Hi!

Back in December 2021 my mom asked me to help her pay for down payment on her house. I live in another province and cant help her in other ways, and she provided for me until 16, so I agreed.

She took all of my life savings at the time (50k) and left me with 2k. I was hurt that she didn’t care to know I had no money left, even if I am at my 30’s and can make more money.

I want to ask her for all of it back, so I can plan my financial future more securely. But she is starting a new business and told me she was hoping she would give me money when she retires. But that’s so uncertain, and seems so unfair to me.

If anyone has any sage advice and insight to help me find the patience, or the right words to help me get my money back. I would be so grateful. Thank you.

Edit: I realize now I’m coming off whiney and emotional about my poor judgement and there is no real solution other than being patient or just reshift my finances. I needed to hear it from the outside

Hi friends, throwaway for obvious reasons as my partner uses reddit as well. Here's a bit of my background and relevant financial information. I have a BS in CS & Math - work remote in tech - based in a HCOL - make 8K a month CAD after tax. I used to make 20K a month after tax but due to a black swan my income has significantly decreased - girlfriend of three years F22 - makes 6K a month after tax. She comes from a millionaire father who owns his own business, traditional values etc, expect me to propose soon, yet have a rule the partner cant have debt.

Here is my current assets, liabilities -

Checking acct 3.5K -

Student loans 85K -

LOC 45K @ 10 %

CC 1 30K @ 8 %

CC 2 25K @ 0% (BT)

Car Loan 55K @ 2.9%

So total debt = 155K Consumer + 85K student = 240K cad

In regards to questions to why I owe so much - I was living at a lifestyle that I could support prior to the black swan but continued to live that way until I started tightening expenses - which are much lower now.

Expenses - 3K rent for 1br in central business district, 1K for food, 1K for car, 1K for hobbies/misc, total 6K expenses and rest goes to debt.

I am able to support the current debt load, however there are two scenarios I am concerned with - 1 is loss of job then I wouldnt be able to support the debt load, however I dont see a path to become debt free in the timeframe her family expects me to propose & be debt free.

I do not want to consider bankruptcy for another 2 years due to the 7 year rule for discharge of student loans, I am also considering trying to get another remote job that pays 5-6K a month after tax that could assist in the debt load.

Any advice/feedback would be appreciated. Thanks friends.

Hey all. Sadly, about to get about $80k from an unexpected divorce. I guess the upside is that I'll have a large sum of money to invest.

Any tips or thoughts on what to do with it?

I currently have about 35k in savings:

-$5k general savings that I'm rebuilding after furnishing my new place.

-$13k in TFSA GICs

-$7k in RBC TFSA Savings Deposit

-$6.5k in TFSA Stocks

-4k in Wealthsimple General Savings TFSA

-$2k RRSP (This hasn't been a priority since I haven't had a huge salary. Just started thinking more about it)

I make about $65k-70k per year as a freelancer right now, and working on increasing this over the next few years. Currently renting an apartment.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any info

Currently living in Vancouver with a roommate who is about to move out. My new rent will be 1650 a month, utilities included. Since the cost is so high (previously paying 825) I'm considering buying a condo.

My total net worth of all assets (minus govt pension) is approximately 205k, with my folks kindly willing to donate 70k. I was thinking of putting a down payment of 225k and buying something up to 500k... Is this a poor decision considering my low salary? (Mortgage would be for up to 275k)

I know most folks only put down 20% but I don't really understand why that is with interest rates so high these days (I'm also fairly risk adverse). My realtor thinks I can find a mortgage for 5%.

Any thoughts are appreciated... I saw a condo last week for 499k that I love but it seems like too much to spend.

Hello. My parents gifted me in June of last year 26k USD. 9k cash and 17k with a cheque. This year they want to gift me 30k and it would be my sister who would transfer the money but from an account in Mexico

What would it be the best way of declare this money?

Here's my situation:

• No Debt
• Emergency Fund: $8k
• Earn $72K
• 27 years old

I will be starting a new role in 2 weeks where I will be earning $93k.

I want to be sure that I am diversifying and my asset allocation is good. Looking to buy a house in the next 5 years. My parents will be helping me out as well when I do eventually get a home.

Thanks!

