Hi! I have been trying to open a trading account with RBC within my hold co, they have mentioned that they have asked their support team whether a Holding company can open a Business Investment account, and the reply was, "yes but not real estate holding company". I have a hold co, that has my op co in it.. I also have a couple properties in my hold co, but as far as I know, I have a basic hold co and it's not real estate specific. Any insight would be appreciated!

Given Trump's latest moves of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods except oil and gas, what do you guys think are Canadian companies that will be *less* impacted from a top and bottom line perspective by the tariffs?

I know everything will likely be affected but some businesses would be more resilient than others I would think. Would Dollarama be a good play? What about engineering services like Stantec, WSP Global or Atkins Realis?

What else? Brookfield? Would small businesses (less than 10B market cap) be a risk here? What about resources like gold? Any stocks that are based on germanium or other critical minerals that are based on the TSX or TSXV?

Looking for good ideas. Would looking at a company's Net PPE locations be a good clue/indicator to figure out which businesses may weather the storm better? Is there any public online tools/websites that can help to comb through the balancesheet/income statement to see which businesses are more resilient to tariffs?

Looking forward to your views!

We have “Generation” accounts with Wealthsimple and it included a review by a financial planner. We are all self directed so the only thing I asked for was a financial draw down plan if I were to retire early.

We are currently in our early 40s and I asked for a draw down plan if I retired at 45. Long story short, filling all the information in the Conquest financial plan has us able to retire today and in theory, our assets will continue to grow. Great news!

The concern for me is a big part of this software’s assumption is income from CPP and OAS.

How much do you bank on for OAS and CPP? How much do you trust the conquest software for early retirement?

I'm just thinking fearfully of the breakdown of canada US relations. Is it at all possible that my shares of VTI sitting in my various accounts will just get fully seized? More realistically I could imagine a foreign dividend withholding tax of 100%, but I'd hope companies would respond by just leaning more into buy backs so appease their international shareholders. Still this is my absolute nightmare scenario but divesting my US holdings in a taxable account would be really unwise right now.

Hi Reddit Personal Finance Canada! My wife (45F) and I (47M) are starting to seriously consider early retirement, and we're trying to determine if it's feasible to do either now, or do I need to wait for, say, 7 years to reach 55? We have three school-aged kids and are trying to figure out which timeline makes the most sense financially.

Here's a breakdown of our finances:

Current Situation:

• Income:

  • Me: $215,000/year
  • Wife: $130,000/year
  • Total: $345,000/year

• Savings & Investments:

  • Registered Accounts (All RRSPs): $1,100,000

  • Non-Registered Investments: $200,000

• Real Estate:

  • Primary Residence: $1,500,000 value, $80,000 owing

  • Rental Property 1: $600,000 value, $100,000 owing

  • Rental Property 2: $700,000 value, $100,000 owing

  • Rental Property 3: $800,000 value, $300,000 owing

Our rental properties are currently cash-flow neutral (covering costs like mortgage, property tax, and maintenance). We are seeing some appreciation and the mortgage paydown is slowly increasing our equity.

Current Net Worth:

• Including Primary Residence: $2,720,000

Calculation: ($1,100,000 + $200,000 + $500,000 (Rental 1 Equity) + $600,000 (Rental 2 Equity) + $500,000 (Rental 3 Equity) + $1,420,000 (Primary Residence Equity))

• Excluding Primary Residence: $1,300,000

Calculation: ($1,100,000 + $200,000 + $500,000 + $600,000 + $500,000)

Assumptions for 7 Years from Now:

• Investment Growth (after 3% inflation): We're assuming a 5% annual growth rate on our non-real estate investments.

• Rental Property Growth (after 3% inflation): We're assuming a 2% annual growth rate on our rental properties. We'll also assume the mortgages on the rentals remain at roughly the same balance due to the cash flow neutral nature of the investments.

