Four accounts. Which one first?

The order that usually works

1. Employer RRSP or pension matching, up to the match. A 50 per cent match is a 50 per cent instant return. Nothing else on this page competes with that.
2. High-interest debt. Clearing a credit card charging 21 per cent removes a certain 21 per cent cost. No investment account can promise to beat that.
3. An emergency fund — three months of expenses, in a TFSA so the growth is not taxed and the money stays reachable.
4. RESP, if there is a child, at least to $2,500 a year to capture the full 20 per cent grant.
5. FHSA, if you might buy a first home in the next fifteen years. Open it early even if you cannot fund it — room only starts once the account exists.
6. TFSA to the limit, then RRSP beyond the employer match, weighted toward the RRSP if you are in a high tax bracket now.

This is general information, not a recommendation. It is the sequence most households are taught, not advice about your household. A 24-year-old apprentice and a 48-year-old engineer with a defined-benefit pension should do different things, and neither should follow a list off a website without checking it against their own situation.

Note also what I am licensed for. I can advise on and place insurance products — including segregated funds and annuities held inside these accounts. Deciding how to allocate savings across accounts, or which securities to hold, is a question for an accountant or a licensed investment representative. Where that is what you need, I will say so.

What I can and cannot help with

I am licensed for insurance. Inside a registered account, that means segregated funds and annuities — insurance contracts that hold investments, with maturity and death benefit guarantees, potential creditor protection, and the ability to name a beneficiary so the money bypasses the estate.

They also carry higher fees than an equivalent mutual fund or index fund, because those guarantees cost something. For a self-employed person worried about creditors, or someone who wants an account to pass directly to a beneficiary, that trade is often worth it. For a salaried employee with a long horizon and no creditor exposure, frequently it is not — and I will say so, even though saying so pays me nothing.

I cannot sell you stocks, ETFs or mutual funds, and I do not manage portfolios. If that is what you need, you need a different licence than mine, and I will tell you that on the first call rather than the third.