The Ideal Canadian Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever in a TFSA

If you use your TFSA wisely, you could save over $185,000 in tax! Here are the ideal stocks to help maximize your long-term tax-free gains.

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Key Points
  • The TFSA’s tax‑free compounding can massively boost wealth — e.g., $109,000 at 15% for 15 years grows to ~ $886,939, avoiding roughly $186,700 in taxes.
  • Two TFSA stock ideas: Constellation Software — a deeply entrenched software compounder down ~50% with ~8% free‑cash‑flow yield; Aritzia — a fast‑growing apparel brand expanding in the U.S. with strong recent revenue and profit gains.
  • Use your TFSA to let high‑quality, long‑run winners multiply tax‑free — prioritize durable businesses and patience to maximize after‑tax returns.

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is the ideal place to buy and hold stocks for years and decades. You don’t pay any tax on the income that you earn inside the account. This can have a huge effect on your wealth given decades to compound.

TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) on wooden blocks and Canadian one hundred dollar bills.

Source: Getty Images

Save big on tax by letting your winners multiply in your TFSA

When you think long term, you aren’t thinking about a quick 20% gain on your investments. Inside your TFSA, you are smart to look for stocks that multiply your wealth. You don’t want to have to pay any tax on a capital gain that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Say you found a mix of stocks that could compound $109,000 (the total combined contribution for someone who was 18 or older in 2009) of your TFSA cash at a 15% compounded rate for 15 years. Your $109,000 contribution would be worth $886,939 at the end of that period. That is a $777,939 capital gain!

If that investment wasn’t in your TFSA, you could be owing the Canada Revenue Agency as much as $186,705 dollars in tax! Since it is in your TFSA, all that cash stays with you. The highest TFSA benefit comes from letting winners run for long periods of time.

If you are looking for some long-term winners for your TFSA, here are two stock ideas.

Constellation Software: Down, but a good bargain here

Constellation Software (TSX:CSU) might be a hard stock to consider buying right now. It is down 20% in 2026 and 50% over the past year. It certainly doesn’t look like a winner today. However, even after its collapse, it is still up 13,997% (a 28% compounded annual growth rate) over the past 20 years

Today, after the pullback, this TFSA stock looks very attractive given that its valuation has been clipped in half. You can buy this stock at the same growth rate (around 15%), but half the price.

The main reason for its collapse is concerns around AI disruption and slowing growth. Certainly, it is a concern to monitor. Yet, for an incumbent, entrenched software supplier, AI is likely to be a net benefit, rather than a detraction.

Constellation is broadly using AI across its organization to improve business operations and efficiency. Likewise, it is creating new AI services that it is presenting to its customers.

This is a company that grew revenues by 15% and cash from operations by 24% in 2025. It sure doesn’t look like the business model is broken. You can pick up this TFSA stock with an 8% free cash flow yield. It is isn’t often you can find such a high-quality business at such a great valuation.

Aritzia: A growing TFSA stock you don’t want to miss

While it may take some time for the market to regain interest in Constellation, one growth stock that is working today is Aritzia (TSX:ATZ). This company has been on a tear over the past few years. Its stock is up 22% in 2026, 140% in the past year, and 350% in the past five years (a 35% CAGR).

Aritzia is enjoying substantial success as it expands its brand of clothing from Canada into the U.S. U.S. revenues have already eclipsed Canadian sales. The exciting part is that it still has room to more than double its store count in the United States. Not to forget that it has not even started expanding internationally.

The apparel retailer just announced fiscal 2026-year-end results. Revenues increased 35% and net income per share soared 79.8%! It is targeting over 19% revenue growth and strong margin improvements in fiscal 2027!

While Aritzia is no longer a cheap stock today, it has strong momentum guiding the stock higher. If you want a stock with a long growth runway for your TFSA, Aritzia is the perfect bet.

Fool contributor Robin Brown has positions in Aritzia and Constellation Software. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Aritzia. The Motley Fool recommends Constellation Software. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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