Projected Net Worth in 7 Years (Rough Estimate):

• RRSPs: $1,100,000 * (1.05)^7 = ~$1,557,000

• Non-Registered Investments: $200,000 * (1.05)^7 = ~$281,000

• Rental Property 1 Equity: ~$586,000 (calculated in previous response)

• Rental Property 2 Equity: ~$700,000 (calculated in previous response)

• Rental Property 3 Equity: ~$614,000 (calculated in previous response)

• Total Projected Net Worth (excluding primary residence): ~$3,738,000

Questions:

• Retiring Now vs. in 7 Years: What are the key financial implications of retiring now versus waiting 7 years? Specifically, how does the significantly lower net worth now impact our potential safe withdrawal rate and long-term financial security?

• What are the non-financial considerations for each scenario? (e.g., time with kids now vs. later, potential career changes, etc.)

• Given our current income, savings, real estate holdings, and projected growth, does either retiring now or in 7 years seem realistic?

• What factors should we prioritize when making this decision? (e.g., education costs for the kids, healthcare, inflation, unexpected expenses, RRSP withdrawal taxation)

• Are there any specific financial strategies we should consider to optimize our retirement planning, regardless of the chosen timeline? (e.g., maximizing contributions to registered accounts, tax implications of withdrawing from RRSPs, managing rental properties in retirement)

• Any advice on how to determine a safe withdrawal rate given our current and projected portfolio and anticipated expenses for both scenarios (retiring now vs. in 7 years)

We're open to all suggestions and insights. Thanks in advance for your help!

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your feedback. You've been helpful (well, most of you). A main theme is that I don't have a handle on knowing the amount of my expenses. And that's pretty key when thinking about retirement.

I've always done a cash-flow approach, and haven't watched what I'm spending, so I'm unable to say confidentially how much I'm spending overall, let alone on the details by category. That's a problem and I need to fix that, and then take all my info into a fee based planner. Or I'll just ask reddit again.

Hi there, I am looking to transfer my TFSA CAD/USD Stocks from RBC Direct Investing to Wealthsimple. I have already opened the TFSA account and activated a USD account as part of the premium tier. Can I transfer all my holdings in-kind from RBC Direct Investing TFSA without converting currencies?

Are there any other factors I should consider before proceeding with the transfer? I aim to avoid selling any stocks from the CAD or USD accounts and wish to transfer everything as is.

Who’s selling their USD to CDN right now??

What else would you do if you want CDN in your pocket and want to capitalize on these current dollar values… looking for ideas.

F (51), husband (53). Live in HCOL city with mortgage free home and net worth of $1.9 M non registered and $900K registered. We are both working and our net income is approximately $100K combined ($70K + $30K). We have one child age 15 and RESP savings of $80K. My husband plans to retire in 2028 as he will be able to get a better pension from work ($12K a year) and we will be able to opt into health benefits at that time. Since I'm the lower income earner, I am wondering if I can retire now, using the non reg to supplement the loss of my income? Once we are retired, we estimate we'll be spending about $75K a year, going up with inflation.

I am wondering whether I can retire now or whether I should work longer? I am a 49 year old single female. Kids are adults and independent. I have a net worth of 1.7 million Canadian dollars. I live in a low cost of living city in Canada.

My TFSA and RRSP accounts are maxed out. In total I have $750,000 in investment funds, mostly index funds. I don’t have a pension from my work. But can collect CPP and OAS when I am eligible.

In addition, my primary residence of $650,000 is paid off. No mortgage.

Rental property #1 is worth $550,000. The mortgage on that is $350,000.

Rental property #2 is worth $350,000. The mortgage on that is $250,000.

I have no other debt other than the mortgages. Can I retire now or should I keep working? I live a very minimalistic life, and don’t spend much money on stuff.

I make a total profit of $1000 on both my rentals combined each month. I can live on $40,000 a year.

I've hit my lean fire goals but there's been a definitive lifestyle creep as my disposable income has 4-5xed over the years. The way I look at it lifestyle creep just extends the time-to-retirement.

Q: What all strategies have you employed to identify and stamp out bad spending habits/lifestyle creep?

