r/CanadaPersonalFinance

I recently sold my house and purchased a new home with my girlfriend, with ownership split 50/50. After the sale, I now have $220k in cash and I’m unsure what the best next move is financially. I’d appreciate some advice on how to handle it. Here’s some background information:

• My TFSA is already maxed.
• I have $41k of RRSP contribution room remaining.
• I have an RDSP with $21k in it currently, and it should be maxed by the time I’m 40, with an estimated value of over $150k.
• I’m 31 years old.
• I have a federal defined benefit pension.
• I plan to retire at 55, possibly as early as 50.
• I started full-time at my current job at 28, so I won’t have enough years of service for a full pension. My plan is to bridge my retirement income so I can avoid taking a penalty for drawing my pension early. (Draw from RRSP, RDSP, until I take pension)
• I have no debt other than my share of the mortgage payments.
• My salary is $90k per year and increases by roughly 2% annually until retirement.
• I also have an emergency fund already set aside.
• All of my investments are self-directed, mostly in XEQT, and they’ve averaged roughly 14% returns so far.

What I’m mainly looking for advice on is:

• Should I immediately max out my RRSP using part of the $220k cash I currently have sitting in my account, or would it make more sense to invest through a non-registered account instead?
• If I do max out my RRSP, does it make sense to contribute the full amount now but only claim part of the deduction this year and carry the rest forward to future tax years?

Let's look at the zero-sum nature of household financial allocation. When an average middle-class family is forced to commit 50–60% of their gross monthly income strictly to servicing the principal and interest obligations on an overpriced residential mortgage, that capital is completely vaporized from the perspective of the broader economy.

Those billions of dollars cannot be used to purchase consumer goods, support local restaurants, invest in corporate small businesses, fund specialized education, or acquire productive financial assets. The housing bubble acts as a massive, structural drag-anchor that slowly suffocates the velocity of money across every other sector of the Canadian economy, ensuring a future of permanent, secular stagnation.

7 questions about where you're at in life and it'll tell you what you're eligible for federally, provincially and municipally (62 cities so far). 20 languages. I hope its helpful for many.

We own a very humble home with a 250k mortgage left on it.

We’re looking to purchase a 2nd home and rent out our current home at a fair and reasonable price.

We have roughly 320K saved in various accounts.

Would you suggest we pay off our current home and start saving for our 2nd home and look to buy in 4 years, or purchase the 2nd home and carry 2 mortgages?

HHI is 200K before taxes and we have no help from family.

We have a 2 year old child and are hoping for a 2nd child soon.

Dealership asks for $1000 processing fee for financing which just doesn’t make much sense to me considering the price of car and the amount of loan. Can I apply for a car loan not via dealership but to bank directly? TBH I can pay the finance amount out in a few months, so really dont want to pay extra 1k just for this.

I've been putting off going to the dentist for almost two years because I lost my work coverage when I switched jobs. Finally bit the bullet last week and called around to a few places in my city to get an idea of pricing before booking.

First place quoted me $280 just for xrays.
Second place said $340 for a "new patient exam package" which apparently includes xrays, a cleaning, and a consultation.
Third place didn't even give me a number over the phone, just told me to "come in and we'll assess".

I'm not made of money here. I just want someone to clean my teeth and tell me if I have any cavities. That's it.

The thing that kills me is I actually looked into buying my own dental insurance and after doing the math it barely makes sense. The monthly premium plus the waiting periods for anything beyond a basic cleaning means I'd basically be paying to save maybe $50 twice a year. What's even the point?

Has anyone figured out a system for this? Do you just pay cash and negotiate? Are there clinics that are more straightforward about pricing than others? I've heard some places are way more reasonable if you're upfront about not having coverage.

Found a Dentist in Winnipeg recently that actually lists their services clearly and takes walk-ins, which felt refreshing compared to the runaround I've been getting, but I'm curious if that's rare or if I just haven't been looking in the right places.

Genuinely stressed about this. My tooth has been slightly sensitive for a month and I keep ignoring it, which I know is making it worse.

CMHC mortgage insurance is what allows first time buyers to get a property with a much smaller down payment than a lender would typically be ok with.

By insuring the mortgage (at the expense of the buyer) they make the bank comfortable with the buyer having a lower downpayment.

The main issue I see here is that it creates an artificial demand for properties by increasing the amount of buyers who would otherwise not quality. Buying a home with 5% down plus mortgage insurance means you basically have 0 equity and you're paying huge amounts of interest for the loan.

If someone struggled to even save 5% down, odds are that the mortgage is already pushing them to their financial limits, but CMHC allows them to buy something they likely shouldn't.

Its this artificial demand that drives up prices because you have financially over-leveraged people competing with financially responsible buyers.

Thoughts? Am I out to lunch here?

I have a TFSA with TD where I’ve had a GIC in it the past 2 years. It is coming to term next month but the GIC rates at TD are not great and investing on the app seems confusing to do. I want to transfer this TFSA to my Wealthsimple account since they currently have a 1% match promo going on.

Once I move this money (~$26K) over to Wealthsimple, what should I invest it in? I currently have money in QNC and XEQT, but don’t know if I should just be putting this new money somewhere all at once. Any advice would be great!

Assuming you have room to contribute to each. Is there a general income threshold where RRSP makes more sense because of the tax deferral? This is assuming this is for specifically retirement investing and also assuming I will reinvest the tax return from the RRSP.

