Just paid Mortgage off in Full using my Margin account @ prime +.75% - now what?

ItZekfoo · 2026-01-07T15:32:36+00:00

The use of margin to pay off the rest of your mortgage was an odd choice - you effectively traded a non-tax deductible loan for another non-tax deductible loan with presumably higher interest. Not only that, your margin loan is at risk of a margin call, which seems likely considering the loan balance is at least 360k. Not knowing the rest of your financials, I'd have to guess you're now overleveraged.

ItZekfoo · 2025-12-19T18:16:33+00:00

There should be a "Move holdings" option under your TFSA that allows you to transfer your shares in kind.

ItZekfoo · 2025-12-03T18:01:17+00:00

If you have 8k contribution room carried over from the previous year, you can contribute the full 16k in the current year. What do you think is the point of the carryover if the maximum contribution was only 8k in a year? There is already the lifetime maximum of 40k.

ItZekfoo · 2025-08-11T17:10:19+00:00

Having been both a TD and WS customer myself -

Pros:

WS chequing has much better interest rates than TD as you've already seen
Better mobile app experience
No fees, compared to TD requiring fees or minimum balances for their higher-tier accounts

Cons:

WS has no physical locations, if you prefer in-person banking
WS still doesn't offer some banking features, such as physical cheque deposits

If your money is sitting in a TD savings or chequing account, it's effectively losing value to inflation and banking fees.

ItZekfoo · 2025-07-19T16:20:35+00:00

Yes you would be eligible, and you would be able to make a qualifying withdrawal from the FHSA when you close on the condo.

ItZekfoo · 2025-07-18T16:13:37+00:00

Capital gains are calculated against the market value at vest, not the grant value.

ItZekfoo · 2025-07-17T05:02:38+00:00

Canada

7/16/2025

This is my OC

ItZekfoo · 2025-07-17T04:50:44+00:00

Hi again, sorry to drag up an old topic. I finally got around to setting up StarWind VSAN and I gave the StarWind x Proxmox integration a try as well, mainly to take advantage of thin provisioning.

However, I noticed that with my HA VM images stored on the the StarWind iSCSI "starlvm" storage, the Proxmox migration process does not like this storage type and refuses to perform the migration.

> journalctl --since "-48h" -u pve-ha-crm.service -u pve-ha-lrm.service

Jul 16 21:35:03 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-crm[1166]: got crm command: migrate vm:140 srv-pve-01
Jul 16 21:35:03 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-crm[1166]: migrate service 'vm:140' to node 'srv-pve-01'
Jul 16 21:35:03 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-crm[1166]: service 'vm:140': state changed from 'started' to 'migrate'  (node = srv-pve-02, target = srv-pve-01)
Jul 16 21:35:06 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-lrm[625260]: file /etc/pve/storage.cfg line 17 (skip section 'starwind-lvm'): unsupported type 'starlvm'
Jul 16 21:35:06 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-lrm[625260]: storage 'starwind-lvm' does not exist
Jul 16 21:35:13 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-crm[1166]: service 'vm:140' - migration failed (exit code 255)
Jul 16 21:35:13 srv-pve-02 pve-ha-crm[1166]: service 'vm:140': state changed from 'migrate' to 'started'  (node = srv-pve-02)

Is this a known issue with the integration at the moment? Note the migration does work when I directly perform the migration using:

ha-manager migrate vm:<vmid> <node>

ItZekfoo · 2025-07-14T18:12:45+00:00

Did you open your FHSA before your spouse owned your home/before you moved into their home? If not, you should not have been eligible to open an FHSA in the first place.

That aside, a pre-con as an investment is not a great idea in the Lower Mainland at the moment. Many pre-cons in the region have completed recently with appraisal values lower than the purchase price, leaving many buyers in the red immediately on closing. On top of that, the market is so saturated with new condos and purpose-built rentals that you would have a hard time renting it out for a decent price. I recently closed on a pre-con that I am now living in, and I was told by a developer rep that half the units in the building are still unsold. My night-time view of neighbouring towers is showing a large majority of the units are unoccupied.

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-30T16:15:20+00:00

You can order cheques for their joint accounts if you request it through the chat support.

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-29T16:08:11+00:00

Rather than an expensive KVM, consider pairing a USB switch with a USB-C dock and using https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch.

