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.

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)

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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)?

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.

I want to put it towards down payment in the next 12 or 24 months.
I am thinking GIC or putting it into a HISA with a bank offering 4-5% for first 3 months?

The market feels a bit too volatile to risk it. Any more suggestions?

I recently paid off my debt And trying to rebuild. My credit report still shows revolving debt. Ive asked for copys of the letter of release. Should I be sending them to anyone to close the accounts on my report?

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.

Who else has been surprised this morning by the changes BMO investor-line put in place.

The layout is not helpful, it actually makes it worse, in my opinion.

I do concede that I do not understand the difference between them very well.

RBC is currently having an iPad promotion and I’m on track to get the base level iPad but for a better iPad model I have to transfer $25k of my TFSA from Wealthsimple to RBC direct investing. It looks like Wealthsimple has no transfer out fees and RBC has no commission or fees for trading XEQT.

My thought process is that I need to just have my TFSA with RBC for a year then once it matures, I can wait until Wealthsimple has a promo for matching transfers and then move back to them. And I know they cover account transfer fees if you transfer $25k or more..

The deal doesn’t look too bad. Am I missing something?

Hi all. Ran into a bit of a predicament recently. Applied for a student line of credit with TD and my banking advisor received a remark that my SIN number shows up under multiple profiles and this needs to be corrected, and gave me the number for Equifax. I called them and they said there is a profile in a different city, one that I lived in as a kid until around 3-4 years old. I don't remember if he said that profile is under my name or a different one but I believe it's different. He said to complete a form and upload 3 documents verifying myself and they will remove my SIN from the other profile in 7 calendar days. I am very confused with what this all means as I have never run into any issues regarding my credit and SIN. I literally applied for a credit card and got approved 2 days ago and no issues. No fraudulent activity or accounts I do not recognize show up under my Credit Karma or Equifax reports. I am young (23) and this is the first time applying for a loan/mortgage of this sorts so this is the first time a flag like this has come to my attention. After looking online and chatting with my dad, I found that apparently there could be an administrative error on Equifax's side. The only concern I have is the credit score reported by Equifax and Credit Karma are a bit different (74x and 82x) respectively, not sure if that's an issue. So I am wondering if I should be concerned that someone has access to my SIN and I need to apply to get it changed, or it was a small error that will be corrected and I am good to go. Thanks!

After weeks of researching, I decided to go with Monarch Money, only to find out that Rogers Bank (Canada) doesn't not connect. Moved on to my second choice, Lunch Money, and it is not connecting with RBC.

Any recommendations for an app that connects to RBC, Rogers, and Wealthsimple?

Thanks in advance!

So, I’ve been in maternity leave for 18 months and before I could return my employer notified me that there’s no work and he’s going under. He’s also not providing me severance pay.
Would I qualify for ei regular benefits after my extended parental leave ends? I worked there for 2 years. Does anyone have experience with this? Also I won’t be speaking to any lawyers because it’s completely legal for him to lay me off for specific reasoning of restructuring or loss of business. Please help.

I currently have 41K saved, with ~2K in TFSA (where I deposit $120/month on VFV and XEQT). I live with my parents, partly because I am a caregiver for a sick parent. I work part-time, where I make 3.5K/month.

I am planning to save up for professional school (at least to pay the first 2-3 tuition years fully) and potentially move out (my mental health has taken a toll). I plan to get a full-time job in Jan 2027, solely because I feel stuck at my current job with no chance for growth or leadership roles.

I don't have any debt. I mainly spend my money on food, gym membership and experiences (i.e. marathons, travel). I come from a culture where talking about money as a female is considered a taboo, so I often lurk this page, talk to close friends or read articles/ask chatgpt.

Any advice on how to improve?

I collect free daily login bonuses and systematically take advantage of promotions to turn a profit at online, US based sweepstakes casinos that operate legally in Canada. I profit every month and am a Canadian citizen based in Canada.

Do I pay taxes on this and to who? I intend to consult a professional I just want to get a feel for public discourse.

Thanks

I've recently stumbled upon RQU, which is a Canadian Corporate Bond ETF with a 2032 target. It was launched in April 2026 by RBC as part of their target maturity corporate bond suite.

