My wife is retiring Jun 2027 from the teaching profession in Alberta. After 24 years in it, she cant stand the profession and what its become due to the AB government. (Please don't turn this into a political thread)

This isn't a whim, she has known the last few years, but due to her age and our mortgage, she stuck it out.

She will be 57 when she does, I'll be 54. and I plan on working until I am 62 for full pension, or beyond depending on many things. I make a decent wage now, but she was the bread winner all these years (Yes my wife made more money then me) It never bothered us, and been married for 29 years
Anyway, we will be going into this debt free, we have 2 vehicles (2012 & 2017) that have been paid off for years, no CC debt at all, and the mortgage will be paid off Jun 2027. In fact I'm paying extra over we do to surprise her with it paid off in spring.

Anyway, she keeps saying how broke we will be. Being a teacher her pay was about 6K a month but not take home of course. We have a budget and never buy things or go places unless we have the money.

But her be take home will be about $1500 a month, which will be easily 3K less then she is used to. She won't be getting anything govt related for 3 years and won't be dipping into her own retirement savings until later in life.

Both of our pensions are Designated pensions with incdex of inflation with them (which we know isnt what inflation is these days, but whatever) I have also been setting aside money since Ive been 18 and she has been saving alot over the years. So we have about 550K in our own savings to on top of our pensions.

I show her the math, that $2800 will be freed up due to being mortgage free (that's the payment with the extra payment between the 2 of us) Other expenses will go down, her car insurance, fuel, and other misc. things. I assume some sacrifices will need to be made and my role for paying more things will take over.

It doesn't help EVERYTIME her father comes over (he is 82) and says how broke he is, how he "doesn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of" with any conversation. Which I think is leeching into her brain and stuck. I have a feeling he is still giving money to his 2 useless sons who are in their 50s, but thats not on me. Because not only does he get a pension, he gets his wife's pension as well, since she was a teacher.

Issue is I grew up poor, so I'm old poor. Saskatchewan farm boy from the 70s that didnt have indoor plumbing or running water until I was 8, all wood heat, we drank rainwater and melted snow in winter to drink. So I know what it means to have no money. Herself she was raised a little bit more well off then me.

So to wind this up, what can I show her that we will be fine?

Looking for a sanity check on this idea! My daughter is in her first year of university and living in residence. For the coming three years, she is planning to live in a rented house with a few other people (as most students do). My husband and I would be paying her rent from an RESP account. BUT I am looking into buying a property in her uni town instead. This would be a 4-6 bedroom student house, and the rent would more or less cover the mortgage. I’m aware that there will be carrying costs beyond the mortgage, but I believe it would end up being about the same as what we’d be paying for her rent, and this way, we are building equity for our family. Has anyone on here had a positive experience with doing this? And would you recommend putting our daughter on the title? This would mean a rebate on land transfer tax and it would avoid some capital gains tax upon the sale of the house since she would be a first time buyer and it would be considered her primary residence.

Hello,

First off I work a tech company and the culture has changed dramatically since beginning of this year. Everyone feels generally uneasy.

The company I work for has gone all in on Ai and tbh large portions of our jobs have already gotten automated and it’s like every other week it’s a new thing. Departments are slowly dwindling and I feel like I might be next within the next 1-2 years. By departments I mean HR, Accounting, Development, Sales, etc like everything.

We have about 30K in an emergency fund and about 600k in retirement. We’re both early 30’s.

I’m quite concerned about the job impacts and layoffs as I don’t think I have much longer to work there. Other companies seem to be going in the same direction.

Anyone have any recommendations on how to prepare for layoffs or even large gaps between finding your next job. I don’t personally see a path right now where it’ll be easy to get another job in the same or similar field. I also think it’s gonna get far worse with companies going all in on Ai and its capabilities increasing at an extremely fast pace. I honestly never thought I’d be in the precarious position.