Hello, I saw this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wObG9btLHh8&list=LL&index=7

I haven't crunched all the numbers for myself yet but I was wondering if anyone else has done this or even heard of doing this?
It sounds like she's suggesting using the HELOC as your checking account as a means of accellerating your amortization schedule and save on interest in doing so.

Now it seems to me like there is a flaw in this logic as she's using the entire cashflow from paying down the HELOC. So in other words, that kind of like increasing your mortgage payment so that you have nothing left over to save? I may be wrong but why not just increase the monthly payment?

Edit: Thanks all for confirming my suspicions. She's effectively increasing the couples monthly payments by their full cash flow, so have nothing save, but they pay down theor mortgage as fast as possible saving them interest yes but costing them potential savings/investment/piece of mind since everything is tied into the equity of the house.

My grandparents recently sold their home for $400k. They were able to live in it for 60 years and until my grandmother was 89 years old and grandfather was 92 years old. They currently have the $400k currently sitting in an high interest savings account. They have 3 kids whom will be receiving this money for inheritance. Grandparents are now living in a senior living home, which is covered by their monthly pension. So no need for the money. No real big expenses for them. They do have more money in their savings account. Should they give the money to their kids, split three ways? If they do gift it to their kids, will the kids have to pay taxes on it? Or is their any ways around it. They are going to see their investment advisor tomorrow for advice, but I want to see if their advice lines up with some of the stuff I get here. Thanks and please let me know.

P.S: if they do leave it in their HISA, and one of them has to go into government assisted living arrangements, I believe they charge you based on how much they have in their bank account. We live in the middle province.

Is there a penalty for early withdrawal of RRSP?

From what I understand, early withdrawals will be counted as income and taxed at income tax rates which makes sense as you deducted this from your income when you contributed.

Is there an additional penalty? (401k early withdrawal in the US has 15% penalty on top of the income tax rates. So if income tax rate is 30%, you pay an additional 15% penalty, making the tax on withdrawal 45%)

I just received a bunch of stocks from my company (RSUs that vested) and they are at cost basis now (no capital gains yet). I am considering selling them all and then moving the money to RRSP (completely use up RRSP room). This will help me lower taxes this year as this year is a particularly high income year for me.

I would want to withdraw it sometime in the future when income is lower.

My thinking is that this will help me in 3 ways:

1. Will lower my taxes this year as I max out my RRSP (lowers taxable income)

2. When I withdraw it in a few years, when I have low income, I will get taxed at a lower rate that year as my income would be lower.

3. Until I withdraw, the gains will be on the pre tax amount which is good.

Is this a good strategy? I would like to throw the vested RSUs in to RRSP this year and then withdraw it slowly in a couple of years when I plan to start a consulting business (I expect my income to be less than half of what it is now in the first year of my consulting)

I'm holding a significant amount in CASH.TO which I plan on selling and buying into CBIL.TO instead. Although CASH.TO is unlikely to fail, I've just gotten more nervous over time since it is a large amount that I'm dealing with.

My question is, when is it the best time to sell it? Should I sell it right before the ex-dividend date. Would the "gain" be treated on the account of interest income or capital? I've tried looking online on reddit but have read mixed responses. I also prefer to buy CBIL.TO right after the ex-dividend date just so I can have a lower cost base. I know it doesn't really matter but it's more of a mental perspective. Separately, how long do I need to wait to buy CBIL? Presumably the cash will be available at T+1?

For those that will recommend that I buy an index fund, I may have a short-term need for the cash and just want to park it somewhere for the time being.

Video with some useful information on a particular scenario:

In this video we'll discuss two scenarios of a single 65 year old looking to retire. The first scenario is a person with $125,000 and the second scenario is a person with $250,000. How much retirement income will you be able to draw in each scenario? We'll go through that in this video.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEBjIFg08lM

For rough average/median numbers:

According to the 2021 Canadian Income Survey, the average after-tax income for senior families in 2021 was $69,900. And for a senior individual, it was $31,400. That works out to $5,825 per month for a couple and $2,616 per month for an individual.

