RRSP · TFSA · FHSA · Registered & Non-Registered Accounts
We open and run your registered and non-registered accounts — RRSP, TFSA, FHSA, RESP, RDSP and corporate — and invest what's inside them. The first question is never "which fund." It's whether the account and the contribution even make tax sense for you.
First, the tax math
An RRSP is not a savings account — it's a bet on tax rates. You deduct the contribution at today's rate and pay tax on the way out at your retirement rate. It wins when your rate falls in retirement, ties when it's flat, and can quietly lose when your rate rises — which is exactly what an OAS clawback does. Most banks never mention that last case. We start there.
You're in a high bracket now — say 43%+ — and expect a lower rate in retirement. The deduction shelters income at your top rate — but only if it comes out lower later. LAB 06 shows what "later" really looks like.
You're early-career in a low bracket, or you'll draw a large RRIF on top of pensions and OAS. Then TFSA money — no deduction, but tax-free out and no clawback exposure — often does more. FHSA wins if a first home is the goal.
If a first home is anywhere in your plans, the FHSA beats all of them: deductible going in like an RRSP, tax-free coming out like a TFSA for the purchase. For a first-home down payment there is simply no better account — fill it first.
LAB 06 — Retirement tax preview · open on its own page →
An RRSP defers tax — it doesn't erase it. At 71 it becomes a RRIF, and from 72 the government forces out a rising percentage every year, stacked on your rent, CPP and OAS. See the real rate those forced withdrawals are taxed at — years before they arrive. Computed in your browser; nothing you enter leaves this page.
Grows the RRSP with your contributions to retirement, then lets it compound to 71 (RRIF conversion). From 72 it applies the CRA prescribed RRIF factor (Reg. 7308) for each age — 5.40% at 72, rising to 20% at 95 — to the balance. Fine print: the exact factor is set by your age at the start of each year (a January-1 birthday and your conversion date can shift the first year by one step), and your custodian calculates the precise minimum — the figures here follow the standard published table and are illustrative. Each forced withdrawal stacks on your other income plus OAS (2026 ≈ $9,024) at 2026 Ontario brackets, with the OAS clawback (15% above $95,323 net income) included — that is what lifts the real rate. The “real marginal rate” is the extra tax and clawback a withdrawal triggers, divided by the withdrawal. At death, with no spouse or dependant to roll it to, the entire remaining RRIF is added to income on the final return. A collapse of this size — typically several hundred thousand dollars in one year — lands almost entirely in the top bracket, so the tool simply taxes it at Ontario’s top marginal rate, 53.53%; for most estates that is close to the real result. Your principal residence and TFSA are exempt, and a life-insurance death benefit is received tax-free. The deemed disposition of a rental, cottage or non-registered portfolio would pile more onto the same return — not modelled here. The Ontario Health Premium (up to $900/yr) is not included: across these income levels it is nearly flat, so it barely moves the totals and doesn't change the marginal rates shown (BC and Alberta have no equivalent personal levy). Educational estimate, not advice; spousal RRSP and pension-splitting are not modelled.
The accounts we open
The account decides the tax treatment; what's inside decides the growth. Most people should fill them in an order, not all at once — we help you sequence FHSA, employer-matched RRSP, TFSA, RRSP and non-registered to your situation.
Contributions are tax-deductible and grow tax-deferred; withdrawals are taxed as income, ideally in lower-rate retirement years. The workhorse for high earners — when the rates line up (run LAB 06).
No deduction going in, but growth and withdrawals are completely tax-free, and withdrawn room comes back next year. Never counts toward the OAS clawback line — Canada's most flexible account.
The first-home account that combines both: deductible like an RRSP going in, tax-free like a TFSA coming out for a qualifying home. $8,000/yr, $40,000 lifetime.
Education savings where Ottawa adds 20% (CESG) on the first $2,500 you contribute each year, up to $7,200 per child. Growth is taxed later in the student's low-income hands.
For family members who qualify for the Disability Tax Credit: grants up to $3,500/yr plus bonds up to $1,000, on $200,000 of lifetime room. The most generous match Ottawa offers.
No contribution cap, available to corporations, taxed annually on income and realized gains. This is exactly where an insurer account earns its keep — see below.
Side by side
The same dollar behaves very differently depending on the wrapper around it. Here's the map.
| TFSA | RRSP | FHSA | RESP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax-deductible contributions | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tax-free growth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tax-free withdrawals | ✓ fully | ✗ taxed as income | ✓ for a first home | Taxed in student's hands |
| 2026 contribution limit | $7,000 | 18% or $33,810 | $8,000 ($40k lifetime) | $2,500 attracts grant |
| Government incentive | None | Refund on contribution | Refund on contribution | CESG 20% |
| At death | Tax-free to beneficiary | Rolls to spouse; else taxed in estate | Rolls to spouse's FHSA/RRSP; else taxed | Continues under joint subscriber |
| Estate transfer | Excellent | Poor | Poor | Poor |
| Available to corporations | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
2026 federal limits, indexed or adjusted over time; RDSP and non-registered accounts follow their own rules. General information, not tax advice.