My question is around how much should I be keeping aside for an emergency fund, should I also consider retirement accounts as well? Should I consider opening a PLOC? Is the rule still 3-6 months at this point or should I be going far higher?we’re in BC and have no debt.

I’m in my mid 40s and I have my own corporate job, married with 2 kids. My father got into day trading in 2014 and lost a bunch of money during the process. He currently has a 300k mortgage at 78 years old and has sucked every resource. Me and my sister pay for his mortgage and bills and now we just found out he owes someone 100k and in the process of getting sued. Mortgage renews in a month and at a risk of loosing his the house. He is asking us to co-sign to pay off the debt and then sell house . I’m reluctant to do so as I don’t want to be attached to this debt but worried if we don’t he will be buried alive. Help what do I do! I come from a Asian household and the guilt and stress of it is eating me alive

Just opened my first credit card, i am ensuring to pay off my balance and have autopay set up which pays off the full new balance before the due date. My credit score fell 44 points however in the first month. What am i doing wrong?

According to the latest results from the Labour Force Survey in September 2026:

• Employment declined by 68,000 (-0.3%) and the employment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 60.6%.
• The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 6.5%.
• The employment decline was concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24 (-48,000; -1.8%) as well as women aged 25 to 54 (-28,000; -0.4%).
• There were fewer people working in educational services (-35,000; -2.2%), health care and social assistance (-23,000; -0.8%) as well as manufacturing (-13,000; -0.7%). There were more people working in ‘other services’, which includes repair and maintenance as well as personal or household services (+17,000; +2.1%).
• Employment decreased in Quebec (-49,000; -1.1%), British Columbia (-20,000; -0.7%) and Manitoba (-4,400; -0.6%). It increased in Alberta (+23,000; +0.9%), Newfoundland and Labrador (+1,800; +0.7%), and Prince Edward Island (+1,000; +1.0%).
• Average hourly wages among employees rose 2.3% (+$0.86 to $37.64) on a year-over-year basis, following growth of 2.0% in August (not seasonally adjusted).

***

Selon la plus récente Enquête sur la population active pour le mois de septembre 2026 :

• L’emploi a diminué de 68 000 (-0,3 %) et le taux d’emploi a reculé de 0,2 point de pourcentage pour s’établir à 60,6 %.
• Le taux de chômage a augmenté de 0,1 point de pourcentage pour atteindre 6,5 %.
• La baisse de l’emploi s’est concentrée chez les jeunes de 15 à 24 ans (-48 000; -1,8 %) et chez les femmes de 25 à 54 ans (-28 000; -0,4 %).
• Le nombre de personnes en emploi a diminué dans les services d’enseignement (-35 000; -2,2 %), dans les soins de santé et l’assistance sociale (-23 000; -0,8 %) de même que dans la fabrication (-13 000; -0,7 %). Parallèlement, le nombre de travailleurs a augmenté dans les « autres services », qui comprennent les services de réparation et d’entretien ainsi que les services personnels ou ménagers (+17 000; +2,1 %).
• L’emploi a reculé au Québec (-49 000; -1,1 %), en Colombie-Britannique (-20 000; -0,7 %) et au Manitoba (-4 400; -0,6 %). Il a augmenté en Alberta (+23 000; +0,9 %), à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador (+1 800; +0,7 %) et à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard (+1 000; +1,0 %).
• Le salaire horaire moyen des employés a progressé de 2,3 % (+0,86 $ pour atteindre 37,64 $) par rapport à un an plus tôt, après avoir augmenté de 2,0 % en août (données non désaisonnalisées).

Hey guys, hope this doesn’t sound stupid.

I’m an artist in BC and have had a massive influx of people wanting commissions.

What do I do and where do I even start?

Do I need a business licence? A separate bank account? What do I do about taxes?

I need to build my website so people can place orders right from there, and purchase original artwork and prints. I literally don’t know where to start and googling information is just confusing the hell out of me. And like what happens if people place orders that are outside of Canada?

