The Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is one of the greatest gifts to Canadians. While misnamed, the TFSA is true to its name. It is tax free in every way. While the money that goes into your TFSA is after-tax money (you’ve already paid tax to create the funds), the TFSA account continues to grow tax free and you can take the money out tax free. The TFSA does not show up on your your tax forms and filings. The account is misnamed because it should usually be used for investing not saving. If you’ve maxed your TFSA and ‘gone for growth’ you migth have a $250,000 account value, or more. We’re asking, how much is in your TFSA? On the Sunday Reads.
This past week on this blog the blazingly simple Canadian Essentials Portfolio shone in a retiree’s TFSA. The ten stocks lifted her TFSA to a $250,000 value.
Canadian National Railway (CN-T), Canadian Pacific Railway (CNR-T), Enbridge (ENB-T), TransCanada Pipelines, now TC Energy, (TRP-T), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC-T), TD Bank (TD-T), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T), Canadian Utilities (CU-T), Fortis (FTS-T) and Emera (EMA-T).
In that Essentials post you’ll find an overview of a few of the simple market-beating Canadian stock portfolio models. They mostly share the same concentration in boring blue chip stocks, from just a few sectors.
Be sure to read – How to use your TFSA account.
Reader’s TFSA Accounts
In the comment section, Barry offered …
My wife and I take a similar TFSA approach. She is 66 and I’m 72. Hers is at $261,000 and mine at $313,000 as of this morning. The key is patience and compounding by reinvesting the dividends. Presently they are throwing off a combined $34,369 “income” which we don’t need … yet.
The best gift the Harper government ever gave us.
I’ve had emails from readers who report similar returns. That’s incredible when you consider that a couple could now have a combined half-million dollar TFSA value. One day ‘soon’ we’ll see million dollar TFSA totals.
On Twitter / X Carl offered …
Mine is in the top of that range …. I’ve been invested max and no fees …. My wife is about $100k behind because wasn’t maxed out and I’m not comfortable taking the risks (like I did with mine) with her money.
And Dave, again on Twitter, says he missed out on growth potential in the early years.
Wow they’ve done well. Mine are at about 180k. The first four years I had basically invested them in a low rate savings account. But since my tfsa has been okay. Missing out on early growth hurts tho.
How much is in your TFSA?
Please share your TFSA value in the comment section. Or you can send the details via email if you’d like to stay more anonymous. Use the Contact Dale form on this page.
And please include the TFSA story. How have you invested? What took you to your value? What held you back? Are you invested in Canadian stocks and ETFs, or are you invested in a global portfolio? What are your plans for the TFSA? Will the TFSA help to fund retirement, gifting and other ventures, or become part of your estate?
I will follow up with a dedicated post on how readers are using their TFSAs and the values that they have amassed.
The dual purpose TFSA
We are best-served to take advantage of tax free growth, and use growth assets in the TFSA. That said, we should always invest within our risk tolerance level. We can use taxable accounts for our emergency funds. We should use all of our TFSA space first before building a taxable account.
Our personal TFSAs are dual purpose. They hold some cash that serves as our emergency fund, then the rest is invested for long term growth. We now have unused TFSA space as some larger amounts were gifted and we did extensive (and needed) home renovations.
TFSAs in retirement
The TFSA can be a wonderful tool in retirement. Most optimized retirement cash flow plans will suggest that you harvest other accounts first, and use the TFSA last (if needed). The TFSA can be a wonderful store of value for retirees, and the cash flow plan will likely suggest you feed the TFSA with RRSP and RRIF withdrawals that are not needed for life expenses.
The TFSA is a wonderful store of value for the estate – it can be transferred tax free to beneficiaries. A generous TFSA is a wonderful safety valve in the event of the death of a spouse. Again, the money is transferred to the surviving spouse in tax free fashion.
Be sure to run a retirement calculator or hire an advice-only planner who is a retirement specialist.
More Sunday Reads
At Findependence Hub, Alain Guillot offers his take on what companies and sectors might dominate in the next 10 years.
