Transform Your TFSA Into a Money-Making Machine With Just $10,000

Looking for how to deploy $10,000 inside your TFSA? Check out this diversified three-stock portfolio for a mix of growth and income.

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Key Points
  • Tax-Free Growth: The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) offers Canadians a chance to grow their investments without paying taxes on the capital gains, interest, or dividends earned.
  • Diverse Investment Picks: A $10,000 TFSA can be diversified by investing in Pembina Pipeline for income, Calian Group for growth and income, and Descartes Systems for long-term growth potential.
  • Strategic Growth Opportunities: Pembina's stable dividends, Calian's increasing backlog due to defense investments, and Descartes' focus on AI and transportation networks present promising growth in a TFSA.

The TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) is the ultimate money-making machine for Canadians. You don’t pay any tax on your income in the account. That includes capital gains, interest, or dividend income. As a result, all the income you earn sticks with you.

The wisest investors keep that income and reinvest it back into buying more investments. This creates a compounding snowball. If I had a $10,000 TFSA, I would invest around $3,300 into each of these three diverse stocks to create a money-making machine.

money goes up and down in balance

Source: Getty Images

Pembina Pipeline: A solid TFSA stock for income

The first stock I would be looking to add right now is Pembina Pipeline (TSX:PPL). This is a stock you own for defence and income. It yields 4.3% today.

Pembina is focused on providing crucial infrastructure to the Canadian energy industry. It owns pipelines, fractionators, processing facilities, storage, and export terminals. Over 85% of its income is contracted. That predictable income widely supports its dividend.

Pembina is very resilient. Even when oil prices went negative, it still maintained its dividend. A strong balance sheet has afforded it attractive growth opportunities including the Cedar LNG export terminal project (which is being constructed) and a recently approved data centre power project.

For a higher yield and some decent growth, this is a great stock to hold as an anchor in your TFSA.

Calian Group: A small-cap with big potential

If you are looking for a mix of growth and income, Calian Group (TSX:CGY) is an interesting pick for your TFSA. While its stock is up 45% this year, there could still be attractive upside over the coming five years.

Calian provides healthcare, training, cyber, and satcom services to the Canadian military and NATO. With Canada massively investing in its defence sector to meet NATO targets, Calian has been seeing its backlog rapidly rise. It is sitting with a backlog over $1.5 billion. For context, Calian only has a market cap of $923 million.

It just delivered a quarter where it grew revenues by 18%, including 12% organic growth. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased 60%.

Major trends like space, infrastructure, and defence spending all support continued growth for Calian. Even after strong returns in 2026, this TFSA stock only trades for 18 times earnings. It also yields 1.4%. Given that it is growing at about the same pace, it still seems like a reasonable growth-at-a-reasonable price opportunity today.

Descartes Systems: A growth stock for your TFSA

A final stock I’d be adding to my $10,000 TFSA is Descartes Systems Group (TSX:DSG). This company has been a great long-term compounder. However, recently its stock has been drawn down over fears about AI disrupting the software sector.

Fortunately, Descartes is not just a software stock. It operates a crucial transportation network around the world. It complements this with a suite of services that help members of the supply chain save time and money.

Descartes is extremely profitable with a high mix of recurring revenues. The company has a cash-rich balance sheet that it can use to opportunistically acquire more services into its suite. It is integrating AI as a key feature of its platform going forward.

The company targets 12–15% annual growth. Despite AI, it continues to enjoy rising profits and margins. Today, you can buy this stock at its cheapest valuation in a decade. It’s a great opportunity now to add this quality stock to your TFSA.

Fool contributor Robin Brown has positions in Calian Group and Descartes Systems Group. The Motley Fool recommends Calian Group, Descartes Systems Group, and Pembina Pipeline. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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