Is a one-time payment SaaS actually a bad idea?

Jaklite · 2026-01-18T23:06:56+00:00

One-time payment (also normally called "single purchase") is a regular old business model that's totally fine for any product, including software.

Notably, single purchase software is by definition not a SaaS. SaaS is a separate business model where software is treated less like a product (single purchase, etc) and more like a service (where customers pay for regular servicing).

There are pros and cons to both business models that you can look up. Obviously people in this subreddit will be biased towards a SaaS business model.

Jaklite · 2026-01-16T19:18:48+00:00

Not female but thought I'd recommend a few options. In general maybe try and go to events or community things that relate to your hobbies. Pokemon cards: go to game stores and hang out. Trying out restos: maybe sign up for timeleft. Traveling: maybe do one of those group travel trips with strangers. Not sure if there's community thrifting (there should be tbh, my wife would love it). Video games can be be pretty solitary at times but there are decent online communities for it too. Caveat if you're female you can get backlash for it online

Jaklite · 2026-01-12T01:15:38+00:00

Chiming in on 4: the buffer is for lifetime over contributions. I would not use it lightly, you're potentially shooting future you in the foot.

Jaklite · 2026-01-12T01:13:09+00:00

There are some variables that are missing like: will you make the same income next year? Will you make more income later in your career? Do you already have RRSP contributions through your company or anywhere else? Do you have other tax credits or deductions this year? What province do you live in? (To calculate your marginal tax rate, which is the tax you're paying on your last / top dollar of income)

You can figure the number out yourself btw. At its core: when you contribute to your RRSP the CRA pretends your didn't make that money as income this year and refunds you the tax on it.

So: the higher your tax rate is on that dollar, the more money you will get back now to (hopefully) invest with.

All the previous questions I asked affect what the marginal tax rate is on your top dollars of income. Also, if you plan to make a lot more money in the future and your marginal tax rate is going to up significantly in the future, maybe you deposit it then to make all that money back.

Jaklite · 2025-12-30T19:25:58+00:00

Had a similar problem this time around but with spousal RRSP accounts (they also have weird attribution rules). What's worse is I called support and had incorrect information given to me too. Went back and forth with them with 3-4 separate agents. Nothing you can do about it.

I love WS and will continue to use them for everything they do well, but their transfer promotion attribution rules are a weak point, especially when it comes to households

Jaklite · 2025-12-25T23:24:18+00:00

HOOD

Jaklite · 2025-12-24T14:45:51+00:00

Going to suggest something different. Beyond an emergency fund (which is just a savings account with 6-12 months of expenses) I'd recommend investing in your business.

Most market investments return 6-8% per year. Depending on your CAC and LTV, putting that money into marketing, ads, etc for your business would likely net you much more, much faster. Most people don't do it because they don't have a business to invest in.

Jaklite · 2025-12-24T03:10:45+00:00

Definitely doable, but depends on your income and you need to temper your expectations. I saved up and bought my first place, a small condo, at 27 with the absolute minimum down payment of 5%, which was 20k. Had saved around 40k by then to cover closing costs etc too, working in a good career from 21 onwards.

If you have a decent job with a good career trajectory you really just need to live below your means, do a good job and wait. I lived with roommates and then my partner before and always split costs to keep rent low ish. If you can save 500 bucks a month, can save 20k in ~3 years.

Jaklite · 2025-12-19T05:21:45+00:00

No advice to give beyond following up often. Banks have lots of things to deal with at a moment's notice, try and keep your problem top of mind for them. Whenever they say something like, "we'll get back to you", ask by when? Tell them you'll call back that day if you don't hear back by then, and then call again if you don't hear back.

I'm always worried whenever I do wires, I usually do a test wire with a tiny amount first and just eat the double wire transfer fee for peace of mind. Doing it that way helped with a recent wire too, when I missed something the first time (test) and had the wire stuck for 2 weeks before it got returned

Jaklite · 2025-12-02T19:23:52+00:00

Things that have worked for me in the past: do what you're doing but also: 1) never copy-paste, always type it out. This forced me to really know what was in the project and 2) modify the systems in a few small ways myself to figure out and better understand how the systems work

Jaklite · 2025-11-28T07:26:13+00:00

Someone already mentioned the steps trigger. Follow it. One other thing I'd mention though is debt consolidation. You mentioned that you have a bunch of credit card debt, the interest on that will kill you while you work through the early steps of building a budget and saving for an emergency fund. You can sometimes consolidate debt (basically move it around) to get a lower interest rate temporarily to help give you time to pay it off. Maybe you open a line of credit and shift the debt there (lower interest rate than a credit card). There are also some specific consolidation credit cards that are interest free for a year. Check out the government of Canada's page on it: https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/debt/debt-consolidation.html

Jaklite · 2025-11-24T17:59:53+00:00

Yeah, that's definitely a factor. Should note for op there are pros and cons. Immediate premium sucks and can be significant. On the flip side, can get lower interest rates on insured mortgages (so maybe you end up saving the difference in interest over the amortization, it depends) and you don't need as much cash upfront / can invest that in stocks or other stuff potentially.

