The benefit of a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is often understated, as real value is derived in the long term, unlike a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) that gives immediate tax benefits. You can start investing in a TFSA as early as age 19. It can be a great tool to earn a monthly passive income as the withdrawals are tax-free. By the time you move to a higher income bracket, you will have a tax-free passive income source coming in. At that time, you can channel your savings toward minimizing taxes through RRSP contributions.

How to use a TFSA to generate an average $500 in monthly tax-free income

One strategy to consider is to look for a stock with a 6% average dividend yield and invest what you want as the payout. If you want $500 per month as a payout, invest $500 every month, or $6,000 annually. Instead of taking the cash dividend, reinvest it in other 6% yield stocks. Since it is a TFSA, you can reinvest tax-free. After 12–15 years, you can earn the same amount as the payout.

Two stocks worth considering for a 6% yield are Enbridge (TSX: ENB) and CT REIT. Now is a perfect time to invest in Enbridge as the stock has dipped after the company announced the acquisition of Tallgrass Energy’s crude oil business and raised equity financing for the same. Enbridge stock has dipped 17% since August and is trading closer to its 52-week low of $62.42. Enbridge’s management is confident it can meet its 2026 outlook as the deal is expected to close by the end of 2026 and is unlikely to affect 2026 guidance. However, investors should watch for the 2027 guidance.

The company’s accelerated $41 billion capital expenditure by 2030 could drive up the share price as projects come online. It may postpone Enbridge’s plan to accelerate dividend growth to 5%. Even if the acquisition and capex affects Enbridge’s 2027 fundamentals, the company can sustain current dividends and grow them by 3% as they are funded by the distributable cash flow (DCF) of existing pipelines.

How Enbridge can earn your average $500 in monthly TFSA income

To build an expected payout and investment strategy, you need to build assumptions and expectations based on your research on what makes the stock investment worthy.

For Enbridge, the assumption is 3% annual dividend growth and a 20% stock price rally up to 2030, followed by 5% dividend growth and stock price stagnation. Enbridge has suspended its dividend reinvestment plan, but you can use the dividend to buy more shares of Enbridge or CT REIT. If these estimates materialize, a $6,000 investment per year for 14 years could earn $543 per month, or $6,517 in annual dividends.

Investor takeaway

You need not stick to the same stock if its dividend fundamentals have changed. The perfect metric to look for in a dividend stock is its payout ratio (dividend as a percentage of free cash flow). If it is above 90%, it’s a high-risk stock. Such high payout ratios are difficult to sustain as the company needs money to reinvest in the business, pay debt, and have sufficient working capital. While free cash flow is what is left after paying all this, the company needs financial flexibility, and a higher ratio removes that flexibility.

You should review your portfolio periodically, matching stocks’ fundamentals with your assumptions. If the payout ratio nears 90%, gradually switch investments to safer stocks.

The post How to Use a TFSA to Generate an Average of $500 in Monthly Tax-Free Income appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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• How I’d Structure a $25,000 TFSA for Steady Income, Stock by Stock
• Income Investors: 2 Top TSX Stocks With High Yields to Consider Now
• Enbridge vs. TC Energy: Which Stock Is the Better Buy?
• 2 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold for a Decade of Income
• Down 16% and Paying 5.8%: The Case for Buying Enbridge Now

Fool contributor Puja Tayal has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Enbridge. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Have you thought about retirement? Where will your paycheque come from once employment income is gone? The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) will provide some inflation-adjusted income. However, will it be enough to meet your expenses? What if you divide each of your daily expenses into a source of passive income and keep accumulating stocks until you achieve the desired amount? This way, you can keep reducing dependency on employment income and divert more employment income towards building a diversified portfolio.

Building a retirement paycheque

To build passive income to cover expenses, consider starting with the largest expense, as it will take time to build. Groceries are a bigger expense and cost close to $500 per month per person. That means you need $6,000 annually. Assuming grocery costs increase at an average annual rate of 3%, you will need $9,348, or close to $780 per month, in 15 years.

