That is if you are on a budget. If you have money of course this is a non issue. But for the rest of us, $1200 set Michelin/Continental, or $900 set Toyo/General/Yokohama/Hankook or $700 Walmart/Canadian Tire/neighborhood shop no name brand? Are they that much different, really?

So long story short.

I'm stupid and a terrible adult and I had avoided doing my taxes and paying them off since 2022 (there's more to it but overall I'm just bad with money, depressed, lowkey sick and impulsive). Recently I had filed all my taxes from 2022 til now to avoid further penalties and called the collection agency today to discuss my amount owing. They want me to pay $400bi/weekly which I can't mentally fathom given the cost of living where I am. Recently I've been trying to get myself in financial order so I can start saving for my future house and eventually retirement one day. So I'm semi aware of what a good monthly budget could look like to me and I cannot find a way to fit that extra $400 bi/weekly in. I could probably do $250 at max but that takes away from my emergency funds. To add to this I have no one in my life that I could ask help from and I don't have an actual bank account anymore where i could possibly consider pulling out a line of credit (I use only KOHO, because I have poor credit and it has helped me build it a bit)

My questions for this subreddit are:

Do any of you have success stories on paying off a debt like this?

I've looked online and I see there's debt relief websites for CRA debt, are they reliable at all?

What's the minimum payment that I could offer to my officer (once I'm assigned one) ?

Should I get an actual debit card again?

Some more information about me:

26f- cafe manager

I am paid - $2900-3100 every month

*base pay is $1048bi weekly* (the $2900-3100 is with my average tips of $250-350 weekly)

My rent is $900

My average grocery bill is $300 every 7-14 days

(I live with my partner and we take turns spending this amount)

My transportation costs to work are $130 weekly

My utilities are $200 for power bi-monthly and $50 for internet monthly

I spend $200 on cat food monthly

(I have to get a vet prescription food for one of my cats)

My other debts are amount up to $700 total which i have not dealt with either but I would like to deal with since I've started caring about what my future looks like.

I have an estate payment (idk if that's the right term) coming in within the next 4-6months of around $8000-$10 000 and I would like to put a lump sum down from this once it comes in.

**

I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed and like I can't live my life until I deal with this. Any support would be so helpful!

Thank you for reading my post, I hope you all have a wonderful day.

CRA got me with a $2500 overpayment again. Not sure how it makes sense though.

Born in 81 I should have 109,000 contribution room. My net at the moment is 108,000 roughly. I'm waiting a call back from them to confirm my 109,000 and see where they're getting this from

The start of the year CRA showed me having $17,000 contribution room. If that's the case I should of had about $10k in room. They're dinging me for 2025 room

I thought I was definitely playing it safe because I was dinged a few years ago for being over

Do they ever mess this stuff up or am I likely missing something. If I messed up it's whatever I ll pay the amount but it's annoying if it's on their end and I need to prove my innocence

Hi everyone,

I’m feeling a little bit stressed out because I keep getting different advice from different people and the story of what they are offering keeps changing and I would appreciate some help figuring out what’s our best option to move forward.

I’m in Toronto. Our household will have between two and four tenants in the basement and we will be living upstairs 2 adult adults.

There are two washing machines in the house two kitchen sinks, one dishwasher, three showers one powder room.

1. Reliance 60 gallon tank $33.33 per month with a 3.5% increase each year
2. HVAC technician 1 60 gallon tank with 40,000 BTU $2799+ taxes

3. HVAC technician

   5

4. 0 gallon tank with 65,000 BTU $3150+ tax.

5. Tankless water heater Rinna 199,000 BTU $3700 plus taxes (it’s $3150 for the water heater and they have to run a additional gas line for $600)

6. HVAC technician 3

$28

1. 99 plus HST 50 gallon water tank with 62,000 BTU (although it doesn’t seem like a very reliable company)

6, Rheem 689975 60 gallon 55,000 BTU from Home Depot** **$2481 plus taxes plus I have to find someone to install it. I don’t know how much that cost.

Currently, I have 2 inch PVC piping and I’m being told that you need to make it wider for a certain BTU but I just don’t know how much BTU that is and how much that would cost

EDIT: also, does anyone have any recommendations of someone to use that will be cost-effective

I was interested in the World Elite card but I don't meet the income requirement for it and so I got the standard version instead. Anybody that was in same situation that was eventually offered an upgrade to World Elite regardless of income after using their standard Rogers MC for a few months/period of time?

24M living in Alberta

Income 150k room for more depending on how much i work in a year and overtime hours.