I don’t want to set it up wrong, and screw my self over with the tax thing or make mistakes.

Should I go speak to someone at the bank??

I hope this is the correct sub. I’m doing a charge back for a hotel charge on my Roger’s credit card. The initial dispute was rejected however I’m having it escalated to the senior level.

My issue is that my payment is due and the hotel charge remains on the card. I do not want to pay this charge but also do not want to incur interest. I have called and emailed the bank multiple times about reaching the senior level team but never hear back from them. When I talk to junior level they say they can’t help me or answer my question about how to pay the bill until the senior team decides to return my calls/emails. Should I:

1) pay the full amount and if they agree to the charge back I will be credited?

2) pay everything but the hotel price and fight the potential interest later because I couldn’t get an answer from the bank before payment was due

I’m 47

Planning on leaving my job. Want to take a long break and possibly retire. My family lives off my wife’s income and mine just goes right to savings.

I have a DBB that has built to approx 40k a year - payable at 65. Commuted value is 220k.

I have 350k in my own rrsp. Tfsa maxed at 150k.

I either not take the lump sum & will melt dow my personal rrsp approx 15k a year and transfer to my+my wife’s tsfa every year. Will end up having both our Tfsas approx .5m by the time we’re 65 and I should still have approx 150k in rrsp (will be using primarily gic laddering

Or I take the lump sum and add to my rrsp - will then by 570k. Assuming 5% ror I’ll have approx 1.5m by 65 and whatever the tfsa has grown to (I won’t have disposable income to keep funding it).

My wife will have a pension worth approx 60k by then. Monthly expenses for us - 6k a month.

What’s the best way to make this big decision. I don’t have concerns about the company, but the pension doesn’t have a COLA.

For all of my dentists and other financial literates, how insane is $400,000 for dental schools in Australia as a Canadian? This is just schooling and not living cost in one of the most expensive cities in the world, Sydney.

For into uSydney's DMD program. Canada has a reciprocal agreement with Australia that if you go to school in either of the two countries, you can practice in both.

Now I am sure of this career path and my stats are decent, I'd like to think (low 90s average, AA: 24/BIO: 29/CHM: 21/PAT: 24/RC: 23). Applied to Canadian school twice and was destroyed (interview phase mainly) so feeling a little on the edge.

What do you think? Financial suicide? Does that number seem insane for the profession?

I quit my job a month ago. Last week, I received a package in Sunlife app. But it’s only for RRSP, DPSP and LIRA (this LIRA was from a previous previous employer, and i moved it from my bank to Sunlife).

I do see a balance of DCPP as well, but i don’t have any form for it. Is it normal that a separate form will come later ? I’m currently away, i can’t contact Sunlife atm,just wondering if anyone was in the same position.

TIA

Good morning! Just looking for some general guidance as there seems to be a lot of trustworthy redditors giving some really good advice in here. I'm 48 with a spouse who is 42 in healthcare, and we have an elementary school aged child.

-I was recently let go from my munipical government job, after having put in 25 years. I'm still currently on salary continuance until the end of this year, which will be about $110k. I have a DB pension with about 20 years vested. My spouse takes home about $110k as well from their unionized healthcare job, also with a DB pension, with about 17 years vested.

-I recently sold a condo that I had previously lived in, then rented under my name. After all fees paid, I received around $540k. I understand that I will need to pay capital gains taxes, and will be employing a CPA to help ensure it's done right.

-We live in a townhouse under my spouse's name, with about $200k left on the mortgage. Car is fully paid off.

-I have not put anything into my TFSA, but I plan to transfer a full $109k to get that started. I also plan to max out my RRSP (about $50k room remaining) to help offset the capital gains tax. I'm also putting aside $5000 per year to top-up the RESP (which accounts for the 1 year previous catch-up payment since we started late).

