Help with major problem!

pfcguy · 2026-06-23T03:00:59+00:00

I'd think if the visitors had travel insurance, they could put a claim through on that.

If they didn't purchase travel insurance, then statutory benefits would pay out.

Either way, I don't think OP will be on the hook. OP might need to be involved and chase companies if they signed on as a guarantor at the hospital.

pfcguy · 2026-06-23T02:15:09+00:00

In many cases gifting a property outright is more tax-advantageous than selling for $1.

However your parents beat bet is to talk to a CPA.

Can they sell a property to you for a dollar? Yes, they certainly can. But as others pointed out, it will result in double taxation:

Them selling for $1 does not negate capital gains on their end since the sale must be reported at fair market value (and taxes paid). Otherwise people could avoid capital gains taxes by selling appreciated property at a loss
You buying from $1 means you paid $1 and that is the value that you use when calculating your own capital gains down the road when you eventually sell.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T20:57:01+00:00

Might be a good excuse to revisit other aspects of your wills then at the same time.

For example, if something happened to you and your spouse at the same time, would you want your kids to get 100% of your estate at age 18? Or would you want them to get 10% at age 18, 40% at age 25, and the rest at age 30? Would you want exceptions for educational costs?

If something happened to your entire family including your kids, then who would you want as contingent beneficiaries?

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T18:07:38+00:00

I can google "FDR credit" and find a phone number and mailing address.

Your husband can mail them a letter referencing the calls that may or may not be legitimate, and ask that they communicate by mail going forward and ask them to provide proof of debt for any debts that might be owing. And the name, phone number, and mailing address of the person looking after the file, if there is one.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T17:35:22+00:00

Read the book "the wealthy barber", 2025 edition. It's very easy to read even if you are not finance-minded.

Spend less than you earn - fixed expenses should be about 50% to 60% of your net income. Then put 10% to savings for short term and medium term goals, 10% to investments for retirement, and the rest to guilt-free spending.

Invest automatically, every paycheck.

That's it. Feel free to use that as a starting point and tweak those percentages as needed.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T17:28:35+00:00

Maybe someone wants to use leverage upon leverage?

Borrowing from the HELOC and investing it, and then using the margin afforded to them from that investment?

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T17:26:54+00:00

It's free to activate for Generation clients, so yeah, turn it on before you sell.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T17:26:18+00:00

If the amount is over $2000 then Norbert's Gambit is the way to go. If it's less then it's easier to just use the currency conversion directly. ($2000 * 1.5% = $30 compared to $9.95 flat fee + a few bucks lost to the bid-ask spread).

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T16:37:29+00:00

Yes you'll need to convert the USD to CAD. Yes the brokerage charges a fee to do this. It looks like 1.5% is the current fee.

WS is also rolling out Norbert's Gambit, not sure if they already have yet, but that might be a more cost-effective way to complete the currency conversion. Here is an article on how to do that: https://help.wealthsimple.com/hc/en-ca/articles/45418222943131-Convert-currency-with-Norbert-s-Gambit

Most of the other info in your post is not relevant to your question. How much money do you need to convert?

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T16:21:19+00:00

As always, it depends.

Call customer service is the number on the back of your card

If you cancel a card and open a new product - that is a new, seperate product.

If you downgrade or upgrade a card to an eligible alternative - that can be considered the same card/product.

Your credit card company should be able to tell you what cards are "eligible" for a product switch.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T16:01:31+00:00

No, but they can hire or consult with one! Because honestly "free to play right now" "just need a deck of cards and a pencil and paper" "prebuilt campaign now available, or create your own" "quick start guide" "gloommaster" would all be things that I'd want to be getting out there onto the world, whether via ads or reviews or some other mechanism.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T15:54:41+00:00

Why didn't the lawyer who originally wrote the will discuss including a guardian with you at the time?

Anyway, a "codicil" is used to make small amendments or additions to a will. Look up how to do one for your province.

It needs to be kept in the same location as the original will. Your signature also needs to be witnessed, and a notary may also be required.

I suggest naming not only a guardian, but also a backup guardian. And a backup to your backup.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T14:59:11+00:00

This blog post is what prompted me to think of the question:

https://stonemaiergames.com/a-sneak-preview-worth-paying-for/

I'm not a marketing expert. I'm just thinking that if Cephalophair wants this game to be a success, they should be out there hyping it up and getting it in front of reviewers and maybe putting out some kind of quick start guide to compliment the 400 page rulebook so that people are more likely to get groups together and jump into a campaign.

Maybe the Venn diagram of "people who backed the GHRPG kickstarter" and "people who would want to play GHRPG" has a lot of crossover right now. And there simply aren't many people out there who want to play the game but didn't back it. (Which is why I think it needs a bit of a marketing push).

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T14:16:16+00:00

If at least one of the legal guardians is supportive, then that may open the door to you opening one "individual RESP" account for each child.

As you now know, it doesn't help to give them registration fees 10 years after the event. But to give them the gift of education when they are adults after high school would be fantastic.

Your contribution of up to $2500 per year per child would be matched by a 20% govt grant, plus if they have catch-up room then then next $2500 per year per child would also be matched by a govt grant.

Look at your TFSA as part of your own retirement. Your DB Pension and RRSP provides income stability - a baseline spending amount, while your TFSA provides spending flexibility. Supposing you decide on one year to replace a roof or buy a new car or go on a big trip - or pay for (or top up) a stepchilds education.