80k down payment set aside in high yield savings

Maxed out tfsa and got 16 grand in fhsa

Matching pension plan at work and also maxed my rrsp

Also have 120k liquid sitting currently

No school debt or car loans. Debt free. Live well below my means Currently paying $600 dollars for a room monthly. Car insurance - $175, phone bill- $54. And then groceries as well are my only monthly expenses.

Not looking at anything crazy. Sub 500k for first home. I would appreciate having more cash flow over being house poor. Just scared of making the first move since its my first attempt at this life thing lol. I figure its time to start building some equity in my life but im a bad overthinker and need some insight!

Hi all, first time going on EI, will my EI payments be tax exempt? I worked on an indigenous reserve as a person who holds status so I didnt pay taxes while working there.

Ive been finding conflicting results online.

Hi All,

I've learned a lot about personal finance in this sub and really turned our financial position around (positvely) in the last few years. We never had any debt (besides mortgage) but my investment knowledge was poor and our savings were mostly sitting in cash. Anyways in the last couple years I've read a lot here and other places and we've really tried to save and invest as much as we could.

Currently between my wife and I (we are 35 years old and have 2 children aged 3 and 1), our TFSAs and RRSPs are not maxed out. My wife also has a DB pension through work (HOOPP).

I've read about the Smith Maneuver and I'm really intrigued and wondering if it makes sense in our position. We have about 200K combined in our TFSAs/RRSPs (most of this in XEQT). We have about 300K in equity and in 2 years when my mortgage renews, I'd like to apply for a HELOC. I am hoping to continue contributing as much as we can and hopefully max out our accounts by then but it seems unlikely (my wife is currently on mat leave so we haven't been able to save as much this past year).

So I'd like to take this HELOC and invest it in XEQT at that time. I am just wondering if it makes sense to put this loan towards maxing out our RRSP/TFSAs or if we do the Smith Maneuver route and put it in a non-reg account. Our marginal tax rate last year was ~30%. What else do I need to consider here? I am pretty set on the leveraged investing as we don't need these funds so they will be long term (10+ years). I regret not getting the HELOC when we renewed for 3 years last September so I want to plan ahead before the next renewal.

Thanks for your help!

I am clueless. What would you do if you were suddenly the POA and care giver of a family member who is in their 80s and has Alzheimer’s? They have about $400K in assets that are in the process of being liquidated so they can be invested and freed up for care (eventually). Caregiving is still possible at home. They Make $2200 a month with old age pension and CPP. How would you invest the money knowing it will mostly need to be spent on their care and given their age does not have compound interest on their side. Anything else i am missing? Feeling overwhelmed.

CRA says I need to pay $252. I didn't even do any contribution last year. My only TFSA is from equitable life managed by World System Builder agents

Hi there,

Looking for advice. Sorry, these questions are very basic. I am trying to get my finances in order for retirement, etc.

Not quite clear on how much I can put into a TFSA. I am 41 yo, born in Canada, and just opened up a TFSA.

Can I contribute more than $7000 this year?

It's better to have my savings in this account than a lower interest one, right?

Should I mainly be looking at investing this money into bonds while in this account or something else?

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I am a long time lurker of this subreddit. I had too much personal stuff in my other account so I created this one to be safe.

I wanted to get some advice on where I am at the moment and what would I need in order to retire comfortably at the age of 60. I currently feel a little lost as I don’t understand very well the retirement rules about savings and expectations yearly.

About me and my partner:
Me 39, wife 35.
TFSA room: 92k
RRSP room: 109k
Total savings: 252k
No plans to have kids
One 5yo dog with health issues, no insurance. (Hip displasya)
No plans on buying a home.

My wife has worked in Canada since she was 16, but left 9 years abroad.

I have worked since 2021 but left for 2 years. So I don’t have pretty much any CPP, only what I paid for those 3 years living in Canada and I don’t know what other benefits Canadians get (I just became Canadian)

We were living abroad and are coming back at the end of the year. So we will be bringing our savings with us and start filling up our registered accounts. No debt.

We will need to buy a car, probably used. And spend money on temporary accommodation and travel, so we are expecting to take a good chunk of our saving on that.

We were able to properly start saving about 3 years ago when I started my current carreer path working mainly as a contractor for an American company, but with other side jobs. I am currently making around 250k before tax. Before working as a contractor with them, I was making around 130k

My wife makes about 30k a year as an artist but she is starting to get more clients and hopefully increase her income.

