Financial Planning Tools
See the numbers. Understand the risks. Explore your options.
These interactive tools are designed to help you understand common Canadian financial planning considerations protection, income, savings, government programs and estate costs before speaking with a licensed financial professional.
Educational tools, not advice. Everything on this page is for general information only. The estimates are simplified illustrations based on the figures you enter, and they are not personalized financial, insurance, tax or legal advice. Your own results depend on your full circumstances, product terms and eligibility. Please speak with a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you see here.
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planning risks explained with sourced Canadian data
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What could happen?
Thirteen Situations Canadians Rarely Plan For
Each card starts with a question people actually ask, then shows the Canadian numbers behind it. Open one to read the figures and their sources, then follow the link to the strategies that address it.
Life Insurance
Going Unprotected
How can I make sure my spouse and kids are provided for if anything happens to me?
The financial impact
- 4 in 10 Canadians say their family would face financial hardship within 6 months of losing the primary wage earner.
- Half say loved ones would have to dip into retirement savings just to cover expenses.
- 23% of uninsured Canadians still have children at home.
Without coverage, a family's financial stability can unravel within months of losing its primary income.
Source: LIMRA / Life Happens, 2023 Canadian Insurance Barometer Study — the "4 in 10" and "half" figures. "23% have children at home": PolicyMe, 2025 Life Insurance Gap Report.
Life Insurance & ProtectionCritical Illness
Facing Illness Unprotected
How can I make sure I'll be provided for if I'm diagnosed with a critical illness?
Who's exposed
- 91% of Canadians have no critical illness insurance.
- Nearly 1 in 3 say their savings would run out within 6 months of a major diagnosis.
- 23% of those personally diagnosed report substantial out-of-pocket costs; 19% had to take unpaid time off work.
Provincial health care doesn't cover the full cost of surviving a serious illness.
Source: 2025 Ipsos poll conducted for RBC Insurance — the "91%" and "1 in 3" figures. "23% / 19%" figures: Angus Reid Institute, 2025 cancer cost survey.
Living BenefitsEstate & Legacy
An Unprotected Estate
How can I make sure my estate and home pass to my children intact, without being eaten up by taxes or probate?
The tax bill at death
- Canada treats death as a "deemed disposition": assets are considered sold at fair market value the moment before death.
- 50% of any resulting capital gain becomes taxable on the deceased's final tax return.
- Illustrative example: a $400,000 unrealized gain on a cottage or investments could trigger about $80,000 in tax at a 40% marginal rate.
- Plus BC probate/administration fees of about 1.4% of the estate's value over $50,000 — roughly $14,000 more on a $1,000,000 estate.
An estate can lose six figures to tax and probate before a single dollar reaches your children.
Legacy & Estate PlanningDisability / Income Protection
An Unprotected Paycheque
How can I make sure I don't run out of income if I become disabled and can't work?
The reality
- About 1 in 3 working-age Canadians will become disabled for 90+ days before age 65.
- 48% of Canadians say they're not financially prepared to be off work.
- Government disability benefits alone can leave a large gap — the average CPP disability benefit is about $1,211/month.
- Common responses to the income gap: 29% dip into savings, 17% take on debt, 9% cash in RRSPs early.
Your ability to earn an income is your biggest financial asset — and the one most often left unprotected.
Source: RBC Insurance / CLHIA — the "1 in 3" and "48%" figures. Government of Canada, CPP disability benefit amounts (2026). "Common responses" figures: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability.
Living BenefitsMortgage Protection
An Unprotected Mortgage
How can I make sure my mortgage gets paid off if I die before it's finished?
What actually happens
- The average outstanding mortgage balance among Canadian homeowners is about $451,681.
- CMHC mortgage default insurance protects the lender, not your family — it does not pay off your mortgage if you die.
- Mortgage (creditor) insurance sold through a lender works differently from term life insurance: its payout shrinks as your loan balance goes down, even though the premium usually stays the same — term life insurance keeps a level coverage amount for the full term instead.
- Canadian households are underinsured relative to their debt by an average of 14.5%; in BC, mortgage holders are underinsured by roughly 16%.
Without dedicated coverage, a mortgage doesn't disappear when income does — it can force a family to sell the home they were trying to keep.
Source: PolicyMe, 2025 mortgage & life insurance data. Insurance Business of Canada / money.ca life insurance gap study (2026). CMHC mortgage default insurance program rules.
Life Insurance & ProtectionFinal & Funeral Expenses
Going Without a Plan
How can I make sure my family isn't left covering funeral and final expenses?
The real numbers
- A traditional funeral in Canada costs about $8,000 to $12,000 on average, and can exceed $15,000 in major cities.
- 46% of Canadians say they couldn't afford a funeral if they needed to pay for one today.
- The CPP death benefit — often assumed to help — pays a maximum of $5,000, less than half the average cost.
Without a plan in place, the cost of saying goodbye becomes one more bill your family has to figure out how to pay.
Source: Seniors Choice, Cost of Dying Report (2024). Government of Canada, CPP death benefit amounts.
Life Insurance & ProtectionRetirement
Uncertain Retirement Income
How can I make sure I have guaranteed income for life once I retire, and don't outlive my savings?
The risk
- 61% of Canadians worry they'll run out of money in retirement.
- Retirement now commonly lasts 19–24 years for women and 14–19 years for men — up sharply from the 1970s.
- 1 in 3 pre-retirees expect to outlive their retirement savings by at least 10 years.
Without a guaranteed income stream, a longer life can turn into a longer stretch of running out of money.
Source: CPP Investments, 2024 Retirement Survey. Scotia Wealth Management, longevity risk data. RBC Retirement Myths & Realities Poll, conducted by Ipsos.
