Financial Tools Canada

A classic recommendation is to hold your investments in a money market fund or similar if you need the money in the short term. I agree with this in principle. However, I fear that we tend to define “short term” too broadly. Is short term one year, two years, five years, or even ten years? I acknowledge that if you need $50k for an expected expense next year, you should keep it in cash for that event. But beyond that timeframe, keeping cash under your mattress is a sure way to lose purchasing power. If effectively lose you money! Inflation will grind away that $50k. At 2% inflation, that is a $1k loss per year. You should instead invest it instead! Be wary of putting money into a bond fund! These can produces negative returns. For example, bonds lost 11% in 2022. Even short-term bonds lost 9% in 1946. In many case, bonds often do not beat inflation. Historically, bonds failed to outperform inflation about 33% of the time. See the  Historical return Tool . Why do you need the money...

We often hear about trust fund babies. How can you create them? Clearly seems easier to create if you are rich, but how much is required?  Let`s explore how much you need to invest in a baby to make him a millionaire in today's dollar.  Let's use a portfolio returning 7.1% and a 2% inflation.  At this rate of return, we need to put aside for the baby $11,600 to make him a millionaire at age 65! That is before inflation. Net of inflation, 1 million in today money, it would required $41,900.  Amounts to get 1 million$ at ag 65 with a return of 7.1% and 2% inflation.   RESP In Canada, we can invest in a RESP for the children. We can contribute up to $2,500 a year to qualify for 20% extra from federal. Said otherwise, we can invest $3,000 per year. For Québec and Saskatchewan resident, we also qualify for an extra 10% from the provincial government. In short, getting to invest $3,250 per year. In British Columbia, there`s a one-time contribution of $1,200....

   Tool:  Historical Return Here`s a simple free tool to understand and view the historical return of the market since 1928. It is essential to understand to not be afraid. By breaking down history, we can see that despite media-driven storms, the stock market ultimately continues to move upward. No single year in the Canadian or U.S. equity markets has experienced losses greater than 50%. To access the tool, simply click the link above. It leads to a macro-free Excel file. For more information on how to use the file, see below. Analysis : Stock market returns can be analyzed in multiple ways. I invite you to open the file and review the Compilation Source tab. It contains a large dataset covering the period from 1928 to 2025 , with over 1,000 data points . In this tab, the figures on the left represent unadjusted annual returns (i) . The figures on the right are adjusted for inflation (g) using the following formula: Adjusted return = (1 + i) / (1 + g) − 1 Faced with...

Tool: Refinancing vs Smith Maneuver   A simple tool to understand the Smith Maneuver. The Smith Maneuver is the process to create a loan against your house (ie: a HELOC) and invest it in the market in a non-registered account. While your mortgage is not tax deductible, the HELOC is tax deductible. Hopefully, the market return at least the interest on your loan.   To access the file, clic above for a link to an Excel file without macro.  See at the end for other information to navigate the file.   Analysis : Often referred to your greatest asset, the greatest purchase of your life, is there a way to use it? Yes, leveraging your home is great way to get some truly passive income. You can refinance up to 80% of your home market value less your mortgage. At a high level by refinancinig or using the Smith Maneuver will provide the difference your investment return and your mortgage rate/HELOC interest rate. Say you earn 7% from the market and pay a mortgage at 4...

  Tool:  To monitor your RESP  A simple tool to monitor your Registered Education Saving Plan (RESP).  To access the file, clic the links above to access the Excel file without macro. The goal of the tool is to monitor the RESP and its withdrawal.  See at the end for more information on how to use the tool. Analysis: Contributing to a RESP for your children is a great idea. You will receive from the federal a match of (20%) and from Quebec/Saskatchewan (10%) and $1,200 at opening if you are from British-Columbia. The contributions are not tax deductible, but you don't pay taxes when you withdraw them. The returns on them and the match are taxable on withdraw on the child taxes.   Ideally, the student gains a little income and can withdraw tax free. However, if the child is over the first taxable bracket of about $16k-$19k, we get tax over 26%+ (in Quebec). It eliminate the match advantage. The year the student graduates, a half year of earnings at $60k...