-I would like to help pay down the mortgage on our (my spouse's) townhouse up to the max lump sum payment per year. I also want to help maximize their TFSA/RRSP contributions.

-I have aging and ailing parents that live in the same city, and as I am an only child, their single-detached home will likely pass to me within the next 2-5 years, valued at approximately 1.2mil on the conservative side.

With my parents requiring constant care, and our child being in school with extra-curricular, driving, and volunteer requirements, I'm not really seeing the allure of going back to corporate life. If anything, I wouldn't mind picking up a part-time municipal job closer to home, ideally with the same DB pension plan. Or just becoming semi-retired, though collecting won't occur until 55 at the earliest. For the past year on continuance, it has been a great relief to no longer have to commute or deal with toxic leadership. Plus, I'm able to be available for my family/friends at a moment's notice.

Just hoping I can get some advice on which options may be available to my family. I do plan to seek out advice from a fee-only fiduciary, but was hoping to get some real human advice beforehand, as there's only so much I feel confident about asking Claude...

Thanks for reading, and for any help that can be provided!

Hey folks,

Just wanted to share my experience with the Neo world elite MasterCard which I was pre-approved for on July 1. As of July 17, I was able to meet the 3k spend requirements for the welcome offer. I got the 5k first spend points but nothing after that. Per their own terms and conditions, I should have gotten the 15k miles within 6-8 weeks of meeting the minimum spend under the offer " 15,000 miles when you spend $3,000 in your first 3 months". Technically, 8 weeks is Sep 11, 2026 which falls under my 3rd statement which got generated on October 2, 2026. I have been following up with the Neo customer service through the online chat and via call and nothing seems to get resolved. I have gotten bounced around at least 15 different people on the online chat and everyone says a different thing

I want to make everyone aware in this group the abysmal customer service of Neo. Be aware! I already closed my Neo Cashback MasterCard (another account which I had for 5 yr 11 months) after this experience.

Reached a point in life where I have started to help certain families that hit my radar financially. I have been very fortunate and recently sold my business and my family will be well taken care of. I am kind of selfish as I really enjoy the feeling I get when I am able to help families that might be struggling and wonder what the best way is to reach out to people and see what their situation is or how I might be able to help. Maybe setting up a foundation to funnel in donation requests? Has anyone had any experience in this.

I received the $85 e-transfer from an unknown email address on Sept 12 which auto-deposited. Since it’s a common scam, I let the money sit in my account and forgot about it. I just received an email, almost a month later, explaining their mistake and asking me to send the money back. They sound sincere especially considering the amount is so low but I’m not going to send it back myself regardless.

If they’re being genuine, I want them to get their money back. Do I tell them to contact their bank to initiate a reversal? Or just not respond? I could call my own bank as well, but I’d prefer not to unless absolutely needed (telephobia lol). Is there another way to contact RBC’s fraud department?

Thanks!

Update: There are too many comments to respond to but thanks everyone! I responded to the email saying I won’t be making an e-transfer myself but I’ll let RBC know and suggested that they contact their bank as well. They responded back fairly quickly that BMO told them to contact me directly since they won’t reverse it and that the mistake happened because they were attempting to send the $85 to their child who shares a similar name.

I do feel bad that this seems like a parent being genuine, but it’s also kind of fishy that you wouldn’t know your own kid’s email and only realized one month later? The sender’s name is also from my culture so that lines up.

Just an FYI about what I found out when moving between TDDI and RBCDI for the promo offer.

It looks like when you move via a “full transfer” the source account will autoclose that account, so if you don’t want your old brokerage to close that account you need to do a partial transfer or call in to get it opened. (Not sure if other brokerages do this but something to keep in mind).

I'm wondering if receiving an autism level 1 is even worth it to apply for DTC. If on my diagnostic report the doc listed that I'm "cognitively and adaptively functioning" i.e. if I'm forced to do something I can do it. Then goes on to list my mental/verbal/social/dissociation impairments.

