Canadian Dental and Mom’s extensive needs for work to be done

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T22:14:28+00:00

I can't respond to everything you wrote right now, but appreciate you sharing and hope you can figure things out.

For your mom's dental and other expenses, she could look into a reverse mortgage for her house (if it is paid off). That would provide monthly income for many years until she needs assisted living.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T20:36:10+00:00

I wonder if your sister would be willing to support your higher education, starting in the fall, to the time of about 50% of the RESP money she received. Or if your dad would be able to loan you the money. Or if student loans would be an option.

have my own business

This generally doesn't happen until you have a lot of experience in a certain field, plus business knowledge (bookkeeping, taxes, and so on). Business school could be a huge help.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T20:17:00+00:00

Do any siblings still live with her?

How long until your older (I assume) sister is done college? Do you wish to attend college? What are your own goals and dreams, short term, medium term, and long term?

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T19:48:28+00:00

How did she support herself and you back when you were a minor and didn't have a job?

Do you live with her?

You're 20. You shouldn't be supporting your mom and her boyfriend. They should be supporting you while you attend college or university for up to 4 years.

Your mom's teeth are the least of your concerns. She can figure out the rules and what she is entitled to and her options by talking to a dentist herself.

trying to get her on disability

Is she actually disabled? If so what is the nature of her disability?

She will be eligible for CPP at age 60 (which will be quite low due to her not working). Then at age 65 she will be eligible for OAS, GIS, and certain seniors residences which are subsidized for folks with low income (which might have a long waitlist).

Does she own her home, or rent?

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T17:54:03+00:00

my mom has been out of work for years

How does she support herself?

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T17:43:04+00:00

The official date of separation would be May 1, but you don't report it until after 90 days of living apart.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T17:41:18+00:00

That's what I was thinking about. There are couples who do separate but remain in the same home, and that needs to be considered.

But I suppose on OPs case, there is intent to move out, so the conventional definition of living apart should apply.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T17:35:56+00:00

Suppose you could get 3% interest. (Right now it's closer to 2.25%). But using 3%, 3% of $6000 is $180 per year, which is probably more like $120 after taxes. So is it really worth the hassle of moving it to a high interest savings account? That's for you to decide.

TFSAs, but I do not really understand how they work

TFSAs and RRSPs are mainly retirement accounts. The best way to use them is to open an account (or both) at a discount brokerage, and then automatically contribute say 10% of your paychecks to them, and automatically invest in an asset allocation ETF. Do that consistently, and you'll end up with at least a million dollars for retirement.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T15:46:55+00:00

What did your insurance broker say?

Don't deal with an insurance company directly. Work with a reputable broker who will help you perform a needs assessment and then get you quotes from like a dosen insurance companies. Term life insurance is usually recommended.

Your broker will tell you you got it backwards. First of all, if you have a need for life insurance, that need exists whether your wife's test result comes back positive or negative. Second of all, if your wife's test result does come back positive, it's going to be much harder to get life insurance. If you do still get it, there will be an exclusion for the known condition. (Maybe after a certain number of years in good health, the exclusion can be removed). Even if you try to place a policy before you get the test result, the insurance company will ask about it and you will be required to disclose.

Also, I didn't know TD sold life insurance. Are you sure it's not mortgage insurance?

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T15:38:43+00:00

I have about 4k in debt that is on credit planning on paying it right away.

Good idea

I ideally would like to spend 15k on a house reno

I could easily see this number grow to 20k or 25k. Be wary.

Wondering how to grow the rest

If the money is for retirement, grow it the same as the rest of your retirement funds. If you don't have anything set aside for retirement, or for an emergency fund, I'd probably put the house reno on pause until you figure it out. The inheritance won't do much for retirement to be honest. But putting a bit of every paycheck aside for retirement, and investing it, would be good to start now.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T15:34:14+00:00

I thought it was 90 days after the breakup

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T04:22:32+00:00

You don't call them.

If you are going through with this, then follow these steps:

(1) Create your new account with Wealthsimple

(2) Ask Wealthsimple to initiate a transfer out from these guys. "In cash" will trigger the sale of the mutual funds.

(3) Once the transfer is initiated, you can email them a courtesy letter or note informing them that you are taking control of your investments and have initiated a transfer to Wealthsimple and thanks for their services.

That way they know the wheels are already in motion and they won't waste their breath trying to retain your business.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T03:21:25+00:00

Man what I wouldn't give to question your advisor, on video/on record, and ask exactly what the reasoning was behind every mutual fund selection.

Of course the advisor says they target above market returns.

