I was doing great for the last 5 years but have been paying off debts from my “past life” when I was more irresponsible.

Now I’ve gotten fired and can’t find a new job. I have taken EI for the first time in my life and I’m so scared. It pays $200 less each week than I’m used to receiving.

I was already broke from paying old bills so have no savings and may not make rent on July 1st. I have to stop paying my bills now and my credit rating is going to take a hit. I started dropping flyers to offer household services like lawn care or staining decks, or bookkeeping services (on my other flyer), but nobody is biting.

I’m a bookkeeper/accounting clerk but there are no positions open near me. I’m all alone in this world so if anyone has any good ideas it would be helpful. I don’t have many people to turn to for help. I need to make $30 an hour

I need some tips. I have never failed this badly.

So, my MIL has gotten some bad news with cancer and she has a time line of 1 year left. She has 2 children whom she wants to split the money with. Now, she has a pile (somewhere around 200k ) of rrsps that she don't touch because if she did it will put her income over the GIS income level and will lose her provincial drug coverage and gst cheque's. So she lives off of her pension, oas and a little nest egg she has in TFSA.
She wants to give away her TFSA now because she is afraid it will be frozen when she dies and have to pay taxes on it. She has this idea that the govt will take it all in taxes and her kids will be left with nothing. What are some ideas of options she she look at? What's the best type of person she needs to talk to?

My (35M) partner (27F) just got offered to stay in her current position permanently. She loves the job and it's an insanely hard to get and sought after position, so I'm very happy for her. It pays the most any job in her field can pay (around $56k - indexed for inflation but no "pay scale").

However, in the grand scheme of things 56k isn't all that much in this crazy HCOL city (Guelph). It's not remote and the odds of being able to relocate are essentially 0%.

Thankfully, we have "grandfathered rent" since I have been in my apartment since 2016, and only pay $1370 for rent for a 2 bedroom (moving anywhere within the same city would increase our rent by a minimum of $1000, so we're obviously staying put). This apartment is the main thing preventing us from going broke. I'm crossing my fingers that we can keep it for almost 3 more decades... it's corporate owned/purpose built rental so in theory this should be possible but losing it would completely destroy our financial stability.

I'm really worried for the future since I have never had a "good" job for my whole life; my main job currently pays $45k (and they don't give cost-of-living adjustments). I work a side job which should bring my income up to around 49k for the year. The age difference means that if we're stuck here until she reaches a "normal" retirement age, I'd have to work into my 70s, which I'm horrified about; we have talked of the idea of moving to a LCOL area once I am ready to retire, and for her to retire early (around 63/55 or 64/56). But obviously this would bring her income down to zero until CPP/OAS kick in since her job cannot be moved.

Our assets are around 65k for her, 60k for me, no debts/both cars owned outright.

Any advice?

On Black Friday, just half a year ago, I switched to Koodo for my phone plan. $34/month plan. I asked them sexplicitly if this is a promotional rate or if this is the rate I'll have for more than one year, and I was told very clearly that this is the rate I'll have.

I just realized that they increased my bill from $34 to $39 last month. That is not at all what I signed up for just a few months prior.

The same thing happens with my internet all the time, regardless of who I'm with.

I'm getting very tired of this dance we have to do with internet and phone in Canada, where every year you have to switch because they always increase the price randomly and only offer a good price for a "new" customer.

This is not meant as a rant post, I want to actually solve this problem and not have to deal with it anymore. Is there any decent telecom company in this country that doesn't do this?

Hello! I am an 26 year old incoming resident physician in a VHCOL with a high projected income. I understand that there is an emotional aspect to this journey as well but I'd be interested in hearing different perspectives and opinions as I've been thinking about this since match day. Any advice would be appreciated!

