2024-2025 TFSA Considerations
What growth opportunities do you have before the year-end?

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) offers Canadians a flexible way to grow their savings tax-free. With 2024 quickly coming to a close, here's a quick overview of the key benefits and opportunities for TFSAs, the currently available contribution room, and a summary of opportunities for growth in late 2024 (and ahead to 2025).

Introducing: The Retirement Funding Calculator

Discover a glimpse of your financial future with our Retirement Funding Calculator. Developed for the web by Fiscal Agents, with expert guidance from the original creator, Bruce Cohen (former senior financial editor of The Financial Post and author of The Pension Puzzle and The Money Advisor), this quick tool provides you with a illustration of the estimated needed amount to fund your ideal retirement, or alternatively, to estimate the length of time your retirement savings can sufficiently fund.

Like our other tools, this calculator is completely free to use, and available now on our website in the Financial Tools section.

GIC Laddering Explained: An Interactive Demonstration

At Fiscal Agents, we mention the benefits of GIC Laddering as an investment planning strategy continuously. To better explain, we’ve developed our own interactive tool designed to demonstrate to you exactly how laddering works, and it’s benefits.

Our new GIC Laddering Explained demonstration is as simple to use as it gets - enter an amount that you’d like to invest, and the tool will show you - using the latest rates - which products would be ideal, and how your holdings would develop over time (as each GIC matures).

Tax holiday boosting spending at retailers, restaurants: industry groups

Retail Council of Canada says boost in sales, complications depends on the store

Written by Rosa Saba, Canadian Press, appearing on Investment Executive

From the article: Almost a week into the GST holiday, retailers and restaurant owners appear on track for a sales boost despite some of the struggles they faced implementing the temporary break.

BMV Books owner Patrick Hempelmann says he’s seen an uptick in sales since the tax break began, particularly on higher-priced items.

“The first two days, I think we were definitely busier than we otherwise would have been,” he said.

For two months, a slew of items including children’s toys, snacks, wine and restaurant food are GST- or HST-free, depending on the province. The vice-president of federal government relations for the Retail Council of Canada, Matt Poirier, says Boxing Day in particular is expected to get a boost.

Crypto crime up in 2024: report

Hacking eased in second half, as North Korean attacks dropped

Written by James Langton, Advisor.ca

From the article: With the price of Bitcoin hitting record levels and a new, crypto-friendly U.S. administration waiting to take power, the crypto sector appears to be resurgent — yet crime in the sector remains vibrant too.

According to new data from Chainalysis Inc., the value of funds stolen from crypto platforms this year is up 21% to an estimated US$2.2 billion. The number of individual hacking incidents also rose by 7.4% this year, it noted.

However, crypto hacking trends shifted in mid-2024, the firm said. By July, the amount of stolen crypto had almost hit US$1.6 billion, and it was on track to reach record levels for the full year. However, hacking activity slowed significantly in the second half of the year, it reported.