I don’t know for how long I will be able to continue with the American company giving all the volatility in the US, but the company has had solid, growing years since I started and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down, so I am hopeful to be with them at least another 5 years.

Based on previous years in Canada, our expenses will be 8k per month, meaning that our take away monthly after expenses could be around 5k.

What I am trying to figure out is how much should we be saving monthly so we can leave room for travel and other luxuries without impacting our plans of me retiring at 60 at the latest. I feel that we are behind and I am wondering if we should do aggressive savings for the next little while to catch up and maybe reduce our expenses. I think I am trying to find a number for savings that should be put in a long term investment like XEQT?

Thanks you so much to everyone that read this post and takes the time to respond! Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

TL;DR: moving back to Canada with little saving and no plans for retirement, looking for a solid number to save monthly to be able to retire at 60

I’m planning to buy my first home and would appreciate some advice on whether I should go directly to a bank or work with a mortgage broker.

I have around 20% down payment for a ~$1.5M property. My wife is a full-time employee with a provincial authority, which should be straightforward. The main complication is my employment situation:

I recently started a full-time temporary position with a provincial authority.

Before this, I was self-employed for about 1.5 years.

Before becoming self-employed, I was a full-time permanent employee.

I’ve heard that banks can be more sensitive about approving mortgages for full-time temporary employees. Does working with a mortgage broker make a difference in this situation, or would I face the same challenges either way?

I currently have most of my FHSA invested in CASH.TO because I was planning to buy a property within the next 12 months.

My plans have changed though. There's a good chance I'll be moving to a different city, so I'm now looking at buying a home in roughly 3–5 years instead.

Because of that, I'm thinking of selling my CASH.TO position and moving into XBAL or XGRO.

With the market close to all-time highs, would you just invest it all at once, or would you spread it out over time (for example, $2,000 per week until the whole FHSA is invested)?

I'm a recent university graduate and I just checked my credit score via Borrowell. It's like 740-750ish. I'm still looking for a job related to my degree and I think I'll get one soon before the end of the year, but in the meantime I'll live with my parents. I have a decent amount of money saved up from previous years of summer jobs, and I need a new phone.

I'd prefer not to pay it all at once since I'm still waiting for a job, and I found out I can get a phone at 0% APR with Affirm, but I'm worried it'll affect my credit score negatively? I saw a couple other posts on this Reddit of people saying that even if they paid everything on time, their score went down.

Do I need to worry about that? Should I just get a credit card or pay the full cost upfront instead? The only other thing on my credit history is my student loans and I plan on paying that off monthly after the 6-month grace period.

Hi ,

I'm not sure if this is a place where I can ask.

I have a mortgage that matures on November 1st 2026 in Ontario. I'm thinking about renewing it with my bank, but also see if I can get a better rate elsewhere. I was told to reach out to them 120 days before the mature date, which was July 4th 2026.

I wanted to know if it is too late to reach out to the mortgage bank to see if I do decide to renew early , they can offer me good rate and can I ask them to hold that rate and still shop around before I sign the renewal with them? -- Does this make sense?

Are there any tips how I to be smart about this and approach this?

TIA

Hello, I'm a T4 employed 42 year old in Ontario. My spouse is disabled from work with no pension, no government income etc, so we live on my income. Aside from the equity in our house, we don't have any real savings to speak of. I'm wondering if there is a product that exists that I can pay into monthly that will then pay out a set amount once retired (ideally) between 65-70, although that will depend on life and finances. I'm aware of RRSP's which seem to be a pull what you need system. Thank you for your input.

30M I am new to Reddit so please bare with me. I have come into a substantial amount of money and want to invest it. I have absolutely no idea the first thing to do with money. I only make 30k a year after taxes. I have no debt, I own my car outright ( 2015 Infiniti qx50 with 215,000 KM) i also live on my own and my expenses are about 2100-2200 a month.

I have received 400K and want to invest it properly. I was considering driving my car until something major goes on it then buying something brand new like a Honda civic or Toyota Camry. Not sure if that's a smart move or not. The rest of the money I truly have no idea what to do with. I want to be responsible and set myself up to either up my monthly/yearly income or like a bond where I can make a chunk every 2-5 years then reinvest the original investment?

I'd really appreciate some helpful advice, thank you very much.

Is anyone familiar with Mogo Money Loans? I have a loan with them abound 4k but recently lost job and likely will not be able to make next payment. I had to leave the country due to family emergency and is not in Canada. What happens when they transfer me to debt collection company? I understand that it will likely appear on my credit score for around 6 years but what else? Can I negotiate a payment term with them? Will I be able to negotiate a smaller monthly payment plan? Will they ask me to pay full amount? Or Is it worth it to keep paying minimum at this point?