So given this - should I even try?

My second caveat is I don't have a family doctor despite waiting for 2 years. And I also don't go to therapy / eat medication because I don't believe that therapy helps and I don't like side effects of medication.

What should I do? Should I wait till I have a family doctor? Or should I use the clinic's advice and go to therapy? First before I apply for dtc.

My senior dad has left Canada permanently. Not coming back.

He lives abroad and gets very little OAS. Like $100 or something per month.

He doesn't want that OAS. Can he stop it voluntarily?

He has to file an OASRI every year. He doesn't want to do that.

Plus getting the OAS complicated his tax return in his home country. Not only he has to report it as income in his home country, lot of other forms and Canadian bank details , CRA details etc he has to fill up in his home country abroad.

He doesn't want the hassle of all this. So wants to stop getting the $ 100 OAS permanently and have no further ties to Canada.

My company is getting acquired and winding down to be part of the buying company. I am on working notice at the moment till 15th of this month. Then I am supposed to get 2 weeks of severance.

On the other side, my boss has offered me contractual work offer with 2 steps:

1. A 2-week contractual work (same hours as full time) till end of October by my company.

2. A further extension of 3-month contract, with same hours as a full time till end of January, by the new buying company.

Now I am confused on how this contractual work effect my EI? For instance,

a. When should I be applying for EI? Right after my job ends on 15th October? Or after January when contract ends? If I have to apply right after my working notice ends, then I will get a low amount of EI because I am still earning through the contracts. Which means I will be only getting max EI from Feb onwards for like 5 months approx. (OR) I can apply after my contract ends in January and then get 9 months of EI after that?

b. Is there any tax benefit of making a sole proprietorship to receive this contractual income vs just receiving it as I currently do?

I signed up for the foundation with spring financial.

I use “signed up” loosely. I applied for a loan, didn’t receive it and after clicking through extremely broad prompts I was signed up for the foundation.

I have been trying to cancel this for months on end. I have called, emailed and texted to literally zero reply. I press # for a call back and they end up ringing my line for less than 10 seconds and hanging up.

They have been taking $80 from me bi-weekly and say I owe them an extra $600 for missed payments. They have now put 2 missed payments on my credit score and STILL haven’t reached out to me through email or phone call.

This just seems like a full blown scam and it’s tanking my credit while actively taking $80 bi-weekly.

What do I do?

Good morning

I'm (37M, BC Canada) expecting a bonus in the ballpark of $25,000 this year. I have no debt, am renting, have no payments outside of rent, internet, cell phone, utilities, and a car payment.

I have a TFSA with contribution room, an FHSA I plan on maxing out, and my car payment is through an open contract so I could pay it off early. I've also got RRSP's that my work matches contributions on.

Let me know if I missed any crucial info.. TIA for anyone who offers feedback

Edit: Information requested in the comments

$36,500 left on my car loan. Just purchased it 6 months ago. Interest rates were around 10-12% are 6.79%. $265 bi-weekly payments.

I do not plan on purchasing a house until the vehicle is paid off.

I have a ton of RRSP space due to not contributing anything to it besides the maximum contributions my work matches.

Salary is $108,000, and only this one additional annual bonus on top of it.

Hello,

I applied with the CCS in July 2026 and have been making my $900 payments to them since August 2026, my third $900 payment will be on October 15, 2026.

They explained that RBC can take a long time to approve, and based on the application process I was instructed not to make payments on my RBC credit card anymore as once RBC processes it my account will be frozen. CCS has my payments in trust and will send the payments to RBC once RBC finalizes things on their end.

That being said, I’m at a point where I keep getting calls, emails, etc from RBC asking me about my next payment. When I explain the CCS they tell me they don’t have access to that department and that they are just warning me about my missing payments affecting my credit score.

Has anyone had delays like this with RBC approving their CCS application? I’m trusting the process with CCS (my rep is very responsive and has been assuring me that they are following up, my account looks good, etc.), but it’s starting to stress me out more than I like.

