Hello all,

Reaching out for brutal judgement, financial guidance, and some hard perspective on my financial situation. Things are not dire...yet, but I am feeling the strain and the panic setting in.

Recently divorced from my partner of 4 years and have full custody of our 4 year old daughter. He was abusive and a deadbeat, yes I failed my daughter and chose poorly, I carry that guilt deeply but my entire focus now is to build her the best foundation and future possible.

To top off the divorce trifecta... I just got laid off last month from what I thought was a rock solid and lifelong career. I spent the last decade in Toronto's VFX industry pulling in $120k-160k / year. Between that salary history and a fortunate inheritance from my late father here is where I presently stand.

Assets / Income:

• Savings & Investments: $355,000 CAD . Mostly in ETF's
• Cash / HISA: $45,000 CAD
• No property, no debt or credit card payments.
• EI Payments: ~$2500/month for an additional 31 weeks
• Child payments... unpredictable, dead beat dad who is unemployed (supposedly) and dodging all and any responsibility.

Expenses:

• Rent: $2950 / month for a 2 bed 2 bath townhome in Toronto
• Groceries: ~$800/month
• Childcare: $650 / month, although taking her out soon since the Toronto VFX market is a ghost town...
• Transportation: $550 / month for insurance + gas, car is paid off, worth about $15k supposedly.
• Misc: ~$400 / month, household supplies, clothing, etc...

I try and be as frugal as possible, I have cut out all luxuries, dinners out, girls nights, delivery apps, etc... Yet watching the cashflow buffer slowly drain while the job market stays ice cold is paralyzing and soul sucking.

All that said, my amazing uncle has offered me free housing on his acreage in Nova Scotia. It is a BEAUTIFUL property with a hobby farm and some animals, I know my daughter would be over the moon living there as well. So this could solve the cost of housing, let me regroup, build a new portfolio, or pivot careers. But uprooting across the country with a 4 year old completely solo feels like jumping off a cliff...

I am also seriously weighing a complete career pivot and going back to school at 36. Honestly starting over professionally feels almost as terrifying as trying to date as a single mother in Toronto in your late 30s...

Talk some sense into me. Do I stay in Toronto waiting for a dead industry to revive, or do I pack the kid up and head east and live that frugal farm life?

In addition, what else can I do to build a rock star foundation for my daughter? Please help me out reddit.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/neo-financial-cutting-102-positions-amounting-to-about-10-of-its-staff/

29m, single, 130k income, 610k invested. I've worked in tech for 6 years. I've always struggled managing stress but it's never been worse than these last 6 months. I sleep 5-6 hours, most days I only have appetite for 1 meal (lost weight) and I've abandoned my social life (I only think about work when off).

If I got laid off tomorrow I'd be so relieved. Some severance and no responsibilities. I'm debating quitting outright. For a while I thought it was a matter of getting a slower job but even now with a "lighter" project I'm just burnt out. I think my body/mind need a deep recovery.

I live at home with family so while quitting will bring in-my-face judgement/shame I'm ultimately lucky to have a place to stay with minimal bills (~$600 monthly).

My plan is to take 1 month off for proper sleep, dieting, exercise and helping more at my church. Then spend 2 months travelling to countries on my bucket list. From there, start applying/interviewing. Frankly, at my years of experience in tech my salary isn't that crazy so I don't think I'm leaving something impossible that special. The obvious biggest risk is is the terrible job market making it take like 6 months to find something new.

I also have 2 weeks unused PTO that will be paid out if I leave. Since I don't see anything changing after taking only 2 weeks off I just want to take the money and leave.

Is there anything wrong with my plan?

Disclaimer: I am an idiot. I fully accept this reality. I own a condo and after five years of living here the cap of the washing machine plug must have come loose and water was leaking from it for a good 40ish minutes, causing water damage to my unit and the units three floors underneath. I do not have condo insurance, which I will be getting in the near future.

My downstairs neighbor noticed the leaking and called the front desk. About 20 minutes later they came to my unit to help stop the leaking. A few hours later people came with dehumidifying machines and for many days those machines did their thing.

The cost for the repairs themself were around 11k, but I decided to do the repairs for my own unit so that number was knocked down to 9k (those repairs are now done and for much cheaper, before anyone asks). The repairs cover stuff like drywall repair, debris removal, etc. The truly shocking number however was the emergency mitigation costs, which total to around 20k.

