How Many Canadians Actually Hit That $109,000 TFSA Milestone?

When the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced the $7,000 Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) contribution limit for 2026, it set the new milestone of $109,000. What is this number? If you turned 18 in the year 2009, when the TFSA was introduced, never lived abroad, and maxed your TFSA contribution limit every single year, you would have accumulated $109,000 by 2026. That is the maximum a Canadian aged 35 and above can contribute to their TFSA. It has become a milestone or a benchmark.

How many Canadians actually hit the $109,000 TFSA milestone

The available TFSA statistics show average figures, and the $109,000 milestone is an outlier. So even if a few Canadians achieved this milestone, it is difficult to get that number from publicly available TFSA statistics.

While we cannot know the exact number, we can use the available data to get a rough picture of how Canadians are using their TFSA to the fullest. Note that the $109,000 TFSA milestone is about the contributions you make. If you invest this money in high-growth stocks, the average balance of your TFSA can be higher.

By age: According to the latest statistics, which are for the 2024 tax year when the TFSA milestone was $95,000, Canadians aged 80 and above have the highest average TFSA balance of $76,782. This figure can be skewed, as many of them could be in the low-income bracket and would have withdrawn a significant amount to fund their retirement.

By Income: Canadians earning $250,000 and above have the highest average balance of $90,302. That number is pretty close to the 2024 milestone of $95,000. This shows that high-income earners are closer to the TFSA milestone. However, it cannot be said with certainty that this was only their contribution. They could have earned from stock investments that increased their TFSA balance.  

How can you achieve the TFSA milestone without investing $109,000

If you are 35 and above, have lived all your life in Canada, and never invested in a TFSA, you have a $109,000 contribution room. It doesn’t mean you have to invest that much in one go to play catch-up on the lost years. You can invest as much as possible from your annual income and accelerate your investments. Canadians in the $250,000 and above income bracket had an average TFSA contribution of $18,282 in 2024.

Many Canadians don’t use the TFSA to its true potential. They use it as a normal savings account and let the money sit idle. Do not be confused by the name. The money you put in a TFSA can be used to buy stocks trading on the TSX, NASDAQ, and NYSE. The dividends and capital gains from Canadian stocks are tax-free.

So the TFSA doesn’t allow you to deduct contributions from taxable income, but it allows you to earn as much as you can earn from investments tax-free. It means if you had invested $10,000 in Manulife Financial (TSX: MFC) back in January 2023, its value today is $23,057. If you sell them today, the capital gain is tax-free. Moreover, the dividends it paid are also tax-free.

A $10,000 investment generated $13,057 in unrealized gains and $2,275 in cumulative dividends, which were paid out in three and a half years.

Investor takeaway

The optimal use of a TFSA is investing in high-growth stocks and staying invested instead of withdrawing the money. The dividends can be reinvested, and proceeds from a stock sale can be used to buy other promising stocks.