Hey Reader ♥,

I logged into my CRA My Account last month to check something, and there it was staring back at me: $0. This is the actual amount I contributed to my TFSA all of 2025.

My unused TFSA contribution room has been sitting there, barely touched, while I’ve been dutifully maxing out my RRSP for years.

If you’re a personal finance junkie reading this, you’re probably cringing. And honestly? You should be. I’m a CPA. I literally advise people on their finances for a living. And I’ve been making a “rookie mistake".

But here’s the thing—it wasn’t actually a mistake. It was a choice. And understanding why I made that choice is helping me understand why so many of you are making the same one.

Why I Prioritized My RRSP (And Why You Probably Did Too)

When I started building my retirement savings, I followed the standard advice: RRSP first. The tax deduction made sense. I was in a high tax bracket, and every dollar I put in my RRSP reduced my tax bill immediately. Plus, with all the support I wanted to help family with, I never believed that I would be in a high-income tax bracket in retirement. Last, the TFSA wasn’t even introduced yet.

There was something psychologically satisfying about “locking away” retirement money. It felt serious. Committed. Like I was building something that couldn’t be touched by constant financial requests from family and my own temptation to spend money today, with the fear of being financially unstable later in life.

When it was later introduced, my TFSA, on the other hand, felt… optional. Like a savings account with better interest rates. Not a REAL retirement vehicle. Nobody told me it's actually the ideal retirement vehicle for first-gen professionals. But it is.

Back then, I told myself I’d get to it later. After I maxed the RRSP. After I built a bigger emergency fund. After I bought the house. After my business was more established.

“Later” turned into years. That’s when I realized my RRSP-heavy strategy wasn’t wrong—it was just incomplete.

The Problem I Didn’t See Coming

Here's what nobody told me when I started maxing my RRSP:

Locking all my money away until 65 doesn't match my timeline. Not even when I'm also my mom's retirement plan.

My mother has a pension, but it doesn’t cover all her expenses. And as she’s got older, I realized that her “retirement plan” would increasingly include me. I decided to plan for it. Not in a crisis way—but in a steady, ongoing way that required, and continues to require, liquidity and flexibility from my finances. So I decided to take my retirement planning more seriously—I maxed out employer contributions, learned to invest in low-cost ETFs, and co-owned a condo with my mother as both support and forced savings.

Plus, as I gained more financial independence, I started realizing that a career pivot and entrepreneurship were available to me, and having money locked in my RRSP until 65 doesn’t give me the flexibility to make those moves. It also meant that I might not have to work until 65, whereas many in my previous generation had to work until they physically couldn’t.

When you’re not just building wealth for yourself, but navigating between multiple and new financial worlds, flexibility matters more than maximum tax optimization.

What I’m Doing Differently in 2026

I’m not abandoning my RRSP. That’s still an important piece that is growing nicely.

But I’m finally making my TFSA a priority. Here’s what that actually looks like:

The new allocation: My Growth Bridge is still 5% of my income, but now it’s 100% allocated to my TFSA (up from basically nothing). For context, that’s about $7,000 per year once I’m fully ramped up. I’m going to start small to be consistent. $50 per week in the first quarter and moving up by an additional $25 per week in each quarter. My goal is to find extra savings and put any additional money toward maxing out this year’s contribution and eventually toward any unused contribution room.

Why this matters: The money in my TFSA grows tax-free, just like the RRSP. But I can access it without penalty if I want to retire early, retire entirely, or semi-retire and travel. Unlike my mother, I don’t want to have to work until 65.

It’s not about expecting crisis. It’s about building wealth that matches the reality of my life—not someone else’s idealized version of retirement planning.

Here’s What Makes This Harder For Us

You know what traditional financial advice assumes?

That you're planning for yourself. Maybe a spouse. That's it.

That your parents have their own retirement money.

That 'family obligations' are optional—emotional, not financial.

None of that is my reality. Maybe it's not yours either.

In my Caribbean family, taking care of parents isn’t a question of “if” but “how.” The cultural expectation is clear, even if the financial logistics are complicated.

Plus, I’m the first person in my family to have this kind of earning power. That comes with opportunity, but it also comes with responsibility—spoken and unspoken.

Financial advice that ignores this reality isn’t just unhelpful—it’s disconnected from how many of us actually live.

What This Means for You

If you’ve been prioritizing your RRSP over your TFSA, you’re not doing it wrong. You might be doing exactly what made sense for your situation at the time.

But if you’re reading this and thinking, '2026 might be my year to recalibrate,' here's where I'd start:

First, just look at your numbers. Log into CRA My Account. See your TFSA room. See your RRSP room. See what you're actually contributing to each. No judgment—just data.

Then ask yourself the uncomfortable questions: Do I actually need money locked until 65? Or do I need flexibility before then? Am I supporting multiple generations? What does that really cost? Is my current plan built for my actual life—or someone else's version of retirement?

Make the shift that makes sense: You don’t have to choose TFSA or RRSP. You can do both. But maybe the allocation changes. Maybe the priority shifts. Maybe you stop neglecting the account that actually gives you the flexibility you need.

The Real 2026 Reset

For me, 2026 is the year I’m catching up on my TFSA contributions and finally treating my TFSA like a real retirement vehicle—one that builds flexibility into my financial plan, not rigidity. I’m starting with $50 per week and increasing quarterly.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing more about how I’m actually building my TFSA in 2026. The accounts I’m using, the ETFs I’m choosing, the mistakes I’m trying to avoid.

Because if we’re going to build wealth while navigating between worlds, we might as well do it together.

P.S. If you're in a similar place—high RRSP, low TFSA, navigating family obligations—I want to hear from you. Hit reply and tell me: What's keeping your TFSA balance low? What would change if you prioritized it this year?

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