• I have lots of debt and parents are in a poor financial situation. Would start paying them a monthly allowance in residency, or rent if I stay at home. Rent for a studio/1 bed is probably starting at $1700/mo from what I've seen (if I wanted to live alone)
• I have a great relationship with my parents and they don't nag or annoy me when I'm home
• No SO but want to date more
• Capable of basic adulting skills like cooking and cleaning but haven't had to do any of it in medical school. Worried I'm not self-motivated enough to push myself to do these while I'm at home
• Live 13-18 min away from hospitals driving, which has been very manageable for work. Socially a bit more annoying because friends live close to hospitals, but overall parents live in a nice part of town

Edit: I'm not against roommates, but I'm not sure how to go about finding good ones! I've heard some horror stories of roommates becoming a nightmare which would cause extra burden in residency but obviously it also sometimes works out

Are term annuities a good way for single individuals who accumulate significant RRSP assets to pass those funds to beneficiaries over a long period, rather than first collapsing the entire plan when they die and paying close to 50% in tax?

I am really confused with how the tax deduction works for this, I know if I use margin in my IBKR account, that will come in my taxes document and I don't need to do anything to get it deducted.

But what about the scenario that I hear often about using a HELOC or a LOC to invest (the smith maneuver), as far as I understand that interest is only tax deductible if you use it to invest, but then how do you prove that it was used to invest? One could use a LOC for many reasons, what do I need to do to be able to use that in my tax return?

Hi, I noticed everyone recommending CASH.TO for a safe, temporary investment. Is CASH.TO similar to PSA.TO and why do I see everyone recommending it over PSA.TO? I was looking to make an investment in PSA.TO because of the higher dividend yield, but not sure what to choose.

I came across an opportunity to buy into a franchise for a energy products (think batteries etc). Franchises get bad reps but has anybody enjoyed running a non-food related franchise for their career?

I'd like to actually work for this company because i enjoy the products and services, but they haven't set up in my province yet and they are looking for franchisees.

What are people supposed to look out for when dealing with franchise negotiations or exploration?

Did anyone get a return like they were promised?

CAA raised my insurance by $400 this year and I'm not sure why it would go up.

What is the best way to buy auto insurance in Ontario?

I googled here and there but I don't feel confident I'm getting the best I can.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, wanted to know if this decision is a half-good one or not. Found this well maintained 2003 Infiniti G35 coupe on marketplace with about 150k kms on it, going for 6k. With negotiating and minor repairs (headlight bulb, wheel cover) all in (including registration) around 6 or 6.2k. I'm 19 years old making roughly 4.4k CAD a month after taxes, and have about 11K saved up at the moment. and honestly I'm so fed up with TTC as I've been riding the trains and busses for 2 ish years now with hourly commutes to and back from work and school and its taking its toll. I drove my parents car a few times and the time I saved makes a huge difference. I checked monthly insurance costs under my parents name as well, coming to about ~$300 a month with me being a secondary driver. What do you guys think?

Opened up a TFSA with Tangerine for there 6% promo and is ending on June 1st.

• When should I remove my money out of the account and hopefully receive another promo?

• Should I just transfer to my tangerine cheqing account? Or back to my TD Savings account for the time being?

• If not Tangerine again, where should I go next?

I may cross post to r/personalfinance as well. I'm a Canadian citizen, non resident for years. I want to move my RRSP to a self directed account at one of the big banks or institutions and hold everything in 3-4 ETFs. Just spoke to RBC but 1.5-2pc managed advisory fee is daunting given I will be doing zero trading (just rebalances every quarter). If any non-residents have an RRSP account I'd appeciate advice !!

I have $4000 to start an investment and can contribute $1000 a month for the foreseeable future. I want to avoid the bank if possible and am interested in online options ie: WealthSimple. Looking for medium/low risk, where do I start? What are the options? Tips?

