$109,000.
That’s the amount of TFSA room that every Canadian investor who was 18 or older in 2009 and has never ceased being a resident of Canada has accumulated as of 2026.
Unlike registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room, annual TFSA room does not vary by individual. Every eligible Canadian account holder gets the same amount of contribution room every year. Even Canadians who don’t own TFSAs are entitled to the contribution room added in past years when they were eligible to own one. So, if you opened your first TFSA in 2026 at the age of 35 and had never been a non-Canadian resident prior to opening the account, you have got 17 years worth of contribution room right away – $109,000 worth!
So, if you’re an average Canadian mid-thirties or older, you likely have quite a bit of TFSA room to play with. It’s certainly possible that you’ve used up all of your contribution room through past contributions. That is unlikely though: the average Canadian has only $41,510 in his/her TFSA.
The more money you contribute to your TFSA, the more tax-free compounding you can ultimately enjoy. So, let’s explore how your TFSA measures up to the $109,000 milestone.
Source: Getty Images
Average TFSA balances by age group
Ultimately, your TFSA goal should be to contribute as much to the account as possible. The more you contribute, and the earlier, the more tax-free compounding you enjoy. The end result should be higher after-tax returns than you’d earn in a taxable account.
Obviously, the ideal is to contribute $109,000 to your TFSA as soon as possible. In this sense, your TFSA “measures up” to the extent that you’ve contributed close to the $109,000 maximum. So, if you’re eligible to contribute $109,000 and have actually contributed $100,000, you’re doing pretty well. If on the other hand you’re eligible to contribute the full amount but have only contributed $5,000, you could be doing better.
That much is obvious. To better gauge your progress, you could also look at how your TFSA balance stacks up compared to others in your age bracket. Surprisingly, StatCan tracks TFSA balances for different age brackets and publishes them. Here are some examples for the 2023 tax year:
- Under 25: $6,558.
- 25–29: $10,961.
- 30–34: $16,760.
- 35–39: $15,594.
- 40–44: $17,604.
- 45–49: $21,177.
How to grow your TFSA
A good way to grow your TFSA – I mean, apart from the obvious methods like contributing more money – is to invest in exchange traded funds (ETFs). Such funds have a high level of diversification, which reduces the risk in the holdings. This characteristic makes index ETFs ideal for beginner investors.
That ETF would be none other than the iShares S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index Fund (TSX: XIC). It’s a Canadian ETF offered by Blackrock, one of the world’s most respected fund managers. The fund is based on the S&P/TSX Composite Index, an index of the 250 or so biggest publicly traded companies. XIC actually holds 220 of those stocks, making it pretty representative of its underlying index. Likewise, the 220 stocks are in many different sectors (tech, banking, energy, utilities, the whole gamut really), so the diversification is “true,” backed by uncorrelated assets. Finally, the fund’s management fee is 0.05% and its management expense ratio is 0.06%. So, the fund does not charge you an arm and a leg to own it.
By holding a diversified portfolio of funds like XIC in your TFSA, you can grow your account over time. When all is said and done, it should be well worth it.
