The Average TFSA Balance for Canadians at 50 — and 3 Stocks to Close the Gap

If your TFSA is behind, steady contributions in high-quality compounders can help you catch up over the next decade.

Amy Legate-Wolfe

Amy became interested in investing in 2018 after having her first daughter. After receiving a masters degree in journalism from Western University, she became frustrated that the finance industry remained a confusing place for Canadians like her: new parents, millennials, and other young people who needed to understand their finances. Now, Amy focuses on tech companies and renewable energy for growth opportunities, coupling that with long-term investing strategies and equities. She also provides investors with a daily newsletter, Canada Stock Digest, for daily market updates. Before joining Motley Fool Canada, she wrote for major news organizations including HuffPost, CTVNews.ca, and CBC. When she’s not researching investing strategies, Amy’s time is pretty much monopolized by her two wild daughters, but in what little spare time she has she loves to do yoga, go on walks with her dog, and travel with her husband. Follow Amy on LinkedIn and Canada Stock Digest. Favorite Investment Quote: “October: This is one of the particularly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain

Published March 27, 9:56 am EDT

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At 50, your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) stops being a “nice bonus” and starts acting like a serious lever for the decade ahead. The questions that matter are straightforward: how much room you still have to contribute, whether your collection of stocks is built for growth and drawdown safety, and whether you’re using the TFSA for long-term compounding or near-term tax-free income.

CRA data for the 2023 contribution year shows Canadians aged 50–54 had an average TFSA fair market value of $30,190.

That number is useful as a reality check, but it’s not a ceiling. And for many investors in their early 50s, the more useful question isn’t “where am I?” but “what do I buy to close the gap?”

woman considering the future — Source: Getty Images

WSP Global: A Quiet Infrastructure Compounder Built for a Long TFSA Horizon

WSP Global (TSX: WSP) is a TFSA-style compounder because it’s tied to actual buildouts happening in the real world. Think transportation, buildings, water, the environment, and energy. The company’s certainly not trendy, but it benefits from multi-year infrastructure spending and the fact that big projects still need engineers in good economies and bad ones. Over the past year, WSP has been leaning into power and energy work, and it continued to use acquisitions to widen its reach in priority markets. That’s exactly the kind of quiet growth that tends to age well inside a TFSA.

The financials show why investors might want to pay attention to WSP. In its latest full-year results, the company reported a backlog of about $17.1 billion and record free cash flow of about $1.7 billion for 2025. For a TFSA investor with a 10-year horizon, that backlog is the key number: It tells you that revenue is already partially written before the year begins. In terms of valuation, WSP is trading around a 29 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio with a market cap near $29 billion. That’s not cheap, but I think today’s price is justified if the backlog keeps converting into margins and cash.

Definity Financial: The Disciplined Insurer That Compounds Quietly

Definity Financial (TSX: DFY) is the kind of stock people underestimate until they remember what insurance really is: a pricing business with a compounding balance sheet. The company sells property and casualty insurance, and when it’s run well, the model produces steady underwriting profit before you even get to investment income.

For full-year 2025, Definity reported operating net income of $442.7 million and net income of $416.9 million. Looking ahead, investors will want to see the company keep underwriting steady while increasing premiums without giving it back in claims. For a TFSA investor, that’s a compelling combination: a business that compounds by using pricing discipline rather than relying on economic tailwinds.

Metro: A Workhorse That Earns Its Keep Every Single Week

Metro (TSX: MRU) belongs in a TFSA because groceries and pharmacies don’t rely on hype cycles. It earns its keep in a TFSA thanks to consumers’ essential weekly spending and the company’s strong private-label execution and steady operational improvement. It’s just the sort of business that can compound while you’re busy living your life.

Metro’s most recent quarterly results showed sales of $5.18 billion and net earnings of $226.3 million, with diluted EPS of $1.

The investment thesis for Metro is straightforward. If it can keep defending traffic, growing pharmacy sales, and controlling costs, it can keep delivering steady compounding even when the economy feels uncertain. Investors will want to keep an eye on food inflation, consumer trade-down behaviour, and whether grocers can protect margins while still being price-competitive.

The market tends to treat Metro as a stability play rather than a growth rocket, which usually means conservative multiples and fewer unpleasant surprises. Its P/E ratio is currently around 21.

Bottom line

If your TFSA balance is below the $30,190 average, that’s just information — not a verdict. Quality holdings compound. WSP gives you backlog-driven growth tied to infrastructure reality. Definity gives you disciplined financial compounding through underwriting. Metro gives you essential-demand stability with steady earnings power. Together, they represent three different ways to close the gap between where your TFSA is and where you want it to be.

The best TFSA investors in their early 50s aren’t the ones who panicked in the hard years. They’re the ones who held quality and let time do the work. The next decade of your TFSA starts with the next stock you add to it.