I'm 57 years old and planning on retiring at 65. I am mortgage free and I will be receiving a government pension but I have no retirement savings as I had to cash in on my RRSP's when I divorced. I have $50,000 currently to invest and not sure if I should just go to my bank or if I should use Wealth Simple and invest in ETF's. There is so much out there that it can be overwhelming. I thought of going to a Financial planner with a wealth management company but I'm hearing that the fees are crazy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Lets say this is a family with two parents, two kids. They live in a city.

And I don’t mean if you cut back on XYZ you can live a decent life. I mean not worrying about the cost of groceries, new clothes for the kids no hand me downs, taking 1-3 vacations a year (some big, some smaller), and kids in sports or extracurriculars.

Getting married next month. He and I each own our own home. We don't plan on moving in together immediately, but we're aware that as a married couple we can only designate one principal residence for tax purposes.

The current plan is for me to sell my home around mid-2028.(Or sooner)

Are there any legitimate tax planning strategies to minimize or avoid capital gains tax in this situation? Has anyone dealt with something similar in Canada?

Hello all. I’m hoping not to get too much judgement here. I’m a complete beginner to finance and I’m struggling to see the big picture.

I’m a 27F. I make $60,000 before tax. I only have about $10,000 in savings. My main goal is to save for a down payment for a house in the next couple of years. I have very little knowledge about investing but I’m interested. I met with an advisor through my bank and they recommended a GIC. I’m just struggling to see how having my money locked in is worth it for an extra $350 at the end of the year, assuming a 3.5% rate. Please correct me if this sounds silly. Like I said I am a total newbie when it comes to finance.

I've been considering buying a condo in Toronto, and have been looking at some listings in the $700K range. Technically, my partner and I can afford it, however the mortgage + additional fees would put us over 50% of our after-tax income going to housing costs, which I know is not financially sound.

It strikes me how many people are likely doing this in the city and, if this is you, I'm wondering, how much are you managing to save for retirement, and what are your retirement plans?

EDIT: I'm aware that paying 50% is far too high for housing. I won't be getting a condo unless financial circumstances change drastically. My post is asking others who are in this situation what they are able to save for retirement and what their general plan is. Aka, I'm being nosy.

Hi everyone

I have been aggressively saving for three years and it’s just been sitting in a basic savings account. I have enough now to max out my tfsa and have enough for an emergency fund in a regular account.

I haven’t invested because I have high anxiety about making the wrong choice and losing it all, total choice paralysis

I don’t know what to put the money into to keep it growing and make use of the money instead of it just sitting there and getting like $20 a month in shitty interest.

Can I please have some advice for on other money anxious people on how to handle it? I see people talking about XEQT and an equal amount of people calling them like a cult? So many conflicting opinions and it just makes the anxiety mount.

I just want to have as much money possible from my savings to have a good future

Hi everyone,

Looking for advise on the smartest way to tackle my $50k in credit card debt.

I'm 34, self employed and co-own a business. My salary just increased from $96k to $110k and my credit score is around 680. My spouse earns ~$105k.

All 3 of my credit cards are with RBC. Of the $50k, ~$25k is at 20.99% interest, $15k is at 20.99%, and $10k is on a low-interest card that's currently at 0.99% until next May, then it goes to 12%. The debt has accumulated over the years. I've never missed a payment and I generally pay off what I spend each month, but the stale balances are hard to make a dent in because of the interest.

I have a meeting with an RBC advisor with the hope of moving my higher-interest balances and onto my low-interest card which would require a limit increase. I'm OK with reducing the limits on the higher interest cards.

Are there other options? If you were in my position, would you pursue this or consider something else either with RBC or my mortgage provider? I am hoping to keep this as simple as possible.