Hi all,

After years holding growth mutual funds, I'll be taking the plunge and going self-directed. I'm finding the learning curve to be overwhelming. For example:

• How does one choose between ETFs when they're largely the same?
• How does USD factor in as a Canadian?
• What about dividends?

How do you approach these questions? What resources have you found helpful? Am I overthinking things?

TIA!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a personal finance tool that’s been super helpful for staying on top of money management. This all-in-one Personal Financial Planner allows you to track income, expenses, and savings in a simple, straightforward way. It’s perfect for anyone looking to stay on top of their financial situation in a clear and organized way. Whether you’re budgeting, tackling debt, or working towards big financial goals, this tool makes it easier to keep everything organized.

Here’s a quick overview of what it does:

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If you have 3 million dollars, would you put it in jepq and retire off the 10 percent yield at 300k per year without touching the principle. Is this a good FIRE plan ?

For ages I've kept funds equal to 6 month's worth of expenses as an emergency fund (in 100 day cashable GICs). Newly retired and wondering is there conventional wisdom on revising that?

I’ve finally reached a point where my registered accounts are all maxed out. Value is around $500k for these.

For context: I’m 33, have one newborn and wife is planning to stay at home. Income of 300-400k (sales, fluctuates). House valued at 1.5M, $820k mortgage remaining at 1.9%. Renewal in September, assuming it’ll be around the 4% mark.

I do write off some expenses related to the home/auto since I am a commissioned employee.

I have an extra $80k in non-registered which I’ve been DCAing regularly.

I keep thinking whether I should just pay down the mortgage, or continue to invest.

Plan is to be financially independent by 50.

Thoughts on my situation?

I'm curious what people's strategies are for margin with mixed accounts, with both Canadian and US ETF's? I'm depositing CAD into my IB account, buying Canadian funds with cash, and then buying the US funds with debt (aiming for around 1.5-2.0x leverage ratio). I'm mostly keeping the solid funds on the Canadian side at the moment because of the exchange rate, when the fx rate between them improves, I'll probably convert some CAD to USD to balance them out.

I used to be Canadian resident. Then I moved. CRA owes me a fair bit of money, both personally, and to my dissolved corporation. Unfortunately, they also refuse to send it electronically to a non-Canadian bank account, and frankly, mail here is at best unreliable.

How can I open a bank account as a Canadian citizen, non-resident, in Canada, without coming back to Canada? It appears that all of the banks want you to open accounts when there - to wit this is literally listed on Scotia, RBC, and BMO websites.

This seems insane.. but as it's CRA who owes me the capital, it's financially worthwhile.. but a tremendous pain in the ass. Also, while CRA will wire they will not do so to Transferwise.

Hoping someone can help. Also, in advance - yes, I have family in Canada still, if it matters. They'e also leaving soon.

I follow the FIRE sub and mainly gloss over the posts that are too American focused. Curious which funds Canadians own.

Hello,

Looking for some advice on catching up on RESP and front loading .

We have a single RESP account for our 2 children (born 2020 and 2022).

We’ve put in the 2.5k/yr so far, except for 2024 (so there’s 5k per child contribution room this year).

If I wanted to catch up on the front loading strategy, would I be depositing 16.5k per child this year or should I be putting in some other amount?

What’s the best way to calculate that?

Thank you!

Partner (33F) and I(35M) are trying to figure out the best way to deal with finances for the long-term. Those of you who earn a six figure salary, how do you handle finances with your wife/partner if they also work? Do you pay all the bills or split expenses? If you do pay all expenses, what are ways your partner contributes non-financially?

Hi there, TIA I need advice on how to invest/use $100k CAD im getting soon. Ill explain my condition as follows: Lives in Canada, with my wife and younger brother, no kids yet, me and my brother has a house debt of $359k @1.8% for another 2 years and then need to get it refinance/reset up. Have a car with my brother debt of $34k @5.5%. No other debts just regular CC use and we pay them in full in regular payments.
We have monthly combined in-hand income of $11,500 CAD approx. We have good relations/understanding with each other. We pool in money for our monthly expenses and every one of 3 of us pays their share of monthly expenses. Now, i want to maximise this $100k CAD in a way that we can get best out of it. We are living fairly ok with our income. What would you guys suggest? I am well aware of investing in stock market. In canada we have TFSA and i can ask my wife and brother to invest in that to maximise their TFSA limits? Invest that money as a DP to a new house and rent my current house out?(home loan rates atm are around 5%per annum). Any other suggestions to get best out of this money?

