Outsmart
your money.

Fill your TFSA for ten years and the order the returns arrive in moves the ending balance by $69,348 on identical contributions. On a lump sum it changes nothing, which is the control that proves it.

$100,000 per member in each of nine categories, so one person at one bank can hold $900,000 insured. Two traps: brands of one bank share a limit, and joint accounts are covered per set of owners.

Expenses count only above the lesser of 3% of net income and $2,890. Because the floor follows income, the same $6,000 of receipts is worth $293 more on the lower-earning spouse's return.

$25 an hour is $52,000, about $41,320 after tax in Ontario. Plus vacation pay, which the standard formula misses, and the hour at which overtime starts in each province.

Interest is taxed at your full marginal rate, so a 2.45% GIC in a taxable Ontario account really pays 1.39%, behind inflation. In a TFSA it keeps everything, worth $532 a year on $50,000.

CPP ends at $85,000 of earnings and EI at $68,900, capping an employee outside Quebec at $5,770 for the year. A Quebec employee pays $6,234. Every rate, ceiling and marginal band.