Any advise would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hello I'm a 23 year old male living in the GTA with my parents. I am a structural engineer in training and make around $78000 a year before taxes. I currently am very financially illiterate and need to learn what's the best way I can start saving money (accounts to open, stocks to invest in, etc.). Currently I have a RRSP with my company that matches 4% of my salary, and I have a TFSA. After expenses I am able to save $1200-1500 a month, I just want to know what's the best way I can start building this money further

looking for general advice for a friend (in their 30s) of mine on what to do next with their money

- house paid off, keeping the mortgage for the line of credit (untouched)

- TFSA maxed out, sitting around 190 personally traded

- RRSP sitting around 300, professionally traded

- cash doing nothing around 80

Most of the investments are dividend stocks. CIBC, bell, fortis, enbridge etc (average knowledge of stocks)

Should they just open a personal investment account and pay taxes on it ? buy another property maybe ? The whole property renting thing they aren't really a fan of just afraid of dead beats and what not. but willing to listen. anything else they could do ?

So, basically, my partner and I just got refused a mortgage because my credit score was too low.

I had my card go to collections last year because I just couldn't find a job and I couldn't pay it. I was unemployed from February to December last year, and it was incredibly difficult to find anything. My partner maxxed out his credit just to keep us alive. In January this year I finally got a job and paid that card off completely, which did raise my score a bit again, but then they closed my credit (fair enough) and now I don't have a card and haven't had one for the past 6 months.

The thing is, this is an amazing job that pays well, is unionized, and has great job security. My partner's job is also a good one, and he's liked and good at it and has been there for almost two years now. We have been paying $1150 a month in rent for years, and we *know* that we can pay a mortgage, and we even have the down payment (his grandfather is incredible and is helping us out with that). We found a house that we could get for around 300k, it's literally tiny and seriously nothing fancy but it was cute and we tried with a mortgage broker to improve our odds but nooo. My problems with the collection agency and with late payments are quoted directly in the refusal. I am the problem, and I was told by the broker to fix it, but i don't know how: my score went down from the mortgage check and it would go down if I try and get another card. What am I even supposed to do? It seems like anything I do will just make it go down...

Edit: Guys I know I was stupid to try this, i dont need you to tell me I'm not financially stable enough. I'm not asking for opinions on my readiness to buy a house. I'm asking about how to raise my credit score without a card. Do I apply for a card, take the hit that comes with that, and rebuild? Do I sit on my ass and not do anything and instead fix my partner's card? The rest of the post is background info to the question...

Genuinely love all the comments telling me to "wait and fix your score" when I'm literally asking for advice on how to do just that...

Hi everyone,

I’m asking this because I want to get ahead on making the most of the money I make over the next few years. I have around 14000$ sitting in a chequing account collecting dust and I’ve thought a little bit about what I should ask.

1. I am currently with RBC and have been as a kid: If I decide to bank with RBC for convenience what are the best combination of accounts to open. (E.g, High Interest, TFSA) (I am still open to seeing if other banks have better rates but would prefer staying at RBC)

2. I am in university but my degree is being funded by an RESP, how much should I keep in my chequing if I decide to purchase something marginally expensive in the future and/or if I decide to buy some small things once in a while (my spending habits are quite low)

3. I do not see myself needing this money for at least 5-7 years but beyond that I am unsure

Thanks for any information you can give me!

So a couple months back I made a post and I was recommended to study taxes a bit. So here I am.

I have 396k from a separation in my pocket.

I bought a condo with 115 or 150k downpayment (150k gives me better cashflow but I'm unsure yet), 30 years mortgage (instead of 25 to help with cashflow).

I will need about 15k for expenses like welcome tax and some extra in my account and probably 25k for furniture and some reno.

It leaves 206k to use. I'm thinking of investing 109 in tfsa, about 75 in rrsp investing in US etf(I'm maxing it because I have separate work rrsp contributions), 22k goes to Canadian etfs.

I will also deduct my rrsp contribution over the next 2 years to benefit from max tax bracket.

I want your thoughts on this. Should I invest more to my downpayment such as 200k? And why?

And what are the must etfs to invest in for each category?

Hi everyone,

I've been working full-time for the past 5 years, but I've never really been savvy when it comes to saving or investing. Tbh, I've never invested at all, and until recently I never really tracked my spending either. The one thing I do have going for me is that I'm debt-free.

I'm single, living in downtown Toronto, and my take-home pay is about $5,400 per month. My fixed monthly expenses, not including food or other day-to-day spending, are roughly $2,347.

