{"id":1150,"date":"2023-01-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/tfsa-rrsp-savings-tax-free-retirement-bank-finance-money-wealth-investment-2023-housing-goals-purchase-real-estate-rod-rhea-ryan-royal-lepage-tri-city-area\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:23:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:23:31","slug":"tfsa-rrsp-savings-tax-free-retirement-bank-finance-money-wealth-investment-2023-housing-goals-purchase-real-estate-rod-rhea-ryan-royal-lepage-tri-city-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/tfsa-rrsp-savings-tax-free-retirement-bank-finance-money-wealth-investment-2023-housing-goals-purchase-real-estate-rod-rhea-ryan-royal-lepage-tri-city-area\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Savings: When is it better to use an RRSP, a TFSA \u2013 or both? (via Globe &#038; Mail)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Looking to set aside some savings in 2023?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>What is a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.td.com\/ca\/en\/personal-banking\/personal-investing\/learn\/what-is-tax-free-savings-account\/\">According to TD Bank the definition is as follows:<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a registered tax-advantaged savings account that can help you earn money, tax-free.<\/p>\n<p>You can think of a TFSA like a basket, where you can hold qualified investments, that may generate interest, capital gains, and dividends, tax-free.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re saving for your dream wedding, a rainy day, your first home, or an extended vacation, a TFSA can help you reach your goals sooner. To get you started, we break down: what is a TFSA, how it works, and how it can benefit your savings plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>What is a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.td.com\/ca\/en\/personal-banking\/personal-investing\/learn\/what-is-rrsp\/\">According to TD Bank the definition is as follows:<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is a savings plan, registered with the Canadian federal government that you can contribute to for retirement purposes. <\/p>\n<p> When you contribute money to a RRSP, your funds are &#8220;tax-advantaged&#8221;, meaning that they&#8217;re exempt from being taxed in the year you make the contribution. Any investment income earned from investments held within the RRSP can then grow tax-deferred, as long as the money remains within the RRSP, until it&#8217;s withdrawn. <\/p>\n<p> RRSP contributions are tax-deductible, meaning that they can be deducted on your current year tax return, potentially reducing the total amount of taxes you pay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>But the big question is&#8230;which one is right for you?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/\">Via The Globe &amp; Mail:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">&#8216;The key difference between a TFSA and an RRSP is that a TFSA is a tax shelter; that is, no taxes will be payable on investment gains. An RRSP is a tax deferral; taxes will have to be paid on investment gains, but only when funds are withdrawn. Of course, the RRSP has the added sweetener of a partial tax refund when clients make the contribution to the fund. But how to decide between the two?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">&ldquo;What I tell my clients is the decision depends on two main things,&rdquo; says Allan Small, senior investment advisor with Allan Small Financial Group at iA Private Wealth Inc. in Toronto. &ldquo;Do you need &ndash; or could use &ndash; a tax deduction? And do you need access to this money anytime soon?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">He tells investors to consider RRSPs as a longer-term investment vehicle in which they can invest money and also get a tax deduction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">&ldquo;If they need to use some of the money to buy a home or for education, that&rsquo;s fine, but if they may need the money for something else, then an RRSP is not the right account,&rdquo; Mr. Small says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">Instead, he would point them toward a TFSA because, unlike an RRSP, withdrawals can be made without any tax implications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">Mr. Small has observed that TFSAs have been taking gradually from RRSPs in terms of investors&rsquo; choice for their dollars. A key reason is lifetime contributions can now be as much as $81,500 per person &ndash; twice that amount for a married couple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s quite powerful,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You combine that with being able to access the money anytime without tax implications, and that&rsquo;s what investors want.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">But every client&rsquo;s different, says Melanie Johannink, an advisor with Johannink Financial Solutions Inc. at Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc. in Bolton, Ont. For her, it&rsquo;s an art and science.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">Specifically, she says people shouldn&rsquo;t just contribute to their RRSPs just for the sake of doing so, but only when it&rsquo;s likely that they&rsquo;ll be in a lower tax bracket in retirement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">Ms. Johannink typically focuses on current income as a starting point. If the client is earning $55,000 a year or less, she recommends contributing to a TFSA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a significant tax deferral for you to justify putting a ton of money into your RRSP &ndash; and the income tax rebate is not going to give you much,&rdquo; she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\">Her advice to clients is to contribute to a TFSA throughout the year, then when preparing their annual tax return, see how much an RRSP contribution would help offset their taxes, and if that&rsquo;s a significant amount, transfer funds from the TFSA into an RRSP contribution.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5 font-pratt\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=TFSA+vs+RRSP&amp;client=firefox-b-d&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi1i6e8yK78AhWsL30KHbhRCVIQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&amp;biw=1500&amp;bih=778&amp;dpr=2#imgrc=ukvpbAD9ffIvKM\">For A Deeper Dive: CLICK HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"TFSA vs RRSP BMO BANK\" src=\"https:\/\/rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BMO_Financial_Group_TFSA_vs__RRSP__Over_30_Per_Cent_of_Canadians.jpg\" alt=\"TFSA vs RRSP BMO BANK\" width=\"632\" height=\"819\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking to set aside some savings in 2023? &nbsp; What is a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)? According to TD Bank the definition is as follows: &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2973,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions\/2973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rodrhearyan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}