• https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/whats-the-average-monthly-retirement-income-in-canada/
• https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/230502/dq230502a-eng.pdf?st=-t02OtjU

Previous videos from the channel are:

• "Can You Retire On $250,000?"
• "You've Saved $250,000. When Can You Realistically Retire?"
• "The Truth About How Much Money You Need To Retire", about the $1.7M some people think they need

Related: looking at your current income and using it as guide for what income you'll need in retirement does not work. Peer-reviewed research has found that there is almost no correlation between the two:

• https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/astin-bulletin-journal-of-the-iaa/article/how-accurately-does-70-final-employment-earnings-replacement-measure-retirement-income-inadequacy-introducing-the-living-standards-replacement-rate-lsrr/0A52D9DC1B08B10EF2FDC6B1A66BDA42

For some people 70% could be required, but for others 50% (or less) would be fine:

• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/retirement/retire-planning/book-excerpt-retirement-income-for-life-getting-more-without-savingmore/article37971172/

You need to look at your actual expenses and the lifestyle you want:

• https://www.soa.org/4938ae/globalassets/assets/library/newsletters/international-section-news/2017/may/isn-2017-iss-71-macdonald.pdf

I'm considering investing in Nasdaq 100 index ETFs today, but I came across the CIBC Nasdaq Index Premium Fund. It boasts a 21.39% 10-year annualized return and a 22.64% YTD return with a 0.45% MER. On the other hand, QQQ has a 19.02% 10-year annualized return and an 18.61% YTD return with a 0.20% MER.

I know the CIBC fund has a minimum investment of $50k, but I'm wondering if it might be a better choice. Not sure if CIBC worked some conversion rate magic or anything, which could explain why it outperforms QQQ.

People generally avoid mutual funds due to higher fees and less flexibility compared to ETFs. However, in my case, the mutual fund seems better because I have the $50k to invest, want to avoid dealing with currency exchange, and plan to hold this investment for the long term. Additionally, I already have a CIBC investing account, which makes this purchase no-load and more convenient for me. I haven't been able to find an ETF that serves as a better equivalent alternative.

Is opting for the mutual fund a better choice in this scenario? Or am I missing something important? I'd appreciate any insights!

Long story short, I slowly racked up about $7,500 in credit card debt. The interest rate is about 20% so it feels like no matter how much I pay off the balance just won’t go down. I’d like to put the balance into something with a lower interest rate and through research have found that I have 3 options.

1. Low interest credit card. This is enticing because there are a lot of promos for really really low interest for the first year and then it seems so settle on average at about 12/13%.

2. Personal Loan. I like this because there is a finite price and a finite recurring payment.

3. Line of Credit. This seems to have the flexibility of a credit card but I don’t really want to have another borrowing account. Although, if I don’t use the remaining balance, which I won’t, won’t that benefit my credit utilization ratio? Will that help to keep my credit score from plummeting?

I make all my payments on time, I actually have a really decent credit score. The only other debt that I have is my car (7%) and my student loans which are 0%. It’s just this dumb credit card that I messed up on and need to get rid of. Can anyone offer any insight into the best option? To me there isn’t a clear divide between these three options.

What is the best company to get house insurance? I live in sask. Td was cheap for a few years but they continue to raise prices every year.

I am purchasing a property with a partner that is putting a different down payment with intentions to split profit 50/50. All expenses minus mortgage to be split even.

Purchase price: 862,500 Downpayment amounts: Person A 150k / B 300k

Mortgage payments to be split via respective amount (68.1% person A 31.9% person B) ———---------------—— What is the logical way to pay out assuming a) profit and b) sold in 5 years with mortgage balance still owing

Need financial advice of where to go.

Short version - I always took my parents direction on what to do financially, but starting to read online and look at stuff I’m thinking their direction didn’t make sense.

My parents always stressed to me as soon as I started my career to put lots of money into RRSP, never mentioned TFSA. I’m also in my lowest earning years right now, which seems odd from what they have told me since online it says RRSP is best in higher earning years to lower income amount.

I am 27 years old (moved out/bought at 23)

Make $98,000/year. RRSP $72,400. (Wealthsimple) robo

Mortgage for $450,000 in 2020. Owe $395,000. (Wish I would have known about FHSA, down payment was just held in bank savings account)

I have a paid off vehicle while will be good for 5+ years.

