Why I Check My FHSA Room Every October

Every year I tell myself I'll sort out my registered accounts "later", and every year later turns out to be the last week of December. This fall I decided to try something different: a short October check-in, while there's still time to do something about what I find.

What I look at

The FHSA (First Home Savings Account) is the one I pay the most attention to, because its rules are the least intuitive to me. As I understand the CRA's description, the annual participation room is $8,000, the lifetime limit is $40,000, and unused room carries forward, but only up to $8,000 on top of the new year's amount. So an unused year isn't entirely lost, but it isn't banked forever either. The CRA's My Account page shows my room, and I double-check it against what my Wealthsimple account says I've put in.

My October routine is simple:

• Open both and confirm the contribution numbers match
• Note how much room is left for the calendar year
• Decide whether I actually want to use it, based on my cash flow right now

The deadline that matters to me is December 31. As I read it, contributions made within the calendar year are what count toward that year's deduction, so a contribution in the first days of January lands in a different year for me.

What I do with it

In my case, I set up a recurring transfer a couple of years ago and then forgot about it, which is precisely why the check-in is useful. Twice now I've found that a payment had been paused after a bank card change, and I would never have noticed in December.

I'm not telling anyone how much to put in. That depends on income, goals and timelines I know nothing about, and I'd rather leave that to the CRA's own pages or a professional. For me, the value is just knowing the number early, so a decision in December isn't a rushed one.

If you're thinking about opening an account of your own, the card above has the same $25 welcome offer I used when I signed up.