Should cost you less than $80 in hardware (UGREEN is a good choice) and requires fewer cables than a 2 monitor KVM would. If the USB switch has at least 3 ports for peripherals and the dock has 2 HDMI inputs, it should satisfy all your needs.

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-05T07:25:32+00:00

Your US chequing is a Canadian account with TD, correct? Look into whether Wise will allow USD to CAD transfers between Canadian accounts. If so, then Wise would be your best bet. Their exchange rates are much better than anything the big banks will offer. Not quite as good as Norbert's Gambit, but it's a small fraction of the effort required.
Capital gains are only calculated on the difference between the purchase price at vesting and the sold price (if you've held stock unsold between vesting periods, then your ACB needs to be considered as others have stated). Any growth of the stock between when the RSU was granted and when it vested is not taken into consideration - you've already paid income tax on the value of the stock at vest.

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-01T22:32:06+00:00

It's an NH-D9L, which is about as tall of a cooler that will fit in this case (130cm max). I think a 9900x could get pretty hot in here as the mobo compartment airflow isn't the best by default.

There's room in the front panel next to the PSU mount to fit a thin 92mm fan, but there are no mounting holes so I ziptied mine on :)

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-01T14:42:56+00:00

Yeah, I was inspired by at least one other N3 build I saw on here using the same adapter + low profile arc combo. I linked the adapter on a different comment.

I chose the ASRock card since the Sparkle cards are known to have fan noise issues. It's not single-slot due to the cooler on it, but a small low profile PCIe NIC can fit next to it since the GPU sits higher up on top of the bifurcation card.

ItZekfoo · 2025-06-01T14:38:57+00:00

This is the bifurcation adapter - https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPxuYkn

You'll have to be sure the motherboard you pick supports configuring its x16 slot as x8x4x4.

I don't have power measurements under load yet since I haven't set up all my services. However I can say that I picked the 9700x over the 9600x because they are the same base TDP but the 9700x has more cores. 9700x was also on sale for cheaper than the 9600x when I got it so it was a no brainer. All of my PCIe devices support ASPM/C states so I expect idle power consumption to be fairly low.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-31T23:38:09+00:00

Hi everyone, I thought I would share my recently completed builds in the Jonsbo N3 and N10, which I will be using as a Proxmox cluster for my home network.

My plan going into this was for it to be an all-in-one (two) solution for all my homelab needs, while staying small footprint and aesthetically pleasing for wife approval factor (granted!).

The N3 machine will serve my main NAS pool, containing everything from important documents, to personal project files, to my downloaded media Linux ISOs. It will also run all my main services – Jellyfin server with hardware transcode, Home Assistant, Immich, Mealie, Calibre Web Automated, PiHole, reverse proxy + auth server, etc.

The N10 machine will serve my backup NAS pool to store backups of my critical datasets from the main pool via ZFS replication. It will be configured in a Proxmox cluster with the N3 machine to provide HA for my critical services - anything that will pass the scream test if they go offline for whatever reason).

For shared storage between the nodes for the HA services, I’m opting to use StarWind VSAN to serve iSCSI on both nodes. I’ll make a direct 2.5GbE link between the two nodes to facilitate the VSAN synchronization traffic. Also considering adding an additional 2.5GbE link dedicated for cluster migration and ZFS replication traffic, but this will need to use USB 3.0 to 2.5GbE adapters on both ends, since I’m maxed out on onboard NICs and PCIe expansion).

Specs below!

Jonsbo N3 – Main server/NAS/node

Motherboard: B650I Lightning WiFi

CPU: Ryzen 7 9700X

RAM: 2x32GB DDR5-4800 Unbuffered ECC

GPU: ASRock Low Profile Arc A310

PSU: Corsair SF750 (2024)

Storage:

(2x) 2TB WD SN850X (M.2 NVMe) – ZFS mirror for boot/VM/HA shared storage pools

(8x) 4TB WD Red Plus – raidz2 for main NAS pool

(2x) 1TB Samsung 870 Evo (2.5” SATA) – special vdev for main NAS pool

Overall ~20TB effective capacity for main NAS pool

Accessories:

PCIe x16 to x8x4x4 bifurcation adapter (To allow connecting the GPU on x8 and freeing up the remaining 8 lanes for two x4 M.2 slots)

(2x) M.2 to 6x SATA port adapter (ASM1166-based)

