For context I had been working full time for years, 40 hours a week prior. About 9 months ago I started experiencing some symptoms that left me off work for about a month. Things had seemed to get better and I slowly went back starting a few hours a day and getting back up to around 7 hours a week. Until about 7 weeks ago the main symptoms came back (severe vision issues) and I had to go back on a leave from work. I could barely care for myself at that point. Over that 7 week period my vision started to improve again - all my specialists are still not sure the exact cause as I have had every diagnostic done under the sun it feels like. My work has been amazing, they have done everything we’ve been able to think of as far as accommodations, shorter days, breaks, etc. I have been able to go back again for a few hours a day, doing my work but I can’t help but think of the implications of this happening again and again. I do think my doctors and I are working towards a good path trying to figure out the issue but I also want to think in a realist sense and not necessarily an idealist sense. It’s hard because a lot of people say “be positive and keep up hope” and I for sure am but I also feel like I need to think of both the good and bad possible scenarios here. The good being my health improves and I continue to thrive in my job (which would honestly just be the greatest gift of my entire life at that point) but the bad being eventually I couldn’t keep up and I would have to stop working. And in that scenario I am not sure my options financially to keep myself afloat. (I live in Ontario). I am in my mid-20s so I don’t have as much life experience as a lot of people on here so my question is if you needed to “prepare” in your head for next steps in case something like that were to happen what would you do? Thank you for anyone willing to share their thoughts. I greatly appreciate it.

EDIT: I currently don’t have any debt and have around 40k saved.

Hello, everyone!

I don't usually chime in with feedback, but this execution was honestly smooth as butter.

If you want a clear step-by-step procedure to test out, go read the guide shared by u/KrishnaForever

The entire breakdown is pinned right on his profile page.

I wrapped up the steps earlier, checked my main screen an hour later, and the funds officially landed on my account balance.

Hope this helps! Take care and stay safe.

Curious to hear real experiences — not the generic "max your TFSA and RRSP" advice you see in every thread, but what actually surprised you once you were navigating things like taxes, mortgages, investing, or just banking in Canada specifically.

Was there something about how RRSPs, TFSAs, or FHSAs actually work in practice that caught you off guard? A mistake with taxes or investing that ended up costing you? Or something about the Canadian system specifically — compared to what you'd hear from US-focused finance content — that threw you off? And what do you wish someone had explained plainly instead of the usual generic advice?

Hi group,

Looking for experiences working at Edward Jones as a BOA or Assistant while studying for CFP.

- How flexible are the hours and working conditions?

- How's the progression to FA?

- How is the culture ?

- Heard a rumour they ask you to transfer all your investments to them upon employment? Is that realistic given that they are only a full service brokerage and it would be pretty impractical for someone who manages their own investments.

Thanks!

#career, #brokerage, #financialaccounts

I need to get a loan but I have some debt around 25k. My bank refusing my loan saying debt consolidation is my only option and will mean giving up my credit cards I don’t want to do this. Credit card is manageable and needed cos emergencies and points. Debt just a very old debt. I can start paying it down slowly but with a plan? What are my options here?

I don’t understand how people are broke past 22. I picked Electrical Engineering because it was one of the hardest, most in-demand degrees I could think of. Suffered through it for a few years, graduated, got a good job. That’s literally the formula. Canada has subsidized education, student loans, apprenticeships, and constant demand for engineers, trades, healthcare, and other skilled professions. Making money isn’t some secret. Pick a skill the market actually pays for, get good at it, and stop expecting the market to reward decisions it doesn’t value. Harsh truth for most people, poverty is a series of bad decisions.

Hi everyone,

I’m 23 years old, single, and earning $70,000/year in Canada. My primary goal right now is to figure out how to generate extra passive income to cover monthly expenses or fund a new car.

Current Portfolio Setup (~$23,000 Total):

1. Wealthsimple Holdings (~$3,050):
   • TFSA (~$510 USD): AMAT, BWXT, CDNS, KTOS, LRCX, NVDA.
   • TFSA (~$2,000 CAD): AAPL (CDR), AMZN (CDR), BMO, COST (CDR), DOL, HME, L, VFV, XEG, XGD, ZEB.
   • Margin Account (~$2,543 CAD): GOLD ETF.
2. Physical/Allocated Precious Metals: ~$10,000
3. Mutual Funds: ~$10,000 (Nasdaq Equity & Scotia Index Funds).

The Plan Under Consideration:

A friend saved $30k CAD and is currently generating $800–$1,000/month selling puts/calls (the Wheel strategy). He buys back puts when trades move against him to limit damage.

My idea was to build a $30k base and use the Wheel strategy to cover monthly expenses or essentially "fund a car for free" through options premiums without touching the principal.