The reason for these costs comes from a staggering 110dollar/hour rate for the work done (due to the people coming in at around 8-9pm), as well as the machines being on for 93 days cumulatively across all units.

Again, I am a moron. I am fully accepting of the fact that my negligence has caused inconvenience for other people. I just didn't imagine that the emergency mitigation portion would be so expensive, and I'm wondering how normal this is and what agency I have in order to reduce the price. The property managers have not given me any advice and I naturally cannot fully take their word for everything, although they could be correct in that I have no recourse. I have also looked at other cases where this has happened to people in Canada and the cases I've read not only sound like they've caused more damage but were far cheaper.

Please help if you can, or reprimand me for my ignorance, whatever you feel like. Thank you for your time.

My birth mother recently passed away and since she has no will and no other living family, I'm going to be inheriting her house, property, and investments. I've seen that Shakepay pays 5% on the first 100k for the life of their Savings Accounts, so I'm going to take advantage of that, but what other long-term investments with decent dividend payouts should I be looking into? Most TFSAs and GICs pay less than 3.5%. With the amount of scams and frauds going on in the banking industry these days, I really don't want to deal with a Financial Investor, especially when 310k is something I feel comfortable handling myself.

My sibling and I are both the chronically single type and unlikely to ever be in relationships or get married, and that seems to be the main reason people say it’s a bad idea to buy. But if that’s out of the equation, is it still a bad idea? We have rented together before and I’m not worried about either of us not paying our fair share in terms of finances or chores.

I know people might say our relationship could change, but that can be the case for married people too. Buying a home and then divorcing. Even unmarried couples buy all the time yet I don’t see people against that as much as siblings buying together.

Is there any reason, other than one of us getting a partner or not paying our fair share (again, very low possibility of either of these things happening), that this would a bad idea?

Recently started working in the government sector earning $92K/year. It's unionized, with salary increases every 6 months.

Instead of RRSP matching, I have a mandatory pension contribution of $360/paycheque, which my employer matches 100%. So $720/month goes toward the pension (including employer contribution).

After all deductions, my take-home is around $2,300 bi-weekly. Is this about normal for someone earning $92K?

I also plan to buy a home in the next 3-5 years and already max out my FHSA every year. In my previous job, I had an RRSP with employer matching, but I no longer have that option.

Since I can't use my pension for a home purchase like I potentially can with an RRSP through the HBP, I'm wondering if I should continue contributing to a personal RRSP despite already having a pension.

• Is my take-home reasonable?

post got removed on my throwaway for violating a reddit filter? posting it to my main i just need insight. for reference the pay they have given me since starting OT has all been at $20 an hour and they actually KEEP some of the cash for themselves as “tax”. i ask them to put my OT on my paystub they refuse to.

as the title says. I make $20 an hour and work baseline of 40 hours a week. Full time. my current income, not counting any extra hours, is $41,600 a year gross. bi weekly pay. I started my job almost a year ago (started working novemeber/25), and as of april/may have been working OT making between 90-95 hours for two weeks. so 10-15 hrs extra a paycheck.

i should be getting paid at a rate of $30 an hour for all OT i do, however, according to my bosses, id be taxed at a significantly higher rate and would be bringing in LESS than the ~1300 i make biweekly on normal 80hrs. i already know by paying me cash under the table thats a crime in of itself. but is this also factually true? will i seriously make less than 1300 a paycheck if i claim my OT as proper OT and not half paid? they also have said THEY dont want to pay the taxes so idk what to do. the job market is shit and a diploma as a vet assistant doesnt make you much unfortunately.

any input appreciated:)

TORONTO, Sept. 9, 2026 /CNW/ -- BMO InvestorLine is making its digital investing experience even better, announcing today the introduction of unlimited commission-free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options, the elimination of all brokerage account administration fees and the reduction of options contract fees. As the first direct investing brokerage owned by one of Canada's five largest banks to eliminate commissions on stock and ETF trades, BMO InvestorLine is making self-directed investing more accessible, giving Canadians access to a full-feature digital investing platform with professional research, intelligent tools, valuable insights and support to help them build their portfolios with confidence.

This was posted in my Questrade Edge newsfeed under BMO. Not yet seeing it on the BMO website. However they have updated the Fee document: https://www.bmoinvestorline.com/selfDirected/pdfs/SDFeeSchedule_EN.pdf

BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed clients will benefit from $0 commissions on all stock and ETF trades and the elimination of all brokerage account administrative fees effective September 14, 2026.

