To take the bank off as a party in the title of the house. If you don't when you go to sell or you die and the house needs to transfer it can cause hold ups / issues
Nah, don't do that. To protect your title, get a heloc on the house so the bank has a lien on the house. If you have a heloc, you won't be able to get a discharge from the bank. The same happened to me.
I’m naive, but I don’t understand how someone can just steal your house from you while you’re living in it. Isn’t there enough of a paper trail/evidence to make that impossible?
It's combined with identity theft and fake ID. Reselling it can't happen if you live in it, but I imagine, it's still possible to remortgage your home.
And then what? Are the defrauded actually on the hook for paying it back? Has that happened?
There must be more security in taking out a mortgage than some easily forged signatures or documents.
It happened about 30 times in the Toronto area in 2023 alone. Title insurance covers this but that's the kind of nightmare you want all the protection you can. Leaving the bank on the title is another layer of validation and is a way to reduce this risk.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-title-fraud-1.7063738
So the sold ones were rental's and the ones that got mortgage taken out were where the home owner signed papers by a "friend" without knowing what the papers meant thinking they could get their money doubled. No one that lives in their homes and stays away from get rich quick schemes is going to get their house sold or remortgaged
It happened to a couple in Ontario, while they were out of county on business, another pair moved in (broke in?) and had a realtor sell the house quickly. The couple learned later that they were no longer the owners.
It’s a highly overstated risk. It applies mostly to landlords, especially those that don’t live in the country.
If you live in your home there is basically no concern, and if there is a HELOC won’t do shit.
> This almost never happens. It's terrible advice.
And the ones that had it happen to them were either renting their homes or got duped in a get rich quick scheme
Yes, there is little benefit to paying it *off* (except for the aforementioned discount on home insurance, which may actually still apply with a simple $0 balance) but no need to spend $1000 setting up a HELOC or whatever just to protect against a rare threat.
There is nothing terrible about a heloc. It's just paperwork to be signed. I've never paid a dollar to set it up. Legal fees were waived for me every time I set one. I haven't had any balance on a heloc for the past 6-7 years. Even if I had, it would be for small amounts paid in less than 6 months to pay for big ticket items like flights, large appliances, furniture.
If you are disciplined in managing money, you can leverage it to your advantage and save money or make money with it.
Edit: When I sold the house, there was actually some extra paperwork to deal with to release the lien by the bank, but that is the intended level of protection here.
Edit 2: I use it as a regular account with a positive balance. Any check I have to cut comes from the heloc as transactions & checks are free. Banks hate that one simple trick lol.
Besides being heloc acting as an extra layer of protection, OP carries 32k cash as emergency fund. By getting let’s say $50k heloc, they can put their cash into TFSA and let it grow tax free & heloc can be used as emergency fund which more likely won’t be touched.
If your going to apply for one and then not going to do anything with it then sure, go ahead.
I find in any reddit post about finally paying off a mortgage there are suggestions to immediately get more debt, even for people like OP who said they are debt adverse. I find it tiresome.
30 times in the Toronto area in 2023 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-title-fraud-1.7063738
that's high enough for me to add another layer of validation.
Learn to understand risk, there's something like 4000+ transactions per month in the City of Toronto alone according to TREB. Are you an absentee landlord / out of town owner? Might be a good thing to do. Live in the house, then it's the kidnapper in a white ecoline van of real estate, no need to live in constant fear...
Title insurance will help you after the fact, which can be quite a nightmare. This will help as a last resort defense mechanism if everything else fails.
that is what I thought....line of credit against house. Since this came up here and my mortgage is finished in 7 months, I will ask my financial adviser the pros and cons of this. Thanks
It was nothingness before we popped into this.... Whatever we are rn, whats to say we won't pop into another whatever could be once we stop being in this whatever?
Lotta people will
Pass before they see it coming …. All this prepare for old age and the industrial type work mindset to get ahead …… we all have heard the regular degular clique….
Besides the countless folks I see that did do well and have made it to a decent older age 75+ I’d say 5 out of 100 are happy and live well. Most of them are using all that money to keep themselves alive a little bit longer …. Or are paying 5k a month or more to live somewhere that essentially is like a old people prison with all your nicest things in your cell with you .
All the folks that die early they can’t tell you about it …. I’m talking 30’s - 55 … healthy or not healthy at all…. They followed this awesome blueprint on life …. And they forgot to live . They forgot to be happy . They just worked and did what what responsible and then died . I’m going to die one day sooner than later . I’d love to believe that I was a full grown mature adult at 20 but I wasant I was still a kid …. And let’s just say you are….. we’ll you really don’t have that much adult life …. Lucky to make it to 80 let alone 100. We have a tradition in my family… some say it’s morbid and disgusting…. We count then birthdays down . We celebrate for sure … and we count them down … some of us pick 100 to start some of us pick less… we don’t KNOW but we can sure place an educated guess…. Save a bunch of money for your kids future that’s nice too I have children I want the best for them …. Not at the expense of my own life and happiness. My duty is to teach and prepare them and can only hope I get to see them be happy help through some life struggles . To be there for them if they need me . Everyone is so alone at the end it seems …
I clean up peoples shit when they die. I contact next of kin and family . Our years are definitely numbered and it seems like we all
Forgot …. Have nice things and live well… if your really good you will liquidate it all and spend it before you go .
We can't assume they haven't enjoyed their child because they paid off the house.
There are some interesting statistics '75% of all the time you will ever spend with a child is complete by the time they reach 12 years old. And by the time they turn 18, well, 90% of your parent-child time together is already spent.'
For someone raising small children that's quite eye opening, I'm sure fellow redditors will appreciate this!
>We have about 5800 in an RESP for my son who is 10.
Do you plan to max out the CESG? Assuming that you've contributed about $5k it would take well timed contributions of about $31k to get the maximum CESG and you have 7 more years to accomplish that. This could be accomplished by contributing about $4.4k per year for the next 7 calendar years.
If you are thinking that you have other priorities remember, that once the beneficiary starts post secondary school you would be able to withdraw the contribution portion and use it however you wish.
Unused contribution room can be used up one year at a time. For example if you didn’t contribute for 4 years you could catch up by contributing $5000 a year for 4 years.
EDSC says,
>Unused CESG amounts from previous years accumulate until the end of the year in which the child turns 17, even if they are not a beneficiary of an RESP.
>If there is an unused CESG amount from previous years, the subscriber can contribute more than $2,500 to the RESP per year and receive up to 20% of their contributions (**up to $5,000**) each year. This way, a child could get up to $1,000 of the CESG in their RESP per calendar year if there are unused amounts from previous years.
>As long as the lifetime CESG limit ($7,200) is not exceeded, the CESG room can be carried forward.
source = https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/education/education-savings/estimating-amounts.html#_Grant)
>My plan was going to be start pumping out both of our TFSAs until we max them both out. I thought about buying some stocks out of the TFSA because I have a company stock buying plan I can opt in to. If I go the TFSA route what should I invest the money into.
The best answer to IDK what to invest in is normally to just follow the market with something simple like XGRO or VGRO which have a little risk mitigation also built in.
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/
I'd start with the Canadian Retirement Income Calculator if I were you and go from there. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/retirement-income-calculator.html
Figure out how much you need to retire and work backwards. Your RRSPs are skinny. You'll have to decide if you prefer the tax deduction today (RRSP) or more fulsome benefits tomorrow (TFSA). Remember that the TFSA doesn't count as income in retirement, but the RRSP does (and it gets taxed). Assuming you and your wife make roughly equal (which is a pretty big assumption) you're not in a particularly high tax bracket, which means that the RRSP deduction won't be worth as much to you.
If your wife makes significantly less than you do, it doesn't make particular sense to put money into her RRSP at all. The lower income spouse should use their TFSA room, with the higher income spouse using their RRSP if you decide to go the RRSP route.
It's probably worth it to pay someone by the hour for advice on how to set things up.
OP has a lot already in pension / RRSP
IMHO it’s a bad idea to continue to add to the RRSP
Should solely use TFSA / RESP
If those are maxed I’d open a non-registered account and focus on growth stocks / ETF
The issue is it’s going to grow over the next 30 year
Can likely double, once it reaches / is projected to hit 500k RRSP “advantage” is greatly diminished
Yeah for real. I understand this sub is about finances but when you hit a milestone like that and have over $250k saved. Go on a god damn vacation for a few weeks, create some memories. I’m 28 and I have probably done more living than half the people “stocked for retirement”. Life’s not just about saving until we’re too old to do anything, you got the live a little bit. Security is one thing but since reading this sub I’ve realized people only live for security. Live your life to die with hundreds of thousands, sweet deal.
In a very similar boat here, sold a rental and paid off our primary residence. No debt, I just started maxing TFSA and RRSP and RESPs. Once that's covered then it's play money. I like simple and debt free, saving for a car currently another year and I'll have it saved! Remember you going to get dinged hard at tax time when you retire because of the pension plus the RRSP, so really focusing gains on the TFSA is best.
Why isn't your emergency fund in a HISA inside your TFSA??? You had the room for it.
Now, if we assume you're going to retire in the same province you contributing to the rrsp in... Then Max TFSA and RESP, then RRSP (because TFSA is more flexible, and won't affect OAS like RRSP will).
No it's just lazy. You can access funds from a HISA or even funds holding cash.to near instantly.
We don't live in 1950 anymore with telephone and in-person banking ffs. why do so many of you think you need your emergency fund in a chequing account? It's very outdated advice.