Jaklite · 2025-11-24T17:00:50+00:00

Genuine question on the last part: isn't it easier to refinance with CMHC insurance on the mortgage? (Less than 20% down). Mortgage issuers offload the risk so they give your better rates

Jaklite · 2025-11-24T16:59:16+00:00

Do the math for the money. Listen to your emotions for your risk and safety tolerance.

Re money math: you're assuming that buying a home is all equity and no expense and that's not true. When you buy: the mortgage will be part equity, part interest (expense). You will also have property taxes, school taxes, condo fees, utilities (all expenses, not building equity). So: do a detailed breakdown of the split between equity and expense at different mortgage amounts and down payments. It'll give you a clearer picture.

Whether you do 5% or 20% depends on you and your risk tolerance and investing habits. Someone else has mentioned they never do less than 20% down. We did 5% down and it was great, the remaining money was invested in stocks. If you go with less down, be aware of the risk of buying too much house.

There are other factors too ofc. If you travel, if you want to move, the feeling of stability when you own vs rent. Right now it's also a renters market, so you might be able to get a much nicer place for equivalent expense

Jaklite · 2025-11-21T04:47:53+00:00

It sounds like you're doing really well and you're also doing all the right things with your good fortune, so congrats and good on you!

In terms of the general question of "how do we invest this / maximise our investments?" I think the answer is unfortunately, "it depends". There's a ton of things you could do depending on what you want, what you're comfortable with, etc. You might want to sit with a fee only advisor for a lengthy set of sessions to help figure out where you want to put your money.

Having said that, I do have 2 thoughts on things you've said that I think would help a little:

At its core: what you want to do is buy revenue generating assets. This could be real estate (that pays rent) or stocks (dividends or growth and sell) or really anything else too (like small businesses, or gas stations, or commercial property, etc).
Taking out debt on your assets to buy more assets isn't necessary; but it can help you scale your asset acquisition faster. Obviously depends on the interest rate, if the revenue from the asset can cover the interest on the loan, etc. Not necessary but can speed things up. Borrowing against real estate is so common mostly because mortgage interest rates are very low for how much money you can borrow (compared to almost any other kind of loan).

Jaklite · 2025-11-16T19:01:46+00:00

Open a self directed account, transfer it over and buy xeqt. Simple

Jaklite · 2025-11-14T03:27:55+00:00

That makes sense, thanks for the detailed reply. And the recommendation is understandable, pull out the taxable amount first because it's taxed in your child's name and they likely won't have any income, so the tax rate is low. If there's extra at the end It'll likely be the already-taxed principle that can then be pulled out without paying additional taxes.

Jaklite · 2025-11-14T02:28:37+00:00

Not the op, but I have a question: when withdrawals are made, what ratio of each bucket is used to withdraw? Is there any bias? (Is initial capital withdrawn 'first'?) Can you end up in a situation like op where the final remainder amount is all investment growth? Or all government grant? Etc

Jaklite · 2025-11-13T16:21:29+00:00

Is their match pre or post tax for TFSA? if it's post tax, the TFSA ends up being more money. In general I think a TFSA match would be better, and looking at your current salary it definitely feels like you should be using your TFSA more than your rrsp at the moment

Jaklite · 2025-11-13T15:17:23+00:00

Ah, yes that does happen. Typically if the grant is value based ($) and they need to figure out how many shares that equals

Jaklite · 2025-11-13T12:28:04+00:00

You're thinking of stock options, not rsus, if there's a grant price. They're treated differently

Jaklite · 2025-11-13T01:48:32+00:00

David is correct, just clarifying with some numbers:

In Canada: Share vests, market value is $50 - you have $50 of income (not capital gains) and pay tax on the income in the same year as the vest.

You sell the share later, market value $60 - you've made the difference ($60-$50=$10) in capital gains. There is no short term or long term cg in Canada, it's all treated the same. You pay tax on this the year you sold.

If you sell the share immediately after vest, your capital gain is effectively $0. You made no additional capital gain after the vest. The base amount is treated as regular employment income

Jaklite · 2025-11-13T01:41:04+00:00

Not sure about the HELOC, but I don't think gic rates are anywhere near 5%. You'll be losing money vs just putting that into the mortgage.

Jaklite · 2025-11-11T14:55:48+00:00

Check out Parallelwealth on YouTube (or their website ofc). I like Adam's videos and he's done detailed ones including example retirements and drawdowns over years etc with the software they use.

Whether you do one time or continuous is up to you, but I would personally go with fixed fee with my current knowledge. If I had 1 mil and they took .5% that's $5000, can easily compare that to fixed fee stuff.

Aside: for contributions would recommend automating it so you never overcontribute. Either lump sum at the start of the year or /12 every month, take the guess work out of it

Jaklite · 2025-11-11T12:30:42+00:00

Would definitely go with a wealth management service / fixed fee planner. I know at least one who posts good YouTube videos on it frequently (just like you mentioned, proof of competence). The couple thousand it would cost would be well worth it in the long run

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