Mortgage
Transfer duties in Quebec, explained plainly.
What the “welcome tax” is, how it is calculated, when it is due, and the exemptions. No mortgage rate here: only public rules.
Guides
The rules, explained without jargon.
Factual guides on what frames a purchase, a protection, or savings in Quebec. No rate, no price, no recommendation: only what is public and verifiable.Mortgage
HBP, FHSA, tax credits: what exists and what each one actually does.
Four different tools, often confused. Here is what each allows, when it acts, and what it does not do. Limits and amounts change from year to year: verify them with official sources before deciding.
Mortgage
Fixed or variable: the question is not “which is cheaper”.
The two options compare poorly on today’s number alone. Here is what actually separates them, and the question a broker will ask instead. No rate is shown here.
Mortgage life insurance
Mortgage life or individual life insurance: four differences that matter.
The lender offers coverage at signing. Individual life insurance covers the same risk differently. Here is what separates them, with no recommendation: examining your case belongs to an authorized person.
Mortgage
Your mortgage is approved at a rate you will not pay. Here is why.
The stress test decides your borrowing capacity more surely than the advertised rate. Here is the rule, where it comes from, and what it changes for you.
Mortgage
The minimum down payment is not a single percentage: it is calculated in tiers.
How much you actually need, by price and by use of the property. The tiers, the sources of funds accepted, and what the twenty percent threshold triggers.
Mortgage
You pay the premium. It protects the lender. That is not a contradiction.
What mortgage default insurance actually covers, when it is mandatory, how the premium is paid, and why it sometimes makes the loan cheaper.
Mortgage
Three similar words, three very different levels of commitment.
What each stage actually verifies, what it guarantees, and why a pre-approval is not a promise of financing.
Mortgage
Amortization is not the term. Confusing the two is expensive.
The difference between amortization and term, the effect of a longer period on payment and total cost, and the limits set by regulation.
Mortgage
Three months’ interest or an interest rate differential: the gap runs into thousands.
Why breaking a mortgage costs, how each method is calculated, and what determines which one applies to your contract.
Mortgage
The right to pay faster is a negotiable clause, not a favour.
The three forms of privilege, how they combine, and why the day you use them matters as much as the amount.
Mortgage
Two fractions decide your mortgage. Here is what goes in the numerator.
What gross debt service and total debt service include, the usual thresholds, and the debts that weigh more than people expect.
Mortgage
One extinguishes itself. The other may never extinguish.
What separates a line secured by your property from an amortized loan, combined products, and the risk peculiar to credit with no maturity.
Mortgage
Three clauses that can save you an entire penalty.
What each clause allows, on what conditions, and why they should be read before signing rather than on moving day.
Mortgage
The down payment is not the last cheque. Here are all the others.
Every item to budget in cash at signing, which are mandatory, which are negotiable, and the one that surprises every buyer.
Mortgage
Your reported net income is not the income the lender will use.
The documents required, how business income is normalized, and the trade-off between tax optimization and borrowing capacity.
Life insurance
The question is not “which is better”, but “for how long”.
How each type works, what cash value is, and how to reason a choice without relying on the monthly cost alone.
Life insurance
A multiple of salary is a shortcut, not a calculation.
The three approaches used to set an amount, what each captures, and the items people systematically forget.
Life insurance
The medical questionnaire is a legal document, not a form.
What the insurer asks, the duty to disclose, and the consequences of an inaccurate answer at the moment the contract matters.
Life insurance
After two years, the insurer loses a right. But not every right.
What the period protects, what it never covers, and why time passing does not repair an omission.
Life insurance
In Quebec, naming your married or civil-union spouse has an effect few people know about.
The difference between revocable and irrevocable designations, exemption from seizure, the effect of divorce, and why an unrevised contract sometimes does the opposite of what you intended.
Life insurance
No exam does not mean no questions, and it does not mean no conditions.
The three families of no-exam products, what the waiting period implies, and the situations where this kind of contract is the right call.
Life insurance
Three words in your contract decide what happens to you in twenty years.
What each clause gives you, at what price, and why convertibility is the most valuable of the three.
Health and critical illness
A diagnosis is not enough. The contract requires a precise definition and a waiting period.
How critical illness insurance works, why the contractual definition matters more than the name of the illness, and what the survival period means.
