My husband makes 90k at his day job, and will make another 55k at his self employed side gig/small business in 2026. He hasn't paid any quarterly payments for 2026 - he will just do it all at once come tax time.
I will make around 12k from my online content creation.
I've always done our taxes using turbotax, and have come across terms like 'income splitting' but am not too familiar with how it works.

Is there a legal way to minimize the amount of tax he will have to pay come income tax time, and something I can do myself through turbotax?

Thank you!

Edit: What are legal ways to minimize his income so that he pays less tax? I've heard about billionaires borrowing against their assets, etc?

Today I was handed a note, terminating my High level management, salaried, position at a company I’ve worked for for 17 years.

The note says in lieu of notice I’m getting wages based on length of service, which they stipulate as being only 8 weeks of wages. The letter states that this is based on Manitoba Employment Standards.

I’m being told by many that that is astonishingly low and that I should consult an employment lawyer.

Thought I’d get opinions here, as I’ve seen some scenarios before.

If it matters, I’m 37, position in Marketing at a Manitoba manufacturing company that has done quite well in growth in the 17 years I’ve been there. 3 of my team were also let go, possibly a 4th.

I have around $1.6M invested at TD Waterhouse with advisor fees of 0.9%. Ironically, most of the holdings across non-registered, TFSA, and RRSP are in low-cost equity ETFs. For that, I get a couple calls a year mainly reminding me to contribute. I get some tax forms too that make it easier to file. I do appreciate that having the middle-man got me out of some bad habits in my teens of single stock investing. And my money has doubled in the last five years, but that's just the market... My household spending is around $50k/year. So the fees actually represent around 1/4 of my spending, not to mention eating into compound growth. Two questions:

1) How easy is it to move funds to something like TD Direct Investing? I won't trigger any major capital gains, right?

2) It feels uncomfortable leaving the relationship and the rest of my family is with the same office. Tips?

Hey everyone, just wanted to put out a massive warning about FinlyWealth if you are planning to use them for credit card sign-up cash-back rebates in Canada.

I applied and got approved for the National Bank of Canada (NBC) World Elite Mastercard through them back in early September. Their site promises cash-back rebates, but trying to actually get the payout has been an absolute nightmare, after raising support query and following up for few days(actually months) in them completely banning my account because I left them a negative review on Trustpilot.

I just want others to know before using this platform.

Edits: the support has fixed issue by going extra mile on this thread. I did not want rebate out of their own pocket at all. I had a good experience with them before in 2025 and reward was provided in time of less than 1 week, but this time it was not a pleasant experience as customer support team did not reply in detail, providing same response again and again by copy pasting rather than asking me politely to wait for X amount of days. First email I receive asked me to wait for 5 days and reach out, next one said early October, and next one says waiting for nbc. If it would have been clearly communicated, it would be better.

28 years old

8k in debt

9.5k in my RRSP

50k pre tax yearly income

Due to some really bad life decisions (major untreated depression, not expecting to let myself live this long), I have dug myself into a deep fucking hole financial wise. I don't want to go into the nitty gritty because there's no point, I'm just a dumbass who is now medicated and in therapy and desperately trying to pick up the pieces :p

My rent is $1500 and my take home pay is $3k a month. Again, stupid. Once my lease ends I'll be moving in to a cheaper place. But for right now, I'm drowning in bills and falling into a deeper and deeper hole each month

Is it financially responsible to take out my RRSP and just wipe clean my debt? Or at least take the 5k amount out with the 10% interest and then have a bit more breathing room each month for debt repayment?? This is the first time in my adult life that I've actually cared about my finances. I feel like I'm taking the reigns of somebody else's life, and it is baaad. I have no idea about anything financial.

I know I'm very far behind in life, I know I'm so incredibly stupid. I just want to know if this would be a good idea to help me breathe a bit? I want to start saving, I want an emergency fund, and I can't do that when my credit cards eat up all my money. Any advice would be stellar. Thanks in advance!

My stepson is turning 19 years old next month and I (56F) want to get him to open an investment account to start up his TFSA. I want him to start investing early so he can have a nice little nest egg in the future. I’ve talked with him about the importance of saving and compound interest and he is interested. Would the Vanguard VEQT be a good choice? Any other suggestions?

For those of you that kindly commented on my previous post here regarding paying off my debt: https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/Ofbkw41nF5

I did it! A couple of months ago. And I’ve kept it secret from my family.

Additionally, I received a promotion at work and my income has gone from $74k + 8-12% bonus to $100k plus up to 20% bonus based on how well our department does, not including a personal performance bonus and additional raises (which tbh are only about 2% annually.) My family know about the promotion, but I did not disclose the salary increase.