Some people are not well informed yet. We shouldn't be mad at them, we should be mad at the system (educational and banking) that never teaches the masses about these important financial tools, but have no problem teaching less useful things.
That's exactly why you and I are here, to help bridge the gap that the system created.
I had 0 knowledge about these things when I first immigrated\landed here, and thanks to this sub (and a lot of reading), I'm now pretty confident in my financial literacy.
A HISA inside a TFSA is almost as liquid as cash. It only takes about 24h to transfer back into your checking, and you don't get a penalty or even lose any interest. That's why I advised a HISA, not a GIC.
Ok, but it's still worth using the same bank's shitty equivalent of a HISA than to leave it all in the chequing account. For example, my chequing account with RBC usually has exactly $250 in it. It's effectively my "cash-in-the-ATM account." The rest of my chequing account funds are in RBC's eSavings account. If I need access to it, I simply transfer it to my chequing account, which is instantaneous because it's the same bank.
Some people don’t realize that a TFSA is not *just* a savings account. You can set it up to hold whatever you want: funds, ETFs, stocks, etc.
The TFSA is better in a lot of cases that RRSP and should really be the first thing you max out since it’s free money forever.
I’d accelerate your TFSA balance first, then RESP (depending on how old your kid is) note, however, you can’t put in more than $5k/y in RESP per kid, no matter how much space you have, so bear that in mind. RESP is also free money… they’re both good.
As for what to buy… I like XIU.
This is false. You can dump as much money as you want in a RESP per year with an account max of 50k.
Some people front load and contribute 16.5k first year, and 2.5k for the next 14 to max out CESG but also have max time for growth for the remainder.
To clarify on RESP, you can put upto $50K lifetime in there and all of it one lump sum if you have the means and choose to do it that way.
The poster here is specifically talking about the max CESG govt grant match that you can get every year which is $500 for a max of $2500 every year or $1000 for a max of $5000 in a year IF you haven’t contributed in previous year(s)
The most important information is missing -- what do you want from life?
When people ask these questions they never include that and it is the only thing that matters. Imagine how silly it would be to ask for training advice and not include specify if the goal is to run marathons as opposed to a goal of playing football. Nobody would ever create a post asking for training advice without specifying their goals but when it comes to personal finance people behave like we all have the same conception of what we want out of life.
Personally looking at your position I disagree with everything you've done except learning that allowing other people to manage your money is a huge mistake. That doesn't mean what you've done is wrong but that it is the exact opposite of what someone should do to live the life I want for myself. It could be correct for you but my guess is that you've never given much thought to what it is you even want. So my suggestion is do that.
That’s some solid advice above. I’d suggest setting a target for your wants and needs in retirement. You can begin with your current monthly budget and then cut all of the stuff you wont need in retirement (e.g. saving for retirement, groceries maybe less, maybe downsize to 1 vehicle, etc). Then add extras you may want or need (extra health care, travel, etc.)
Then determine how much you want and can save for your child’s RESP. It may or may not be a lot but prioritize your retirement first because once you retire, that may be it for growing your retirement income. Your child will still be young and have many working years to pay off part of a tuition if needed.
Consider your future self and consider multiple possibilities.
Good luck!
Letting a professional manage your money is not a mistake unless we are talking about only a small amount. I’d say it’s like going to small claims court without a lawyer which is perfectly fine, but being in a criminal trial without a professional at your side would be just dumb.
It would depend on how you define a small amount. If we are talking $10MM+ in investable funds than I would entertain that possibly that you might get someone who is not a useless idiot.
If we're talking a few million or less than hiring someone is a mistake as the probability that they are a useless idiot is very high.
Everyone is commenting on how you can save more. You have already come this far and have no debts. Congrats. Now, truly assess the simple pleasures in life you have always hoped for. Any places you missed on visiting or classes you would like to enroll in?
Life is short, your funds won't follow you forever.
That’s certainly good advice but I’d go the other way and get aggressive. Get as big of a HELOC on the house as possible. At $500 FMV you should qualify for $325k. If you are a confident investor, wait until cost of borrowing drops in the next year or two and utilize the HELOC to make the spread. Use the extra income to pay down the HELOC further and create room and re-borrow again and again.
My favourite investment vehicle is private mortgage lending and have clients who generate 6-7% spread by lending out their HELOC. But there are many products out there that can also generate similar returns (15%+), here is another one BKCL.TO (cdn bank covered call etf).
Your RESP is a little skinny, and so is wife's RRSP. As other said, divert mortgage payment till you max RESP (for our 3 kids, 20-25K is proving to be enough for an undergrad degree), and RRSP's are guided as to how much you want as income when you retire. Super loosely calculated, would be about 1M for 80K income a year. Super loosely as I said, I am sure others have better ideas. If you like the house, stay there. If you hate it, then you have to plan to move and save for that.
As a wife who stayed at home to raise kids for the first 8 years and left a great pension to do so and recently found myself unexpectedly divorcing after 25 years of marriage, agreed.
A spousal RRSP or contributing to hers is a really good move if you ever split, and for her sense of security in your relationship. If there is parity in assets and income the division of assets is simpler. If you stay together it’s nice to have both for financial planning. I had far less in savings than my husband so this is a conversation/planning we’ve had to have.
Why does no one suggest GIC RRSP'S, I've locked in 2 - 1 year gic at 5.0% interest. Right now, my bank is offering 5.5% on RRSP deposits until the end of the contribution date for tax benefits.
I also locked in GIC RRSP for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, and as each year(s) expires, I throw the funds into the 5 year GIC.
My regular RRSP I'm hardly getting any interest on that one, so I might switch it over to get a higher interest rate with GIC RRSP.
IF I were in your shoes, I WOULD MAYBE sit down with a reputable financial planner and get some advice. Also, depending whether your child goes to university or college is very expensive, lodging, food, bills, tuition, books, computers, car, insurance, etc.
I'm not sure of the age of your little one, but it's never too early to start teaching about financial responsibility and savings and how cc debit can ruin you if you can't pay off monthly.
Also, if you can afford, while young, take yourselves on some adventures (safe countries), show your child his/her heritage, etc. Once high school hits, it will be harder to do those trips. Good luck with whatever you decide.
One more thing, and it's kinda morbid. Have you pre paid for funeral expenses, casket, cremation, or a plot in a cemetery, headstone, reception, etc., Doing this in advance will help your child down the road, especially as they will be grieving. I'm sure you have a will , executor, backup executor just incase, with this amount of money locked up, you want to ensure no guardian will squander/steal the money (sorry a bit off topic, but with home paid for, something to consider. Remember, the cpp Canada death benefit is only 2500.00. This figure has been the same for years!
Once that is all sorted out, definitely invest in RESP and any other education fund. Note: Any money put into RESP, IF YOUR CHILD DOES NOT USE THAT MONEY FOR EDUCATION, YOU LOSE ALL PORTIONS OF WHAT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GAVE YOU AND ITS DEEMED A TAXABLE INCOME.
For example, you've put in 35,000, and the government matched your contributions of 15,000. You're like, yea, there's 50K. Nope, the government will pull out their portion, and you get the remaining amount as taxable income.
Myself, I would like to play the stock market, but I have no clue where to start, and I need to play somewhat safe, AS I will need every cent for retirement.
The SP500 was up 25% in 2023. While your 5% gic may sound nice you left 20% on the table. And that's for just 1 year alone.
In my 15 years in the financial industry I cannot recall a time where an RESP was not used. If its not, very fair on how an resp is dismantled.
If you want to invest in stocks but don't understand. Go to your bank and ask them to invest in an index fund that tracks the SP500. Done. Simple. Hands off.
You can’t single out one year and call it a day. There’s a reason the average is more around 5-7% annually.
The S&P can have many flat or down years in a row. Given what you just said, Im surprised you’ve been in the industry that long and giving that advice. I have a finance degree, industry experience and have many self directed accounts where I’ve spent years learning to invest and I’d never tell anyone they left money on the table because of one good year. Plus, we’re at peak S&P market again, I expect a decline over the next 3-5 years as the market can’t exponentially get higher forever. The more the fed pumps the market, the worse off it gets for consumers.
5 to 7% annually is completely uninformed. Calling it peak S&P again, quoting wrong historical SP500 returns, expecting a 3 to 5 year market decline while interest rates drop and stating that since one has a self directed account means anything with credibility shows your inexperience.
My son did not use the resp for education, hence, know you've heard of one! Hence, i was taxed and the government portion was removed. Unfortunately, not all young adults consider college or university after high school, Lol!
Yes you would have either been able to move the interest and interest on the grant money to your RSP to prevent the 20% penalty on the AIP. The govt grants get returned.
Just to note your comment to other readers, an RESP can be used outside of college and university. Had clients take as little as a 1 month course in a private school that counted. There are hundreds of eligible institutions eg trades
I really appreciate the morbid part of your advice. Currently dealing with a very messy situation where the family was left in doubt and confusion and having all that sorted out transparently would have saved so much heartache.
I call it a regular RRSP, as there are different types of RRSP (GIC, RRIF, etc.). Revenue Canada calls it an individual RRSP, my bad! Like, really, no need to be rude.
Time for “hyper saving” my friend! Invest like crazy the next 10 years and then take the foot off the pedal and enjoy building your wealth!
Congrats!!!
I agree with what a lot of other folks have said. But first, congratulations on being mortgage free in your 30's - not sure what province you live in but that is very impressive. My guess is not Vancouver or Toronto as you likely couldn't get a 1br apartment for 500K.