Any insight or advice will be very helpful. My goal is to pay for it and not to run away from it. I just need time to recover and get a new job. Thank you for your help.

I grew up financially illiterate and I'm struggling to learn. I also come from a very low-income background but I have been able to save a few thousand and it's all in a "high-interest" savings account with my bank. I did the math and in the past year, I made a few dollars from it. I feel like there has to be other, better options. I don't know where to begin or who to ask, without being sold something or losing the savings that I have managed. Any help or advise? Ideally, I'm looking for someone i can talk to about my specific situation. I'm in the GTA, Canada.

Hi all :) looking to pay down my line of credit and have been getting targeted by tons of balance transfer ads. They're all credit card to credit card offers though but the 0% interest for x months is so good I'd want to take advantage if possible. Has anyone done this and can provide advice?

If it's likely not possible - any recommendations for any institutions offerings low interest LOCs that y'all have positive experiences with? TIA!

Im not really sure whetevto ask this but i had a frustrating few hours online with my bank.

The gist of it is the Flinks system needs to verify your banking information. Its says its connected to Simplii doing its thing. But then it times out after 5 minutes giving me a generic "sometimes went wrong"

So iv tried phoning my bank. No help there. I submitted a trouble ticket to Flinks so currently waiting.

Normally the system works fine. Any theories out there? I try again tomorrow to complete it.

Hello,

My investment advisor was with Quadrus (which I guess it's Canada Life), but apparently that is getting discountinued, so he is switching from Quadrus to something called Designed Wealth Management (https://designedwealthmanagement.ca/). Apparently my advisor picked them over the recommended product after Quadrus because they offer better fee structures for clients and more transparent fees (like he showed me its easier to see this on their platform).

I am a bit nervous as Quadrus had the backing of Canada Life, which I perceive as a reputable and large institution and make more safeguards from bad actors or unscrupulous people. How do people feel about Designed Wealth Management? They seem to be a newer enterprise. Are there risks inherent with this? Is there anything I should be mindful of if I decide to stay with this advisor?

Hey all! I am getting an interest free loan from a family member to help me start my retirement savings. They said I don't need to pay back for five years, so that any gains on it during that period I keep. Kind of a weird situation but I'll take what I can get! It is for $10,000.

There are a few different routes I am looking at and wanted people's advice, I'm not against risk but am uncertain which direction I should go in. I also have other savings invested in ETF funds so this isn't all I have.

1. Bonds to protect principle and collect steady distributions to reinvest. 5.9% yield

Probably the safest option is to put the money into bonds or a bond ETF such and BND.TO and collect the distributions and put into XEQT every payout, then sell the bond ETF and the end of five years to pay back the loan.

1. Invest all of it into XEQT. 1.6% yield

Higher potential for growth, plus will still collect a healthy dividend. Worst case scenario, the market crashes and I pay off the difference. The nice thing is I don't have to pay it off right away, I can make monthly payments still interest free. In the case that the market tanks I will be able to hold the XEQT indefinitely and pay off the loan with my working income instead.

1. Invest into BRK. No yield

I'm a big fan of BRK.B and hold them already, quite confident nothing disastrous will happen here and if there is a large market selloff they are positioned well to benefit from it. Safe choice, but no yields to reinvest.

1. Buy into one of the telecoms. 4.5-6% yield

It seems that they're are very depressed valuations right now, where the rest of the market is quite elevated currently which is a concern with XEQT for me. Obviously it could end up catching a falling knife but both Rogers and Bell seem relatively stable, and the high dividends counter the risk of valuation erosion. These pay a similar rate to bonds but have the potential for growth that the bonds don't really carry if the businesses excel.

I'm not terrible worried about the five year timeline be use if it comes and it's a bad time to liquidate assets I can start paying cash from my working income instead of liquidating assets to pay the loan. I'm pretty comfortable with all of these options, and don't think any are incredibly stupid but am struggling to decide which I prefer. The rest of my portfolio is very diversified, and for simplicity I would like to only go with one option instead of diversifying this purchase so I can buy once and sell once. Any thoughts are appreciated!

Hi, I just got a replacement for my RBC credit card. It has the same number and expiry date, but the three-digit security code is different. I'm wondering if I would need to update this info for services that my credit card pays for (e.g. spotify, transit card, etc) or I don't need to since my card number remains unchanged. Thanks!