Invest the amount you need as a payout 15 years from now, and you can get it using the power of compounding. You can simultaneously build a portfolio for a smaller expense, like broadband, which costs between $70 and $100 per month. Smaller goals are faster to fulfill and can give you motivation to keep going.

Planning where each dollar comes from

Investing in CT REIT (TSX: CRT.UN) through a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a good source of passive income for grocery bills for four reasons:

• It gives monthly payouts.
• It increases dividends every year in July by an average annual rate of 3%, helping you earn inflation-adjusted passive income.
• CT REIT offers a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) that helps you compound your returns and achieve the target faster.
• CT REIT is a low-risk stock as the dividend payout ratio is below 75% and the rental income from which the payout is funded is stable. The parent, Canadian Tire, pays its subsidiary. This intercompany transaction removes the risk of non-occupancy, advertising costs, and brokerage.

You could consider investing in CT REIT to pay for grocery bills. The amount to invest should be the estimated grocery bill 15 years from now. A good way to build confidence in a strategy is to backtest it. Today you need an average of $500 per month, or $6,000 annually, for groceries. Had you invested this amount in CT REIT since 2014, you would have achieved your desired passive income by 2025, considering you chose the DRIP option.

Where to use TFSA and RRSP for your retirement paycheque

TFSA allows you to withdraw tax-free and even reinvest the amount withdrawn by adding it back to next year’s TFSA contribution room. Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) provides a tax deduction on contributions, but makes withdrawals taxable. When sourcing your retirement paycheque, calculate your taxable income. Remember, CPP and any other private pension will be added to taxable income. While you can’t control those amounts, you can control RRSP withdrawals.

A higher taxable income could lead to OAS clawback. (If your 2025 taxable income is above $93,454, the CRA will begin OAS clawback.) You have to balance your retirement paycheques such that they don’t increase your taxable income beyond the OAS threshold.

Retirement planning can be tricky, as you need to balance RRSP’s tax deferrals and TFSA’s tax-free withdrawals. While things may not always go as planned, if you can achieve even 50–70% of your target, CPP and OAS can take care of the rest.

The post Building a Retirement Paycheque: Where Each Dollar Comes From appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Puja Tayal has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) gives you a lot of flexibility, but that flexibility can also lead to mistakes. You can withdraw money whenever you want without paying tax, which sounds simple enough. The part Canadians sometimes forget is that you have to wait until the next calendar year to get that withdrawal amount added back to your contribution room limit.

Put the money back too soon without enough available room, and you could create an overcontribution problem. That is one reason I always recommend treating a TFSA as a place for long-term investing instead of constant trading and withdrawals. The longer you remain invested in fundamentally strong businesses, the more time their earnings, dividends, and share-price growth have to compound.

Here are two top Canadian stocks I think are worth holding patiently inside a TFSA.

Brookfield Asset Management

If you want a TFSA holding that combines dividend income with exposure to global growth trends, Brookfield Asset Management (TSX: BAM) is definitely worth taking a closer look.

Headquartered in New York, BAM is a global alternative asset manager with more than US$1 trillion in assets under management across infrastructure, energy, private equity, real estate, and credit. Its stock trades around $66 per share with a market cap of $104.6 billion. It also offers a 4.4% annualized dividend yield at this market price.

BAM’s shares have had a mixed run recently. While it’s down about 21% over the last year, it remains up 5% over the last six months. That weakness makes the stock look undervalued compared with the momentum in Brookfield’s underlying business.

About that: In the second quarter, the asset manager raised a record US$77 billion and deployed US$21 billion. BAM’s fee-related earnings climbed 20% year-over-year (YoY) to US$808 million, while distributable earnings rose 15% YoY to US$707 million. More importantly, fee-bearing capital jumped 19% YoY.

Brookfield has also been building for future growth by completing its acquisition of Oaktree and expanding partnerships tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, energy, and private markets.