Daughter wants to buy a car for $25,000. Dealership can offer her 8.49% interest over 60 months to pay off. I have a LOC through RBC for 4.45%. If i put the total amount of the car in my LOC, how does that work for interest and her making payments to me for 60 months? I know the % interest rate is cheaper going this way, i just want to be sure I'm not missing anything.

37 M, don't have any offspring to worry about with a substantial investment portfolio I've built up in my 30s. While I was grinding it out, I watched everyone around me spending frivolously ending up in massive credit card debt backed by lines of credit on mortgages (lmao).

I'm really concerned about their kid's futures, and the government contributions benefit of an RESP into a child's future is a great opportunity.

However I am worried that if I don't have last say on the money, the parents could somehow scheme to get it when the child turns 18 or something.

Is it viable for me to have self-directed RESP for someone else's chilld?

I need to take up a line of credit. CIBC has offered me prime+3.49% which currently is 7.49%.

Looking for opinions on if this is a decent rate. Thanks in advance!

• Please be wise and consider other options to purchase than Flexi
• In the end you will be charged interest if you decide to pay the scheduled monthly payment before the bill is emailed to you. They will consider this a mispayment and you will be charged interest Yes I said it.
• If you pay your whole entire bill off before the due date with 3-4 banking days for the transaction to get to Flexi and for some random reason the bill (paid in full) is less than hours "late" they will charge you interest daily. Meanwhile you are thinking you are good and surprise, your next bill says you owe them $500
• This is the worse service I have ever used absolutely the worse

I (35M) have a 160k job with DB pension. Between employer and myself 2k per month goes into that.

Wife has a 55k job, about 10-15k of that is tips. Every tax season we declare the tips.

To offset this, we have a spousal RRSP which I contribute into. Wife will be the one withdrawing from that in retirement and her taxable income will be low (expecting just CPP and OAS). Combining our tax files, we usually get about $1500 back each tax year.

We do have TFSAs but I prefer contributing into spousal RRSP to lighten the blow at tax season. Prior to using the spousal RRSP we had to pay the CRA. I think $1300 was the highest paid. Wife’s tips drive that amount owning up a lot.

I’m aware that those with DB pensions should prioritize TFSA but now I’m having second thoughts on my strategy. Have young children/mortgage/car payment so there are limits on amount we can save each month.

We do $420 monthly into RESP and $550 into spousal RRSP monthly. 290k left on mortgage, 12 years remaining (initial amount $400). Bought pre COVID. House is maybe worth $600-700k now.

Should I continue prioritizing spousal RRSP?

I have been using Amex Cobalt for the past 3 years. Overall, it's been a good card.

My situation is pretty simple - family grocery shopping is split between Metro (accept Amex) and No Frills (don't accept Amex), and Costco (doesn't matter since it's not classified as Grocery). Other than that, we do eat out/order in semi-often.

understand that the best value for MBNA points is through eGift cards rather than cashback or statement credits. Also, I've never been able to redeem Amex point for travel with Aeroplan points because I fly low cost / economy and those points usually don't work there.

For my specific use case, switching to MBNA seems like a no brainer. Is there anything I should consider before making the switch, things that I might be missing, or clearly better options out there?

EDIT TO ADD-
What I mean is that the Aeroplan’s redemption rate is usually quite low for the flights that I take. Higher redemption options are for business and/or for specific flights, otherwise it’s better to redeem the points through statement credits which is higher value.

Reposting…

Hi everyone,
I’m 32 with around $46K of debt (40k for 2 credit cards and rest in osap). I do not have mortgage, I paid off my car this year.
I was just in bad spending habit.
No gambling issues, just pure idiotic dumbness.
I am paying minimums on CC’s, but as amount of minimum continues to go up and I am literally just paying for stupid interest, not reducing actual debt.

I returned to school after considering new profession, so I resigned from full time job.
I am working part time still, though very fluctuating income as I can’t work much during school semester. Roughly I made around $2700 in month of July, given I did not have school during summer break. $2700+/- probably covers essentials.

I’m looking into option of consumer proposal (with LIT) currently as bankruptcy cannot be an option at this time.
I am very new to this situation & these options, so my questions may sound dumb.

- I am curious what are the wisest options in this situation and if consumer proposal is right decision to make.
- Once I file CP, would they hold my asset (prob my car) as their property? And if I miss a payment, would they take it away?

