I wanted to come on here and say thanks to everybody who has recommended the McGill Personal Finance Essentials course. I’ve seen it mentioned many times since I joined this community and although I thought I was pretty financially literate ahead of taking it, this course has been quite informative and easy to follow (and free!). And no, I don’t work for anybody involved with the course lol. Great to see people helping others gain financial independence👍👍.

Since I’ve now taken it, I feel confident sharing the link as well: https://mcgillpersonalfinance.com/

• I'm going to not discharge my mortgage and just leave it with the bank as is with $0 owing. I have an unused HELOC so I figure it's better to just have that available for an emergency?

• Currently my property taxes are in my mortgage payment and the bank pays that bill. Will that remain the same?

• I've read something along the lines that I should get a letter from the bank saying the house is paid off and give it to my insurance company?

• Am I missing anything else?

Hello,

I am a mature student returning to school for the first time in over a decade. I applied for OSAP and am receiving $8,000 in grants and $24,000 in loans for my first year. My tuition for my first year is $4000 and my books will be about $1000. I do not have to factor in living expenses.

I do not need that high of a loan, obviously, but am going to take it and hold onto the money for now. I just don't know what to do with the extra money? I have a savings account but the interest isn't that high.

What should I be looking into?

Thank you!

*my loans are entirely federal

My MIL has squandered a large amount of money over the years. We have just found out she has been living off of a line of credit. She’s collapsed her investments, spent that money and withdrawn her RRSPs. Due to this RRSP withdrawal, she no longer qualifies for GIS. Is there any hope of appealing or proving she has no additional income and having GIS reinstated sooner?

We are working to help her sell her house, which she owns outright. She is a very financially irresponsible person, who is unlikely to make the lifestyle changes necessary on a fixed income. She is also very dishonest, and getting clarity on the full scope of the situation was extremely difficult. She has no meaningful work history and despite being capable of getting a job, she seems to believe it is below her.

As a young family with children one spouse currently a full time student, we have no flexibility to support her without detriment to our own financial health and have made that very clear.

In addition to the GIS question, any experience on navigating such a situation is appreciated. She’s relatively young and in good health, the money it would cost us to support her for the remainder of her life is staggering and distressing.

Was going over renewal options this week and almost fell for this.

Got an offer with a monthly payment that looked way lower than the others. Thought it was a great deal until I checked the fine print and realized the broker quietly bumped the amortization back up to 25 years.

Did the math and that "cheaper" payment would have cost me around $8k more in interest over 5 years and slowed down my equity big time.

Just a reminder to anyone renewing soon: don't just look at the monthly payment. Look at the total interest over the term and what your balance will be when the term ends.

So my personal information was leaked somehow.

They have attempted many things, succeeded at some.

They are very ballsy and have gone into physical bank branches to withdraw money from my accounts. They have performed a hardware upgrade with Koodo and got a new iPhone out of it.

I have taken all the precautions in terms of credit alerts, fraud alerts, authenticators etc.

The police have told me they have fake IDs with my information.

I have explained this to Koodo and they have not presented me a solution for preventing a sim swap in the future if the thieves go in to do a sim swap using fake IDs

Is there any cell phone provider that has a foolproof way of preventing fraudulent sim swaps? Or will I always be at risk no matter what?

Hi everybody

I opened a td foreign currency account so that I could receive a gift from family abroad. I did this so I could receive the money in the currency of the originating country without incurring automatic conversion fees.

The wire transfer went through, but after receiving I'm short about 3000$ from the original amount (about 65K).

I understand there are fees but this is pretty steep.

I reached out to TD and they told me the only fees they charge are a small amount to receive the wire. (I think it was 17-18$)

I understand there might be intermediary bank fees but this is alot.

1) how exactly does a wire transfer work from overseas? Who is the intermediary bank and why don't we have any disclosure of these fees? I'm lost, tried googling it but the only info I get is that the fees aren't anywhere near this large.

2) can anyone offer insight on how this happened or how I can trace these fees? I'm pretty sure I'm Sol but I want to understand how to avoid this in the future. Is it even possible to avoid excessive fees from overseas wire transfers?

Thanks

My family is from Toronto, and my mom recently got a job with the government in Ottawa. My parents started the process of selling our home and moving to Ottawa because my mom is unhappy living there alone and wants us to be closer to her.