So I make $25.55/hr for a 40 hour work week, this comes out to $36,900 a year after taxes. I don't pay living expenses since I live with my parents but my biggest expense is flight school and the number for that fluctuates really depending on how many times I end up flying a week.
For the most part it's at 2 times a week at a rate of around $1000 a week or so.

The job I currently have is not in my field. I couldn't find anything with the degree I had and I only got this job out of desperation since at least it's money. But with the overall cost of living and getting mowed down by taxes, it's just not enough.

I was wondering what kind of way can I use to maybe invest $100 a week to make my money grow in some way with stocks or assets.

I opened a wealthsimple account and a questrade account but they are dormant and I didn't do anything with them because I'm both afraid to invest and don't know how or where to begin.

I filed bankruptcy about 6 years ago, and now I have a 0 credit score.

I have no loans or credit cards, and have been scared to open anything for fear of ending up in bankruptcy again.

What is the best way to start this properly?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Decided to write a post showing an example of why renting can make sense.

40M, 2 kids, live in the GTA. Recently separated (common law) from a very long term relationship. I have a fairly high income, and could buy. But I prefer to rent and here is why.

We bought our first property in 2017. All renos/repairs done with cash. No LOC. Rolled the gains into another property 2 years ago. We sold it 3 months ago. Lost 60k in equity, then another 60k via realtor commissions. That wiped out a good amount of the gains from our 1st property.

In looking back, here is the performance of my non real estate investments vs real estate.

Non real estate TFSA, RRSP, unregistered

In 9 years, my total contributions have gone up 40%

Real estate

In 9 years, my total contributions dropped 19% (without including loss, commission, and my ex getting her half)

In my situation, I contributed almost 100% of all housing costs. Repairs, maintenance, property tax. It all adds up. I'm not handy, so any electric work, plumbing.. required paid service.

Previous costs 7500/mo

Mortgage, prop tax, upkeep, insurance.

This number balloons to nearly 13k/mo over the next 5 years as we considered finishing the basement, redoing the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and the backyard (cash or LOC)

Current costs 7200/mo

Rent, lower insurance, child support

This number balloons to 12k/mo over the next 5 years if you include my lump sum spousal payment (paid via house equity and selling other securities)

So both scenarios I'm somewhat even.

However with owning a home, the costs are unpredictable, and sometimes very large. With renting, there is so such risk. The risk with renting is rent going up slightly, or having to find a new home.

Now for retirement.. peple tell me that if I buy now, my lodging costs would be significantly reduced for retirement.. but my response is.. would they?

Lets say I am 58, retired, no more child support, house paid off. I'm still paying property taxes, repairs, renovations, I run the risk of a huge repair (roofing). You could easily argue that I need to budget 2-3k/mo for housing even without a mortgage. My rent now is 3500 for a house with room for my 2 kids. Maybe by 58 I don't need such a big home. Maybe a 2 bedroom townhouse where I live will cost 3000-3500.

To top it all off.. my non real estate investments have done so much better than housing. I know we will all see an eventual big drop in our investments (recession), but as of now, my investment strategy is to increase my investments and rent for the foreseeable future.

TL:DR owning a home by retirement doesn't mean you don't need to budget for housing costs. It's more than you think. I'm budgeting rental costs for the rest of my life and for me it makes mathematical sense

I am 23 and still living at home with my parents. I make around 130 000 per year due to overtime. (Base salary is round 80k per year) I am on my first year. My take home is around 3200 - 3600 per pay check and over time is basically unlimited all year round and has been like this for the past 20 years and it probably will continue for the next 20 years (law enforcement.) I basically save close to 5k per month.

I have around 50k saved up and stored it away and pretend like I don't even have it.

I bought a new car ($600 / month) when I was working my other job when my take home per month was around 3000 per month.

Here's the plan ; I want to move out of my parents home and upgrade cars

$6400 take home salary

- $2200 (rent, parking utilities/internet)

- $500 (food)

- $1000 (car payment, insurance, gas)

- $750 (extra circular activities)

= $4450 (months total cost, which leaves me with $1950)

And now the bad financial move ; I would want to put $30 000 down on a $84 000 vehicle to bring the monthly costs to 1200 per month. Insurance on the new car would be 400/month and gas would be around 300 per month. This would total $2000 per month, so instead of $1950 savings per month I would be left with just under $1000 per month to put into my savings account at the end of the month.

I know it's not the best financial move, but I would move out and purchase this car around late spring of 2027 which gives me another 10 months of saving. I would still have the 50 000 stored away and probably that number would increase. I am only young once, I know the smart move is to save that money and keep my current car, although I am a car person and young once.

Can I still afford this move with $1000 leftovers per month?

I need help starting to budget, and possible if there is a chance, save up money. I am a student and I'm gonna be moving out soon so I'll start paying rent. I need to know how people do it, and what mistakes to avoid.

I know, objectively speaking i’m not necessarily “behind”. I’m 30, about 100k invested and 20k liquid, no debt.

So i know in the grand scheme of other Canadians I’m not doing THAT badly, but i’m also not doing exceptionally. I still feel quite behind.

I see the numbers I’ll need to retire comfortably, and they’re just so bloated and well into the millions it feels unreachable. I just stress about how much money I’ll need to retire, and if I’ll ever be able to own/buy my own house and it just … never feels like enough. No matter how much I save and invest, Im doing the best I can but it always feels like I need to be doing more.

Curious if anyone else has these feelings and how yall talk yourself out of these anxiety spirals?

Edits: just corrected a spelling error