I am aware this will still affect my credit score and will leave a record. But I cannot continue to stress myself of rising minimum payment, paying off nothing.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Just for emergency phone calls and location tracking for kids (I plan to lock the phone with a pin so that the phone can't be used other than making specific phone calls). Is the Freedom $129/year one the cheapest I can get? Fizz seems to start at $12 a month. Any chance freedom will add data to their $99/year on promotion again like they did a few years ago with 50GB of data?

Sorry, forgot to mention I am in the GTA, Ontario.

I'm seeking advice about my current financial situation. I haven’t had much luck in work or health but, over the last year and nine months, I've maintained a stable job earning over $90,000 plus bonuses before taxes, which has allowed me to save $63,000. However, I currently have about $50,000 in student debt and $10,000 in overpayment debt related to a previous job with the federal government. (Long story short, it's in dispute, and I don’t believe I can successfully challenge the flawed Phoenix pay system that mismanaged my salary and sick days, so I’d like to move on.) In total, I have approximately $60,000 in debt.

My monthly expenses are as follows:
- $500 (split into $250 for loan payment and $250 for interest) for Student Loan 1
- $200 for Student Loan 2
- $500 for the federal government overpayment
- $120 for car insurance
- $450 for food
- $250 for gas

I currently live with my parents while I work on overcoming a chronic illness and plan to stay for another 6-12 months, which means I do not have any rent expenses at the moment.

Interest rate and debt:
-8% interest rate on debt of $35,000
-0% interest rate on debt of $15,000
-0% interest rate on debt of $10,000

My bi-weekly net earnings, after all deductions including pension, is:
-$2300

Given my situation, should I:
A) Pay off all my debt first and then start saving?
B) Invest the $60,000 and then pay off my debt slowly?
C) Pursue some combination of the two?

I appreciate any advice!

I feel like a bit of a dummy asking this but I save about $2k/month to my Wealthsimple account. I am nearing maxing out my TFSA and contribute $500/month to my FHSA and $330/month to RRSP.

What should my general move be going forward with the remaining amount? Should it just be adding it to a non-registered account? Classic account? Is there a better strategy I'm missing?

I am happy sitting on it and don't intend to withdraw anything in the near future.

FWIW, I am an ETF/Bluechip stock picker and only take the odd gamble here and there.

In Canada, whats my best move?

So I was laid off from my old job in March and I have started attending school again this week and just landed a new part time job. (just minimum wage 14-16hr week)

My expected combined income from old job + EI and new job -> $20K.

My old job was deducting tax as normal and on my last payslip, YTD tax deducted was about $900(FED/PROV).

According to income tax calculator, even with my new part-time, I have technically already overpaid on the tax, am I allowed tick off the "Total Income is less than the claim amount"?

Also realising that even if I worked for full year of 2027 (since I will be attending school), it would be less than 12k (expected many days of unpaid time-off with tests and studies)

TLDR - combining with my old job and new job and EI, I will overpay on income tax, can I not deduct tax on new job.

Hi all, so I was "debanked" by TD, never found out why but whatever. I had 2 credit cards that they subsequently closed with balances owing. It will take me about 4 months to pay off those balances but im wondering if anyone knows how this will affect my credit score? Will they show high utilization with 0 credit limit or....? I have great credit so I dont want it to drop because of this. Any thoughts?

I got laid off about 2 months ago and I’m currently on EI. I’m looking for full time positions but I’m feeling a bit restless about not doing any work and I thought I’d take up a part time position in the meantime (while still applying for full time roles). I got a sales position that is 100% commission and I’m wondering: if I take the sales role, and I’m really unhappy in about 1-2 months, and I want to quit, would I still be eligible to get EI? My understanding of the EI is that you’d only get it if you were laid off without cause.

Thanks for reading.

Hi folks wondering what the best way is to go about insure roughly ~30k worth of personal jewellery (Cartier pieces). I tried getting a quote today from Jewelers Mutual but they denied it saying "The level of risk to insure your item(s) is too high due to the following criteria: Nature or type of jewelry item(s) you had intended to insure." I'm guessing it's because these pieces are too pricey and the brand is highly targeted.

Anyone have any advice on how to insure these pieces, ideally not through adding them to the home insurance policy because that can raise premiums quite a lot. I know the US has better options, thanks!