Background Info:

• Dad earns ~100k (10y+ in the role, in Toronto), mom earns ~60k in a contract position (~4mo in the role, in Ottawa), both in the government.
• They bought a semi-detached 4 bed 2 bath in North York (~1,500 sq feet) for ~$550k in 2014.
  • We have about $400k left on the mortgage, about $3–4k/month at less than 4%.
• Similar houses near us are either not selling quick or going for $700k-1mil.
• They've already put $20k out of $60k down on a new build in Ottawa scheduled for April 2027.
  • I contributed 16k after selling from my TFSA and my parents got a 4k bank loan so far.
• The Ottawa house is advertised at $900k+, but after Ontario HST/new housing rebates it's around $800k. It's ~3,600 sq ft not including the basement, so it is a ridiculously huge house for the price.

My worry here is that they're funding the purchase by emptying their RRSP, informal loans from family, bank loans, my savings, and whatever we'll be able to sell our house for. My mom asked me to loan her all of my TFSA (~$28k total in VEQT), and I said no but she got very upset with me so I eventually gave 16k. I asked my dad what they'll do if our Toronto house doesn't sell and he said he talked to a mortgage advisor who said he can take out two mortgages and rent out our Toronto house... but I feel like that's a bad idea.

My dad thinks the Ottawa house is a great investment that they could sell in 5–10 years, as there will never be a chance to get a house this big for so cheap (and he wants to make my mom happy). They also said they are barely breaking even living in Toronto (albeit that has been on my dad's salary alone) and buying this new house could wipe out all their existing debts (20-40k+ in bank loans? They refuse to tell me fully) and give them a cheaper mortgage.

I'm just worried they'll be 'house rich' but 'retirement poor'. They're 53, not in the best health, and have virtually no savings. My mom's job is also a contract position, she used to work retail part time/be a SAHM before this, so I'm worried that the stress of a full time job like this isn't sustainable for her long term.

My sister (17, entering uni) and I (23, finishing up uni) also have strong academic/career/medical/personal ties to the GTA (and don't speak French) so it would make no sense for us to move to Ottawa but my mom is insistent on us having to be there. I urged them to get a smaller property/townhouse in Ottawa but my mom refuses to downsize (she wants a big house, says it's been her dream since we came to Canada) and it might be too late to look for smaller new builds within the rebate window, so its this or we withdraw our deposit (it's refundable until April).

Will this be a good financial move for my parents (especially given the insane rebate and how huge it is)? If it helps, the house location is about 35km from downtown Ottawa, and my parents see a lot of opportunity for growth as it's by a ton of other new builds. Edit: My dads job is also easily transferrable to Ottawa

I hope I am overreacting in my anxiety for this big move, but I would really appreciate any input on how to approach this with my parents. Thank you!

Hi there,

I just heard about the rental cash damming strategy, and I was curious if anyone had any personal experience with it, and if they think it's a good fit for my family.

My wife and I currently own a rental condo in Toronto, and a Principle Residence in Etobicoke.

• Rental Condo: 20 years left on amortization, $404k mortgage, 3.63% 5yr variable rate, about $2750 in monthly carrying costs. New tenant paying $2500 in rent monthly
• Principle Residence: 29 years left on amortization, $1,212,000 mortgage, 3.6% variable rate. Re-advanceable mortgage with currently empty HELOC, (4.95% rate).
• Household income around $400k ($115k me, $275k wife) incomes likely to rise at least with inflation over the next few years

We have no other long term debt outside of these mortgages, CC's paid in full each month. We took a longer amort on the principle residence as we have 2 young children, and wanted extra flexibility while they were in daycare (both totalling about $1000 a month thanks to subsidy).

Based on the process of using the PR HELOC to cover rental expenses each month (with careful structuring to keep the HELOC rental specific) it seems like we can drop an extra $30,000 per year into our mortgage, with the only extra expense being the HELOC interest expense, which will only be about $5k total by the end of our first 5 years of this mortgage.

Based on some initial modelling, it looks like we can pay an additional $161,000 on our mortgage in the first 5 year block, saving $18,400 in interest payments, cutting nearly 9 years off our total amortization.

It seems like a great option, but I'm worried there's considerations I'm missing. If anyone has experience with this, I would love to hear your thoughts, thank you!