The most important decision when saving for retirement is to invest. Ideally, 15% of everything you earn or more. This decision raises two important questions: What to invest in (FHSA or RESP or TFSA or RRSP ) What to invest in (Stocks/Bonds/Gold…) Even though these questions are important, investing itself and your savings rate are far more important. Here, we will focus on the first point: TFSA, FHSA, RRSP, or RESP? FHSA For those who do not own a home, the FHSA is very advantageous. You receive a tax deduction when contributing, no tax on investment returns, and no tax when purchasing a home. Tax-deductible contributions Maximum contribution $8,000 per year (lifetime max of $40,000) Investment returns not taxable Withdrawals for home purchase not taxable Pretty hard to beat! RESP If you have children, the RESP is very advantageous. You receive a 20%–30% match. There is no tax on investment returns, but withdrawals (other than contributions) are taxable in your children’...

    Tool :  T axes A simple tool to understand taxes. *updated 2026 To access the file, clic above for a link to an Excel file without macro. The goal of the tool is get a general understanding of taxes. It is not to do your taxes. I am not a tax professional. I use a tax software to do my taxes. See at the end for other information to navigate the file.   Analysis : Taxes are complex and intimidating. I asked AI to review my niece article including taxes and he removed all taxes reference. He doubted that a 18 years old should be aware of taxes. He suggested that keeping it a secret was a great idea. That is rather a silly idea. Taxes will likely 20%-50% of your income. Not caring is dumb.  Caring will save you thousands of dollars!  Not all provinces taxes the same, but they have a similar framework.  You build up a " Taxable income " based on earnings, pension, some withdrawal type, non-registered income and others. Some item are tax deduc...

   Tool:  Legacy A free tool to create a Legacy. The goal of this tool is to allow your heirs to withdraw money in such a way that they are able to leave just as much to their own heirs.  To access the tool, click the link above. It leads to an Excel file with no macros. See below for more relevant information about the file.  This tool allows to :  Establish set of rules when an heir can start using the inheritance Establish the rules to divide the inheritance among the heirs Establish decumulation rules (how funds are withdrawn) to ensure the amount remains the same or increase over time  The decumulation can start when the funds have grown back to the original inheritance amount before distribution. For example, if one receive $1,000 from a $2,000 inheritance, it must grow the fund to $2,000 before using it. To encourage work of the young retiree, the tool put a minimum age utilization of 35. if the funds have not grown back at age 65, the tool perm...

Tool :  Statement of Investment Policies & Procedures (SIPP) A simple free tool to build your asset funds. It will help you determine which asset class you want in your portfolio, are there threshold you looking to hold & invest and how to do it. It is easy to follow the latest trend, be it doom or hype of gold, silver, AI, IT or BitCoin. It is ok to have any of those, but do not get lost in the wood of financial knowledge.   To access the file, clic above for a link to an Excel file without macro. The goal of the tool is to let you understand the impact of savings. It will allow you to model the impact of a higher savings rate, higher salary, of savings later and much more. See at the end for other information to navigate the file.   Analysis : Virtually all in finance recommend to save for retirement. After the decision to invest and how much, in what is the most impactful decision. First determine your objective. Then determine the risk and how you co...

  Tool :  Why save 15% A simple tool to understand why we should save 15% for retirement.  To access the file, clic above for a link to an Excel file without macro. The goal of the tool is to let you understand the impact of savings. It will allow you to model the impact of a higher savings rate, higher salary, of savings later and much more. See at the end for other information to navigate the file.   Analysis : Virtually all in finance recommend to save for retirement. Often, we talk about a 10%-15%. But why? Go into the tool above to explore what savings means for you.  Conclusion :  For a 50 000$ salary, saving 15% starting at age 20 provide 1.3 million at age 60 . Supposing that we need after retirement 70% of salary pre-retirement (due to lesser tax/paid house/no more kid) and the rule of 4%, it should provide a retirement at age 57. This would however not count for governmental pension or taxes. Some parameter in the tool have a multiplying effe...