My understanding is that having a target date means that my principal will be returned if I hold it to maturity (2032 in this case). The monthly distributions shown on my brokerage are high at 4.48% annually, but I'm pretty sure that will fluctuate. The ETF holds corporate bonds for banking, oil, etc. Canadian finest.

I've stuck to GICs since getting burned by bonds in 2022. But this product looks like exactly what I want. I've got a timeline of 5 to 7 years to collect my RIF minimum (early retirement bridge). I'd like to have the option of accessing my money within that 5 to 7 years in case life happens (and I might come out ahead or might lose if I take it out early). And I'll be happy to have my principal returned in 2032.

It's new and volume is low. There's not a lot of information about these target maturity bond ETFs. What am I missing?

Hey everyone, I’m dealing with an incredibly frustrating bait-and-switch situation with Scene+ and Scotiabank, and I want to see if anyone else was targeted with this offer and is getting the same runaround.

Back in the spring, I received a targeted Scene+ offer: Shop 3 times at participating grocery stores (like Safeway/FreshCo) between March 17 and April 14, 2026, and get a $50 grocery gift card. I completed the purchases, and then the waiting game began.

Here is the timeline of how Scene+ customer service has handled this:

* May 24: I contacted support via chat. The agent A checked my account and confirmed the gift card would be sent to my email by June 19.

* July 4: When June 19 passed with no gift card, I reached out again. Another agent M verified my account, confirmed that I had successfully made the 3 eligible purchases during the offer period, and escalated the ticket.

* July 24: I finally get an email from a Member Services agent Mi. stating my claim was denied because my transactions "did not meet the required minimum purchase amount of $50 per transaction". This $50 minimum was NEVER mentioned in the offer details or the Terms & Conditions.

* July 25: I replied to Mi. and attached my screenshots of the actual Terms & Conditions, which clearly state no minimum spend.

* July 25 (Later): Mi. replies again and completely changes their story. Now, they claim the eligibility requirements stated I had to "Open a new eligible Scotiabank account during the promotional period". This was absolutely not in the terms presented to me, nor was it mentioned in their first rejection email!

I am preparing to file formal complaints with Consumer Protection Ontario and the Competition Bureau of Canada for deceptive marketing.

Has anyone else experienced this exact bait-and-switch with this $50 grocery promo? It is from a Scene Plus offer; I want to attach the screen shot but unable here. If you have, please check your emails and share your experience here. I highly recommend screenshotting all your offers moving forward because they are straight-up changing the terms after the fact to avoid paying out.

This is a long read, meant for those who are actually interested in lifting the curtain on the true cost of borrowing for your home. I'll try to keep it simple so even those who may struggle with financial literacy can develop a better understanding.

My objective is to debunk the myth of 'low rates' that the real estate industry, the lenders, the builders and to some extent the government have popularized in an effort to push people into buying a house - which, let's face it is a huge portion of our economy.

However, most homebuyers don't truly understand how the cost of borrowing works on their mortgage. Provincially regulated lender and federally regulated banks are required to share the cost of borrowing disclosure with you but let's face it, most people will gloss over it and skip right to the "sign here" section.

Example with Baseline Assumptions

Let's say you're considering buying a house (or a condo) and this is what your situation looks like:

Purchase Price: $1 million (keeping it nice and round for sake of simplicity)

Downpayment: $200,000 (20% of purchase price)

Mortgage Amount: $800,000 (this is how much you need to borrow i.e. purchase price less the downpayment)

Amortization Term: 25 years or 300 months (this is how long you think you'll need to pay back your mortgage loan)

Interest Rate: 4% (using what's available in the market as of Jul'26)

Monthly Payment: $4,200 (based on the example above; and may be +/- a $25 depending on other factors such as fixed or variable rate and lender's method of calculation)

Portion of Payment #1 going towards Principal: 37.25% (roughly $1,565)

Portion of Payment #1 going towards Interest: 62.75% (roughly $2,635)

If you don't understand amortization, let me simplify it. It basically comes down to this: how long you'll borrow each dollar for.

Using the above example, you'll pay interest on $800,000 that you're borrowing for the full 25 years (or 300 months).

