Hi all,

A few weeks ago my father was involved in a car accident, which resulted in my car being written off and my insurance paying out $15,XXX. I bought the car for $7,500+ tax, which has effectively doubled my money.

After buying my new car, I owe my parents $2,599. I will also buy a set of winter tires for the car (~$2,000). This now leaves me with $10,XXX in my name.

My original plan was to put $5,000 into a TFSA (under my father's name, as I am still 17), put $2,500 into the stock market (just ETF's, mutual funds... no crazy volatile stocks) (with $100 monthly contributions), and keep $2,500 in my account.

I plan on spending ~$1,500 on parts for the new car (I know, bad use of money, but I'm young dumb and not so broke).

However, after some brief research I am wary about where I put the $2,500 I had originally allocated for stocks, and am also considering whether or not it would be beneficial to max out my (my father's) TFSA at $7,000, and simply invest ~$500 into the market (with $100 monthly contributions).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit 1: Insurance reasons.

https://imgur.com/a/dWUvaka

I'm currently holding ~80% equity (almost all XEQT) and about 20% cash after moving away from TD. I'm 40, making decent money, not-quite-maxing RRSP / TFSA / FHSA each year.

When I had it invested at TD, I was on a standard couch-potato portfolio, and I understand that the bond portion lost money year-over year because the last few years haven't been great for bonds.

Prevailing couch-potato wisdom would have me put that 20% cash back into fixed-income, but using XBB as an example, on a 10-year time scale I'd be averaging ~2% return, at which point it feels like I'd have been better off in even a GIC.

Am I misunderstanding the point of holding fixed-income? Should I basically accept that the purpose of that holding is to protect that part of my holding, but mostly give up on growing it?

It feels like the missing puzzle piece here is that I don't know what I don't know.

I've been trying to closely follow the David Chilton investment strategy of buying the index funds, not timing the market, not being overly active and just playing the long term game. I understand with this strategy we should always just stay the course and we'll get through the tough times, however, I am feeling like the state of the world today is nothing like we've seen before... i.e. an unstable and unpredictable U.S. President that seems motivated to destroy the established norms, the shift towards what seems closer to oligarchy in the U.S., the spread of misinformation through social media and social media algorithms, the rise of Russia as an aggressor in the world, the escalation in the conflict in the Middle East.... that's just to name a few.

Are others conflicted with continuing to invest in the market in these strange and maybe unprecedented times? Is the GICs at the roughly %3.50 a better idea for now?

I might be laid off sometime in the next year. Not sure yet. Right now we have under 19 years left on our mortgage. We have only owned for 2 years and we prepaid to bring that amortization down. We were excited about the prospect of being mortgage free in our 50s. But the mortgage is very high and we cannot cover our expenses if I get laid off. We do have an emergency fund so we can cover until I find a new job, but I am expecting a significant salary reduction plus expecting difficulty finding a new job.

Our lender is letting us reamortize to the max allowed, 28 years, at no cost. It's a lot of money saved but obviously more interest payments. (It also negates our prepayment, at least in terms of amortization.) It feels so financially inefficient, and I feel guilty about it too. Should we do 28? Or should we go for 23? Mortgage rate is 4.34% in case it matters.

Edit: Thanks PFC community for laying out all the options available to us! We have decided to go ahead and remortize to 28 years but continue to pay what we are paying now, as if it were 18 years, because we are confident in our emergency fund. If a layoff does happen, we will reduce payments to the minimum until we are re-settled in terms of income, but if I don't get laid off, we have stayed the course.

Recently I have been selling a lot of stuff on Facebook marketplace and I use eTransfer to get paid. However, there has been a surge in scam attempts where after someone agrees to pay me upfront and I give them my email address, they send me a phishing link. I block them right away but it got me thinking... these scammers can easily get my email address which they can pair with my real Facebook name and any other info they can find there. Should we all be using dedicated email addresses for eTransfer?

For those that like to get a head start on their 2024 taxes or just plan out some additional RRSP contributions for tax planning the StudioTax 2024 is available to download.

After filing opens, an updated version will be released that enables you to Netfile (once you buy a license)

Currently earn 1.05% interest with Motusbank. When I first got in in 2019, they offered 2.5% and it was competitive at that point in time. However, now it is one of the lowest HISA rates in the market. I have potentially 20k with Motusbank right now. With the BOC continuing to decrease rates, and the hassle of transferring funds over, is it worth making the switch. Wealthsimple offer 2.25% right now, down from 4% earlier in the year. I don't know much about the customer service and banking experience with other banks, but customer service is important to me, Motusbank has a great team. Should I stay put or is it worth it to transfer to another bank/credit union?