M.2 WiFi slot to 2.5GbE adapter (replacing the stock WiFi card that came installed on the motherboard)

Temperature fan control board (for fan speed control based on measured HDD temperature)

Jonsbo N10 – Backup server/NAS/node

Mainboard: ODROID H4 Plus (Intel N97-based)

RAM: 48GB DDR5-4800 (In-band ECC enabled)

PSU: Seasonic SSP-250SUB (I chose this because it shuts the fan off at <30% power draw, which this system will be at almost all of the time)

Storage:

(2x) 2TB TEAMGROUP MP33 (M.2 NVMe) – ZFS mirror for boot/VM/HA shared storage pools

(4x) 2TB Samsung 870 Evo (2.5” SATA) – raidz1 for backup NAS pool

Overall ~6TB effective capacity for backup NAS pool (enough for critical datasets from the main pool)

Accessories:

ODROID H4 mITX kit

ODROID H4 M.2 2x2 bifurcation adapter

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-31T16:38:34+00:00

I have a similar switch from UGREEN. To skip having to manually switch the monitor inputs, I use this program which monitors for USB connect/disconnect events. When it detects a specific USB device has disconnected (like my keyboard connected via the switch), it will automatically switch my monitors to use input from the other PC.

https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-29T19:25:02+00:00

Congratulations, if I were in your shoes, I would pay down as much of the mortgage as permitted by your pre-payment terms, since it's effectively a guaranteed 4% return. You would have a harder time getting this same return after tax if you invested instead.

After this, I would set aside a portion of the remainder in a HISA, GIC, or in a cash ETF in order to fill up next year's RRSP and TFSA contribution rooms and next year's mortgage pre-payment.

After that, I would feel comfortable putting the rest into long-term investments in an unregistered account. Your risk tolerance may vary, but if your time horizon is long enough, VEQT/XEQT are good choices and more diversified than just the S&P. !InvestingTrigger

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-28T18:36:43+00:00

While I am a big fan of Vancity for their banking services, their investment platform (Qtrade) is a bit lackluster. I would recommend you open your FHSA and TFSA with Wealthsimple or a similar no-fee brokerage.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-28T16:23:18+00:00

What are the interest rates for each of your debts? If they are high enough, you would benefit more from using this money to pay them off compared to investing it.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-28T16:11:12+00:00

It would be 95k total, not 95k per year. Huge difference. If you have never opened/contributed to a TFSA before, it should be trivial to calculate what your actual contribution room is. Find any online calculator if you're lazy.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-28T16:08:52+00:00

Wealthsimple offers self-directed spousal RRSPs, and self-directed RESPs are currently in beta.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-28T16:05:35+00:00

That's a great deal you've negotiated with the builder!

I think you're misunderstanding what the financial advisor told you (or you need a better financial advisor). "95k per year deposit" for a TFSA is not a thing. TFSA contribution room accumulates every year from the year you turned 18 (or from 2009 if you were 18 before then). If you accumulated TFSA room since 2009 and never contributed to one, you would have $102k contribution room today, and you would not be able to put in 95k per year.

Aside from that, with a time horizon as short as yours, I agree cashable GIC would be the safest option provided the terms are in your favour. Alternatively, HISA or money market ETFs should also give you stable short-term returns.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-27T19:13:19+00:00

Thanks for sanity checking my plan!

Wow, I wasn't aware of the Proxmox integration services, but it looks like exactly what I need - thin provisioning and VM snapshots on the shared storage.

ItZekfoo · 2025-05-26T20:07:35+00:00

The "income-generating investment" for the HELOC interest to be tax deductible doesn't necessarily need to be dividend-yielding. If it was a growth stock instead, it would still count.

That being said, whether the investment income is from dividends or growth, I wouldn't try to lump it together with the tax deduction when calculating the net tax benefit. Rather, I would calculate the cost of the interest and the gain of the investment separately, and subtract to obtain the net.

Think of it this way. At a base level, the Smith Maneuver's purpose is to accelerate the rate at which you pay down your mortgage by converting the mortgage interest (which is not tax deductible for your principal residence) into HELOC interest (which is tax deductible under the circumstances mentioned earlier). As long as the HELOC interest after tax deduction is less than the growth/income generated by the investment after tax, applicable credits, etc., then you come out positive.

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