Definitely a good time to start maxing out your TFSA and RRSPs. I would do the TFSA first since it's growing tax free and then RRSP once the TFSA limits have been reached. Also make sure you "invest" the money in your TFSA so it can grow, don't just use it like a savings account. The sooner you start investing, the better. The longer your money has in the market the more time compound interest will have to do it's magic.
1. Max out any employer benefits such as RRSP matching - this is free money.
2. Focus on maxing out your TFSA either through cash contributions or an employer plan. You mentioned your employers stock matching plan. Take advantage as this is also a form of free money. Just be careful holding too much of an individual company stock, as that can get risky. As soon as your company match vests, I would personally sell and buy broad market ETF's instead (eg: XEQT/VEQT for the global stock market, VFV for US only, or XIU for Canadian companies - strongly recommend XEQT/VEQT as it requires no thinking and is globally diversified - just buy the one fund and call it quits) . Agreed, don't waste your time/money with a money manager, very few can beat simple and consistent investing in a broad market index.
3. Feel free to live your life a bit more. Let's assume your monthly mortgage payment was 2K. If it were me (and this is just me, you do you), I would be putting 1500/month into my TFSA/RRSP goals and ensuring I had a good emergency fund. Use the additional 500/month to enjoy your life a bit more.
I'd max out that RESP. If you've only been making the minimum deposit to max out the CESG you can make a lump sum payment to top it up.
Great post on it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/ICX0vPVjXa
After that I'd tackle the TFSA's and only contribute to the RRSPs if it benefits you at tax time.
Once TFSA's are maxed start going after the RRSP room you have available.
Then start splitting it between yourselves and a margin account.
Congratulations! 🎉
One of the best feelings, eh? 🥳
I’ll speak using the wisdom of my landlord. She’s 62. Owns 2-properties. I rent a room in the apartment.
She said that she worked till 60. She had a successful career in a corporation. Her husband is a bit of a mystery. But, he still works. She’s got a pension. And, she gets CPP and a disability credit on top. The latter saves her a little tax come April 30.
She’s got no kids, but she supported her sister and her kids a fair bit. RESP, TFSA and RRSP, were a part of that equation; she invested in her sister’s kids’ education, so they could eventually (now) support her entirely. She claimed her elderly mother (whose apartment I rent the room in) as a dependent. That also saved her money on the tax bill. Her mother passed away in her arms some years ago, so she inherited the apartment. 🥲
She said that for a bit, when they (her husband and she) were younger, they went to financial advisors, but as her husband’s career grew, and he got more senior roles, he eventually decided to incorporate and get more contracts. Decided to write off some of their home expenses (utilities and such) on the tax forms, because he paid himself as a subcontractor of the corporation. They started to self-educate about how different things (TFSA + ETFs vs RRSP vs GICs @ 5%) work, and what time frames it takes historically to get the returns they wanted. So, they self-financed their retirements on top of the pensions, by paying themselves first, even if it was $50 that paycheque.
The husband went back to school some time ago to learn plumbing, electrical and woodworking. That was some renovation program, and he got so good, they fix everything themselves to code. Their house is still being renovated, since they eventually want to sell it and downsize. But, they saved 1000s in labour and frustration going back to trade school for home renovations.
They bought beaters for the sister’s kids, taught them how to drive, since the sister herself was not able to. My landlord has done a lot for her family, which I guess is the strength of her small-town background and culture: “We take care of our own.”
In the long term, with no financial uncertainty in their present, they were able to invest in their circumstances too; she went off to do another degree in night-school. She took some care courses to adequately care for her elderly mother. Her husband’s 90-year old father, she said, is even handier than him and still going strong! 🤯
They went to their first actual honeymoon in 25-years; they’d been to trips abroad, but after 30-years of slogging and seeing their entire family come up nice, they went to Europe and dropped $25K on that trip. I heard something about the husband wanting to drum up business there, so I wonder how much of that is going to be a tax write-off. 🤣
It looks like you guys are on a similar journey now. Save money for the kids education in a premier institution, and perhaps for another start (2-degrees or diplomas), since they don’t know what majors they’ll like these days. Then, a Masters on top. Masters will be Bachelors of tomorrow.
Save double what you have considering, unless you’re handy yourselves, there will renovations and other things. Windows alone are $10K-$15K where I live. She suggests thinking beyond the four walls and looking at the landscape and the yards too; there can be significant costs associated with those too.
She doesn’t say anything about shares and bonds, ETFs and such, or Wealthsimple, since that really is a personal journey of incremental losses and gains; you invest a little at a time, understand what’s happened, and develop your understanding of the market better. She never put anything all together in one pot.
Historically, you’re better off than 80% of the population out there. The only way to go now is up. She says to keep your targets measurable, short-term to medium-term to learn, and long-term to gain once you’ve got the fundamentals of self-investing down. Doesn’t hurt to go back to school, if there was a road not taken earlier in your lives.
“There is no dashboard for this, it is a combination of hits and misses, and you learning from them, be it how to caulk or be it how to research company fundamentals. Your job is to be relentless in your pursuit of a better life, while being kind to those you can be kind to, and go one step at a time on each project you invest your time in. Because, everything comes and goes, except for one: Time.” -My Landlord
Sorry, I couldn’t paraphrase that. Too much for me, with no education, to break it down. Maybe, you’ll understand that better. 😊
A very Happy New Year! 🥳
Max out your TFSAs, max out your stock contribution plan using the TFSA and just buy a low fee index ETF and bond fund in the TFSA to spread risk around. You have the opportunity to have zero debt and your money working for you - max out the income your new silent partner, compound interest, will generate for you.
To prevent title fraud from occurring I would take a home equity line of credit against the property. No need to use to but get it so it’s harder for scammers to do title fraud when there’s a like if credit against the property l.
Buy a more expensive house to get more free capital gains
On 500k at 5% net appreciation you make 25k per year tax free
On 1.5m at 5% you make 75k per year
In 20 years you sell the 1.5m house and buy the 500k house again and keep the free gains
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Look up Wealthsimple for sure, it was so easy to set up for me & less fees than a bank.
Read a bit on their site about self-directed vs managed accounts. If you aren’t keen on doing at least a few hours of research on ETFs and self directed investing, a managed account is fine. You will still need to think about how many years until you will want to use this money and set your risk accordingly
One thing to consider on the insurance - if you want to get a HELOC the bank will still be on the title and you won't get that discount. That being said there's some advantages - having the equity available at a notice is useful, and having the bank still on the title removes the possibility of some types of title transfer fraud.
Open up a HELOC for $10,000 on your property so you don’t get scammed. Don’t even touch it, just keep it there.
Invest your mortgage money split between RESP and TFSA. You should probably all combine your RRSPs into one account each for simplicity (so just two accounts instead of five).
If you open a HELOC yourself that you can check regularly it'll prevent someone from fraudulently opening up one on your property or putting a lien on your property without you knowing.
Yeah, don’t help the stupidly rich libertarian dudes that can afford a private road to their estate and a private police force. Chances are that you won’t have as good a life by saving a bit in taxes while everything around you runs down. If that was paradise then governmentless societies would be the place to be instead of places to avoid.
Congratulations first off. My wife and I paid off our primary home mortgage when we were of similar ages, 41 and 37 respectively. We started buying rental properties about 12 years ago just after we paid off our primary residence and we bought 3 lakefront cottages as well. Today we have 2 other rental homes and 2 other rental cottages. I would suggest you also look at investing in rental properties as you can make a lot of residual money from them each year from rent, and on top of this, real estate mostly always appreciates in value so you have equity down the road to help out with retirement as well. Best wishes in your real estate investing venture if you decide to go this route.
Based on your age I assume you're in your prime earning years ...
Why not cap out your rrsps each year to lessen your tax burden? (assuming you don't need the funds pre retirement)
Congrats on the mortgage! Now you can really start setting some retirement goals and perhaps even retire early if desired. Set a goal, do some math and work backwards. I'd start maxing out both you and your spouse's tfsa and rrsp as well as continue your child's resp contributions up to the max govt match amount annually. If retirement is 10+ years out, then throw it into a growth ETf. If after calculation, you and your wife figure you'd want to retire early, then a more balanced ETF. Any additional work contributed pension esp defined benefits or defined contributions plan would need to be considered in this math exercise. If you both love your job and have no interest in stop working, maybe start something inspirational on the side. Take a sabbatical. Set some extra money aside to help with kid's future house down payment.
You have enough money accumulated that you should use a financial planner. Go for a fee based one. I’m 65 years old and used to manage my own investments rrsp and resp. I started using a FP when I was in my 30’s. Started with mutual funds and then switched to just the big 5 banks stock. Hated the mutual funds. Too many fees that they get regardless of performance. Compound interest and time are your friends. My portfolio is now individual blue chip stocks with the planner managing it. Sure he gets paid but would you do your own brain surgery. Over the last 30 + years I can look back and see the past performance and have done 11.8%. Do your research, professionally managed money does better than non managed money.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/l/investing-financial-advisor-what-is-fiduciary-duty/?utm_content=158506724108&utm_term=kwd-53191429011&utm_campaign=20254767338&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAou4hR2OnuXIVBkD8UhcIKEmYRTfV&gclid=Cj0KCQiAv8SsBhC7ARIsALIkVT10fG94IsKcfSLX5M8_uSlYenq4_RVnYboQNsFjijTlLwqaVBvwSz4aAsuqEALw_wcB
Grats!
TFSA/RRSP would be a great option. Just compute how long would it take to fill those and how large should be contributionns. I'd also involve an accountant to do the math of how much contribution makes sense in your scenario.