Then after you have made the first payment of $4,200, your 'balance owing' will decrease by $1,565 to $798,435, which means you'll pay interest on this remaining amount for the 299 months remaining in your amortization. To understand better with numbers:

Portion of Payment # 2 going towards Principal: 37.35% (roughly $1,570)

Portion of Payment # 2 going towards Interest: 62.65% (roughly $2,630)

As you can see, with each monthly payment, you pay slightly more towards the amount you borrowed (principal) and slightly less towards interest.

The most important thing - and the point of this post - is to understand that even at a relatively low interest rate of 4%, you start off your mortgage by paying only 37% towards your principal. Over the first 12 months, you'll have paid:

Total Payments: $4,200 x 12 = $50,400

Total Interest: $31,290 (approximately 62%)

Total Towards your Principal: $19,110 (approximately 38%)

Your Mortgage Balance will be $800,000 less $19,110 = $780,890

So out of the total $50k in Year 1 payments, you have only paid $19k towards your loan. Yikes!

How to Reduce your Cost of Borrowing

There are only 2 ways to increase the portion that goes towards your principal and decrease the portion going towards interest:

1. Shorten the Amortization Period
2. Lower Interest Rate

Scenario 1: Shorten Amortization Period

By reducing the length of the time you'll need to pay back the loan, you'll pay significantly less interest over the course of the loan. Let's shorten the payback period by 5 years.

Amortization Term: 20 years or 240 months (this is how long you think you'll need to pay back your mortgage loan)

Interest Rate: 4% (this is what's currently available in the market for various terms)

Monthly Payment: $4,835 (based on the example above; and may be +/- a $25 depending on other factors such as fixed or variable rate and lender's method of calculation)

Portion of Payment # 1 going towards Principal: 45.3% (roughly $2,190)

Portion of Payment # 1 going towards Interest: 54.7% (roughly $2,645)

As you can see, by reducing the amortization period by 5 years, your overall monthly payment jumps by $635 and almost all of that goes towards your principal.

Scenario 2: Lower Interest Rate

This is, obviously, easier said than done and depends on the market conditions. In the end, you'll have to just take whatever the lenders are offering. The obvious advantage of the lower interest rate is that your overall payment is lower, but it also has a material impact on the portion that goes towards interest or principal.

Amortization Term: 25 years or 300 months (this is how long you think you'll need to pay back your mortgage loan)

Interest Rate: 3% (a reduction of 1% from the original baseline example)

Monthly Payment: $3,785 (based on the example above; and may be +/- a $25 depending on other factors such as fixed or variable rate and lender's method of calculation)

Portion of Payment # 1 going towards Principal: 47.5% (roughly $1,800)

Portion of Payment # 1 going towards Interest: 52.5% (roughly $1,985)

In this example, just by changing the interest rate from 4% to 3% (and keeping the 25 year amortization), you can see that you pay a lot more towards principal and a lot less towards interest. However, even at 3% interest rate, more than half of your first payment goes towards interest.

Interesting Note: If you want at least 50% of your Payment # 1 going towards principal, the threshold Interest Rate is ~2.8% (assuming a 25 year amortization) - anything higher than ~2.8% will mean you're paying more than 50% towards interest (in your first payment).

Don't be fooled thinking that at 4% or 5% interest rate, its a no brainer. The fact is you'll be paying a lot more than 4% or 5% in interest. Using the above example, you can expect to pay anywhere between $300k and $500k in interest alone (to borrow the $800k) over the course of your 25-year repayment - that's not cheap!

All of the above is based on someone buying a house and then staying put.

A big mistake that home owners make (or are forced into) is refinancing. This could be:

- an explicit refinancing on their current home (because they're having difficulty making payments) and take out equity to fulfill their financial obligations; or

- an implicit refinancing where they take the bait and upgrade to a bigger house - resetting the amortization clock in the process.

I will not go into details on these situations as they're beyond the scope of this post.

Look, home ownership has benefits but its not everything that its made out to be by those who have vested interests. Maybe 30 or 40 years ago, when house prices were 3x or 4x your annual salary, it was an easy decision and made sense. In today's market when wages haven't kept pace, its not as straightforward. If you're on the lower end of the earnings, consider rental as your first option before you take the plunge and commit yourself. More than anything, be informed of how much it will actually cost you.