Retirement PlanningRDSP
An Unused Government Program
How can I make sure my dependent with a disability is financially set up for the long term?
What's being missed
- Only about 35% of eligible Canadians have opened an RDSP — roughly 2 in 3 eligible families have not.
- An RDSP can receive up to $70,000 in government grants and $20,000 in bonds over a beneficiary's lifetime.
- Nearly half of eligible families who haven't opened one say they'd never even heard of it.
The government has set aside real money for this — most eligible families simply aren't claiming it.
Wealth StrategiesFHSA / First Home
Saving in the Wrong Account
How do I save for my first home without losing too much to taxes along the way?
What it actually takes
- The average Canadian homebuyer takes 4.4 years to save a down payment — in Metro Vancouver, that stretches to roughly 15.8 years.
- Only 38% of first-time buyers used a First Home Savings Account; most of the rest saved in accounts that don't offer the same tax treatment.
- Example: an $8,000 contribution in a 40% tax bracket forgoes roughly $3,200 in that year's tax refund if saved outside a tax-sheltered account instead.
Every year spent saving in the wrong account can mean thousands lost to tax and a longer wait to buy.
Source: CMHC, 2026 Mortgage Consumer Survey. Fidelity Canada, first-time homebuyer down payment data (2025). Illustrative tax example based on current federal/FHSA rules.
Tax-Efficient StrategiesRRSP
What Most People Don't Realize About RRSPs
How do I reduce the tax I'm paying now, during my highest-earning years?
How it actually works
- Every RRSP contribution is deducted from taxable income — at a 40% marginal tax rate, a $10,000 contribution can generate roughly a $4,000 refund, money back at tax time, not years down the road.
- Inside the RRSP, that same $10,000 grows completely tax-deferred: at 6% annual growth, it could reach roughly $43,000 over 25 years — a meaningfully larger result than a taxable account paying tax on gains every year along the way.
- Lesser-known benefit: a spousal RRSP lets a higher-earning spouse contribute to a lower-earning spouse's plan, splitting retirement income later and potentially lowering the couple's total tax bill for decades.
An RRSP isn't just a tax deduction — it's a tax refund now and decades of tax-deferred compounding after.
Tax-Efficient StrategiesTFSA
What Most People Don't Realize About TFSAs
How do I save tax-efficiently for goals that aren't retirement, and keep my money flexible?
How it actually works
- A TFSA isn't just a savings account — it's an investment account. It can hold stocks, ETFs and mutual funds, not only cash or GICs, and every dollar of growth inside it is 100% tax-free, forever.
- The difference compounds: a GIC inside a TFSA might earn around 2.25%–3.85% (2026 rates), while a diversified investment portfolio has historically averaged closer to 6–8% annually over the long term — with none of that extra growth taxed.
- Lesser-known benefit: TFSA withdrawals don't count as income, so unlike RRSP/RRIF withdrawals, they never trigger the OAS clawback or reduce eligibility for income-tested benefits like GIS.
A TFSA's real value isn't the tax-free label — it's what you're allowed to hold inside it and never have to report as income.
Wealth StrategiesEstate Planning
An Uncertain Inheritance
How do I leave a guaranteed inheritance for my children or grandchildren, tax-efficiently?
What can go wrong
- Most Canadian estates take 6 to 18 months to settle — the "executor's year" is the informal standard, plus a mandatory 210-day wait after probate before assets can be distributed.
- Investment-based inheritances stay exposed to market swings for that entire window — the amount actually received can differ significantly from the value on the date of death.
- A solely owned home usually can't be sold or transferred until probate is granted, while mortgage payments, property tax, utilities and insurance keep accruing in the meantime.
A market-exposed, months-long wait is a very different inheritance than the one your family was expecting.
Legacy & Estate PlanningRESP
An Unclaimed Education Grant
How do I save for my child's education without leaving free government money on the table?
What's being missed
- The federal government matches 20% of RESP contributions, up to $500/year and $7,200 over a child's lifetime — free money on top of whatever is saved.
- As of the most recent federal evaluation, only about 55% of eligible children have ever received this grant — meaning close to half have not.
- Missed years can't be fully recovered: catch-up contributions are capped at $1,000 in grant per year, so delaying an RESP means part of the $7,200 lifetime maximum is permanently lost.
Every year without an RESP is a year of free government matching that can't be gotten back in full.
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada, Canada Education Savings Program evaluation report (2021 data). Ipsos, survey on RESP grant usage among Canadian parents (2025).
Wealth Strategies
Interactive estimators
Run the Numbers Yourself
Move the sliders and the results update instantly. Nothing is submitted, saved or shared every calculation happens in your browser.
Life insurance need estimator
Adds up what your family would still need to cover, then subtracts the coverage and savings already in place.
Estimated coverage gap
$1,243,681
- Total need
- $1,393,681
- Already covered
- $150,000
Illustrative only. A simple needs-analysis sum with no inflation, investment growth, tax or survivor-benefit assumptions. Default mortgage balance reflects the Canadian average of about $451,681. Actual coverage amounts depend on underwriting, product type and your full financial picture.
All figures are illustrative and rounded. The estimators use simplified assumptions shown beside each tool, and they do not reflect underwriting decisions, product fees, contribution limits, provincial variation or your complete tax situation. They are not a quote, a guarantee, or personalized advice.
From numbers to a plan
A Result Is a Starting Point, Not a Plan
Bring whatever surprised you into a conversation. Sam Behroozian reviews what you already have in place, explains the options in plain language, and helps you decide what actually fits your situation.
Answers
Questions About These Tools
How the estimators work, where the figures come from, and what the results can and cannot tell you.
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