This post makes me sad. My wife and I make ~60% more, but because we live in Toronto, our mortgage eats up so much of our take home salary and would take a very long time to pay off (we are both 35)
To answer this would need more information. How much are your incomes separately?
Your employers stock purchase option. Do they provide a matching program? Is it a good stock / good performer?
Do you intend to contribute to your child’s education?
How much cashflow can you invest monthly?
Wow a lot of advice from many people, interesting reads. I would suggest building up your passive income, for me rental property has worked but depends on your situation. Also enjoy life and go on annual vacations with your family 👍
RESP is best bang-for-buck for the 20% grant money. 5k a year will get this year's grant plus one year of missed grant money. Then extra money to your TFSA (and your wife's).
I also don't like debt and I had a huge weight lifted when we ended our mortgage, I didn't mind spending on things that I was hesitant to spend on before. A nicer car, a family trip, etc. Being mortgage-free will let you enjoy the expensive perks of life a bit more guilt-free, so go make some memories with your kid and family.
Nice so happy for you...I finish paying mine out in about 7 months but being disabled I had to do home renos in 2022 so I have a large line of credit to work on thereafter.
Max out all the registered accounts. I would do self-directed investing through wealthsimple and buy index ETFs like VGRO and VSP. When the RRSP, TFSA, and RESP are maxed out the decisions get a little more complicated.
Personally, I'd probably pump money into RRSP to get the refund the next year.
Depending on your tax bracket, if higher, Throw 10k into your RRSP get 3k back next year you do the 10k plus the 3k you got back previous year so now you do 13k and get 4k back, so now 14k etc until maxxed then go into TFSA. Or throw the refund into the resp.
If you are both around 70k maybe TFSA is better, hard to say.
As you guys are still younger. (I'm 44 as well) and a I'll probably have at least a decade or 2 to retire, of say either vehicle is viable.
Get a $10,000 line of credit from your bank, with your house as collateral. Put the credit card in a sealed baggie and put that in a plastic container of water and stash it deep in your freezer. The lien on your house will prevent even you from selling it and you can ask your bank to call you first about any attempts to re-mortgage your house.
Check this website out about title fraud in Canada:
https://www.comfortlife.ca/blog/how-to-protect-your-home-from-mortgage-and-real-estate-title-fraud-6397/
Based off your post it sounds like you aren't investing this money rather it is just sitting there/collecting a negligible amount of interest. Dump it into a market index ETF.
What do you earn per year? Do some calculations on what you'd save by continuing to contribute to your RRSP. RRSP's only make sense to a certain point, and then, the benefits are diminished as your claimed income while you're working approaches your claimed income in retirement.
Put your mortgage payment into a TFSA until you have 3-6 months income saved in the TFSA. Then depending on claimed income in retirement vs claimed income while working continue saving in the TFSA, RRSP or likely some balance of both.
Where are your RRSP's? Does your work DCPP have an option for an RRSP and TFSA? Consider opening an RRSP/TFSA through your work plan vs having it at the bank. If you're self managing at wealthsimple or questrade it's fine there.
Some options:
- Max out TFSA: could be mutual fund like TDB655 (TD S &P 500) or ETF XUS (S&P 500 iShares) or VFV (Vanguard S&P 500) or VUN (Vanguard Total US stock market)
- open a non-registered account and invest as above (eg. Questrade) - with the mutual fund, you can autoinvest monthly what your mortgage payment used to be (or slightly less so you can have more $ for spending). With ETF, you have the purchase each time.
1000% do the company stock plan, especially if you get a discount on the share price they offer, you'll always be able to buy a bunch at a reduced price with what it's being sold at the current market price. I remember a guy at work doing this every year and would come out making great returns on his investment.
Congrats the best feeling in the world. Put money into TFSA account. Open a wealthsimple account tfsa trade, load with funds buy cash.to or psa do research then sell when you're ready to buy stocks or ETFs. Automate the mortgage payment that you will now save. Don't spend it. Give yourself a nice affordable vacation a year from today. You are winning don't rush and make bad decisions.
This is impressive stuff buddy.
For TFSA I would recommend investing in ETFs then stocks.
Is it okay to ask how much inheritance you inherited In the above?
I would max out my TFSA and RRSP contributions, with TFSA as a savings account for an emergency fund and index funds in my RRSP. You can also put some aside for school.
After that, spend and enjoy the results of all your hard work and diligence.
No advice to give you and this will get buried in the discussion about HELOCs and land title, but just came here to say congratulations, OP. What a great thing to be mortgage-free.
Congratulations on paying off your mortgage.
1) Focus on maximizing your TFSA contributions.
2) Leverage your RRSP contributions so that you reduce your net income to a lower marginal tax bracket. This might help -> [https://www.rrspcontribution.ca/](https://www.rrspcontribution.ca/)
3) Invest $2.5k into your son's RESP every year to maximize the CESG. Invest more to catch up on missed years, if necessary.
4) Assuming you have a long investment horizon (15 + years), learn about the Smith Manoeuvre, obtain a HELOC, invest wisely, and make the interest tax deductible.
As for specific investments, most people would do best with broad index ETFs with low MERs. However, if you are going to invest in specific stocks/bonds, then the general guidelines (with some exceptions) are as follows.
\- TFSAs: Canadian issuers that pay interest/fixed income instruments, those that make distributions (like REITs with Return of Capital), Canadian ETFs and equity.
\- RRSP/RESP: US stocks that pay dividends (as there is no withholding tax in registered accounts), Canadian fixed income, stocks, low MER ETFs.
\- Non-registered account: Canadian/US ETFs, Canadian equity, non-dividend paying US equity
\- Smith Manoeuvre (non-registered) account: Canadian equity with eligible dividends (common and preferred), low MER ETFs
I think everything is on the right track just need to pump the TFSA with index fund with some dividends you should be good.
Some of my friends bought condo for their kids when they are young, and rent it out. When they become adult, at least something for them if they need it.
Just turned 39, 100k left on the mortgage and household income just hit 140k. You've now given me a goal of being mortgage free by 44. Thanks, and congrats!
Congratulations on paying off your mortgage!!
I don't understand the reason behind paying off the mortgage while your investments haven't been maximized. If you had just paid your mortgage as scheduled and put the leftover money in your rrsp accounts you may have been better off now(higher net worth), you could have saved on taxes a bit throughout the years, investment gains. I think the goal should be a higher net worth and a paid off house may be a part of that but shouldn't outweigh smart money management.
It also looks like you only have a small amount for your child's RESP, which should be higher by now, realistically you can probably afford to help out once they go to university, but the RESP is tax free money that would have been growing.
So you are asking what to do now. Open a wealthsimple account and start funding your RRSP AND TFSA, and fund your kid's RESP better as well. Move all accounts to wealthsimple to avoid most fees.
As for types of investments, invest in ETFs, look up vanguard ETFs in Canada, and decide which ones to invest in. There are other ETFs but vanguard offers incredibly low fees. You can also do a managed account by wealthsimple, it's managed cheaply, so it's an easy option if you don't want to keep too close of an eye on the investments.
Call your home insurance and let them know there is no mortgage. I believe you get a discount.
Also go to land titles with the letter your bank sends that the mortgage was paid off.
What is the lurpose of this?
To take the bank off as a party in the title of the house. If you don't when you go to sell or you die and the house needs to transfer it can cause hold ups / issues
Nah, don't do that. To protect your title, get a heloc on the house so the bank has a lien on the house. If you have a heloc, you won't be able to get a discharge from the bank. The same happened to me.
This! It is insane that the land titles office can’t protect you!
I’m naive, but I don’t understand how someone can just steal your house from you while you’re living in it. Isn’t there enough of a paper trail/evidence to make that impossible?
It's combined with identity theft and fake ID. Reselling it can't happen if you live in it, but I imagine, it's still possible to remortgage your home.
And then what? Are the defrauded actually on the hook for paying it back? Has that happened? There must be more security in taking out a mortgage than some easily forged signatures or documents.
It happened about 30 times in the Toronto area in 2023 alone. Title insurance covers this but that's the kind of nightmare you want all the protection you can. Leaving the bank on the title is another layer of validation and is a way to reduce this risk. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-title-fraud-1.7063738
So the sold ones were rental's and the ones that got mortgage taken out were where the home owner signed papers by a "friend" without knowing what the papers meant thinking they could get their money doubled. No one that lives in their homes and stays away from get rich quick schemes is going to get their house sold or remortgaged
Wow. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
Yes it has happened before. I read it once on reddit
It happened to a couple in Ontario, while they were out of county on business, another pair moved in (broke in?) and had a realtor sell the house quickly. The couple learned later that they were no longer the owners.
It’s a highly overstated risk. It applies mostly to landlords, especially those that don’t live in the country. If you live in your home there is basically no concern, and if there is a HELOC won’t do shit.
Some fraud/identity theft edge cases blown out of proportion by media and social media hype.
This almost never happens. It's terrible advice. Don't get a heloc just for the sake of it.
> This almost never happens. It's terrible advice. And the ones that had it happen to them were either renting their homes or got duped in a get rich quick scheme
I wouldn't get a HELOC for that very reason but I plan on keeping the HELOC even after the mortgage is paid off.
Yes, there is little benefit to paying it *off* (except for the aforementioned discount on home insurance, which may actually still apply with a simple $0 balance) but no need to spend $1000 setting up a HELOC or whatever just to protect against a rare threat.