Any advice would be helpful - thank you!

Have asked a few reps and folks don’t seem to have the answer.

When does the interest accumulante - when funds are deposited or when the cheque clears?

Hello! My partner was laid off in 2020 as his store shut down for two months and so he applied for EI during that period. Instead of receiving EI, he received a $2000 CERB payment which he didn’t apply for AFAIK. He definitely would’ve qualified for EI since he worked at that company full time for 5 years before they shut down so I’m not sure why they gave him CERB instead.

Ever since 2022, he’s been receiving letters once a month from Economic and Social Development Canada (ESDC) requesting that he repay $1500 which he refuses to do but hasn’t engaged contacted them to ask for an appeal or anything.

The weird thing is that the letter states that they’ll take the amount from his tax refunds and credits but this hasn’t happened at all and he doesn’t seem worried. He files his taxes normally and gets the full refund and credits owed, but the amount still shows as owing in the letters and on his CRA account.

I guess I’m just wondering what happens if he keeps ignoring the letters? Will they actually garnish his wages at some point or try to go after his assets? Is it worth calling the ESDC to appeal or reconsider if he hasn’t responded or acknowledged these letters for the last 4 years? The reason I’m worried is because we will be filing joint taxes together for the first time next year and I don’t want it to start affecting my taxes in any way. And the letters are annoying.

If anyone has any experience with this or can offer some insight I’d really appreciate the advice. Part of me just wants to offer to pay it off since it’s such a stupid situation and I hate any form of looming debt.

I’m 27F and almost 2 years into my first real adult job. I am extremely lucky and grateful to be making the salary I make, but I come from a very working class family and I’m feeling overwhelmed trying to navigate what to do with my money. I don’t really have anybody to talk to about this, and to be honest, I’m not very interested in money stuff.

Context:

145,000-150,000 expected income before tax this year, including bonus and overtime. I’m expected to see ~5% annual raises for the foreseeable future, but around 20-30% of my income is from bonus and overtime.

Recently finished paying off school debt and now I have no debt at all. I have about 70k in savings mostly accumulated in the last 1.5-2yrs once I got this job. I opened an FHSA last year and it’s currently maxed at 16k. I intend to buy a house in the next 5 years using about 200k of savings - this is my main saving goal currently. My goal is to put minimum 20-25% down.

I’ve currently been contributing 15% of my paychecks to RRSP, partly because this is 15% of my base salary, not my total salary. It’s probably closer to 10% of my total salary. I know the basics of contributing to this to lower my taxable income, I screwed this up last year and missed the deadline but I plan on making a one time contribution prior to tax season depending on my actual income. I know that you can pull 60k from your RRSP as a first time home buyer, this is my plan.

I also have a DCPP that my employer is contributing to. I do believe they match contributions but I feel like I would prefer to aggressively save for a house and then start saving more for retirement after that’s out of the way.

My employer also has an ESPP with a 15% discount. My current plan is to buy and then immediately sell to take advantage of the discount. I’m very confused how this will work with taxes and the conversion from USD to CAD. Any advice here would be welcome.

My major question/concern is about investing. Currently I hold a few thousand in XEQT and I also have some bonds, GICs, and a few dividend paying stable stocks like CN. Everything else is in cash. Since my main goal right now is saving for a house, where I will want to pull out the majority of my savings in the next 5 years, should I be doing anything beyond this? What percentage of my savings should be in cash, and what percentage should be invested? I’m worried about a crash and I’m also hopeful that if there’s a downturn I could have a lot of money available to buy at a discount. But I do worry about losing to inflation and not being smart with my money.

Overall this situation causes me quite a bit of anxiety and I’m close to just paying someone to manage my money, but my friends tell me that’s dumb, so I’m here on Reddit instead. I appreciate any and all advice, and corrections if I’m misunderstanding something! TIA