For TFSA investors who want to keep strong businesses working over the long run, BAM stock’s growth initiatives and 4.4% yield make its recent stock weakness an attractive opportunity.

Canadian Tire

Canadian Tire (TSX: CTC.A) is a smart choice for investors who like the sound of owning an established Canadian business with improving earnings and a steady dividend.

The company owns and operates retailers (such as Mark’s and Party City Canada), gas stations, and commercial properties throughout the country. After gaining 14% in the last year, its shares now trade around $192 per share, giving it a market cap of about $10 billion. The stock also offers a 3.8% annualized dividend yield.

In the June quarter, Canadian Tire’s revenue rose 2.4% YoY, while income before income taxes increased 8.4% to $280 million.

At the same time, there were encouraging signs across its retail banners. For example, SportChek’s comparable sales jumped 8%, while Mark’s comparable sales increased 4.2%. Canadian Tire’s e-commerce sales also grew 14%, showing that its digital channels continue to gain traction.

The company continues to advance its True North strategy through more personalized Triangle credit card loyalty offers, stronger e-commerce capabilities, and refreshed store concepts. Overall, Canadian Tire’s earnings growth, dividend income, and loyalty strategy make it an attractive long-term TFSA hold.

The post The TFSA Withdrawal Rule Every Canadian Should Know appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

More reading

• Building a Retirement Paycheque: Where Each Dollar Comes From
• The RESP Deadline is December 31: Ottawa Adds 20% for Free
• A Tailor-Made TFSA Stock: A 5.7% Yield With Monthly Payouts
• Why Dividend Income Starts Slow and Speeds Up Over Time
• The Gap Between CPP, OAS, and Your Retirement Lifestyle

Fool contributor Jitendra Parashar has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Asset Management. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) gives Canadians valuable space to build wealth tax-free, but the annual contribution limit isn’t necessarily the same as your personal contribution room. That’s an important distinction investors can easily miss.

For 2026, the TFSA dollar limit is $7,000. But your actual available room also includes unused contribution room from previous years and withdrawals made in 2025, minus any contributions already made in 2026. So, depending on your TFSA history, you could have much more or less than $7,000 available. Contributing beyond your available room can also trigger tax on the excess. Once you know how much room you actually have, the next step is putting it to work thoughtfully.

In this article, I’ll highlight two TSX stocks that could be attractive long-term TFSA holdings.

Brookfield stock

If you have TFSA room available for long-term investing, Brookfield (TSX: BN) is one stock that deserves a closer look despite its recent weakness.

It’s a global investment firm with businesses spanning asset management, wealth solutions, infrastructure, energy, private equity, and real estate. BN stock currently trades at $51.70 per share with a market cap of $126.9 billion and a 0.8% annualized dividend yield. Its shares are down 19% over the last year and 18% year to date.

BN’s weak stock performance contrasts with the company’s latest operating results. In the second quarter of 2026, Brookfield’s distributable earnings before realizations increased 15% year-over-year (YoY) on a per-share basis to US$0.61.

Its asset-management business remained a major growth driver. The company’s fee-related earnings jumped 20% from a year earlier as fee-bearing capital increased 19% to US$672 billion. Its Wealth Solutions earnings also climbed 23%, helped by organic inflows, higher net investment income, and the first full-quarter contribution from Just Group.

Just as importantly, Brookfield ended the quarter with a record US$210 billion of deployable capital after raising US$77 billion during the quarter. The firm also completed its Oaktree acquisition in July and continued repurchasing shares.

For TFSA investors focused on compounding wealth over years rather than months, Brookfield’s earnings growth, enormous investment capacity, and expanding global platform make the stock worth considering at its current price.

EQB stock

Another attractive way to put TFSA room to work could be EQB (TSX: EQB), although its recent stock performance tells a very different story.

It’s a Canadian digital financial services firm and the parent of Equitable Bank. Its shares trade at $126.58 per share with a market cap of $5.4 billion and a 1.9% annualized dividend yield. EQB stock has gained 36% over the last year and 22% year to date.