When the registered room runs out
Once your RRSP, TFSA and FHSA are full and you're saving in a non-registered account, where you open it starts to matter. An insurer isn't only "segregated funds" — at iA, Equitable Life and the others you can hold a plain high-interest savings account or a GIA (their version of a GIC) with no seg fund at all — and still get the insurance-contract benefits a bank simply can't offer.
| Non-registered account | At a bank / brokerage | At an insurer (iA, Equitable Life…) |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday products you can hold | Savings, GICs, mutual funds, stocks/ETFs | High-interest savings, GIAs (GIC-equivalent), seg funds — same safe options, no seg fund required |
| Named beneficiary | ✗ — not on a non-registered account | ✓ on any contract, even plain savings or a GIA |
| Probate at death | Through your will & probate | Bypassed — paid direct to the beneficiary |
| Estate settlement | Months, public record, ~1.5% ON estate admin tax | Days–weeks, private, no probate on that amount |
| Potential creditor protection | ✗ | ✓ with a qualifying beneficiary — even on a GIA or savings |
| Corporate ownership | ✓ | ✓ |
| If the institution fails | CDIC: $100,000 per depositor, per category, per bank — deposits & GICs only | Assuris: GIA / accumulated value & seg-fund guarantee higher of $100,000 or 90%; death benefit higher of $1,000,000 or 90% |
| Covers market losses? | No — CDIC doesn't cover mutual funds or stocks | No — Assuris covers the guarantee, not market value |
| Cost | Lower, especially ETFs | Higher on seg funds; savings & GIA are comparable |
CDIC and Assuris both cover institution failure, not market declines. Current general limits — CDIC $100,000 per insured category; Assuris protection levels as revised May 2023. Confirm at cdic.ca and assuris.ca. For the growth layer inside any of these, see how segregated funds work →
Once the account makes sense
Opening the right account is half the job. The other half is putting the capital to work at the right risk level — from a guaranteed floor to full market growth. We build the mix to your timeline, not to a product shelf.
For cash you may need soon or your emergency layer — liquid, deposit-protected, no market risk. The parking spot while a plan comes together, not the destination.
Guaranteed interest for a fixed term. A bank GIC (CDIC) or an insurer GIA (Assuris, with a named beneficiary) — we compare rates and, where the estate dimension matters, use the insurer version.
Market portfolios with a contractual floor, named beneficiaries and potential creditor protection — the growth layer for money that should be promised, not just projected. How they work →
We build the mix independently, across insurers — a guaranteed floor where you need it, market growth where time allows — then rebalance and review it against the market every year. No house fund shelf, no product quota: the allocation answers to your timeline, not to a company.
We review each insurer's current lineup with you in the meeting — Fund Facts on the table, figures as of that day. No stale numbers on a webpage.
Why Wealthi · what you walk away with
Anyone can open an RRSP online in ten minutes. What you walk away with here is different — a retirement, and an estate, with no surprises left in them:
An RRSP defers tax — it doesn't erase it. In LAB 06's default example, $300,000 at age 50 plus $10,000 a year becomes a forced $64,605 RRIF withdrawal at 72, taxed at a real 33.5% once the OAS clawback bites. We shape contributions and the drawdown before 71, while every option is still open — preview your own numbers ↑
FHSA before RRSP for a first home, employer match before everything, TFSA when your retirement rate looks higher — sequencing is where the tax is won. Opening, transfers and the planning around them cost $0: the investment products pay us, and complex planning files are quoted a fee up front, in writing.
Non-registered money at an insurer carries a named beneficiary: it bypasses probate and Ontario's ~1.5% estate admin tax and reaches your family in days–weeks, privately — with Assuris protection behind it. No court queue, no public record, no puzzle left for your kids to untangle.
// a retirement and an estate with no surprises: peace of mind, by the numbers
Figures from the sections above: LAB 06 default example (Ontario, 2026 rates; illustrative), estate settlement and Assuris rows from the bank-vs-insurer comparison — confirm current limits at assuris.ca.
Know more
Open an account with us
Whether it's this year's TFSA room, an RRSP transfer, an FHSA for a first home or a corporate non-registered portfolio — we'll help you choose the account, the institution and the investment, and set it up properly the first time. Free, no obligation, in English or Chinese.
// the account is a tax decision before it is an investment decision — that's the order we work in