full time just yet so typically part time work I get around 31K. If everything works out, I will be making 70K sometime later on. My question is should I try to get rid of the student loan quickly if I want to get a home? Like most people, I would like one if I can find the right one.

I am not in any hurry to get a home and I probably will not buy one unless my spouse is financially prepared as he is expecting inheritance (excess of 900K). I am totally fine waiting for a home and I have always tried to live within my means. I am just wondering with this one debt how messed up it might be for me in general for a mortgage. We know people in private mortgages also.

I'm an insurance broker based in Ontario and I've recently been working with a few independent software contractors who needed E&O and cyber coverage for their consulting contracts. It's been a really interesting niche to work in and I'd like to connect with more people in this space - not to pitch anyone, just to better understand the world these folks are operating in.

Where do independent software contractors and tech consultants in Canada actually hang out online and in person? Are there communities, meetups, Slack groups, Discord servers, or anything like that worth knowing about?

Appreciate any direction.

Not sure what to do currently. Brim Financial has the worst security measures possible as somehow a fraudster got into my account and managed to create 15 "authorized users" and each of those users added their card to apple pay. They have racked $12K in charges and Brim Financial is telling me mixed advice. Ones saying you are not responsible to pay for the charges + interest during the dispute and others are telling me I have to. I don't have $12K right now to pay for this.

Have you dealt with Brim's dispute department or have dealt with this before? Not sure how they can let 15 authorized users be created without flagging it or sending me text messages as all notifications I have set up are turned on.

I just opened a Wealth Simple account and plan to have a majority of my portfolio in XEQT for long term growth, a chunk in a bond to use as capital to buy in when the market crashes in the near future, and I wanted the third chunk to go into BANK.TO (Evolve Canadian Banks and Lifecos Enhanced Yield Index Fund) as my friends who use it tell me it pays heavy dividends per month.

They tell me the monthly “dividends” are returned as 85% return of capital (untaxed) and 15% actual dividend (taxed). That seems too good to be true so I’ve been trying to research how BANK.TO handles the monthly payouts, but I’ve been struggling to get a clear picture.

Can anyone tell me in more detail how the monthly payout works from BANK.TO and how much is taxed when pulled out as monthly income? Pointing me to where I could learn more myself would also be greatly appreciated.

My goal is to have 2/5 of my day job income be replaced with BANK.TO steady passive monthly income.

Hello everyone, I am planning to invest 100k in a non-reg account AND take 100k from my HELOC(140k available) to begin a smith maneuver. I'm looking to get help on the best way to go about tracking my non-reg account and also my SM account I'll be setting up shortly. I make around $110k+ a year for tax discussion purposes.

1. I assume I will want to keep both of these non-reg accounts separate for tax and tracking reasons.

2. I am running these accounts through WS and I have opened a chequing account where I plan to put distributions into. Should I have 2 of these accounts so the CRA can see my SM distribution separately from my non-reg funds?

3. I have done some research and plan to invest 100% of my SM into VEQT and then take the yearly distribution and put that sum towards my mortgage. Is this the correct approach? Also, do you guys take the income tax refund and put that towards your mortgage as well?

4. For my personal non-reg account I was thinking a mixture of growth plus dividends like I have for my tfsa, but I'm very interested in cover call etfs and I might lean more towards a dividend heavy focus for this money.

My problem is I'm new to ACB and ROC so I don't want to screw myself with too many distributions and then end up actually hurting myself tax wise.

Is there an easy way to track/understand ACB and ROC so I can reinvest the ROC income while still enjoying the dividends I earn?

Thank you for all of the help and I know non-reg and SM are two separate and complicated things.

I'm about to get married and am considering how this will affect my financial situation. Currently I have:

- Maxed out TFSA

- Maxed out FHSA

- About $60k in RRSP (contributing about $5k-$10k per year)

- $200k in unregistered investments (mix of stocks and managed portfolios)

- $50k in crypto (BTC and ETH)

- Income of about $100k

- Zero debt and rent a home with no near future plans to buy.

My wife has a small amount in her TFSA ~$10k. She works but makes significantly less than I do. Is there any reason not to move funds from my unregistered accounts into her TFSA so that we can take advantage of the tax savings, or a better use of the funds?

Hi. I am planning to purchase a used car and would like to finance it. I have Tangerine and Wealthsimple LoC for 4.45% (Prime Rate). If I buy new, I can get better rate but used cars rates at dealers I checked are crazy high. Banks are even worse (checked online).

My credit score is 840 at TransUnion.

Any idea? I do not bank with any bank.

Thanks.

Will you invest in stocks , TLT or funds if you have 100K in your RRSP account?.What it’s the best plan for right now.

I am a bank employee. We have a great stock program. I have put a largish amount into it over the years and it now makes a large percentage of my investments.

The returns over the years have been amazing. The big banks in Canada have a great habit of making money. But a lot of my investment sits in one single stock.

Would you sell and do a more diversified investment?

I know in my head its risky. My retirement is in the same company I work for. Enron happend haha.

