Mortgages

How Canadian mortgage compounding works

Why Canadian mortgages compound semi-annually — and how that quietly lowers your effective rate compared with US-style monthly compounding.

Mortgages

CMHC mortgage insurance explained

What mortgage default insurance costs, when it's mandatory, how the premium is calculated, and how to avoid it.

Mortgages

The mortgage stress test & how much you can afford

How the Canadian stress test works, the GDS/TDS ratios lenders use, and a realistic way to estimate your maximum home price.

Mortgages

Fixed vs variable mortgage rates in Canada

The real trade-offs between fixed and variable rates, what history shows, and how to decide which fits your situation.

Taxes

Where your Canadian federal tax dollars go

A breakdown of the biggest slices of the federal budget — seniors' benefits, health transfers, debt interest, and defence.

Study

Spaced repetition: how to actually remember what you study

The science of the forgetting curve, active recall, and how to schedule reviews so material sticks with far less total effort.