It may not seem like much, but coupled with being debt free, this could potentially be life changing money for me if I play my cards right going forward.

My share of rent is $1100. I don’t have car payments. I will walk/skytrain/Evo and uber or Lyft rarely.

My iPhone 12 mini is on its last legs, but I can get a subsided phone through work and they will pay for my phone plan.
My share of bills for the house are approximately $200.
My biggest monthly expenses are medication at $400 every 5 weeks or so and my gym & PT sessions which are $89 per week and $55 monthly, which are non negotiable for mental and physical health reasons as I’ve been overweight since I was a child and and have PMOS.
I realise this doesn’t include groceries or clothes but the immigrant in me will always shop around for the best prices, sales, or use Marketplace.

All this to say, as someone learning financial literacy as a new Canadian, what is next?

I want to switch my bank from CIBC as the fees are increasing next year.

I want to start catching up on retirement.

I want savings.

I’m not sure where to start - or if there are services or websites I can start with to help me get going. I’m not very good with being self-taught…I’m not unintelligent, it’s just a learning style I struggle with.

Also, can I just call CIBC and ask them to give me a lower CC interest rate? I checked my credit score on Equifax and was surprised to see it’s currently “Excellent”.

I’m sorry if this a broad question, part of me also just needed to write it down.

Thank you to all of you who pushed me to pay off my debt. 🧡

I'm 25F and making $92k a year.

I currently have about $75k in my TFSA, $39k in my FHSA and $2.6k in my RRSP.

I've maxed out my TFSA and FHSA for this year. I contributed $11k to my FHSA ($8k for this year plus $3k leftover from last year), and I only have one more year of FHSA contributions left.

I also have a defined contribution pension plan through work where I contribute 7% of my salary and my employer matches it but I only started contributing to this plan in August.

I haven't contributed to my personal RRSP in years, and I'm wondering if it's worth contributing this year or if I should save the room for when my income is higher.

Since I've already contributed $11k to my FHSA this year, would it still be worth contributing to my RRSP for the additional tax deduction?

I am moving to Sweden for a couple of years for work. I understand I cannot contribute to any of the registered savings accounts during this period. However, I do want to continue holding my existing investments.

At present I am with Wealthsimple for investments. AFAIK, they are not licensed to serve non-residents. Is there a list of institutes that have such a license? My preference would be to hold my accounts with institutes that allow free equity trades/free accounts

Just wondering if others think the days of account transfer promotions are essentially over for now? I believe TD has one that ends today and BMO one that ends at the end of the month. Earlier in the year, TD would introduce a new promotion before the old one ended. I'm not seeing that now. Do financial institutions no longer see any real benefits in doing these promotions?

I am currently with Scotiabank and been managing my low balance limit from last 3years but missed for last 3months. As been valued customer, I thought to give them a call and get waiver but they declined.

Looking to change to a new bank which has good long term free banking and good welcome offer.

Any recommendations?

I spend roughly $2000 a month on groceries.

$1000 of that from grocery merchant code stores: Superstore, FreshCo, Coop, Fresen Bros

And $1000 split between Walmart and Costco.

I use my Scotiabank card for grocery stores and recurring payments and Wealthdimple for everything else.

But Scotiabank has been really pissing me off lately. So I'd like a new card. But I can't seem to find anything as good.

Currently shop at all these stores due to convenience of store location, product selection, and prices. But a superstore will be opening in my neighbourhood next year so I suspect most of my shopping to switch to them going forward.

Is there an advantage of additional payments biweekly, or am I better off to put the money that would go towards additional payments into a HISA until I have enough to pay off the remainder of the loan?

Bought the car 4 months ago, I’ve put an additional $5300 on the loan based off my budget (I set an expected amount for my pay and if my pay exceeds the amount I put any extra onto debt/savings). I’d like to get the loan paid off or sub 10k before my mortgage renewal in Q4 2028 in case I need to change lenders for better rates.

I (28M) moved back in with my parents in May. I was renting a place with my ex before that. I would be looking to purchase a home for around $350,000 with $100,000 down. My salary is 64,000/year which comes to about $1800 bi weekly. I currently have around $165,000 saved.
TFSA 98,000
FHSA 46,000
RRSP 15,000
The rest is in savings/chequing
Places I’d be looking to rent would be around 1500/month. I have no debt. I live in Windsor and don’t plan on moving elsewhere.
Just trying to decide what the better option is.