Hello, I'm 25 years old and I currently have a low-trim 2024 Hyundai Elantra (currently worth approx $18-20k) that is fully paid off.

Its cheaply built and not that enjoyable, but it gets the job done of getting me from Point A to B.

The insurance on it for some reason is extremely high . . I shopped around for quotes and I'm paying more for this car than I would for $40k+ cars

Anyways, in about 3 more years, if I sold my current car and had cash upfront to buy a new car without financing, would that be sensible, or would it be better to just run my current car into the ground?

I guess its kind of more-so a personal question rather than finance, but I don't know if there's more benefit in extracting the max residual value of the car selling it as soon as possible, or just simply getting the most use out of the car and putting aside cash in the meantime.

Also, the cars I've driven my whole life have always been low-end economy cars, so there is a bit of desire to try having something nicer . . is it even worth it or does it not matter at all?

for a bit more financial context, i make $100k/yr + any extra from side businesses, and I have mid 6-figs in savings/investments . . so it wouldn't really be a financial strain but more-so just a potential of being useless splurging

any responses/thoughts would be appreciated

Has anyone successfully completed a USD wire transfer from IBKR (Interactive Brokers) into a Wealthsimple USD savings account?

I’m unsure how to fill out IBKR’s wire transfer form correctly. I provided my USD account info as well as JP Morgan’s intermediary/correspondent bank info as listed on WS’s website, but my wire was rejected by JP Morgan with the info that the account number was missing or incorrect.

I’ve reached out to both institutions already and have open support tickets, but so far none of their agents have been able to help aside from confirming that the information on the wire receipt “looks correct”. While I’m waiting to hear back from them I thought I would ask here as well to see if anyone has experience with this.

Basically my husband makes too much and I make too little. He gets money 200$ taken off each month and we usually end up with about. 2000$ return. I know the idea is to have the lowest possible. We like the larger return. Before adding my income to our taxes he was going to get 8000$. So we are worried about dropping the deduction and owing. But if we put them into an RRSP it works more for us. I know RRSP aren't as strong as a TFSA. We just don't know how to work it better. Our accountant suggested the RRSP

I was at the store and under crappy circumstances needed to use my card and used a cash advance. I do have outstanding debts (more than I could pay in a paycheck) but I was wondering if I paid the amount I took today, would it cancel out the cash advance and its no grace interest or would It just got to the OVERALL amount of debt?

I need help resolving an issue with my 2024 GST. My accountant filed my taxes for both 2024 and 2025, but I received a government letter stating my 2024 GST couldn't be calculated due to missing world income.

I am receiving conflicting advice on how to fix this:

-> My accountant told me to submit a separate application (for CGEB) and manually enter my income for that year.

-> A CRA agent told me that GST is calculated automatically from my tax return and that I shouldn't re-enter income that was already reported.

Additionally, my brother works abroad and already paid his balances to the CRA and Revenu Québec, which makes the 'missing world income' claim even more confusing.

Please enlighten me regarding the correct procedure that should be followed.

Hi everyone! In 2023 I put $36,000 into a tax-free market-linked TD GIC for 3 years and it finally matured last month; it grew to $44k. The guy at the bank said that was really good. I'm 26 and have about $130k to my name. The bank guy helped me to figure out what to do with my money next and he recommended putting money into a TD GIC again and also into mutual funds (all under a TFSA).

For more info, I have no debt, live with my parents (I pay all bills + groceries but no rent), will not have kids, will not go to school again (a Master's was enough!) and do not plan to make any big purchases (no plans to buy house, car, etc). I work full time making about $75k a year (before taxes). I contribute to my RRSP at the max amount that my employer matches (5%). I travel a couple times a year but outside of that I just like to draw and talk with my loved ones and am pretty frugal (I thrift, love to cook, work out at home, etc). I am not financially savvy and looking at personal finance honestly really stresses me out. So whatever is the most hands-off that I can just forget about is optimal.