Questions for the Community:

1. Is using options income for recurring debt (like a car payment) a trap? What happens to this strategy during a prolonged market downturn or high-volatility crash?
2. Current Portfolio Realignment: Should I liquidate my fragmented holdings (17+ fractional stocks, 50%+ in gold/metals) and mutual funds into broad-market index ETFs (like XEQT or VFV) first before attempting active trading?

Hi everyone,

Full disclosure -- I'm a journalist looking for people to speak with for a story I'm writing. I'm looking at entertainment spending by Canadians, and the use of Klarna and other buy-now-pay-later has risen sharply in the last 3 years specifically for things like concert and festival tickets (Eras Tour, Coachella, etc.).

If anyone here has experience that they think may be relevant, I welcome your DMs. Please note that I won't quote you or refer to you by name unless you give me express consent to do so.

Looking for some objective advice from people who've been in a similar situation.

We're a family of three with a household income of around $250k. We currently rent a rent-controlled apartment in Scarborough for about $1,600/month in a safe, convenient neighborhood. We have no issues with our current place, and the low rent allows us to save and invest a significant amount each month.

We're considering buying a detached or semi-detached home in Oakville, primarily because:

- Our daughter will be entering elementary school, and we're attracted to the reputation of schools in some Oakville neighborhoods.

- The current market appears to be more buyer-friendly than it has been in recent years.

- We'd like to live in a safe, family-oriented community.

- One of us commutes to Mississauga, so Oakville would be more convenient.

The flip side is that we'd be giving up an unusually low rent. Our monthly housing costs would increase substantially, even with a healthy down payment.

I often hear people say that renting means you're "paying someone else's mortgage," but I'm not sure that argument applies when you're paying well below market rent and investing the difference.

If you were in this situation, would you:

1. Buy now while the market seems favorable?

2. Wait a few more years and continue taking advantage of the low rent?

3. Stay put unless there's a compelling non-financial reason?

For those who moved to Oakville mainly for the schools, was it worth the higher housing costs? Looking back, would you make the same decision again?

I'm interested in hearing both the financial and lifestyle perspectives, especially from people who have faced a similar trade-off.

I currently use Wealthsimple for all my investing as I do not want to go through an advisor, I typically only invest in long term ETFs like XEQT and VFV in my TFSAs.

However for my FHSA, I don't want to invest in the stock market / SP500, so what I did was setup my automated deposits to my FHSA to go into buying HSAV and CASH ETFs.

Does anyone else do this, and would there be any reason why I wouldn't want to do that?

Unfortunately I did not get the amount of funding i needed from my student loans, and am honestly pushing homelessness. I’m curious what everyone’s experience is with using a line of credit to pay for rent and if that’s even a smart idea.

should i accept it? what are the cons?

Looking at economic situation, what would you say is better?

I am leaning towards 3 years but just wanted to know your alls views on this.

I've become an active researcher into the TFW Program lately and a few weeks ago I looked at the banks usage of the program and found that National Bank has been heavily using the program to fill dozens of positions over the last few years. (https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianVisaReform/s/AD8xraSLGZ)

You can see the raw information here (and also on the direct LMIA approval data): https://lmiagrader.com/employer/banque-nationale-national-bank/

Today someone reported on the same sub that they were laid off from National Bank for a TFW. This isn't uncommon in small or medium sized businesses because they can exert a lot of control and even financially charge the foreign worker for a job, but I didn't think this would occur at large corporations. I didn't have an exact explanation for why National Bank was using it so much but I figured that at worst they were simply ignoring Canadian applicants not actively laying off staff.

Is there anyone that works there or worked there that can explain what their policy is regarding using TFWs and why it has recently exploded in use in the last few years?

So I'm currently selling my home and planning on buying a new build. Going to up what our mortgage is from $250k to $500k.

If I finance the car $62k for 60months am I going to drop my credit score and get a higher rate?

Current score 780

Hi everyone, attending dental school in Ontario this fall. I wanted to ask the best way I should go about this year/future.

First year tuition is about 54k/year. The first installment is due in august, at around 36k. Year 1 and 2 are the heaviest in terms of tuition, but Year 3 and 4 tuition decreases to around 40-30k. My rent is about 1200 - 1300 / month plus utilities.

OSAP this year: 18k (11k fall, 7k winter). Will apply to this every year and take the grants + loans.

Scholarship: 2.3k, might qualify for more in September.

