u/TheZarosian

My current mortgage provider offers a no-questions no-fee monthly "skip payment" once every calendar year for mortgage payments. Essentially you can opt to not pay for a month, principal doesn't get paid down, interest continues to accrue, and you are not flagged for non-payment.

While it's mostly there for emergencies, what would be the downside if I used it simply to just redirect cashflow to ETF investments in TFSA? Mortgage is currently 3.7%. If I redirect into ETF investments in registered accounts, it would make 7-9% over the long-term horizon.

My idea would be to opt into it every December, which lets me immediately fill a portion of TFSA again once limit increases come January. But it also keeps the option open for the entire next year in case of true emergency.

I liquidated about 50k from TFSA back in November 2025 for a home down payment. After putting back any excess funds from the purchase, I now have about 45k room remaining in the TFSA.

I am able to move some non-reg investments which are in equity ETFs to fill that 45k again, but would incur roughly 4k in capital gains tax for 2026 based on some napkin math.

Would it be worth paying 4k to max out the TFSA again, or should I just keep things as is and slowly fill my TFSA again through regular savings? I expect it will take 5+ years to fill out the TFSA again (baking in annual contribution room increases)

Ever since 2019 the entire network of express routes has seen cut after cut. But my question is -- why these routes over other routes?

In the entire dumpster fire that is OCTranspo, the existing express routes are some of the best run and efficient routes I've seen. They're constantly full and show up on time. Buses run on rush hour. They get the bulk of people from where they are to where they need to be. The 260s and 270s get me to the suburbs 10-20 minutes faster than the normal routes which make stops all the time.

Meanwhile on the 60s and 70s, 90% of the people I see are getting off at major stops anyways. Couldn't they do something similar to TTC and convert some of these runs to express runs, albeit at the expense of lower local frequency runs? Same strategy happens with GO Train, which prioritizes rush hour express routes for outer suburbs that go straight to union after servicing 3-5 local stations.

I get that transit is a public good, but at a certain point do we really need every bus to stop every 300 meters?

Please Jagex I'm asking again. Please just end my suffering in the red prison and remove the gauntlet failed loot chest. Just give nothing if you fail. Not even crystal shards.

I can't stand dying and then having to collect my 15 cakes with the broadcast available for everyone to see. Average loot from a failed chest is 2k. I'd rather just have nothing at that point and keep my sanity.

After years of savings, we're looking to do some serious near-term spending for a 2nd car and some major renovations. Currently, all the nearby dealers have solid 0-1.49% financing deals for 2025 inventory. The kicker is that they are all relatively short 2-4 year terms and so the monthly payment is about $1000-1500. We're planning to install a fence which the contractor has a 2 year 0% financing going on at about $500/month.

With those two together, it would put us essentially living "paycheque to paycheque" for the next 2-4 years with all our takehome pay going into expenses. However, I say this in quotations because we could pay both in cash (~60k total) if we wanted to as we have approximately 250k in ETF investments combined. In case of emergency, we also have access to about 500k in HELOC/LOCs with varying interest rates of between 4.45% to 6.45%.

So far people I have asked are mixed on this. Some can't imagine living on the edge every month. Others have said my situation isn't really paycheque to paycheque and it's more just taking advantage of low interest loans.

Would it be better to just pay it off in cash, or would taking large loans going paycheque to paycheque be acceptable in these circumstances?

I'm thinking about starting to use WS margin to accelerate any investment gains and was wondering what would be an appropriate risk level of margin to use? So far I'm thinking around 20% of my existing portfolio (i.e. if I have 100k, I use 20k of margin). In this case I would only get wiped out on a margin call in a 80% downside scenario.

Occasionally I think to greed and go for up to 50% which could wipe me out in a 66% downside scenario. Everything would be in equity ETFs with 15+ time horizon.

Effective after-tax interest rate would be ~2.5% after deductions.