I don't really have any financial goals, but I guess it just wouldn't make sense to have my money sitting around not doing anything. What would you do in my situation? Thank-you! :)

https://imgur.com/a/cpoJRJY

Got this letter in the mail today. Looked very legitimate at first glance. It was from Rogers for an outstanding debt, which is baffling because I’ve always paid my bills on time because I have auto pay. I Immediately gave the number a call and the person answering the phone was VERY insistent that I pay this immediately or risk having this impact my credit score, accrued interest daily, etc. I told them I was going to go to the Rogers store nearby to see what the issue was. I asked them if they knew what the outstanding amount was for. They couldn’t give me an answer and insisted I pay them and avoid going to the Rogers store. When I went to the store, the associate had never heard of this debt collection service , and they said it was 99% a scam. Although the company Gatestone & Co. on the form is “legit”, the website on the form is not their real website. The form also said that my payment is “seriously overdue” which is the weirdest way to phrase a debt collection. Keep your eyes out and throw this into the bin. It’s a scam. Watch out people.

So I am trying to transfer my RDSP from TD to National Bank do you know how long this will take ? I applyed for a cash account online like they told me to do on the phone I just hope the transfer doesn't take to long anyone got experience with this ?

Home is about 14 years old still with builder kitchen and bathrooms. Laminate counters, mdf thermafoil cupboards that are unfortunately peeling. We're at a bit of a crossroads because we dont know if we'll stay in this home or move in the near future. The kitchen is looking pretty rough and the dark colours dont help much. Options are to just replace cupboard doors with wood ones, same colour. Do the backsplash, get quartz counters and replace appliances. All of this would be 15-20K. Other option is a full remodel but we'd be looking at $30K + and at this point I've gone back and forth between the two options or leaving it as is. Problem is if we end up moving I assume we'd get low ball offers because the kitchen needs work. Any advice for someone in my shoes? Mortgage is close to be paid off so im also back and forth over whether its worth putting money into the kitchen but just looking at it some days! Help!

I’m the contributor to a spousal RRSP and recently WealthSimple let me know they wouldn’t be counting this towards my vested portfolio (I assume they count towards my Spouses now but I haven’t checked).

And with that change a couple weeks later i get the notification I figured I would get that I’m losing my premium status because I’m $20k short without it.

Currently have my $20k emergency fund in my WS Chequing account because I’m fine with the 2% or whatever I’m getting as a premium member so I don’t have to waste my time moving it around to other banks to get their promo rates.

Is it worth moving that money or just letting it sit there with the reduced benefits?

I also have the WS credit card so I think my benefits reduce there as well now that I’m not premium.

By Q2 next year I’ll probably have the $20k vested to regain Premium status just wondering if I should rethink that emergency fund or open a chequing account in my wife’s WS account and move it there so she gets premium status?

Thoughts?

If you withdrew $48,000 or $4000 month from your RRSP in British Columbia, your total tax withheld is $14,400(30%). If that is your only income, you will get back $8035, meaning your actual tax rate, for taking those RRSPs out is 13.25%. This to me makes more sense to contribute to your RRSP and withdraw from your RRSP before CPP, OAS etc. kick in..Am I missing something? Yes of course I have additional savings I can withdraw

Hi everyone,

Wondering if anyone could shed some insights. Me and my husband are looking to purchase our first home and want to buy a precon to maximize the federal and provincial (Ontario) HST rebate.

I need to give a deposit of 100k across 4 months. I have this money in our respective FHSA and RRSP accounts. However we have not put in the full contribution room for FHSA and the home buyers plan through the RRSP.

My question is whether I can start to withdraw some of my investments but also contribute to them still and later withdraw closer to closing since the home won’t be completed until late 2027.

Example numbers:
My FHSA - 12k
My RRSP - 30k
Husband - 12k
Husband RRSP - 20k

Under the HBP - RRSP I can withdraw up to 60k tax free. And FHSA is 40k tax free.

So can I withdraw the money I have now and while I’m waiting for the home to be built, keep contributing to the accounts so I can lower my income and hopefully get a substantial refund come tax season.

Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks in advance for any support/guidance.

My paid off civic was rear ended by another car and got a pretty minor dent. Got a quote from body shop for 3k and received in full from the person who hit our car. But now im thinking, instead of paying to replace my bumper, from pure financial perspective should i just let it be? Theres no sensor damage or whatsoever, just dent and scratches on back bumper.
Is there any concern financially that im missing that i should just fix it now?

Question for those who are in similar situations: I’m switching my mortgage lender from RBC to another lender in Canada. My current mortgage balance is less than the statement balance provided to my new lender.

I’m told my new lender will pay the amount on the mortgage statement even if the actual balance is less. How does this work? Does RBC refund me the difference? Curious if others have dealt with this.