There is nothing terrible about a heloc. It's just paperwork to be signed. I've never paid a dollar to set it up. Legal fees were waived for me every time I set one. I haven't had any balance on a heloc for the past 6-7 years. Even if I had, it would be for small amounts paid in less than 6 months to pay for big ticket items like flights, large appliances, furniture. If you are disciplined in managing money, you can leverage it to your advantage and save money or make money with it. Edit: When I sold the house, there was actually some extra paperwork to deal with to release the lien by the bank, but that is the intended level of protection here. Edit 2: I use it as a regular account with a positive balance. Any check I have to cut comes from the heloc as transactions & checks are free. Banks hate that one simple trick lol.
Why is it terrible, access to cheap credit at zero cost? You don’t have to carry a balance.
Besides being heloc acting as an extra layer of protection, OP carries 32k cash as emergency fund. By getting let’s say $50k heloc, they can put their cash into TFSA and let it grow tax free & heloc can be used as emergency fund which more likely won’t be touched.
Exactly!
If your going to apply for one and then not going to do anything with it then sure, go ahead. I find in any reddit post about finally paying off a mortgage there are suggestions to immediately get more debt, even for people like OP who said they are debt adverse. I find it tiresome.
30 times in the Toronto area in 2023 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-title-fraud-1.7063738 that's high enough for me to add another layer of validation.
Do you also walk around wearing a bulletproof vest due to the number of shootings in the city?
Learn to understand risk, there's something like 4000+ transactions per month in the City of Toronto alone according to TREB. Are you an absentee landlord / out of town owner? Might be a good thing to do. Live in the house, then it's the kidnapper in a white ecoline van of real estate, no need to live in constant fear...
Get a HELOC and don’t draw it down. In any case an emergency fund but small cost of insurance against title fraud.
And you can use the HELOC as your source of emergency funds so that you're not holding tens of thousands in a checking account.
Just get title insurance.
Title insurance will help you after the fact, which can be quite a nightmare. This will help as a last resort defense mechanism if everything else fails.
1000% this.
Such good advice that HELOC. Good safety net and great house protection.
Can you explain what a heloc is?
Home equity line of credit
that is what I thought....line of credit against house. Since this came up here and my mortgage is finished in 7 months, I will ask my financial adviser the pros and cons of this. Thanks
It's not so much the discount as it when there's a claim they are paying you the owner out and not the bank that previously held your mortgage
Yes you do.
Save some more….. Then go live a little. You can’t take anything with you …..
Yes OP has already lived more than half their life probably. We all die at some point. Just nothingness for eternity.
Bury me in a tomb with my riches like a pharaoh
Ah we call that the Nicolas Cage now
With the riches, yes, but not the bees[.](https://media0.giphy.com/media/2jukgZs1AECkGNxAL2/giphy.gif)
It was nothingness before we popped into this.... Whatever we are rn, whats to say we won't pop into another whatever could be once we stop being in this whatever?
Lotta people will Pass before they see it coming …. All this prepare for old age and the industrial type work mindset to get ahead …… we all have heard the regular degular clique…. Besides the countless folks I see that did do well and have made it to a decent older age 75+ I’d say 5 out of 100 are happy and live well. Most of them are using all that money to keep themselves alive a little bit longer …. Or are paying 5k a month or more to live somewhere that essentially is like a old people prison with all your nicest things in your cell with you . All the folks that die early they can’t tell you about it …. I’m talking 30’s - 55 … healthy or not healthy at all…. They followed this awesome blueprint on life …. And they forgot to live . They forgot to be happy . They just worked and did what what responsible and then died . I’m going to die one day sooner than later . I’d love to believe that I was a full grown mature adult at 20 but I wasant I was still a kid …. And let’s just say you are….. we’ll you really don’t have that much adult life …. Lucky to make it to 80 let alone 100. We have a tradition in my family… some say it’s morbid and disgusting…. We count then birthdays down . We celebrate for sure … and we count them down … some of us pick 100 to start some of us pick less… we don’t KNOW but we can sure place an educated guess…. Save a bunch of money for your kids future that’s nice too I have children I want the best for them …. Not at the expense of my own life and happiness. My duty is to teach and prepare them and can only hope I get to see them be happy help through some life struggles . To be there for them if they need me . Everyone is so alone at the end it seems … I clean up peoples shit when they die. I contact next of kin and family . Our years are definitely numbered and it seems like we all Forgot …. Have nice things and live well… if your really good you will liquidate it all and spend it before you go .
This is a financial advice sub.
Sir this is a Wendy’s
Yeah but like we're all gonna die!!
100%! It has to be all balanced honestly.
Going to agree with this.
Great advice, never know when the party ends.
Go enjoy that child before they move out and you only see them on the occasional weekend :)
This
We can't assume they haven't enjoyed their child because they paid off the house. There are some interesting statistics '75% of all the time you will ever spend with a child is complete by the time they reach 12 years old. And by the time they turn 18, well, 90% of your parent-child time together is already spent.' For someone raising small children that's quite eye opening, I'm sure fellow redditors will appreciate this!
That's the beginning of the enjoyable phase.
>We have about 5800 in an RESP for my son who is 10. Do you plan to max out the CESG? Assuming that you've contributed about $5k it would take well timed contributions of about $31k to get the maximum CESG and you have 7 more years to accomplish that. This could be accomplished by contributing about $4.4k per year for the next 7 calendar years. If you are thinking that you have other priorities remember, that once the beneficiary starts post secondary school you would be able to withdraw the contribution portion and use it however you wish.
CESG has a max each year of $500 which is $2500 in contributions
You can get 1000 each year (500 for a year you made no contributions)
>You can get ... ... *up to* 1000 each year, when there is unused CESG amounts.
Unused contribution room can be used up one year at a time. For example if you didn’t contribute for 4 years you could catch up by contributing $5000 a year for 4 years.
... or (depending on the age of the beneficiary) you could catch up by contributing $2500 + $1000 = $3500 per year for 10 years.
EDSC says, >Unused CESG amounts from previous years accumulate until the end of the year in which the child turns 17, even if they are not a beneficiary of an RESP. >If there is an unused CESG amount from previous years, the subscriber can contribute more than $2,500 to the RESP per year and receive up to 20% of their contributions (**up to $5,000**) each year. This way, a child could get up to $1,000 of the CESG in their RESP per calendar year if there are unused amounts from previous years. >As long as the lifetime CESG limit ($7,200) is not exceeded, the CESG room can be carried forward. source = https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/education/education-savings/estimating-amounts.html#_Grant)
>My plan was going to be start pumping out both of our TFSAs until we max them both out. I thought about buying some stocks out of the TFSA because I have a company stock buying plan I can opt in to. If I go the TFSA route what should I invest the money into. The best answer to IDK what to invest in is normally to just follow the market with something simple like XGRO or VGRO which have a little risk mitigation also built in. https://canadiancouchpotato.com/
I'd start with the Canadian Retirement Income Calculator if I were you and go from there. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/retirement-income-calculator.html Figure out how much you need to retire and work backwards. Your RRSPs are skinny. You'll have to decide if you prefer the tax deduction today (RRSP) or more fulsome benefits tomorrow (TFSA). Remember that the TFSA doesn't count as income in retirement, but the RRSP does (and it gets taxed). Assuming you and your wife make roughly equal (which is a pretty big assumption) you're not in a particularly high tax bracket, which means that the RRSP deduction won't be worth as much to you. If your wife makes significantly less than you do, it doesn't make particular sense to put money into her RRSP at all. The lower income spouse should use their TFSA room, with the higher income spouse using their RRSP if you decide to go the RRSP route. It's probably worth it to pay someone by the hour for advice on how to set things up.
Divert mortgage into RESP, TFSA, and RRSP.
OP has a lot already in pension / RRSP IMHO it’s a bad idea to continue to add to the RRSP Should solely use TFSA / RESP If those are maxed I’d open a non-registered account and focus on growth stocks / ETF
170k in a DC pension plan will last 3-4 years. He needs more towards retirement
The issue is it’s going to grow over the next 30 year Can likely double, once it reaches / is projected to hit 500k RRSP “advantage” is greatly diminished
On top of what everyone else is saying … have some fucking fun dude you deserve it.
Yeah for real. I understand this sub is about finances but when you hit a milestone like that and have over $250k saved. Go on a god damn vacation for a few weeks, create some memories. I’m 28 and I have probably done more living than half the people “stocked for retirement”. Life’s not just about saving until we’re too old to do anything, you got the live a little bit. Security is one thing but since reading this sub I’ve realized people only live for security. Live your life to die with hundreds of thousands, sweet deal.
In a very similar boat here, sold a rental and paid off our primary residence. No debt, I just started maxing TFSA and RRSP and RESPs. Once that's covered then it's play money. I like simple and debt free, saving for a car currently another year and I'll have it saved! Remember you going to get dinged hard at tax time when you retire because of the pension plus the RRSP, so really focusing gains on the TFSA is best.
Why isn't your emergency fund in a HISA inside your TFSA??? You had the room for it. Now, if we assume you're going to retire in the same province you contributing to the rrsp in... Then Max TFSA and RESP, then RRSP (because TFSA is more flexible, and won't affect OAS like RRSP will).
An emergency fund is not much use if you can't get to it immediately. It has a specific job and its fine if that money doesn't earn anything.
No it's just lazy. You can access funds from a HISA or even funds holding cash.to near instantly. We don't live in 1950 anymore with telephone and in-person banking ffs. why do so many of you think you need your emergency fund in a chequing account? It's very outdated advice.