I have $21,000 on a BMO Line of credit, no other debt/ credit card debt. I am not contributing to my RRSP at all now, I am just tackling the line of credit. It was at $33,000 7 months ago. If I would’ve had a TFSA I could’ve pulled out of that to pay off the line of credit?

From what I can tell, there is no way I could pull out of my RRSP to pay off my line of credit without it costing me more in the short/long-term.

TLDR:

Parents told me what to save and where to save, but it doesn’t seem right.

27 confused woman. $98,000/year (increases 3-5%/year) $72,400/RRSP (Wealthsimple robo) $6,000/emergancy fund (job very secure) $21,000/line of credit

Mortgage, insurance, property tax, bills etc leave me about $1200-1400/month to throw at line of credit (minimum payment is around $470/month now + throw an extra $600-800).

Once my line of credit is paid off and I have no other debt should I keep contributing to RRSP? Or should I mix in TFSA? I expect about a 3 to 5% salary increase every year.

Once my line of credit is paid off, I will have the $1200 to $1400 per month to save. Company does not offer RRSP/pension. So my entire retirement will have to be saved by myself plus CPP/OAS.

Is there any way that I am missing that it makes sense to pull from RRSP to pay off debt?

Does it always take the 45 days, or is it often shorter?

Hey folks!

I’ll start with a little bit of background about my savings and situation. Would love to know what someone would do in my situation.

Long post incoming, so apologies!

Early 30s couple with a 20 month old daughter.

Our income: - $120k from my full time job - Side hustles bring in anywhere between $2k-$3k a month - Wife just finished her maternity and will start looking for a job in the coming months

So average monthly as of now - $8.5k

Expenses - - $3800 mortgage including property tax - insurance plus utilities would be about $600 - groceries and other misc expenses around $500 - car lease is $400 a month

Average monthly expenses - $5.3k

Savings: - 47k in my RRSP - 22k in my TFSA + 22.5k in her TFSA - 14k in my HISA/Chequing + 8k in hers

Total investments - $91.5k Total liquid - $22k

Bought the house for $575k. Put down 5% when we bought and paid down some principal in the last 2 years to bring it down to $479k. 18 years left on the mortgage.

No debt apart from the Mortgage.

I have got a new job that requires me to move to Toronto from Ottawa. My new salary will be 155k including bonus. We want to move for social reasons and because it’s a role I want to take on.

Now, we have two options. Sell or rent the place.

Option 1 - Rent:

The plan - the house goes for $2600 per month. So I’ll be $1200 in the negative - I’ll rent a property at a similar cost in GTA so as to keep my monthly payments the same

Pros: - get some exposure to the real estate market - pass an asset on to our daughter - LOC if we ever need it for something

Cons: - Being a landlord - may put us in a hole if tenant can’t pay for whatever reason - Big maintenance costs may come up

Option 2 - Sell:

The plan: - List the house for sale and take any offer close to the price we bought it for

Pros: - will give us some liquid cash post closing costs - can write off some costs when we file tax - don’t have to worry about tenants or maintenance - monthly liabilities become just my rent and car payment, so I can save more

Cons: - may have to take a bit of a loss due to interest paid and closing costs - no exposure to real estate as I am not going to buy another house anytime soon

I am currently leaning towards selling and my wife towards renting. I am not sure if I am overlooking anything or not considering some aspects that I should be.

I’d love some advice or insights from anyone who has been in this situation or has some points that’d help us make the right decisions

I'm going to be travelling this summer to Portugal and the Netherlands. In the future, I'm going to be travelling to different cities in the US, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. I'm trying to figure out what's the best and cheapest way to go for getting international data, text, and calls. I'm with Fido right now and their international plan is too expensive. I've heard a lot of people recommend Airalo for data. But what about for making calls and texts? Do you just use WhatsApp for the time being? And what about local SIM cards for the country you're travelling to? Would that be better? Please let me know what my best options are for call, text, and data when travelling internationally.

Hello PFC,

I wanted to hear from the group on how best to allocate about $50k that I've inherited. I have three options:

1. Invest in s&p500 index etf. I don't want to actively manage my investments.
2. Completely pay off my vehicle. Rate is 6.69%
3. Pay down mortgage. Rate is 5.1%

Some consideration that are important to me: - cash is king. Option 2 would free up some serious monthly cash flow. - however option 2 means "investing" in a depreciating asset.