Investors might certainly allocate a portion of their ‘exploratory’ portfolio to seek extreme growth. In my TFSA, I hold the Global X AI semi-conductor ETF CHPS-T
And in the Uranium (nuclear energy) space HURA-T
They are both moving smartly. I also hold bitcoin in the TFSA, just in case it continues to be the best-performing assest in the history of investing 😉
Also on the growth front …
A Stocktrades Dan looks at income investing on auto pilot.
Related Read: Creating monthly income in retirement.
Consumer staples reports
At Dividend Hawk’s portfolio week in review, we’ll find quarterly report summaries for two of my defensive stocks – Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Pepsi (PEP):
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Reports Q2 2025 Results; JNJ reported Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $2.77, reflecting a 1.8% decrease year-over-year but exceeding analyst expectations by $0.09. Revenue rose 5.8% to $23.7 billion, beating estimates by $840 million. For the full year 2025, Management increased its outlook for reported sales and adjusted earnings per share to $93.2B–$93.6B and $10.80–$10.90.
PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) Reports Second-Quarter 2025 Results; PEP reported second-quarter Non-GAAP EPS of $2.12, a 7.0% decline compared to the same period last year, but still $0.09 above analyst expectations. Revenue grew by 1.0% year-over-year to $22.73 billion, beating estimates by $430 million. For full-year 2025, management maintains its outlook, expecting a low-single-digit increase in organic revenue and core constant currency EPS to remain roughly flat compared to the prior year.
Those stocks have struggled over the last couple of years, but they both caught a bid this past week.
Bob at Tawcan has given ‘Richer, Wiser, Happier’ a read and offers his thoughts. Bob concludes … If you haven’t read “Richer, Wiser, Happier,” I’d highly recommend reading it!
On that front I always appreicate the reminders from Dividend Boomer to enjoy your money …
On Banker on Wheels reads and podcasts of the week:
- Morningstar’s 150 year stress test of the 60/40 balanced portfolio.
- Is this the worst decade ever for bonds?
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to share those TFSA details.
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My TFSA is $311k in employer stock and $14k in a separate account in a broadly diversified ETF. I also have about $150k in contribution room from a previous sale of employer stock. Working to refill ASAP.
Thanks Greg, that’s wonderful. That stock must have incredible returns, of course.
If you don’t mind sharing. Your employer has a matched contribution TFSA? Do they also offer an RRSP matched program?
Hey Dale. Yes, I’ve been very fortunate in the company returns over the past five years. I do try to keep my company stock to less than 10% of my portfolio. The balance is in a couch potato mix of ETF’s, about 85% equity/15% fixed income.
To build the TFSA is come from putting 3% of my base salary with a 50% match in annually. I also get RSU grants annually that I’ve been using to build it over the past 5 years or so.
Thanks. And good stuff, that you’re managing the concentration level.
Dale
My TFSA is about $275k, because I have removed funds over the years to help my sons buy houses. I love the feature which allows me to put back what I have removed, so I’m working on that. My fear is that the national debt will become so compelling that a future government will take awatpy this wonderful gift. I fondly remember the other great gift from a previous government , the $100,000 capital gains exemption from decades ago, long gone now.
Thanks Jaye. Yes, it’s wonderful that we can put the money back in the TFSA, including and gains that were created and harnessed. I think some form of wealth tax could arrive one day if the Liberals stay in power. 🙂
Dale
I started funding my TFSA in 2020, when covid hit and the market crashed. Needless to say I “timed” the market right. If only I had invested more, lol. Over 5 years it has grown to $142,000. I have 24 stocks and 3 ETFs. I’ve just recently retired and will continue to use my TFSA for saving while drawing down my RRSP first.
Hi Donna, that’s some wonderful tax-free wealth creation in quick order. And again, the TFSA is a wonderful store of value and safety valve in retirement. We cover that in Retirement Club.
Have you run a retirement cash flow calculator?
Dale
Had not caught up until a few years ago – my wife a bit sooner than I – all now in 100% Equity Assest Allocation ETF. Currently, mine is at $145K, my wife’s is at $163K.
Retired and currently using the accounts for saving and not planning to touch either unless absolutely necessary
Thanks Scott, that’s still quite the generous TFSA haul. Well done. As per the post, the TFSA is quite the store of tax free value for retirees. A great tool in retirement. As always, be sure XEQT (or other) is within your risk tolerance.
Dale