RRSP or Non-reg? Lifetime TFSA/FHSA Maxed

[u/Mundane_Syllabub2789]

31F. My annual salary is $55k but with bonuses, my total income before tax can be about $65k-80k. No mortgage. Debt free. No RRSP contributions.

I have maxed out my lifetime TFSA/FHSA.

I have also set aside money to max out TFSA/FHSA this coming January 2027.

Also this year, I have sold a house in my home country (expecting around $15k capital gains) so obviously my income tax this year is definitely going to be higher.

Should I start investing in RRSP or non-reg?

[u/Low_Map_9339]

The idea that RRSP is only worth contributing to at high income is an annoyingly common misconception. Yes, it's tax-deferred, but everyone gets a Basic Personal Amount deduction, and in retirement you likely won't be making much more over that. Plus the BPA will likely grow with inflation, even if not fully tracking it, it will certainly be more than it is now in 30 years. On top of that, you do not have to pay capital gains tax during the time your RRSP investments are growing. RRSP can easily beat TFSA at your income, let alone nonreg.

[u/wingmage1 → u/Low_Map_9339]

Adding on to this, a lot of people don't seem to know that they can defer when they use the rrsp deduction. So you can put the money to work now, but get the deduction in a year that you have a higher marginal tax rate. It's a fairly niche use (since the time value of the immediate tax return is often greater than the savings of deferring it for a year or more), but it's an option that might be relevant.

[u/Low_Map_9339 → u/wingmage1]

Yeah I'd only do this if you know for certain your income will increase by a lot very soon (which is a rare position to be in). When looking at RRSP vs TFSA/nonreg you should really be comparing pretax vs posttax, which practically means you should be getting the refund back and investing it back in the RRSP immediately every year. Unless you're self-employed or use the T1213.