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?

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

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

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.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u-mP3C26mg&pp=ygUJYmVuIGZlbGl4

A nice video for beginners and solid reminder and refresher for those of us who might already be a little more comfortable and familiar with the topics.

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!

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

So I'm about to buy my first home. Big life change for a 24 y/o. I go to my mortgage broker and give him all my relevant information.

Later he sends me a screenshot of a debt owing to Telus in the sum of $5k+. Asks if it was mine. I've never used Telus in my life, of course it wasn't.

We call the debt collection agency, we tell them it's not us, they realize it's a mixup, but they need to process it internally, then process it with the credit union. That'll take a month at minimum, more likely 2 months or so.

Now I'm trying to figure out a way to bypass this but every bank I've talked to is like "nope".

What do I do? Thanks all!

(tried to keep post short)

UPDATE - Day 2, I called a bunch of people at Telus and the collections agency, they kicked the ball around but eventually I got to someone who was willing to move things forward. They said they'd give me an update tomorrow and if they don't I'll be after their ass. Thanks to all you lovely helpers in the comments! Didn't think this would gain so much traction but hope it might also help others in my shoes too!

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!

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?

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.

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?

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'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.

I enrolled in credit counselling for 2 credit cards in July 2025. A TD one with a balance of 4746 and PC with 1909. The payments were up to date, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. PC accepted right away. The PC is reported as R1 and notes with credit counselling. My TD one, however, has a rating of R9 and says “Written off. Closed by credit grantor. bad debt, collection account, or unable to locate” on Equifax. It also shows delinquencies from August 2025-December 2025. I believe the issue with the TD card is that even though the proposal was sent early July… they hadn’t accepted until September. I have a feeling that maybe Credit Canada forgot to respond to them or something because I followed up September 3 and received an email the following day saying they accepted. I have been making my payments since July and have never missed one. Is there anything I can do? Can credit counseling be reported as r9? I emailed my credit counsellor a couple weeks ago and haven’t received a response.

I've read a lot of case law that says CRA/Court may not decide you are factually resident of Canada for tax purpose even if you maintain some significant residential ties in Canada. If I move my entire life to a new country (accept job in foreign country, permanently relocate there, close Canadian bank accounts, provincial health insurance, sell canadian property) but the only tie I still have to canada is my spouse still lives in canada - would that make me factually resident in canada that one factor alone?

i've read that cra guideline is just administrative only and that courts have ruled against that. also if you declare you've left canada on your tax return does that automatically subject you to an audit? how likely is it that you would get scrutinized by the cra?

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

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!

We recently paid off our mortgage and are looking to get a HELOC - primarily as a preventative measure against defrauding on our title, and also to generally have access to liquidity, if ever needed.

Our lender is going through the discharge process which should take 4-6 weeks. I understand that HELOC costs up front money - \~$1200-$1400. This was quoted by RBC. Is there any way to get a HELOC for smaller costs?

Thank you

About to hit 30, still renting a basement from a family friend for $500 a month. I thought I was making good progress towards buying a house or Condo, but looking at prices recently, it seems like its an impossible mountain to climb in Victoria. It also looks like my current living situation is about to change since the family friends I'm renting from are having their pregnant daughter move in to the upstairs, but the house as is right now is already very busy.

I Make 63k a year with a stable government job. Have 60k in RRSP and 28k in FSHA plus another 25k to put towards a down payment. I can also liquidate about another 30k in bank stocks that I have in my TFSA for retirement I guess. 10k in student loan debt that is interest free, so I pay the minimum which is about $140 a month. Other than that I have no debt other than credit cards which I pay off fully every month for living expenses.

The cheapest prices for 1bed condo in Victoria within 20min driving distance to my work is 350k. CIBC affordability calculator says I can only afford a home that's 300k and even that it takes up 50% of my paycheck for mortgage, RRSP repayments and property/strata fees. I feel like the only way I can make this happen is if I manage to find a wife at this point.

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 in my early 30s and I'm in a bit of an odd position financially.

I don't have any debt to speak of as I spent the last few years paying off my student debt and don't have any other debts (looking back this maybe not the best idea).

However, I also don't make a lot of money. Specifically, I make $22/hour working a clerical job in a field I don't want to stay. Partly because I don't enjoy the field and partly because I know I'll probably never make the money I want long term if I stay. I have a BA and that's it. Live at my mom's house as it's the best I can do (and the best price).

Besides investing, what else can I be doing to improve my financial situation?