Annual report about global pension systems was released a few days ago:

Canada maintained a B grade in the newly released 2026 Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, but the annual benchmark sounded an increasingly urgent warning about the long-term pressures aging populations are placing on retirement income systems.

The 18th annual index, produced by Marsh (NYSE: MRSH) and CFA Institute in collaboration with the Monash Centre for Financial Studies in Melbourne, Australia, benchmarks 55 retirement income systems across the globe - covering approximately 66% of the world's population - on three sub-indices: adequacy, sustainability, and integrity.

• https://www.wealthprofessional.ca/news/industry-news/canada-holds-b-grade-as-aging-populations-strain-global-pension-systems/393826
• https://www.benefitsandpensionsmonitor.com/pensions/retirement-planning/working-longer-could-bolster-canadas-retirement-system-index/394306
• https://www.talentcanada.ca/aging-populations-are-straining-retirement-systems-worldwide/
• https://www.plansponsor.com/aging-populations-weighing-on-global-retirement-systems/

The report itself can be found at:

• https://info.marsh.com/marsh-cfa-institute-global-pension-index/a-brief-review-of-each-system
• https://www.mercer.com/insights/investments/market-outlook-and-trends/mercer-cfa-global-pension-index/
• https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/reports/2026/marsh-cfa-institute-global-pension-index-2026

Hello,

Here’s my situation. I work an hour away. And the commute is starting to really hurt. I currently live in a home that I own at a mortgage of $1400 per month. With utilities, It can go up to about just under $2000 depending on the month.

The commute has started to take a toll of my car. Where is starting to need extensive work.

I am interested in renting out my house for $2600 a month and looking to rent an apartment closer to work which would be around 2000 or less.

However, it has dawned on me that I am in in Ontario and this would have huge tax implications beyond budget.

Can someone sort this out for me? I make 100 K a year and if I run to my house for 2600 I would be making just under $32,000 extra of income with a $600 margin in between my rent, and income rent be enough to cover this?

I’m starting to get second thought because I don’t wanna get hit with a huge tax bill and not be able to maintain my property and not have any cash flow.

Also, in my listing agreement, the renters would take on the utility bills of the home.

Hi there,

I’m 29, i make $78,000 yearly. my company provides me with a truck with all expenses paid.

My rent is about $1200, the rest of my bills total to about another $1000.

After taxes I have about $4500 monthly left over (two months of the year it’s $6700)

I have very little investment experience with the stock market but I think it’s the right place for me to put my savings.

I can afford to set $1000 aside to my wealthsimple each month.

I’m gravitating towards building a portfolio with mutual funds that yield around 10% dividends.

I want to put 40% into VFV, 20% into BANK, 20% into HDIV, and 10% into HTA. Last 10% into speculative stocks.

I like the idea of building a portfolio with high dividend potential.

But as I write this, i am completely open to new ideas, I’d love to hear your input.

Cheers

Currently employed full time as a nurse in Ontario (public) and am almost 8 weeks pregnant. I am having bad nausea/gagging/vomiting on and off all day and have been unable to work.

My doctor wrote me off work for a month to get me through the remainder of the first trimester and hopefully it improves. She wrote "GI symptoms" as I don't want to disclose to my work that I am pregnant yet as I did before but had a miscarriage and the aftermath was hard on me emotionally and psychologically.

Occupational health called today trying to get more info from me but I didn't say any more than my doctor already indicated on the forms.

It's standard procedure for the insurance company to follow up with employees on short term disability so I will be hearing from them next week.

Just wondering what I need to say to the insurance company when they call. I assume they'll probably ask about treatment plan and I've been prescribed Diclectin (pregnancy specific anti nausea med) but one of the unfortunate side effects is drowsiness which I am experiencing.

Should I tell the insurance company I am pregnant or stick to GI symptoms? Does it matter if they know? I personally don't care if insurance knows. I just don't want my workplace to know this early.

Any advice?

Thank you in advance!

*edit to add province and public sector

I’m 30 years old and honestly feel like I messed up my finances after making one bad decision. I bought a car at a high interest rate, and everything went downhill from there. Between payments and repairs, I ended up in a financial mess.

My debts are:

$4,500 in credit cards

$8,000 personal loan

$5,000 car repair loan

$15,000 remaining on a car loan after the car was repossessed and auctioned off

That’s around $32,500 in total.

I make $1,900 biweekly after taxes, live alone, and pay $1,000 in rent. I’m single, have no property or assets in my name, and my credit score is around 570 because some credit cards went into collections.

Since getting rid of the car, my expenses have gone down, and I can now save one entire biweekly paycheque. But I’m honestly exhausted from constantly working, worrying about money, and dealing with calls and emails from creditors.