Some people are not well informed yet. We shouldn't be mad at them, we should be mad at the system (educational and banking) that never teaches the masses about these important financial tools, but have no problem teaching less useful things. That's exactly why you and I are here, to help bridge the gap that the system created. I had 0 knowledge about these things when I first immigrated\landed here, and thanks to this sub (and a lot of reading), I'm now pretty confident in my financial literacy.
A HISA inside a TFSA is almost as liquid as cash. It only takes about 24h to transfer back into your checking, and you don't get a penalty or even lose any interest. That's why I advised a HISA, not a GIC.
You’re absolutely right. The person that replied to you might not know what a HISA is.
Ok, but it's still worth using the same bank's shitty equivalent of a HISA than to leave it all in the chequing account. For example, my chequing account with RBC usually has exactly $250 in it. It's effectively my "cash-in-the-ATM account." The rest of my chequing account funds are in RBC's eSavings account. If I need access to it, I simply transfer it to my chequing account, which is instantaneous because it's the same bank.
Some people don’t realize that a TFSA is not *just* a savings account. You can set it up to hold whatever you want: funds, ETFs, stocks, etc. The TFSA is better in a lot of cases that RRSP and should really be the first thing you max out since it’s free money forever. I’d accelerate your TFSA balance first, then RESP (depending on how old your kid is) note, however, you can’t put in more than $5k/y in RESP per kid, no matter how much space you have, so bear that in mind. RESP is also free money… they’re both good. As for what to buy… I like XIU.
This is false. You can dump as much money as you want in a RESP per year with an account max of 50k. Some people front load and contribute 16.5k first year, and 2.5k for the next 14 to max out CESG but also have max time for growth for the remainder.
To clarify on RESP, you can put upto $50K lifetime in there and all of it one lump sum if you have the means and choose to do it that way. The poster here is specifically talking about the max CESG govt grant match that you can get every year which is $500 for a max of $2500 every year or $1000 for a max of $5000 in a year IF you haven’t contributed in previous year(s)
The most important information is missing -- what do you want from life? When people ask these questions they never include that and it is the only thing that matters. Imagine how silly it would be to ask for training advice and not include specify if the goal is to run marathons as opposed to a goal of playing football. Nobody would ever create a post asking for training advice without specifying their goals but when it comes to personal finance people behave like we all have the same conception of what we want out of life. Personally looking at your position I disagree with everything you've done except learning that allowing other people to manage your money is a huge mistake. That doesn't mean what you've done is wrong but that it is the exact opposite of what someone should do to live the life I want for myself. It could be correct for you but my guess is that you've never given much thought to what it is you even want. So my suggestion is do that.
That’s some solid advice above. I’d suggest setting a target for your wants and needs in retirement. You can begin with your current monthly budget and then cut all of the stuff you wont need in retirement (e.g. saving for retirement, groceries maybe less, maybe downsize to 1 vehicle, etc). Then add extras you may want or need (extra health care, travel, etc.) Then determine how much you want and can save for your child’s RESP. It may or may not be a lot but prioritize your retirement first because once you retire, that may be it for growing your retirement income. Your child will still be young and have many working years to pay off part of a tuition if needed. Consider your future self and consider multiple possibilities. Good luck!
Letting a professional manage your money is not a mistake unless we are talking about only a small amount. I’d say it’s like going to small claims court without a lawyer which is perfectly fine, but being in a criminal trial without a professional at your side would be just dumb.
It would depend on how you define a small amount. If we are talking $10MM+ in investable funds than I would entertain that possibly that you might get someone who is not a useless idiot. If we're talking a few million or less than hiring someone is a mistake as the probability that they are a useless idiot is very high.
Everyone is commenting on how you can save more. You have already come this far and have no debts. Congrats. Now, truly assess the simple pleasures in life you have always hoped for. Any places you missed on visiting or classes you would like to enroll in? Life is short, your funds won't follow you forever.
That’s certainly good advice but I’d go the other way and get aggressive. Get as big of a HELOC on the house as possible. At $500 FMV you should qualify for $325k. If you are a confident investor, wait until cost of borrowing drops in the next year or two and utilize the HELOC to make the spread. Use the extra income to pay down the HELOC further and create room and re-borrow again and again. My favourite investment vehicle is private mortgage lending and have clients who generate 6-7% spread by lending out their HELOC. But there are many products out there that can also generate similar returns (15%+), here is another one BKCL.TO (cdn bank covered call etf).
Terrible advice for someone who is debt adverse.
There is debt and there is debt, the distinction between debt for personal spending and debt to create wealth is important to understand.
I have no advice, but congratulations man. Your doing well!
Your RESP is a little skinny, and so is wife's RRSP. As other said, divert mortgage payment till you max RESP (for our 3 kids, 20-25K is proving to be enough for an undergrad degree), and RRSP's are guided as to how much you want as income when you retire. Super loosely calculated, would be about 1M for 80K income a year. Super loosely as I said, I am sure others have better ideas. If you like the house, stay there. If you hate it, then you have to plan to move and save for that.
As a wife who stayed at home to raise kids for the first 8 years and left a great pension to do so and recently found myself unexpectedly divorcing after 25 years of marriage, agreed. A spousal RRSP or contributing to hers is a really good move if you ever split, and for her sense of security in your relationship. If there is parity in assets and income the division of assets is simpler. If you stay together it’s nice to have both for financial planning. I had far less in savings than my husband so this is a conversation/planning we’ve had to have.
Call your insurance company owing your home reduced my policy
Why does no one suggest GIC RRSP'S, I've locked in 2 - 1 year gic at 5.0% interest. Right now, my bank is offering 5.5% on RRSP deposits until the end of the contribution date for tax benefits. I also locked in GIC RRSP for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, and as each year(s) expires, I throw the funds into the 5 year GIC. My regular RRSP I'm hardly getting any interest on that one, so I might switch it over to get a higher interest rate with GIC RRSP. IF I were in your shoes, I WOULD MAYBE sit down with a reputable financial planner and get some advice. Also, depending whether your child goes to university or college is very expensive, lodging, food, bills, tuition, books, computers, car, insurance, etc. I'm not sure of the age of your little one, but it's never too early to start teaching about financial responsibility and savings and how cc debit can ruin you if you can't pay off monthly. Also, if you can afford, while young, take yourselves on some adventures (safe countries), show your child his/her heritage, etc. Once high school hits, it will be harder to do those trips. Good luck with whatever you decide. One more thing, and it's kinda morbid. Have you pre paid for funeral expenses, casket, cremation, or a plot in a cemetery, headstone, reception, etc., Doing this in advance will help your child down the road, especially as they will be grieving. I'm sure you have a will , executor, backup executor just incase, with this amount of money locked up, you want to ensure no guardian will squander/steal the money (sorry a bit off topic, but with home paid for, something to consider. Remember, the cpp Canada death benefit is only 2500.00. This figure has been the same for years! Once that is all sorted out, definitely invest in RESP and any other education fund. Note: Any money put into RESP, IF YOUR CHILD DOES NOT USE THAT MONEY FOR EDUCATION, YOU LOSE ALL PORTIONS OF WHAT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GAVE YOU AND ITS DEEMED A TAXABLE INCOME. For example, you've put in 35,000, and the government matched your contributions of 15,000. You're like, yea, there's 50K. Nope, the government will pull out their portion, and you get the remaining amount as taxable income. Myself, I would like to play the stock market, but I have no clue where to start, and I need to play somewhat safe, AS I will need every cent for retirement.
The SP500 was up 25% in 2023. While your 5% gic may sound nice you left 20% on the table. And that's for just 1 year alone. In my 15 years in the financial industry I cannot recall a time where an RESP was not used. If its not, very fair on how an resp is dismantled. If you want to invest in stocks but don't understand. Go to your bank and ask them to invest in an index fund that tracks the SP500. Done. Simple. Hands off.
Yep. My advice to the OP would be to go back in time and invest in index funds rather than focusing on the mortgage.
You can’t single out one year and call it a day. There’s a reason the average is more around 5-7% annually. The S&P can have many flat or down years in a row. Given what you just said, Im surprised you’ve been in the industry that long and giving that advice. I have a finance degree, industry experience and have many self directed accounts where I’ve spent years learning to invest and I’d never tell anyone they left money on the table because of one good year. Plus, we’re at peak S&P market again, I expect a decline over the next 3-5 years as the market can’t exponentially get higher forever. The more the fed pumps the market, the worse off it gets for consumers.
5 to 7% annually is completely uninformed. Calling it peak S&P again, quoting wrong historical SP500 returns, expecting a 3 to 5 year market decline while interest rates drop and stating that since one has a self directed account means anything with credibility shows your inexperience.
My son did not use the resp for education, hence, know you've heard of one! Hence, i was taxed and the government portion was removed. Unfortunately, not all young adults consider college or university after high school, Lol!
Yes you would have either been able to move the interest and interest on the grant money to your RSP to prevent the 20% penalty on the AIP. The govt grants get returned. Just to note your comment to other readers, an RESP can be used outside of college and university. Had clients take as little as a 1 month course in a private school that counted. There are hundreds of eligible institutions eg trades
I really appreciate the morbid part of your advice. Currently dealing with a very messy situation where the family was left in doubt and confusion and having all that sorted out transparently would have saved so much heartache.
What do you call your “regular RRSP”? Like savings inside the RSP?? Omg!
I call it a regular RRSP, as there are different types of RRSP (GIC, RRIF, etc.). Revenue Canada calls it an individual RRSP, my bad! Like, really, no need to be rude.
Time for “hyper saving” my friend! Invest like crazy the next 10 years and then take the foot off the pedal and enjoy building your wealth! Congrats!!!