Disability insurance
“Disabled” means nothing on its own. Only the contract’s definition does.
Own occupation, any occupation, regular occupation: three definitions that produce three different outcomes for the same person.
Disability insurance
The waiting period you choose is the share of risk you keep.
How the elimination period affects the premium, how to choose it against your cash reserves, and why it interacts with your other coverage.
Disability insurance
Your employer’s coverage is excellent. It does not belong to you.
The structural differences between a group plan and an individual contract, and what happens on departure, layoff, or retirement.
Disability insurance
Who pays the premium determines whether the benefit is taxed.
The general rule in disability insurance, its effect on the amount to insure, and the cases where the question gets complicated.
Disability insurance
Several plans can apply. They do not always add up.
The Quebec and federal public plans that may step in during an incapacity, and how a private contract coordinates with them.
Health and critical illness
Public long-term care exists. The place, the wait, and the co-payment are another matter.
What the public network provides for long-term care in Quebec, the contribution required, and the role of private insurance.
Damage insurance
Two policies, seemingly the same premium, and a gap of thousands at claim time.
What replacement cost settlement means, the conditions to qualify for it, and the property systematically excluded from it.
Damage insurance
“Covered for water damage” means nothing. There are half a dozen different waters.
The sources of water damage that policies treat separately, the endorsements that cover them, and why this became the leading loss in Quebec.
Damage insurance
Underinsuring by twenty percent can cut a partial claim by twenty percent.
How the coinsurance clause works, why it mostly bites on partial losses, and the endorsement that neutralizes it.
Damage insurance
The same apartment is insured three different ways depending on your title.
What each type of policy covers, the grey zone of co-ownership, and the mistake of the tenant who believes the landlord covers them.
Damage insurance
It is the least understood coverage and the one whose limit matters most.
What the civil liability section of a home policy covers, where it applies, and why the limit you choose deserves more attention than it gets.
Travel insurance
The clause behind more denied travel insurance claims than any other.
What a pre-existing condition covers, how the stability period is calculated, and the ordinary events that break stability.
Travel insurance
Your health insurance card does not follow you the way you think.
What the Quebec public plan reimburses for care received elsewhere, the scale of the gap, and the role of travel insurance.
Travel insurance
Three coverages, three triggers, three different moments in the trip.
What each coverage pays for, what an eligible reason means, and how the purchase date determines your protection.
Investments and savings
The question is not which pays more, but the rate you go in at and come out at.
How each is taxed, the rule that settles most cases, and the effect on income-tested benefits.
Investments and savings
Your unused room does not disappear. Neither do over-contribution penalties.
How RRSP and TFSA room accumulates, where to verify it, and the mistakes that trigger over-contribution tax.
Investments and savings
It is the only account where the government adds money to your contribution.
How a registered education savings plan works, the grants attached to it, and what happens if the child does not pursue studies.
Investments and savings
Fees you never see are deducted all the same.
The layers of fees in an investment, where to find them in your documents, and the effect of compounding them over a long period.
GICs
Three products share the same name and do not do the same thing.
What a guaranteed investment certificate actually guarantees, the three main families, and the questions to ask before locking money away.
GICs
Two regimes, two perimeters. Your investment is not necessarily in either.
The federal regime, the Quebec regime, which products are covered and which are not, and how the limits multiply.
Investments and savings
It is not paperwork: it is the foundation of the suitability obligation.
What the questionnaire measures, the regulatory duty that flows from it, and why an accommodating answer works against you.
Exempt market
Qualifying is not a promotion. It is the removal of a protection.
What the accredited investor concept designates in securities regulation, the categories of criteria, and what qualifying takes away from you.
Investments and savings
Anyone authorized to advise you appears in a public register. Check them.
The public registers that confirm a person is authorized, what they show, and the signals that justify stopping.
Mortgage
Your score is only a number. The lender reads everything behind it.
What a Canadian credit file contains, the factors that carry weight, and the moves that improve or damage a score without your noticing.
Investments and savings
A segregated fund is an insurance contract, not a mutual fund by another name.
The legal nature of a segregated fund, the guarantees it carries, and the situations where its structure justifies the cost.
Life insurance
A substantial estate with no liquidity: it is the most common situation.
The amounts payable at death, the gap between what is owed and what is available, and the role of insurance in an estate plan.