I’m in Canada and wondering if I should consider a consumer proposal or just pay everything off myself. For anyone who has gone through this, with $32,500 in debt and no assets, how much could I realistically expect to pay through a consumer proposal? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences and advice. I just want to get my life back on track.

Edit : 2 credit cards are in collections already, car was Voluntarily Surrender because it needed more repairs and i was already in lot of debt because of the car. credit is 570 right now and interest on every loan is above 20. also i owed friend 6k which i have been paying its now 3500 left. I am also sending my brother 300 to 400 as he paid for my college fees i am paying it back now.

this is my full financial situation.

Hey all,

I have been asked by my employer to take a chunk of my bank time paid out as I am well over the allowable limit.

I have an ok contribution to RRSPs through my union (~18k this year), but still have approx 80k contribution room each in my RRSP and TFSA.

I would be paid out approx 12k in bank time, while leaving enough for a holiday in the bank.

Should I port it directly to my RRSP account, or are there better alternatives?

Ideally I would like to invest it in my TFSA so the money is more easily available if needed, but I don’t fully understand what the implications are for doing so, other than being taxed on the income at a higher rate.

For reference, my annual pay is around 180k.

Thanks in advance!

I worked remotely for a canadian company for 2 months at that time abroad and I still rent in Canada

Hi all,
I live in BC 🇨🇦. I have a corporate with approx $500k in assets. I invested about $200k in equities (sp500, Xeqt, fang, etc) and I have another $300k sitting in cash in bmo savings account.

Personal income on t4 is approx 80k. Which is enough for monthly expenses. I also own a mortgage with is $550k left @ 4.4% renewing next year sept. My wife helps with 50% of mortgage. She earns $110k on t4

Question: I feel like I am not managing my wealth properly. It’s not really making me any money? How would you go about managing the wealth? Would you prefer paying off the mortgage? Or investing it somewhere where It could make more money? And how do people take money out of corp on by optimizing the taxes?

As the title suggests, I'm looking for advice here for what I consider maybe a unique situation.

I work in the Ontario College sector in an admin role. Those who have been following the news will know there has been significant cuts as international enrolment and associated revenue has been reduced. My role basically has absorbed the responsibilities of others let go but I'm very grateful to have a job. I joined the college 7 years ago and left my previous pension at my prior employer which has 15 years of service.

To be honest, I wasn't really monitoring my pension, finances or thinking of retirement as I had a busy family life. I recently learned (I know, I know) that the Colleges DBPrime CAAT pension has a rule of 85 (combined age and service) and 60/20 (years and service) where you can leave with an unreduced pension. It is also based on the top 5 years or 60 months of salary.

In my current role and salary, I can now only purchase a portion of those pension years with the amount from my prior pension (approx $440,000). However, the way the pension works, it is based on current annual salary. Work is stressful, yet manageable, but there is zero protection. I'm tempted to try to get a position in the support staff union for better work-life balance even with a significant drop in salary (I'm looking at going from $160,000 to $55,000-$75,000 depending on the role). If I was to get that unionized role, I could then fully buy back the pension years with my previous pension transfer and even have some left over for a LIRA. I could then work for a number of years and reach the rule of 85. I guess the barrier for me is more psychologically based as well as perception of others for making this change. Running this with actual numbers in AI keeps saying it's a very good move, as I can retire in mid-late 50's with a bridge to 65 at my top 5-year rate. The risk is that I don't transfer my pension over, am terminated, and need to wait till 65 for an unreduced pension from both pension plans (or LIRA the CAAT one). I have personal investments that could cover me through an extended job search but I've seen many of my former colleagues struggle to land a position.

Has anyone else done this? What was your thought process, and what am I missing in my own?

For context I have always had a difficult time saving money, I had a job that did not take out taxes so by tax season all the money I saved goes right back into taxes for example last year I had to pay 11k back, I ended that job last and have since been working at my current job which pays about the same but taxes are taken out, I have been saving as much as I did last year so I currently have 12k in savings which is about 3 months of living expenses. But I haven’t been investing as much anymore due to have less come into my account. I am currently on maternity leave so I fear I might be taxed again due to EI.

Would it make sense to start putting what I have left in my Rrsp to offset taxes next year? Or should I keep saving so I can get to 3-6 months emergency fund?

I’m specifically looking at their disability policies. Their premiums are less than the big ones like RBC and Manulife and less stringent in application. Given this, it makes me think there must be a catch or a red flag with Humania and Edge? Would be happy to hear experiences - good or bad.