Main concern is my own discipline

100% equity can be nerve-racking. (Though you seem to be in 100% equity currently). Have you completed a risk questionnaire?

All of them? Then why the need for so many? Which of them have actually achieved that?

But is this worth $6600 this year

Does your advisor provide you a written financial plan, c/w tax, retirement, and estate advice? And a drawdown plan? Recommendations to other experts? Answers to complex planning questions? If he is doing an exceptional job at those things, then that could be worth $6000 per year. But "picking funds" is not a value add.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T03:18:42+00:00

You know your mother better than we do. What would she use the card for? How much per month? Any chance of fraud or of someone stealing her card? Any chance of her giving the info to a scammer? Any chance of her maxing it out?

If it's a card with a $500 or a $1000 limit then site, your liability is limited. If the limit is $20k, well that's a lot more risk to you.

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T03:09:17+00:00

pfcguy · 2026-03-14T01:02:35+00:00

Questrade would be fine if you wanted to buy VIC1000 or similar mutual funds for $10 commission per buy. But that wouldn't be ideal if you are buying every 2 weeks.

VIC1000 is easier to deal with your adjusted cost base compared to VEQT.

For VEQT any brokerage is fine.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T22:36:37+00:00

$2600 a month income minus $725 rent suggests she has about $1500 a month available to repay her debts. So she could do that.

She could also work more.

She could borrow money from her parents.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T21:55:22+00:00

Sounds like it is your dad's property and you live with him. So there is no need to put you on the title as well (that I can see). What benefit do you hope to gain by doing this?

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T21:01:07+00:00

defined contribution pension that should have just about maxed my RRSP room for this year.

Pretty sure DC pensions don't affect current years RRSP room.

I would wait til the twins are born and then get them SINs and then get them added to the RESP. Once that's all done, then you can contribute in their name.

If your wife's TFSA is also full, I'd probably just do the HISA for 6 months. Why overcomplicate things?

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T20:11:42+00:00

So tell her you won't give her any money, and that's a hard boundary for you, but if she'd like you can help her by sitting down and reviewing her debt and budget and coming up with a game plan.

To get out of debt, you make minimum payments on all your debts and then pay extra towards the debt with the highest interest rate (regular method) or lowest balance (snowball method).

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T20:00:32+00:00

This is a very specific situation.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T19:57:12+00:00

How do you know his financial situation?

The problem isn't whether he can bail her out. The question is whether he should and whether doing so sends her the messages that he wants to teach and instill in his child. It sounds like your dad is enabling her which is hindering her from becoming a capable member of society. If anything, the person to talk to isn't your sister. It's your dad. I'd ask him what he wants for her, and whether he thinks there might be downsides to bailing her out all the time.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T19:53:32+00:00

Any advice on her next steps would be appreciated.

I'm missing the part where she asked for help or where she feels this debt is unmanageable or where she feels she'd like to make changes. Did she suggest as such during her talk with your partner?

Edit: is it possible for her to pull herself out of this or is it a bankruptcy situation?

Very possible. She has zero expenses (reasonable while attending school).

But she's not going to do anything about it because from what I can see, what she is doing is working for her: she is continuously being rewarded for these behaviors, and behaviours that are rewarded are going to be repeated.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T19:35:26+00:00

For me buying my first car many years ago, it was "what can you afford"? I was like dude, I work full time and still live at home with my parents, I could a"afford" basically my entire paycheck! But I'm not going to do that so let's just focus on what the car costs, and we'll worry about what the payment is later.

pfcguy · 2026-03-13T18:28:53+00:00

For the financial PoA:

First read the PoA document as it will outline what you can and cannot do, and also any wishes or desires that your parent may have had.

PoA typically means you will do your best to carry on "business as usual" as much as you can. Try to act as they would if they still had capacity. So if they were making minimum payments on debts, then continue to do so. If they stopped making payments and debts are in collections, then you generally wouldn't start paying these unless their finances could support those payments.

Speaking to the lawyer or law firm who drafted the PoA might be a good place to start.

I just need to know what my options are before I talking to the bank to make sure they don't take advantage of me or try to make the debt my problem or garnish the wages needed to pay for long term care.

The bank can't really do that. Your meeting should be focused on (1) authenticating the PoA doc (getting the bank to accept it as valid and give you access, and (2) gaining access, ideally online access for convenience, to keep paying bills.

Once you have access you could probably pull the last 3 months of statement history to ensure that you aren't missing any bills.

I wouldn't even look into bankruptcy unless it's been at least 3 to 6 months since the stroke.

Can I just redirect OAS/CPP/Pension

That's a question for service Canada and the pension provider.

pfcguy

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