This post was sponsored by TD but, as always, opinions are my own.

We have always been in the “moderate” income category, making enough to sit right in the middle of benefits and expectations.  We invested well, and made some good (lucky) choices with real estate.  We did what we were supposed to and invested heavily into RRSPs.

Like everyone else who also did, we were hit heavily when the value of RRSPs crashed, which gave us a fear of investing and caused us to second guess our every financial move. Until then we just trusted everything that we were told, we had faith that when retirement came we would have the funds needed to secure our future.

Over the last few years we had the “fortune” to experience being on the lower end of the income scale – very low.  While we had “cash in hand” because of our savings, we didn’t have money coming in and our income statements reflected that at the end of the year.

We were amazed at the differences we experienced being “low income” and the support we got from the government. It allowed us to see what a difference there was to our bottom line when our income line was low.

Now, over the last few years our income has steadily increased (yay us!) but so have our taxes. The government support that was there before is no longer available to us and we are committed to ensuring that we do what we can to stay below certain income thresholds.

Like many others who have felt the crunch of having an empty wallet in their jeans, we don’t want to experience this again, but we also don’t want to lose money just because we have invested it wisely.

Enter TFSAs.

Tax-Free Savings Accounts allow us to invest up to $5500 this year, tax free.  We can invest this money in our TFSA account, and we won’t be “dinged” (taxed) on the growth.

If we choose to withdraw money from our TFSA, it won’t be added to our income amount, which may just mean the difference of being under vs over the tax threshold numbers.

It also means we have an additional option for retirement investing that we feel a little more confident in (after having been burned in the past).

A TFSA can be generalized as a savings account for any purpose.  You can withdraw the (tax-free) funds at any time, or continue to build on the account and use it as a long-term savings or retirement account.  Right now you can also earn up to 8.88% with a 3-year Security GIC Plus, from TD.

Over the years it has been interesting to take all of the information given to us and find our right path through investments and savings, one that gives us control over our money, without threat of the bubble bursting and us being left with nothing.  Our RRSP loss was minor compared to many others, but did set our saving back many years.

Now we are finally feeling like we are getting control of our investments again thanks to the confidence we have in TFSAs.

Contact TD today to chat with someone and find the right Tax-Free Savings Account  for you.  From high-interest savings accounts to term deposits and mutual funds, the bonus is whatever gains you get from investing this money, is yours, tax free when you need it.

https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/investing/tax-free-savings-account/tax-free.jsp