Meanwhile, its underlying business continues to expand. In the third quarter of 2026, EQB’s adjusted revenue rose 27% YoY to $393 million, while adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 2% to $2.12.

The bank’s net interest income climbed 22% to $319 million as higher-yielding PC Financial credit cards helped increase net interest margin. Its adjusted non-interest revenue surged 55%, supported by credit card fee income, insurance, and fair value accretion.

There was some pressure too, as EQB reported provisions for credit losses of $303 million, including a $219.1 million initial provision related to the acquired PC Financial credit card portfolio.

Still, that acquisition has significantly expanded EQB’s long-term opportunity. Notably, PC Financial increased the company’s directly served customer base to more than four million and lifted combined assets under management and administration to $151 billion. Integration efforts have already produced $15 million in annualized cost savings toward a $30 million target.

For TFSA investors, EQB’s larger customer base, broader revenue mix, and growing banking platform could make it an appealing long-term growth stock even after its strong rally.

The post The TFSA Mistake Most Canadians Are Making appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Jitendra Parashar has positions in Brookfield Corporation. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield Corporation. The Motley Fool recommends EQB. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Thinking that your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) strategy is evergreen and perfect for retirement is a bit like assuming the same pair of shoes will work for every part of your journey. While you’re earning a paycheque, you can afford to let your TFSA focus heavily on growth because you don’t need it to pay the grocery bill. Once that paycheque disappears, you’d want the account to behave differently.

Turning a retirement TFSA into an ultra-conservative portfolio may feel reassuring, but you could still need that money working for another 20 or 30 years. That means you might want to balance steady income with continued growth so you aren’t forced to sell investments too often. But unfortunately, some common TFSA habits could make achieving that balance more difficult.

Let me highlight two habits I’d reconsider in retirement and how some fundamentally solid Canadian stocks could help solve the problems they create.

Relying too heavily on capital gains

Chasing capital appreciation could work well when your retirement is years away, and you do not need portfolio income. After retirement, however, relying on selling shares to generate cash could make your portfolio more dependent on market fluctuations. And a quality stock like Canadian National Railway (TSX: CNR), or CN, shows how investors could keep pursuing growth without depending entirely on selling shares for cash.

CN operates a nearly 20,000-mile rail network connecting Canada’s eastern and western coasts with the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. After gaining 27% over the last 12 months, its stock currently trades at $169.87 per share with a market cap of $102.2 billion. At this market price, it offers a 2.2% annualized dividend yield.

In the second quarter, CN’s revenue jumped 11% year-over-year (YoY) to about $4.8 billion, while its revenue ton-miles rose 5%, driven mainly by strong grain and energy volumes. As a result, the company’s net profit climbed 7% YoY to roughly $1.2 billion.

During the first half of 2026, CN also generated about $1.8 billion in free cash flow. That cash generation matters for a dividend-paying business as it gives the company flexibility to fund its operations, invest in its rail network, and return capital to shareholders.

Moreover, CN has room for further growth as it plans roughly $2.8 billion in capital investments this year alone. For retirees, that great combination of income and growth is what makes CNR attractive.

Becoming too conservative after years of saving

If the first mistake is depending too much on growth, the second is giving up on it altogether. And a stock like Great-West Lifeco (TSX: GWO) could help retirees avoid that extreme by pairing dividend income with rising earnings.

Simply put, this Winnipeg-based company provides retirement, wealth, workplace benefits, and solutions across Canada, the United States, and Europe. GWO stock trades at $91.42 per share with a market cap of roughly $81.5 billion. Despite its 68% gain over the last year, the stock still offers a 3% dividend yield.

Great-West’s second-quarter base earnings rose 11% YoY to nearly $1.3 billion. Its U.S. business has also been strong. This segment’s base earnings jumped 34% YoY in constant currency last quarter, helped by higher fee income from growing client assets, positive plan and wealth net inflows, and lower credit-related impacts.

