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What Canadians Should Know Before Cosigning a Loan

BRITWEALTH ARTICLE — FINANCE CATEGORY –> Over 11% of mortgages issued to first-time homebuyers in Canada in 2025 were co-signed by a parent — up from just 4% in 2004. In Toronto, that figure reaches nearly 14%. What that means in real terms: if your adult child stops paying a $600,000 mortgage, you owe the full $600,000. Not a portion.

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The Real Cost of Ignoring a Small Canadian Insurance Claim

Filing a small insurance claim in Canada can end up costing you more than the repair itself. Take an Ontario driver with a $2,200 annual premium who files a $14,000 at-fault claim. Over the next five years, that single claim adds roughly $2,600 in surcharges on top of the base premium — meaning the insurer recovers about $13,000 of what

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Why Canadian Households Are Tracking Every Dollar Again

Canada’s household savings rate has fallen to 3.5 percent — the lowest level since the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest national balance sheet data from Statistics Canada. That means for every $100 of disposable income, the average household is now saving just $3.50. The rest is going to spending, debt payments, and the rising cost of everyday

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Why Canadians Are Choosing Robo-Advisors Over Human Ones

Between 0.25% and 2% — that’s the gap between what you’d pay a typical robo-advisor and a human advisor in Canada each year. On a $50,000 portfolio, the difference works out to roughly $875 annually. Over 20 years, that compounds into tens of thousands of dollars. But cost isn’t the only reason Canadians are rethinking who — or what —

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What Happens to Canadian Investments When the Market Drops Suddenly

Picture this: you have a portfolio worth $500,000 built up over years of contributions. The market drops, you sell in a panic, and you wait for things to feel safe before reinvesting. Based on what happened after the March 2020 COVID crash, you would have missed a 68% recovery in the following 12 months. On that half-million-dollar account, that works

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The Real Reason Canadian Savings Accounts Pay So Little

Park $10,000 in a typical big bank savings account and you might earn around $150 in interest over a year. If inflation sits at 2.8%, that same $10,000 loses roughly $280 in purchasing power — a net loss of $130. The numbers don’t balance, and they haven’t for a while. The reason isn’t complicated: big banks have little incentive to

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Why Canadian Drivers Are Switching to Usage-Based Insurance

Only 16% of Canadian drivers currently use usage-based insurance, even though 88% of those who do say they’d stick with it at renewal. That gap — between knowing about something and actually using it — costs the average safe driver somewhere between $100 and $600 a year in missed savings, depending on their mileage and habits. Disclosure: Some links on

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How Canadians Can Tell If Their Bank Account Fees Are Too High

If you pay $15 a month for a basic chequing account, that’s $180 a year just to access your own money. Over a decade, that same fee adds up to $1,800 — and that’s before you factor in a single ATM withdrawal, e-Transfer, or paper statement. A 2025 survey by Money.ca found that 53% of Canadians have already switched financial

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The Truth About Canadian Loyalty Points Losing Their Value

Canadians are sitting on an estimated $13 to $15 billion in unredeemed loyalty points — money that, in many cases, is quietly losing value while it waits. Based on the 2026 Bond Loyalty Report, the average person belongs to 15 programs, yet more than one in four redeem points once a year or less. That gap between earning and spending

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What Canadians Get Wrong About Their Credit Utilization Ratio

Nearly half of Canadian credit card holders — 46% — carried a balance for two consecutive months or longer. That means millions of people are paying unnecessary interest and, more importantly, letting their credit utilization ratio work against them. If you have a $5,000 limit and carry a $2,500 balance, you are sitting at 50% utilization, which is high enough

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