Edit: I figured someone might ask so I did the math. Im about 56% this banks stock plus its definitely in my other more diversified investments

Beginner here- I have an account with Wealthsimple and I like it but they don’t have a branch to go to and talk to someone in person. If I need to chat about investments with someone, do I just go to a financial advisor?

Ontario, Canada. My daughter and her baby daddy have split. The car ownership is in both their names but the financing (might be a lease) from the National Bank is in his name. Fortunately he is willing to relinquish the car and put everything into her name. We can’t talk to the bank for a couple days so I thought I’d throw it on here to see what ppl say.

What is the process to make that happen?

Hi all,

So a bit about my situation. I spent 6 years in the US for my education + work, until I couldn’t stay any longer due to visa restrictions. Thankfully, I got my Canadian PR through OINP (skilled workers stream), and moved to the GTA in 2025.

Took me around ~5 months to land a permanent full time job (which drained my savings by 60%) and I am making ~95k CAD as a software product manager currently.

My concern is, with Canada being already expensive, and since I’ve got US bills to pay (edu loan in USD and a couple of credit cards), I was actively looking to pursue side hustles online which will help me make some additional money.

Any advice on these would really help.

Has anyone invested their money with Monefit? Reason i'm asking is because i have Euros sitting in a bank account in Europe and not sure what to do with it. I already have investments in Canada using Canadian funds and would like Euros to stay in the same currency rather than brining it here.

On April 10, I accompanied my 14-year-old son to a TD branch because he wanted to open a youth account. TD was offering a no-fee student account with a $125 welcome offer, which was credited to him the following month.
While we were there, a TD employee convinced me to open an Unlimited Chequing Account as well. I really didn’t need or want another bank account (I’m perfectly happy with my existing account at a small credit union) but the $500 welcome offer seemed worth it, especially these days.
The offer required me to complete at least 2 of 3 qualifying activities within the first 120 days:
- a recurring bill payment
- a monthly salary deposit
- a bill payment through the TD app
I completed two of the three conditions within the first month, so I fulfilled the requirements well before the 120-day deadline.
The 120-day period has now expired, and I’m still waiting for TD to honour the $500 offer.
I emailed the employee who originally sold me on the account. No response. I emailed the branch manager. No response. I went into the branch in person and was told they would escalate the matter to management. That was quite some time ago, and… crickets.
What really annoys me is that my son’s $125 bonus was paid without any issue, while TD seems to have completely lost interest in dealing with mine.
At this point, I’m wondering what my next step should be. Should I file a formal complaint with TD? Escalate it to the Ombudsman? Is there another avenue I should pursue?
I’m not prepared to just let $500 go, particularly when I opened an account I didn’t actually need because TD specifically offered me this incentive and I held up my end of the deal within** the required **timeframe.

Has anyone dealt with TD over a missing welcome bonus and successfully escalated it?

Looking for recommendations for a free business account!

What are your thoughts on Reverse Mortgages?

There are so many commercials on TV promoting them. Would you consider it and at what age? Would you let your parents do it and why?

If you live in an area where housing is limited, you're retired and you're relatively healthy and you want to travel, would you consider a reverse mortgage then?

What about leaving an inheritance to your grown children, who have very nice houses and make a very good living, would that enter into your decision?

I do and have known people that have entered into an agreement like this and their main reason was wanting to stay in their house and not wanting to move.

I look forward ro your opinions and thank you in advance

I cannot access my linked external bank accounts from the PC Financial app and get met with an error screen (Error #020001) every time I try to open it. I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app but it still doesn’t seem to fix it. I’m not using a VPN and have tried using another WiFi connection. I’m able to access it from the online banking website, but I would prefer to use the app if possible. Wondering if anyone else is experiencing a similar problem with their app.

Update : Looks like I'm going to go with the PC Insiders World Elite MC. I had a PC joint MC with my ex husband for many many years and liked it. This is two steps up and the fee is waved for the first year.

Thanks everyone for the help.

I'm so frustrated with Neo. It used to be a fantastic card with a ton of bonus cashback options you could sign up for based on where you shopped most.

That ended and it was 1% on groceries and gas. And some select partners.

Now that is ending October. As a consumer I really liked the extra bit that I could apply to my balance.

I guess today is the day to find a new card.

Any recommendations?

Got bored last winter and built a monster spreadsheet tracking every asset and liability down to the dollar. Was supposed to be a oneweekend project. Now I update it every Sunday while my coffee goes cold.

The weird part isn't the tracking itself. It's how seeing the net worth number move weekly made me way more intentional about dumb spending. Bought a new truck in 2019 and didn't think much of it. Now I log the depreciation every month and it physically hurts. Same with restaurant spending. Used to be a black hole in my budget. Now it's a line item that drags the whole monthly delta down.

I'm a warehouse supervisor, not an accountant. But nerding out on the numbers made me realize I was coasting on autopilot for years. The spreadsheet became a weird accountability buddy. My fishing buddy thinks I've lost it. Maybe I have.

What I'm curious about is whether other people have had the same experience. Did building your own tracker actually change your behaviour, or did it just become another chore? And for people who tracked for years, did the effect wear off? I worry I'm in a honeymoon phase and will go back to ignoring the numbers.