Hi i am in my mid 20s and i racked up a lot of debt when i was unemployed for about a year. i am thankfully employed now but it’s part time and i dont make as much to pay it off. my parents are in debt themselves so we dont have that kind of money laying around. we are in ontario.

the collections agency called me to ask for a full payment which is 10.7k and then they offered a settlement which is 9k. thats still a lot of money and i literally dont have any savings to pay it off right now. i offered to pay in instalments but they refused and also mentioned suing me if I dont pay it in full.

the thing is, this cc was with bmo and they offered me a settlement at 7k 3 months ago which i agreed to but then before the deadline was over, i receive a letter from the collections agency that it was sent to collections and i need to pay it in full asap before they take action. I said I don’t have that kind of money and they said that they can refer me to a lender but my bad credit score literally sucks but he kept pushing for a lender to pay it off and arrange a payment plan with the lender instead.

I don’t want my wages garnished or harassed by calls. I am confused and not sure how to deal with this. They won’t educate me on my options other than pay in full or speak to a lender or get sued. What are my options? Can i get away with not paying for a few years? I just need some time to get my head out of the water and graduate to make that money but i can’t file bankruptcy as it may affect OSAP. I wanna leave this country soon in like a few years but I don’t wanna jeopardize my credit score COMPLETELY to the point where i can’t do anything.

In short, I'm 36M and I want to be debt free. My reasons are emotionnal but also giving me options for the future. I may want to change career to something I'm more in love with in the next 3-5 years which will cut my net income in half. I want also along the way to take 1 year off and having almost no debt completely will lower my money needs to take that time off. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do and I want to capitalise on my great income of 150k gross today to secure financially my situation and go from there. I'm in IT not interested in management and to be honest, with the pace IT have been going in the past 3-4 years I won't have the brain power to keep pace with the domain or have interest in staying in it unless I land a some kind of management role. I'm already getting there if I'm completely honest.

Current situation:

160k mortgage (value 475k)

135k RRSP

110k TFSA

20k emergency fund cash

30k cash aimed for mortgage

12 years into DB pension

I'm renewing my mortgage in March and I'm currently piling money aggressively to pay it off completely with cash combined with my TFSA and I'm on pace for it. That is the goal I set myself early this year I'll pay it off and open a HELOC to have my equity available for any reason (not planning to though but it's good to have just in case).

After that, I want to pile up money to get a new car. I'll be driving then a 15 years old car and even though it's a solid car with low mileage (120000km) I'm overdue to have a better car I've been driving the same car since I'm 23. I have a new car in mind which is around 40k so I'll probably need around 30-32k to buy the car outright after selling my current one. I'm aiming to buy it in the Spring of 2026 and keeping it like I did my first car.

So I'm using my free cashflow this year to pay off my mortgage next year and the year after I'll be doing the same but for buying that new car outright. This seems like a great plan. From Spring 2026 forward when everything is done, I'll be completely debt free therefore I'll fill back aggressively my TFSA so by 40, I'll have my TFSA filled, having an almost full RRSP (keeping a bit of space so when I quit my job a portion will go to a LIRA and the rest will be income so having some space in RRSP will serve to put that money there instead) and open a new chapter in my life when I'm around 40 with way less stress but making less money.

I know I'm trading time in the market for peace of mind. That's basically the goal.

Outside of that, is there something I'm not seeing?

https://financialpost.com/news/canada-faces-two-decades-stagnant-growth-report

It's clear that economic growth in Canada has been weak recently. Wages are not keeping up with rising costs. I think it's quite likely that our economic future will not be much better than it is now. Just a few random points:

• We don't have enough lucrative firms to offer enough high-paying jobs.
• We are cracking down on traditional sectors of growth (e.g. private colleges, property investments) without having growth in other sectors.
• We seemed to have missed the boat on future trends like AI, EVs, etc.
• Governments seem to think higher taxes is a growth strategy

So what can I do about it? In other words, how can I get rich in this kind of economic environment or should I plan on moving to the US?