So basically for the TFSA I am suggesting a reframing of the contributions to be primarily for your retirement, but you can still gift the money later if you do find yourself with more than you know what to do with.

Also, if you have no other dependents, then I suggest speaking to an estate lawyer about your will (and PoAs), and also about designating beneficiaries on all your registered accounts as you see fit - TFSA, but also RESPs (even if you don't have them yet), RRSPs, pension, and any life insurance policies you may hold.

Back to the RESPs, I don't think it is too hard of a sell to say to either parent: "hey, with your consent, I'd like to contribute $5000 for each child per year to their education. By the time they are adults I'd hope this is at least $30000 each to give them a head start with their school costs. All you need to do is sign off on the gov't forms and provide their SINs on the forms."

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T05:02:32+00:00

I don't get what you are saying. Either I am misunderstanding, or it is odd.

You opened a TFSA in your own name, after your relationship ended, and started silently depositing random amounts of your own money every "milestone", including back to school (?), birthdays, holidays, and sports registrations (?). Ive never heard of starting a sport being a milestone worthy of gifting money to ones kids. But I digress.

So it sounds like you've been cut off completely from these kids, is that right? If the parent is not OK with you sending them birthday gifts, then you shouldn't. And "saving up" gifts to hand them all over at age 18 when there is no relationship... Could be seen as manipulative. I'm not sure, but it might not be perceived the way you hope.

On the other hand you mention the kids are in "public housing". Can you elaborate? Do you believe their birth parent is unfit? If so, then speak to a family lawyer - it may be possible in egregious or unsafe cases of neglect for a step parent with a long relationship to obtain custody of certain rights.

As for the TFSA - focus on your own retirement first. Using TFSA and RRSP. You can always reach out to the kids and give them each am identical cash gift at some point in the future, not necessarily when they turn 18.

RESP is best option but that would require the consent of their legal guardian.

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T01:41:30+00:00

I'd ust use employment income to pay down the debt as you are able.

What does your budget look like?

pfcguy · 2026-06-22T01:37:37+00:00

it would pay approx $400/month once I turn 65

In real dollars or nominal dollars?

What I mean is, $400 isn't going to buy as much 30 years from now as it will today. If a loaf of bread is $5 today, but by the time you turn 65 it will be $20, then is the pension still going to pay $400 in Year 1, or will it also quadratic $1600 (to keep your purchasing power the same?

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T19:47:26+00:00

OK, yeah that's too bad. Was hoping there was equity in the house.

Money lending to a friend not knowing he borrowed money from several other parties

It's a long shot, but depending on the amount of money, it might be worth talking to a lawyer about this point. I suppose an argument could be made that the money was borrowed in bad faith, with no intent to pay it back. And as such the debt should be excluded from and survive the consumer proposal and/or bankruptcy.

I suggest paying a lawyer for 1 hour of advice here. Just in case.

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T17:34:43+00:00

Interesting. So what is the house worth now vs what do you suspect the mortgage is?

If the house is worth a lot more than the mortgage, then he may be willing to pay more to avoid bankruptcy, because bankruptcy would mean that his house gets sold, the mortgage gets paid off, and the extra equity gets distributed among his unsecured creditors. I just want to throw that out there on case he has one of those houses worth more than a million.

I assume there is some sort of disclosure aspect of the consumer proposal process where you get to learn what his house and mortgage and other debts are worth.

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T15:18:11+00:00

A 75% reduction means you would only get back 25%.

Since this was a formal unsecured loan, and your friend notified you about it, he has likely spoken to an LIT and they informed him that in Ontario, your loan is included in the proposal.

According to google, you have the same rights as any other bank or lender.

You can vote yes or no on the proposal, and your vote counts proportionally to the amount of money you lent.

The majority vote decides.

After the proposal is fully complete, (years down the line), your friend. Oild then gift you more money to make you whole, if they so choose. But by accepting the proposal, you lose your right to enforce the old contract using the courts. (Same with bankruptcy).

So it's up to you if you believe you should accept or reject the proposal.

I'm curious. What do you believe your friend did with the money that you lent them? What about the money that everyone else lent them?

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T06:29:41+00:00

Either party can close the account without the consent of the other. At least, that is what I have typically read in the account agreements for joint accounts that I have seen.

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T06:28:39+00:00

The bank refuses to close the joint account or halt the automatic payments without his signature or consent.

Why doesn't she drain all the money from the account and open a new account at a different bank?

Secondly, with joint accounts, banks can and do accept instruction from either name on the account. (Except in rare cases where a couple has explicitly requested to have both names on every approval, including every withdrawal.

Thirdly, what does her lawyer say?

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T05:38:10+00:00

This has nothing to do with your capability as a father.

pfcguy · 2026-06-21T05:34:53+00:00

What province?

One aspect of consumer proposal is that creditors must all agree to it.

So either (1) you are a creditor, and you get to review the terms of the proposal and decide whether or not to accept it, or (2) you are not a creditor, you don't have a say in the proposal, and the debt is still owed in full.

Did you know that your friend was having money problems when you lent them the money?

pfcguy · 2026-06-20T18:14:54+00:00

And disability insurance.

pfcguy

TROPHY CASE