EDIT: me nd my bro bought house when i was single. We are both paying out shares and will keep on paying that for now. I understand that normally one buys home with wife and not brother but that’s the situation. Me and my brother shared a lot of expenses and things together and are planning to have another house in future when he gets married. I will help him out then again by paying downpayment or paying share in that house. I know its tricky situation for most but we have a strong bond and my wife has no issues with it.

I watched this youtube video from Canadian-in-a-T-Shirt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSEg6Fux_A which explains it's best to use our RRSP buying VOO instead of VFV because we can avoid the 15% dividend tax in RRSP (compared to TFSA).

What's the thought of Fican on this, assuming you're on Questrade / PassiV and can use norbert gambit for lump sums / big amounts?

Over 15 years, the MER Fees (0.09 vs 0.03) and the 15% dividend is indeed meaningful, but does it compensate for the transaction fees / USD conversion fees?

Thanks for your insight

As the title says, why do people I see on this subreddit invest almost all of their money in these, what's the benefit, and why these ones specifically? I'm 22 y/o new to my FIRE journey, would love some advice. Thanks!

Edit 1: I'm fairly new to investing, I've only been doing it for the last year, and I'm investing $1000 per month CAD rn. I have 12000 as for the last year and made a 5% return, majority of my money is in VFV but I have some in stocks as well. I mainly created this post just to see if I should sell the stocks and just put it all in VFV and XEQT going 50-50 or something like that. I want to know why people choose these ETFs over stocks because there's some stocks going up over 100% in the last year, so why choose ETFs over them

Here’s a post I made in June when I hit 50k NW: link to post

No one to share this with and I am proud of my progress so I hope this post inspires everyone on their FIRE journey!

I completed my one year work term in mid December and am now returning to my studies this semester. I’ll be graduating in June. I also received a full time job offer in May, so I'm enjoying a break until things pick up again. Right now, I'm back in my home country visiting my parents and reconnecting with high school friends, which has been great! :D

Here’s a NW breakdown, things have changed a bit since the last time!

~ $6.6k (2.75%) Wealthsimple Cash (Emergency fund)

~ $2.2k (~2%) Bank Savings Account (Emergency fund)

~ $38.9k TFSA (VFV, XEQT)

~ $8.9k FHSA (XEQT)

~ $7.2k RRSP (VFV)

~ $6.8k Non-Registered (VFV)

My portfolio allocation across all accounts is roughly the following:

VFV 68% || XEQT 20% || QQC 7% || VIU 5%

US 84% || International 10% || Canada 5% || Emerging Stocks 1%

Total NW: ~ $70k

Since the last time I posted, I have lowered my savings + emergency fund and focused on investing it instead. I have also done a bit of rebalancing by selling off overlapping ETFs and buying XEQT/VFV. My main holdings are now just VFV and XEQT.

Feel free to give any advice on my portfolio allocations and anything else too, I know it is fairly risky and 100% equity? I am in it for the long term and I am turning 24 this year.

I have been tracking my net worth in 2024 on google excel so here’s a nice looking graph with the growth of all my accounts:

https://imgur.com/a/fVbF1tz

One thing that blew my mind happened this month (jan1-19). I wasn’t working so I had very little income but still spending normally. I noticed that my investment returns over this period outgrew my expenses so my net worth increased by $1k which completely baffled me as I had barely any income and literally did nothing productive. Truly passive!

I’m taking courses right now so the road to 100k has stalled a bit. I am planning to hit 100k NW by mid to late next year 2026, so I’ll post again once I reach that milestone :D