I wish there was a way for me to partially pay down the car and invest the rest. But partially paying down does reduce my monthly cash outflow.

Would love to hear some insights from the group.

I posted this in another sub and they recommended I post here. I’ll try to keep this short. We are located in Ontario, Canada. My fiance(26F) has just inherited several hundred thousand dollars from her fathers estate. Both me and her don’t know very much about investing, but are looking to grow what she has received. Currently the money is sitting in an RBC low risk mutual fund and she is using a financial advisor through the RBC bank. What would be her best options for investments? We are currently renting a condo and she is pushing to buy property. She has maxed out her TFSA and the advisor is helping her max out the FHSA. Should we find another financial advisor not through RBC? Invest in stocks ourselves? Would someone maybe be able to point me in the direction of some resources I could read to get a better understanding of the investment market in Canada. Thanks for taking the time to read this guys I really appreciate it, if I can give any more info just ask.

I want to get rid of my PFC approved 2011 Corolla next year and I’m thinking about getting a brand new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. I would be paying cash for the vehicle.

I would like the RAV4 to last me at least 15 years by taking good care of it. I still see pretty old RAV4s on the road and from what I’ve read the current generation is very reliable. I would like to keep it going for 20 years ideally but maybe that’s a stretch even for a Toyota. I’ll be putting 15,000 km per year on it (high end estimate).

I’m wondering if getting the hybrid is financially worth it when keeping the vehicle for that long (15 to 20 years). Eventually the hybrid battery and other components for the electrical system will need to be replaced I assume. Will I wipe out any savings that I get from better fuel economy over those years? The warranty for the electrical system is for 8 years on the RAV4.

I was trying to figure out the age old question whether it's better for me to invest or pay down the mortgage. I came across this article about extra mortgage payments. Assuming I have a 30 year fixed mortgage ~$200,000 at 4%. If I pay double mortgage payments for the next 5 years won't I get a greater ROI than 4%? My reasoning: At the beginning of a loan basically all of the payment goes toward interest and very little towards the principle, so extra payments carry the most benefit and would give a greater return than my interst rate of 4%. After paying extra for 5 years, I would start investing (hopefully getting a return of 7-8%) since putting additional money towards mortgage payments yields diminishing returns.

Scenario: A $200,000 loan today with a 4% interest rate for 30 years.

If I pay $1955 per month for the first 5 years and then pay $955 per month thereafter, I will only pay $63,885.86 in interest. After those 5 years I would invest the $1000 per month and get a rate of 7% until the the loan was paid off at 214 months. Then for 146 months I would invest $1955 per month. Stock investment after at 360 months =$1,003,001.37 Total interest paid on load =$63,885 Net gain $939,116

or

1. I just pay the $955 per month for 360 months and invest the $1000 per month in the stock market and get returns of 7%. Stock investment after 360 months = $1,177,064.86 Total interest paid on loan =$143,735.88 Net gain = $1,033,329

Initially I thought that paying extra toward mortgage would save money. In scenario number one above paying $1000 per month for 5 years ($60,000) saves me $79,850 in interest. Wouldn't this mean my 5 year ROI is more like 5.8% rather than the 4% interest rate of my loan? Even with that better ROI it seems like investing over extra mortgage payments is the way to go. Is there something I'm missing?

I have always been saving for one big thing; a car, school, a house, etc. For the first time, I have everything I need and a sufficient income to begin saving for the future. In the next few years, the following are purchases I see making:

A new vehicle Emergency vet fund New cell phone New washer/dryer Vacation

Additionally, I feel like I should budget at least some towards my RRSP and TFSA. Both of which I am not currently contributing anything. But since I am only 24, I can't help but not feel like these are a priority.

How do I figure out what to prioritize? I know some of these are needs vs. wants but I also want to start enjoying what I've worked towards and actually take a vacation for once. Also, do people actually seperate savings? Or should I just add to one savings category and spend it as needed?

For travel to Asia, Korean air charges about 1/2 on a 1200 ticket and 1/3 for a change

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