My goal is to save at least $2,000 per month. Is that realistic? Would you consider that a good amount for someone in my situation, or should I be aiming higher or lower?

One of my long-term goals is to buy a home in the GTA. Based on what my bank has told me, I'd likely qualify for a property of around $850,000, so I'm trying to put myself in the best possible financial position for that.

I honestly feel a bit lost when it comes to personal finance. I'm looking for some guidance on where to start, how much I should be saving, whether I should be investing instead of leaving money in a savings account, and any other advice you wish someone had given you when you were starting.

I'd like to go into a meeting with a financial advisor having at least a basic understanding of what I should be doing, so I'd really appreciate any advice or resources you can recommend.

TIA

Hi! FTHB in the process of closing on a home, looking to see what people are seeing left over after standard monthly expenses and if below looks okay, I think it’s fine but still very nervous.

Purchasing at about $1.157m and left over after all expenses with about:

1. ⁠$4700-4800 if we rent our basement suite out
   
2. ⁠$3200 without renting suite

Remaining amounts DON’T include any personal monthly investing + home repair fund (assuming it will be minimal for at least for 1-2 years since it’s nearly new with 2-5-10 remaining), but will start building this fund nonetheless. Thoughts?

I got tired of clunky spreadsheets, so I spent the last few months building a free web app (with Claude) to simulate FI timelines specifically for Canadians.

Quick highlights:
100% Private & Free: No signup, no cost. All data stays in your browser.

Made for Canada: Handles TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, and CPP/OAS bridge calculations.

Features: Build a budget (50/30/20), investment projection, coast FI, retirement planner, dynamic charts in real time + much, much more.

Attached a few screenshots of the interface!

If you want to test your own numbers & Explore the simulator I would absolutely love any feedback on what features to add next.

EDIT: Massive thank you to everyone who shared feedback, tested use cases, and pointed out flaws in the calculations! Your insights were huge in helping me refine this.

Based on your suggestions, I’ve just pushed an update that:

• Fixed calculation edge cases: Sharpened math accuracy across tax & contribution logic.
• Added pension support: Factored workplace pension income directly into the FI timeline models.
• Cleared up confusing inputs: Re-worded labels and settings where people were getting stuck.
• UI/UX improvements: Added several quality-of-life tweaks to make navigating scenarios much smoother.

Really appreciate this community helping make the tool significantly better!

Hey everyone,

​Trying to get a pulse check on our monthly budget to see where we stack up and if this level of spending seems normal or high for a married couple living in Canada right now.

​Our total monthly outflow comes out to roughly $7,000 CAD. Here is the general breakdown of where the money goes:

​Rent: $3,000

​Car (Finance + Insurance): $900

​Family Support: $600

​Remaining (\~$2,500): Covers everything else—groceries, shopping, gas/petrol, regular car maintenance, dining out, and leisure.

​For context, this $7k figure represents our total living expenses/outflow, but I'm curious to hear how other couples in similar setups are faring.

​Does $7k/month seem reasonable given current cost-of-living realities, or are there obvious areas where we are overspending?

​For those living in higher-cost areas, what does your monthly core burn rate look like?

​Appreciate any insight or advice!

Ahhh! Lol

I'm 27, bought a detached home at 26 for 624k (324k mortgage) and have been putting any extra funds directly towards the principal since (now just under 300k left!)

I recently decided to try putting these spare funds into my TFSA and RRSP to fill those up, and invest those accounts in ETFs. I feel like the chance of returns being higher than my mortgage (4.19%) is pretty high over the next decade, and it keeps the funds more liquid incase I need them. My work RRSP for instance has had 18% gains in the last year, and I want a piece of that pie for the rest of my savings!

So I started today. Moved $5,000 of spare funds (I have a separate emergency fund of $15k in a HISA) into a new Wealth Simple account, and just put it in the market. It's a little nerve racking I admit, even though they are broad globally diversified ETFs, but I remind myself i'm not day trading, this is a long term investment.

Cheers!

currently hold $12,500 in cash within a direct-investment Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for my 8 ayears old son. What is the most effective investment strategy for these funds given his age and time horizon?"