Meanwhile, the company is also investing capital to accelerate its future growth. On September 2, Great-West’s subsidiary Empower completed its acquisition of Milliman’s retirement plan and benefits administration business. The deal added about 400 defined benefit plans and more than 1,100 defined contribution plans, representing roughly US$130 billion in combined client assets.

Retirees who become too defensive could still get a 3% dividend yield while maintaining exposure to a business growing earnings and expanding its retirement platform. In other words, retirement does not have to mean giving up on growth.

The post 2 TFSA Habits That Work While Saving But Backfire in Retirement appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Jitendra Parashar has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Canadian National Railway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

If you don’t want to regret your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) picks 10 years from now, you shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about which stocks happen to be popular this month. Instead, you should ask yourself a simpler question: is the business likely to be much bigger years from now than it is today?

If the answer to this simple question is yes, short-term volatility becomes much less important. In this article, let’s look at two top Canadian stocks I’d consider buying now and giving plenty of time to compound inside a TFSA.

Couche-Tard stock

Let’s start with Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX: ATD), a proven Canadian business whose recent pullback could make it an appealing TFSA buy-and-hold stock. Couche-Tard mainly operates a global convenience and mobility network, including its well-known Circle K and Couche-Tard banners.

Although ATD stock has risen 7% over the last year, it remains nearly 18% below its 52-week high, making it look undervalued based on its long-term growth outlook. As a result, it now trades at $78.50 per share, giving the company a market cap of $72.1 billion. At the current market price, the stock also offers a 1.1% annualized dividend yield.

What makes this pullback worth paying attention to is that Couche-Tard’s recently released results showed encouraging business momentum. In the first quarter of its fiscal year 2027 (ended in July), the retailer’s revenue jumped more than 25% year over year (YoY) to US$21.7 billion. Higher average fuel selling prices, acquisitions, and organic growth in its convenience operations backed the growth, although softer fuel demand partly offset those gains.

More importantly, Couche-Tard’s adjusted net earnings for the quarter climbed 12.2% YoY with the help of stronger fuel margins and acquisitions.

Going forward, the retail giant plans to acquire Żabka Group in a deal valuing the Polish convenience retailer at about US$8.6 billion. Żabka operates more than 13,000 convenience stores across Poland and Romania. Along with new-store development and investments in food and customer traffic, the planned acquisition could further expand Couche-Tard’s long-term growth runway.

Waste Connections stock

Another stock worth considering for a long-term TFSA is Waste Connections (TSX: WCN), which offers a business backed by solid cash generation.

If you don’t know it already, this company provides waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and related services across the United States and Canada. After sliding 8% over the last year, WCN stock now trades at $220.29 per share with a market cap of roughly $55.4 billion and a 0.9% annualized dividend yield.

Even with that share-price weakness, the ongoing trend in the waste management company’s financials looks solid. The firm’s second-quarter revenue climbed 6.4% YoY to US$2.56 billion, while its adjusted net profit rose to US$381.7 million from US$333.1 million. Adding to the optimism, Waste Connections posted adjusted free cash flow of US$457.5 million last quarter, much stronger than US$367 million a year ago. Those results encouraged Waste Connections to raise its 2026 outlook.

Interestingly, Waste Connections completed acquisitions representing more than US$100 million in annualized revenue and repurchased US$614.5 million worth of shares during the first half of 2026. Overall, its acquisition strategy, cash generation, and shareholder returns make WCN another compelling stock to buy and hold in a TFSA.

The post Hot Take: Here Are 2 of the Best Canadian Stocks to Buy and Hold in a TFSA appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Jitendra Parashar has positions in Alimentation Couche-Tard and Waste Connections. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alimentation Couche-Tard and Waste Connections. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

High-yield dividend stocks often come with a catch, but Firm Capital Property Trust (TSX: FCD.UN) is currently proving that a generous monthly payout can actually be backed by improving fundamentals. Its regular distributions yield an enticing 7.6% today as the Canadian real estate investment trust (REIT) shrugs off its share of market skepticism.

