Do I need a financial advisor in Canada?

Not for every decision. Many Canadians open a TFSA or RRSP and buy low-cost funds on their own. Advice tends to add the most at one-time, hard-to-reverse decisions: taking a pension as a lump sum or an annuity, timing CPP and OAS, handling an inheritance, a divorce, or selling a business. What an advisor costs depends on how they are paid: by the hour, a flat fee for a plan, a percentage of assets, or commissions on products.

What is the difference between a fee-only and a commission-based advisor?

A fee-only advisor is paid only by you, by the hour, per plan or as a percentage of assets, and earns nothing from the products you buy. A commission-based advisor is paid by the companies whose funds or insurance they sell, so the product recommended can affect what they earn. The titles "financial planner" and "financial advisor" are protected by law in Ontario, and "financial planner" in Quebec; elsewhere anyone can use them, so check for a designation such as CFP or QAFP.

What is net worth and how do I calculate it?

Net worth is everything you own (bank and investment accounts, RRSP, TFSA, home, vehicle) minus everything you owe (mortgage, loans, credit card balances). Tracking it once or twice a year shows whether your savings and debt repayment are adding up over time.

Financial Planning in Canada: Advisors, Net Worth and Money Checklists

This hub covers the planning side of personal finance: deciding whether you need an advisor, measuring where you stand, reading the statements you get, and working through the money decisions that come with big life events. Each page answers one question; pages elsewhere on the site cover budgeting, investing accounts, taxes and benefits in depth.

Financial advisors

Most people start with whether advice is worth paying for at all. Is a financial advisor worth the cost? looks at when advice tends to pay for itself and when a do-it-yourself approach is enough. What a financial advisor costs compares hourly, flat-fee, asset-based and commission pay, and the fee-only advisor guide explains how to find an advisor who sells no products. For couples, financial planning for couples covers joint accounts, splitting costs fairly and the tax rules that apply to spouses.

Net worth, debt and savings benchmarks

Net worth by age: Canadian medians and percentiles for each age group
Average vs median net worth: why the two numbers differ so much
Net worth calculator: what to count, how to value it, and how to track it
Net worth percentile calculator: where your net worth ranks
Average household debt: debt by age, province and type
Average credit score: scores by age and province
How much you should have saved by 30 and by 40

Reading your statements

Government benefits and grants

The benefit payment dates calendar lists when every federal and provincial benefit is paid. The government benefits guide is a directory of programs by life situation, and government grants covers money that doesn’t have to be repaid, including grants for small businesses. If an application is refused, appealing a benefit denial walks through the reconsideration and appeal steps. For disability savings, the RDSP guide covers eligibility, grants and bonds.

Pensions and retirement decisions

Pension commuted value: taking a lump sum or keeping the pension
Before you retire: a financial checklist

After a life event

A financial emergency, including ways to raise cash quickly
Being scammed
Winning money or receiving a windfall
A car accident
Bankruptcy
Financial abuse warning signs

Self-employment and small business

Starting a business covers registration, business accounts, records and funding. Self-employed vs incorporated looks at when incorporating makes sense, and buying a rental property in a corporation applies the same question to real estate. Before taking on paid work outside a job, see the side hustle tax and legal checklist.

For bookkeeping, the best accounting software comparison is the place to start. Single-product reviews cover Wave, FreshBooks and QuickBooks Self-Employed, with head-to-head comparisons of QuickBooks and FreshBooks and Xero and QuickBooks.

Elsewhere on the site

Budgeting and saving are covered in the budgeting hub, workplace benefits such as RRSP matching and health spending accounts in workplace rights, and income and cost benchmarks in cost of living. The personal finance home page lists every topic.