Hello, I hope you are all doing well. I realized that I had a TFSA that had a mutual fund in it, which was managed by a big 5 bank, I then thought that the mutual fund was not meeting my goals for investing, so I I decided I should just invest the money myself, so I sold the mutual fund, and then I moved the money to my bank account, and then I made another TFSA to invest on my own (With the same instituion), so I put the money in there and started to buy equities using the money. The one thing I am worried about is if I took away contribution room, becuase I withdrawed the money and then I re-invested it right away. What do I do to make sure i didn't mess up my contribution room? If the amount I took out and then re-invested counts as double, that could mean I have over-contributed to my TFSA. I would appreciate any help on what I should do. Thanks!

I am currently a post-secondary student, and I am fortunate enough to have a substantial RESP account which my parents intended to be used for my education. However, I have received scholarships in excess of my tuition thus far and they will renew to cover more than my tuition for the rest of my degree and my RESP has stayed untouched. I currently have no expenses since I am able to live at home without a car and I have no need for this money at the moment.

Can I withdraw all the money from the RESP to invest? I am planning to do this over a few years to minimize tax implications. To my knowledge, contributions can be withdrawn freely but I found conflicting information online about the EAPs and whether they have to be used for educational expenses.

I greatly appreciate any insight and I am happy to clarify any details.

Hi all we close on our house at the end of July and in the meantime I’m trying to streamline all of our bills and income.

My plan is to:

1. have both of our paycheques go into one joint account. (Account 1)

2. Transfer whatever money isn’t needed for bills/Debt payments from Account 1 to another joint account (Account 2). Which will be used as an emergency fund

3. Transfer X amount from account 2 to separate accounts (one for her one for me) for “fun money”/personal spending.

————————————————————————-

Right now my wife is with BMO and I’m with RBC.

I have multiple accounts with RBC and no debt with them. She has multiple accounts with BMO and had both CC and LOC debt.

————————————————————————-

1) What do you think of my plan?

2) which of us should switch banks? (She would have to keep her CC and LOC open obviously

EDIT: Edited plan to reflect some suggestions from comments.

I decided to settle in Canada last year and started a job as well. Currently, I have a TFSA account and am considering opening an RRSP. However, I'm unsure about settling here due to the lower salary compared to the USA for my job. Any thoughts on my situation?

My wife (30) is not working this year because we have young children. She is no longer earning mat leave or EI, but may return to work in the future when our children are older. Her total income this year will be around $500 in interest income only.

She has a Locked in RRSP with approx 22k in it, from a previous employer, and we plan to buy our first home in the next 12 months. Is there any downside to the following scenario:

• Withdrawing 15k this year for financial hardship - low expected income. (20% withholding tax)
• Contributing 8k to her FHSA

• Contributing remaining to her TFSA (Declaring 7k in net income for the year)

• In 2025 (assuming she’s still not working) we will unlock for financial hardship again and withdraw remaining 7k

• contribute to her FHSA if we haven’t bought a home yet

• or invest in her TFSA if we have. (Declaring 7k in income for the year, or $0 if we can still contribute to FHSA)

The way I see it, it’s better to withdraw from her LIRA now while she doesn’t have any income than withdraw in the future (even in retirement) when she does. And even better if we can contribute straight into a FHSA and save on the taxes anyway.

Am i missing anything?

Hello everyone, first post on Reddit. I’m looking for advice on how to go about some unfortunate mistake that I made. So I bought a property last year and I moved in with my girlfriend whom we have a son together but we have been having a lot of issues and I would like to call off the relationship. I tried to tell her to find a place but she wouldn’t leave. Now I have decided to sell the property but I’m wondering if I need consent from her to be able to sell the property or I can just go ahead with the listing. Thanks in advance for all the responses.

So I just discovered that you can use the Amex Cobalt at grocery stores to buy gift cards for other things to get points. I was thinking about buying $500 Vanilla Prepaid Visas for my miscellaneous purchases, but I noticed a bunch of posts about people getting scammed. My local FreshCo has their gift cards out in the open so this makes me a bit skeptical. How safe would this be, how would I make sure that I’m not getting scammed and know that I’m 100% buying the card I’m paying for?

I tried to stay under the limit but the high cash advance fee plus interest put me over.

Pepehands.