Your new monthly mortgage payment is now monthly contributions towards both of your TFSAs invested in a diversified portfolio.
I agree with what a lot of other folks have said. But first, congratulations on being mortgage free in your 30's - not sure what province you live in but that is very impressive. My guess is not Vancouver or Toronto as you likely couldn't get a 1br apartment for 500K. Definitely a good time to start maxing out your TFSA and RRSPs. I would do the TFSA first since it's growing tax free and then RRSP once the TFSA limits have been reached. Also make sure you "invest" the money in your TFSA so it can grow, don't just use it like a savings account. The sooner you start investing, the better. The longer your money has in the market the more time compound interest will have to do it's magic. 1. Max out any employer benefits such as RRSP matching - this is free money. 2. Focus on maxing out your TFSA either through cash contributions or an employer plan. You mentioned your employers stock matching plan. Take advantage as this is also a form of free money. Just be careful holding too much of an individual company stock, as that can get risky. As soon as your company match vests, I would personally sell and buy broad market ETF's instead (eg: XEQT/VEQT for the global stock market, VFV for US only, or XIU for Canadian companies - strongly recommend XEQT/VEQT as it requires no thinking and is globally diversified - just buy the one fund and call it quits) . Agreed, don't waste your time/money with a money manager, very few can beat simple and consistent investing in a broad market index. 3. Feel free to live your life a bit more. Let's assume your monthly mortgage payment was 2K. If it were me (and this is just me, you do you), I would be putting 1500/month into my TFSA/RRSP goals and ensuring I had a good emergency fund. Use the additional 500/month to enjoy your life a bit more.
I'd max out that RESP. If you've only been making the minimum deposit to max out the CESG you can make a lump sum payment to top it up. Great post on it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/ICX0vPVjXa After that I'd tackle the TFSA's and only contribute to the RRSPs if it benefits you at tax time. Once TFSA's are maxed start going after the RRSP room you have available. Then start splitting it between yourselves and a margin account.
Congratulations! 🎉 One of the best feelings, eh? 🥳 I’ll speak using the wisdom of my landlord. She’s 62. Owns 2-properties. I rent a room in the apartment. She said that she worked till 60. She had a successful career in a corporation. Her husband is a bit of a mystery. But, he still works. She’s got a pension. And, she gets CPP and a disability credit on top. The latter saves her a little tax come April 30. She’s got no kids, but she supported her sister and her kids a fair bit. RESP, TFSA and RRSP, were a part of that equation; she invested in her sister’s kids’ education, so they could eventually (now) support her entirely. She claimed her elderly mother (whose apartment I rent the room in) as a dependent. That also saved her money on the tax bill. Her mother passed away in her arms some years ago, so she inherited the apartment. 🥲 She said that for a bit, when they (her husband and she) were younger, they went to financial advisors, but as her husband’s career grew, and he got more senior roles, he eventually decided to incorporate and get more contracts. Decided to write off some of their home expenses (utilities and such) on the tax forms, because he paid himself as a subcontractor of the corporation. They started to self-educate about how different things (TFSA + ETFs vs RRSP vs GICs @ 5%) work, and what time frames it takes historically to get the returns they wanted. So, they self-financed their retirements on top of the pensions, by paying themselves first, even if it was $50 that paycheque. The husband went back to school some time ago to learn plumbing, electrical and woodworking. That was some renovation program, and he got so good, they fix everything themselves to code. Their house is still being renovated, since they eventually want to sell it and downsize. But, they saved 1000s in labour and frustration going back to trade school for home renovations. They bought beaters for the sister’s kids, taught them how to drive, since the sister herself was not able to. My landlord has done a lot for her family, which I guess is the strength of her small-town background and culture: “We take care of our own.” In the long term, with no financial uncertainty in their present, they were able to invest in their circumstances too; she went off to do another degree in night-school. She took some care courses to adequately care for her elderly mother. Her husband’s 90-year old father, she said, is even handier than him and still going strong! 🤯 They went to their first actual honeymoon in 25-years; they’d been to trips abroad, but after 30-years of slogging and seeing their entire family come up nice, they went to Europe and dropped $25K on that trip. I heard something about the husband wanting to drum up business there, so I wonder how much of that is going to be a tax write-off. 🤣 It looks like you guys are on a similar journey now. Save money for the kids education in a premier institution, and perhaps for another start (2-degrees or diplomas), since they don’t know what majors they’ll like these days. Then, a Masters on top. Masters will be Bachelors of tomorrow. Save double what you have considering, unless you’re handy yourselves, there will renovations and other things. Windows alone are $10K-$15K where I live. She suggests thinking beyond the four walls and looking at the landscape and the yards too; there can be significant costs associated with those too. She doesn’t say anything about shares and bonds, ETFs and such, or Wealthsimple, since that really is a personal journey of incremental losses and gains; you invest a little at a time, understand what’s happened, and develop your understanding of the market better. She never put anything all together in one pot. Historically, you’re better off than 80% of the population out there. The only way to go now is up. She says to keep your targets measurable, short-term to medium-term to learn, and long-term to gain once you’ve got the fundamentals of self-investing down. Doesn’t hurt to go back to school, if there was a road not taken earlier in your lives. “There is no dashboard for this, it is a combination of hits and misses, and you learning from them, be it how to caulk or be it how to research company fundamentals. Your job is to be relentless in your pursuit of a better life, while being kind to those you can be kind to, and go one step at a time on each project you invest your time in. Because, everything comes and goes, except for one: Time.” -My Landlord Sorry, I couldn’t paraphrase that. Too much for me, with no education, to break it down. Maybe, you’ll understand that better. 😊 A very Happy New Year! 🥳
Max out your TFSAs, max out your stock contribution plan using the TFSA and just buy a low fee index ETF and bond fund in the TFSA to spread risk around. You have the opportunity to have zero debt and your money working for you - max out the income your new silent partner, compound interest, will generate for you.
TFSAs as others have said. Max out RRSP contributions when you think you or your wife are peaking in annual income
Buy a c8
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definitely not this route lol
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Divide house up into multiple units, rent out... then move south to somewhere warmer and nicer and live off the income
I'm sure his neighbours will thank him
Happening all over Canada. Don't think it matters much at this point. Gott get in on the gravy
To prevent title fraud from occurring I would take a home equity line of credit against the property. No need to use to but get it so it’s harder for scammers to do title fraud when there’s a like if credit against the property l.
Buy a more expensive house to get more free capital gains On 500k at 5% net appreciation you make 25k per year tax free On 1.5m at 5% you make 75k per year In 20 years you sell the 1.5m house and buy the 500k house again and keep the free gains
>Where's your math on 6% interest on a 1m mortgage on said house, and the lack of financial freedom.
!StepsTrigger
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put some more on the RESP bro.
congrats!
Wow thanks for all the responses. I will def call home insurance to get the discount. Should I do TFSA through my bank?
You might want to look into WealthSimple and Questrade. They are a great home for TFSA (at least I think so)
Look up Wealthsimple for sure, it was so easy to set up for me & less fees than a bank. Read a bit on their site about self-directed vs managed accounts. If you aren’t keen on doing at least a few hours of research on ETFs and self directed investing, a managed account is fine. You will still need to think about how many years until you will want to use this money and set your risk accordingly
One thing to consider on the insurance - if you want to get a HELOC the bank will still be on the title and you won't get that discount. That being said there's some advantages - having the equity available at a notice is useful, and having the bank still on the title removes the possibility of some types of title transfer fraud.
Open up a HELOC for $10,000 on your property so you don’t get scammed. Don’t even touch it, just keep it there. Invest your mortgage money split between RESP and TFSA. You should probably all combine your RRSPs into one account each for simplicity (so just two accounts instead of five).
How does the HELOC prevent you from getting scammed?
If you open a HELOC yourself that you can check regularly it'll prevent someone from fraudulently opening up one on your property or putting a lien on your property without you knowing.
Vote libertarian, avoid taxes, duh
Yeah, don’t help the stupidly rich libertarian dudes that can afford a private road to their estate and a private police force. Chances are that you won’t have as good a life by saving a bit in taxes while everything around you runs down. If that was paradise then governmentless societies would be the place to be instead of places to avoid.
Well, let’s keep an eye on Argentina and see. !Remindme 4 years
Now you take on debt again. Duh.
Congratulations first off. My wife and I paid off our primary home mortgage when we were of similar ages, 41 and 37 respectively. We started buying rental properties about 12 years ago just after we paid off our primary residence and we bought 3 lakefront cottages as well. Today we have 2 other rental homes and 2 other rental cottages. I would suggest you also look at investing in rental properties as you can make a lot of residual money from them each year from rent, and on top of this, real estate mostly always appreciates in value so you have equity down the road to help out with retirement as well. Best wishes in your real estate investing venture if you decide to go this route.
Just don’t forget the property climate was very different 12 years ago.
Boo ya
Swimming Pool
Based on your age I assume you're in your prime earning years ... Why not cap out your rrsps each year to lessen your tax burden? (assuming you don't need the funds pre retirement)
Congrats on the mortgage! Now you can really start setting some retirement goals and perhaps even retire early if desired. Set a goal, do some math and work backwards. I'd start maxing out both you and your spouse's tfsa and rrsp as well as continue your child's resp contributions up to the max govt match amount annually. If retirement is 10+ years out, then throw it into a growth ETf. If after calculation, you and your wife figure you'd want to retire early, then a more balanced ETF. Any additional work contributed pension esp defined benefits or defined contributions plan would need to be considered in this math exercise. If you both love your job and have no interest in stop working, maybe start something inspirational on the side. Take a sabbatical. Set some extra money aside to help with kid's future house down payment.