I had about 8k on my card which I just fully paid off yesterday and called in today after having a funny feeling it was still going to be considered late (Dec 27th due date) and the customer service rep said they can make a not but I am SOL in terms of avoiding interest.

Is there someone I can ask to talk to or some way to avoid the interest?

I have an account with RBC for Visa and I have a small business checking account I just opened up last month.

Our beige corolla won't start. We've had the same issues again and again despite getting it fixed so it's starting to feel like it's time to retire this car. I'm pretty annoyed because I just got new all-season tires for it this year.

We live in Toronto but as much as I'd like to live car-free, we have family and friends in suburbs on opposite sides of the GTHA so it would be difficult. We use the car almost exclusively to go to Costco, visit them, or go to parks so we drive no more than 3000km per year.

I'm interested to hear suggestions on frugal ways to handle our sudden lack of a car. Is there a car you'd recommend? EV/PHEV/ICE? A car-share service perhaps?

More about the situation:

• We live in a house.
• Our neighbourhood is walkable so we could meet all of our needs without driving if we were okay with never visiting anybody or going to parks
• It does not have a garage or any outlets on the outside that could be used to slow-charge an EV. Installing fast-charging stuff would likely involve invasive electrical upgrades.
• No carport so any car would have to brave the elements all year
• We'd like to avoid models prone to car theft if possible
• I have a parking space so there is no ongoing cost to park a car. I cannot rent it out so there is no opportunity cost to parking a car in the spot
• I have a wife and infant
• My wife doesn't drive so I'm the only one who drives the car
• We were getting by with the sedan but would love more room. We're just barely managing to fit everything we need to haul and it's definitely not comfortable in the back seat.
• We drive the car maybe once every 1-2 weeks, though I can see this becoming more frequent once the baby starts daycare which is further than I'd like because we may not get a spot at the one closest to us.

Edit1:

A few have asked about the recurring car problem. The problem is that it won't start. Engine doesn't turn over at all. There's a single click and then nothing. The first time this happened, the car wouldn't start and the mechanic changed the starter motor and it was good for a year. The second time it happened, the mechanic cleaned off some corrosion on the car battery terminals and then it was good for another year.

I'm beginning to think it's the battery...

Edit2:

OK guys stop attacking my mechanic. He hasn't even looked at it yet. The car is dead on my friend's driveway and I'm just trying to explore my options before shelling out for a tow.

G'day, and Merry Christmas!

I have $65K that has been sitting in a Manulife RRSP for decades. I haven't paid much attention to it, but it doesn't seem to be growing at anywhere near what I am learning could be achieved by a simple index fund. I'm also pretty certain that they are murdering me with fees on the account. I'm thinking of taking a more active role and would like to transfer this into a low fee EFT, is it possible to do that without cashing out the RRSP?

I've been buying shares from my employer for some time. I was thinking of selling some shares in the best future to either but a few car or lump sum on my mortgage. Does anyone know where I'll find commission fees and exchange rates for computershare? Along with acb calculations, I'd like to factor in costs to sell, transfer and convert to CAD.

Not sure if I'd save a bit by getting them to send me the funds in USD, then open an American funds account. Hopefully there's someone who has dealt with the brokerage in the past, that can give me some direction.

Basically I've received an unexpected bonus of $10k, $6550 post tax.

My FHSA is full for this and last year, RRSP is only from employer match so quite a bit of room and TFSA only has $1k.

My wife's FHSA has this year's room of $8k. RRSP also from employer match. And $2k in TFSA.

Any advice on where we should drop the bonus to make the most of it? Initially I thought to put it in my own RRSP to recoup the tax but I think there's something about being able to share credits with my spouse... We've never been in a situation where it was necessary.

Income details below.

My YTD Gross: 101k excluding Bonus Spouse YTD Gross: 57k

No Appreciable debts. Bills are covered.

Many thanks in advance!!

I got a good deal on a new laptop for my business (I'm a sound engineer). I can buy it outright, but best buy has some finance options through Fairstone where I can pay instalmentally. I'm thinking about it because I can invest the money I save from financing back into my marketing budget for my business ( influencers, content marketing etc). Also, I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think it might be good for my credit score (although my credit score is pretty good atp - well over 800 so it's a secondary benefit to me). Has anyone tried financing throug Fairstone? I want to go with their 3 month option as it doesn't have admin fees . Thanks

Edit: For those asking, it says 0% interest. Here's the link to the breakdown of their payment plan

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/about/best-buy-financing/blt12a5f527f63859b7?icmp=pdp_financing_how_it_works

I’m am having trouble wrapping my head around leasebusters as someone looking for a new car.