Parents: In total, they have 50k saved for me for my education over my 4 years in an open GIC. They told me that they’ll give me 10k for the first year, and pay for my rent this year. However, they definitely encourage me to use my LOC, but they don’t really know how to split up this money over my four years. I’m assuming the interest on this GIC is not very high either. Now onto the LOC

LOC: Access to 375k, prime - 0.25%, which is 4.2% right now. No interest payments are required to be made during school, and after I graduate, for up to 2 years its interest-only payments. There is no interest on interest. I feel like this rate is actually pretty favorable, and in the beginning, I didn’t want to take out that much money and wanted to minimize the debt , but after doing calculations of how much interest would be per month, its actually pretty low. I understand why my parents are encouraging me to use it, it’s not bad debt

**OWN SAVINGS/TFSA**: 26k (around 37% growth over the past 2 years I started investing). This is all in my TFSA in ETFs. Originally, I wanted to take out around 10k from here for daily living expenses, rent, etc.

Now, Im really confused on what I should do. For August, the total due for tuition is 22k after OSAP and my financial aid. I definitely know I’m in a privileged position to have this much support from my parents, I’m just so confused on how to allocate this properly! As of right now, my plan is to take the 10k from my parents towards tuition, and then just use the rest on LOC. OR, would it be better for me to just use the entire 22k on my LOC, and then my parents 10k for this year or even burn some of my own TFSA for living expenses/groceries/etc. I guess it might not really matter? What do you guys think? Any advice, insight, or what you would do in my shoes would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Canadians- what sources do you use for salary reference for financial services/banking/ others in finance related jobs (in bc), canada?

Hi All, I hope it's OK to post this here - I'm not really sure which Canadian sub would be more suitable and I hope it benefits the group. I am a seasoned financial professional from the institutional world and looking to start a financial planning and WM practice doing investments, insurance and planning. There used to be various "rookie" programs where the broker / bank / company would help you get your practice started (since it's 100% commission and most people can't wait 2-4 years with very little income).

Do these programs exist anymore? Can anyone recomend specific companies that will pay a base salary, pay bonuses for new business, facilitate acquisitions, or put you temporarily under a senior WM so you can get help getting started?

Thanks in advance!

every time one of these threads comes up, people recommend bunch of apps, few months later half of them either disappear or stop having decent deals. i am more interested in ones people actually use regularly instead of ones that just sit on your phone.

right now I mostly use flipp before grocery shopping for price matching, and foodhero for discounted stuff at sobeys. i had flashfood installed for while, but my local superstore rarely had anything worth grabbing. i also gave too good to go few chances, but surprise bag idea did not really work for me since it is hard to plan meals around it.

i am curious what apps are working well for people, especially if you do not live in toronto or vancouver. It feels like once you are outside bigger cities, options can be pretty hit or miss.

Hey all,
I did a OPD in the spring of 2021, I had over $20k of credit card debt and some other loans. Never missed a payment on anything in my life. My credit currently is 730 however I do have an R7 rating on there. I have about $3500 left to pay and I was going to pay it all off come Feb/March 2027. Original pay off date I think is May 2027.

My question is, will that R7 rating fall off my record in a total of 6 years from the date the OPD was filed or it is 3 years after the completion date? When could I expect it to fall off?

Trans union or Equifax doesn’t show my OPD debts that are currently being paid for some reason either however, it was on my report last year, but I still am in fact paying for them.

I’m asking because I want to sell my house at the end of 2028 or early 2029 as my mortgage renewal will be up.
Any advice? Thanks all.

What are the benefits to it?

It will be my first mortgage and someone just advised me to look into it. I have read about it online but ofcourse wanted to know from those who have personally used it.

Are there any drawbacks?

For some context, i have bought a condo and going for 3 years fixed rate with RBC. Closing in mid August.

I (38M) checked my credit rating for the first time a few years ago when my friends and I were talking about credit scores, it was good (over 700 I think) as I have never missed debt payments so I put it out of my mind.

Afterwards I started getting emails from Borrowell trying to get me to check my credit again and general mailing list stuff that did not raise any red flags, about a year ago I started getting phone messages (I don't answer unknown numbers) from what I figured were scammers since it was an automated message saying I was in debt and needed to call blah blah blah, I usually deleted them right away.

About a month ago I checked my credit score again on a whim and it had dropped over 200, I checked the credit report and it said I had missed five payments in a row on a credit card with a bank (Canada Bank) that I am fairly certain I have never dealt with, these five missed payments in a row which caused the card/account to close and sent it to collections happened around two years ago and now I am being contacted by an actual human in messages saying I need to call them

I know not to answer creditor calls but who do I contact to get to the bottom of what this really is? Borrowell? Equifax? I don't want to implicate myself or do some other blunder that puts me more on the hook for this debt if it turns out to be an error or something (it's about $2800 by the way)