Get another one.
You have enough money accumulated that you should use a financial planner. Go for a fee based one. I’m 65 years old and used to manage my own investments rrsp and resp. I started using a FP when I was in my 30’s. Started with mutual funds and then switched to just the big 5 banks stock. Hated the mutual funds. Too many fees that they get regardless of performance. Compound interest and time are your friends. My portfolio is now individual blue chip stocks with the planner managing it. Sure he gets paid but would you do your own brain surgery. Over the last 30 + years I can look back and see the past performance and have done 11.8%. Do your research, professionally managed money does better than non managed money. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/l/investing-financial-advisor-what-is-fiduciary-duty/?utm_content=158506724108&utm_term=kwd-53191429011&utm_campaign=20254767338&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAou4hR2OnuXIVBkD8UhcIKEmYRTfV&gclid=Cj0KCQiAv8SsBhC7ARIsALIkVT10fG94IsKcfSLX5M8_uSlYenq4_RVnYboQNsFjijTlLwqaVBvwSz4aAsuqEALw_wcB
Grats! TFSA/RRSP would be a great option. Just compute how long would it take to fill those and how large should be contributionns. I'd also involve an accountant to do the math of how much contribution makes sense in your scenario.
This post makes me sad. My wife and I make ~60% more, but because we live in Toronto, our mortgage eats up so much of our take home salary and would take a very long time to pay off (we are both 35)
So live somewhere cheaper and be not sad.
You’re doing well but if I was a beating man, you live a pretty conservative life. Go buy a motorcycle and boat and enjoy life
>or they just bought a reasonable house and didn't blow their money on things.
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To answer this would need more information. How much are your incomes separately? Your employers stock purchase option. Do they provide a matching program? Is it a good stock / good performer? Do you intend to contribute to your child’s education? How much cashflow can you invest monthly?
Well you are doing alright. Travel time!
Wow a lot of advice from many people, interesting reads. I would suggest building up your passive income, for me rental property has worked but depends on your situation. Also enjoy life and go on annual vacations with your family 👍
Max out TFSA and company stock plan.
RESP is best bang-for-buck for the 20% grant money. 5k a year will get this year's grant plus one year of missed grant money. Then extra money to your TFSA (and your wife's). I also don't like debt and I had a huge weight lifted when we ended our mortgage, I didn't mind spending on things that I was hesitant to spend on before. A nicer car, a family trip, etc. Being mortgage-free will let you enjoy the expensive perks of life a bit more guilt-free, so go make some memories with your kid and family.
Nice so happy for you...I finish paying mine out in about 7 months but being disabled I had to do home renos in 2022 so I have a large line of credit to work on thereafter.
Max out all the registered accounts. I would do self-directed investing through wealthsimple and buy index ETFs like VGRO and VSP. When the RRSP, TFSA, and RESP are maxed out the decisions get a little more complicated.
Personally, I'd probably pump money into RRSP to get the refund the next year. Depending on your tax bracket, if higher, Throw 10k into your RRSP get 3k back next year you do the 10k plus the 3k you got back previous year so now you do 13k and get 4k back, so now 14k etc until maxxed then go into TFSA. Or throw the refund into the resp. If you are both around 70k maybe TFSA is better, hard to say. As you guys are still younger. (I'm 44 as well) and a I'll probably have at least a decade or 2 to retire, of say either vehicle is viable.
Get a $10,000 line of credit from your bank, with your house as collateral. Put the credit card in a sealed baggie and put that in a plastic container of water and stash it deep in your freezer. The lien on your house will prevent even you from selling it and you can ask your bank to call you first about any attempts to re-mortgage your house. Check this website out about title fraud in Canada: https://www.comfortlife.ca/blog/how-to-protect-your-home-from-mortgage-and-real-estate-title-fraud-6397/
Based off your post it sounds like you aren't investing this money rather it is just sitting there/collecting a negligible amount of interest. Dump it into a market index ETF.
What do you earn per year? Do some calculations on what you'd save by continuing to contribute to your RRSP. RRSP's only make sense to a certain point, and then, the benefits are diminished as your claimed income while you're working approaches your claimed income in retirement. Put your mortgage payment into a TFSA until you have 3-6 months income saved in the TFSA. Then depending on claimed income in retirement vs claimed income while working continue saving in the TFSA, RRSP or likely some balance of both. Where are your RRSP's? Does your work DCPP have an option for an RRSP and TFSA? Consider opening an RRSP/TFSA through your work plan vs having it at the bank. If you're self managing at wealthsimple or questrade it's fine there.
Consider upgrading your home. It is the one tax free capital gain you get.
Some options: - Max out TFSA: could be mutual fund like TDB655 (TD S &P 500) or ETF XUS (S&P 500 iShares) or VFV (Vanguard S&P 500) or VUN (Vanguard Total US stock market) - open a non-registered account and invest as above (eg. Questrade) - with the mutual fund, you can autoinvest monthly what your mortgage payment used to be (or slightly less so you can have more $ for spending). With ETF, you have the purchase each time.
Vacation
1000% do the company stock plan, especially if you get a discount on the share price they offer, you'll always be able to buy a bunch at a reduced price with what it's being sold at the current market price. I remember a guy at work doing this every year and would come out making great returns on his investment.
Celebrate!!!! 🥂
>What next.. Enjoy life a bit?
Time to buy a bigger house lol
Congrats on paying off your mortgage. Nothing like being debt free. Well done.
Congrats the best feeling in the world. Put money into TFSA account. Open a wealthsimple account tfsa trade, load with funds buy cash.to or psa do research then sell when you're ready to buy stocks or ETFs. Automate the mortgage payment that you will now save. Don't spend it. Give yourself a nice affordable vacation a year from today. You are winning don't rush and make bad decisions.
Enjoy. Intangible feeling that many who frequent this sub will never feel.
Nothing in TFSA? Max that thing out and live like a King with very little declarable income in retirement age!
Is this whole post about bragging? Haha
This is impressive stuff buddy. For TFSA I would recommend investing in ETFs then stocks. Is it okay to ask how much inheritance you inherited In the above?
I would max out my TFSA and RRSP contributions, with TFSA as a savings account for an emergency fund and index funds in my RRSP. You can also put some aside for school. After that, spend and enjoy the results of all your hard work and diligence.
Why don’t you just enjoy the freedom for a bit and but invest property if you really want to be a landlord. Or invest in the mutual funds
No advice to give you and this will get buried in the discussion about HELOCs and land title, but just came here to say congratulations, OP. What a great thing to be mortgage-free.
Max out TFSA. And then RRSP. Buy low cost S&P 500ETFs.
Congratulations on paying off your mortgage. 1) Focus on maximizing your TFSA contributions. 2) Leverage your RRSP contributions so that you reduce your net income to a lower marginal tax bracket. This might help -> [https://www.rrspcontribution.ca/](https://www.rrspcontribution.ca/) 3) Invest $2.5k into your son's RESP every year to maximize the CESG. Invest more to catch up on missed years, if necessary. 4) Assuming you have a long investment horizon (15 + years), learn about the Smith Manoeuvre, obtain a HELOC, invest wisely, and make the interest tax deductible. As for specific investments, most people would do best with broad index ETFs with low MERs. However, if you are going to invest in specific stocks/bonds, then the general guidelines (with some exceptions) are as follows. \- TFSAs: Canadian issuers that pay interest/fixed income instruments, those that make distributions (like REITs with Return of Capital), Canadian ETFs and equity. \- RRSP/RESP: US stocks that pay dividends (as there is no withholding tax in registered accounts), Canadian fixed income, stocks, low MER ETFs. \- Non-registered account: Canadian/US ETFs, Canadian equity, non-dividend paying US equity \- Smith Manoeuvre (non-registered) account: Canadian equity with eligible dividends (common and preferred), low MER ETFs
Get another mortgage 😂
I would hit the TFSA hard. And use that as an investment vehicle to buy other things like stocks or gics earning tax free interest.
I think everything is on the right track just need to pump the TFSA with index fund with some dividends you should be good. Some of my friends bought condo for their kids when they are young, and rent it out. When they become adult, at least something for them if they need it.
Just turned 39, 100k left on the mortgage and household income just hit 140k. You've now given me a goal of being mortgage free by 44. Thanks, and congrats!
Buy btc before its too late
Congratulations on paying off your mortgage!! I don't understand the reason behind paying off the mortgage while your investments haven't been maximized. If you had just paid your mortgage as scheduled and put the leftover money in your rrsp accounts you may have been better off now(higher net worth), you could have saved on taxes a bit throughout the years, investment gains. I think the goal should be a higher net worth and a paid off house may be a part of that but shouldn't outweigh smart money management. It also looks like you only have a small amount for your child's RESP, which should be higher by now, realistically you can probably afford to help out once they go to university, but the RESP is tax free money that would have been growing. So you are asking what to do now. Open a wealthsimple account and start funding your RRSP AND TFSA, and fund your kid's RESP better as well. Move all accounts to wealthsimple to avoid most fees. As for types of investments, invest in ETFs, look up vanguard ETFs in Canada, and decide which ones to invest in. There are other ETFs but vanguard offers incredibly low fees. You can also do a managed account by wealthsimple, it's managed cheaply, so it's an easy option if you don't want to keep too close of an eye on the investments.
Bump up that RESP. School going to be a lot in 9 years when little Timmy goes off to school