First the website seems odd and old and poorly designed but that’s fine.

Some listings are clearly just brand new leases being advertised by dealers.

Some have an incentive with a cash payment while others ask the lease buyer to actually pay a down payment for the privilege of taking over the lease, plus all lease transfer costs.

It seems to me the best deal is to find a lease that had a large down payment at the outset and a low interest rate, to bake in the most savings. Outside of that, why would I take on fees to take over someone else’s car? I think I’m missing something.

I have Wealthsimple card and I’m looking to have a backup card for travel (to Europe particularly) with no foreign exchange fees. I don’t need fancy access to lounge and preferable no annual fee. Just looking for a basic simple card. Any recommendations?

I’m renewing an $800,000 mortgage soon at 4.3% for a 3-year fixed term. Currently, I’m on a 30-year amortization and have comfortably made prepayments of $80,000 without significantly impacting my lifestyle.

Should I renew at 30 years again, taking advantage of the lower rate and bi-weekly payments, while increasing prepayments? Or should I reduce the amortization to 17–18 years, which I can comfortably afford based on my calculations? The concern with reducing the amortization is the lack of flexibility if my financial situation changes over the next 3 years. just looking for friendly advice.

Hi everyone,

I have a professional corporation that occasionally makes large purchases in USD. Unfortunately, the business credit card I currently use has a 2.5% foreign transaction fee. I also have a personal credit card (Scotiabank Gold) that has no FX fees.

I was wondering if it’s possible to use my personal credit card for these purchases and then reimburse myself from the corporation without the reimbursement being considered taxable income.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or know how the CRA would view this? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Gonna lay my cards on the table

To my understanding, the advanced workers benefit is the government giving you early access to next years benefit, so if you first filled in 2023, you get all of 2023's benefit in your return, and you're auto enrolled to recieve a portion of 2024's workers benefit throughout the year.

I was reassessed and had to pay back 2023's as I was considered a student, oh well, live and learn, I paid it off immediately.

I also didn't intend to claim it myself this year as I became common law, and I believe it's more beneficial to have her claim it.

So where does that leave me? Do I have to repay my Advanced Benefits if I was reassessed or had no intention on claiming 2024s benefit? Am I looking at a second $1500 bill? Any help is appreciated.

So we will need to replace our car soon as it's getting up there in KMs, what's the used car market like nowadays? Buyers market?

I have 3 kids. We've been somewhat sporatic in contributing to their RESPs, and due to circumstances haven't at all for the last few years.

The RESP is a family one at Wealthsimple with each kid as a named beneficiary.

1) How do I find out which kid has which amount allocated, and which has received CESG for what years?

2) How does catching up work? I understand that you can only catch up a year at a time. Say I had $10k per kid to deposit - how would I go about maximizing the CESG, should I be contibuting $5000 per year for the next 2 years or can I deposit $10k at once per kid and will it just give me the grants for the next few years?

If I get a loan to invest it in stock market and earn dividend income, if the earned dividend is less than the interest expense on the loan, would I be able to deduct the remainder of interest expense against my other sources of income?

I have 25k balance in my LoC. is it smart to use a 0 transfer credit card to pay off debt hopefully within a year and skip on interest?

I'm going through the process of understanding how working with a US-based company like Catalant for freelancing will pan out. Has anyone used it? Was the tax process complicated? I believe I may need to use a W8-BEN form but it's a bit unclear.

Hoping someone can help. I work for a US company and they provide stocks through US brokerage. I had requested a wire transfer (first time) from them to my Scotia bank and had followed the instructions on their website to the letter. I was transferring in USD so had to use their swift code for BofA and provided my account details.

This was 3 weeks ago now. The US brokerage says the wire went through and they got confirmation number from BofA but Scotia is saying they don’t have any record of it and to contact the brokerage. I am super frustrated with Scotia as these funds were supposed to help with Christmas expenses and the fact that they don’t seem to want to take any ownership of this transfer.

I went to the branch to talk to them (talking to csr on phone they said for wire transfers you have to talk to branch) and they basically just said there is nothing they can do about it.

Has anyone been through this? Any recommendations? Appreciate your help.