However, the diversified REIT’s latest earnings report delivered a crucial turning point: the trust’s Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) payout ratio, a key measure of distribution safety, improved to a sustainable 98% during the second quarter of 2026, down significantly from 106% a year ago. Distribution coverage improved significantly.

Paired with a 7% year-over-year increase in Net Operating Income (NOI) to $10.2 million, Firm Capital is actively bolstering its distribution safety while transforming its real estate portfolio for long-term income growth. Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) investors seeking reliable passive income should take a closer look at this under-the-radar REIT.

Firm Capital Property Trust is growing its income base with defensive assets

Firm Capital Property Trust’s underlying strength lies in its diversified, recession-resilient retail, industrial, and residential real estate. Before closing a $218 million acquisition of manufactured home communities (MHCs) in July, the trust owned a well-balanced portfolio of 62 commercial properties, primarily grocery-anchored retail and flex-industrial assets, alongside multi-residential units and manufactured home communities (MHCs). Overall occupancy remains high at 94.4% for commercial properties, but its manufactured home communities are the real standout star, boasting a near-perfect 99.7% occupancy rate.

Recognizing the sticky demand and low capital expenditure requirements of MHCs, management is aggressively expanding this MHC segment to position Firm Capital as one of Canada’s leading single owners of manufactured housing communities. This strategic pivot adds high-margin, defensive rental cash flow to the balance sheet while organic growth continues to push rents higher – with industrial rent per square foot rising by 6% year-over-year during the second quarter.

The REIT’s balance sheet also remains on solid footing as management maintains a conservative 50% Debt-to-Gross Book Value ratio and recently closed $41.2 million in mortgage refinancings.

Furthermore, the trust trades at an attractive 15.5% discount to its Net Asset Value (NAV) of $8.06 per unit. Just as importantly, key insiders and management control approximately 10% of outstanding trust units, ensuring decision-makers have substantial skin in the game and remain tightly aligned with retail unitholders.

Your TFSA as the ultimate home for FCD.UN

While a 7.6% distribution paid out monthly sounds like a dream for income seekers, holding REITs in a non-registered taxable account, generally, can quickly turn into an accounting nightmare. REIT distributions are rarely treated as simple eligible dividends; instead, they are typically a variable mix of ordinary income, capital gains, and Return of Capital (RoC).

Because Return of Capital reduces your adjusted cost base (ACB) for tax calculation purposes, and the component varies from year to year, holding FCD.UN in a taxable account requires tedious manual bookkeeping every tax season to avoid miscalculating capital gains when you eventually sell.

By locating this high-yielding REIT inside your Tax-Free Savings Account, you eliminate the tax-tracking headache entirely.

A $10,000 investment in FCD.UN today would generate roughly $760 per year, or about $63.33 in passive income every single month, flowing straight into your account 100% tax-free. You can freely reinvest those distributions to compound your wealth or collect the cash without handing a single dime to the CRA.

Investor takeaway

With its AFFO payout ratio safely back below 100%, an expanding footprint in high-occupancy manufactured housing, and strong insider alignment, Firm Capital Property Trust offers a compelling blend of value and passive income safety for Canadian income investors. Locating the 7.6% monthly distribution payer inside a TFSA locks in tax-free income while keeping your tax season completely stress-free.

The post Looking for TFSA Income? This 7.6% Dividend Stock Should Snag Your Attention appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Brian Paradza has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a great tool for earning investment income for three reasons.

• Firstly, it allows your money to grow tax-free. This means no dividend or capital gains tax on reinvestments and rebalancing.
• Secondly, it allows you to withdraw amounts tax-free without conditions. There is no cap on how much you can withdraw and for what purpose.
• Thirdly, it adds the withdrawn amount to your contribution room on January 1. So, if you withdraw $5,000 in 2026, your 2027 TFSA contribution limit will include the new limit plus the $5,000 withdrawn in 2026.

How to convert $10,000 into a TFSA money-making engine

You can use the three benefits above to build an investment strategy that helps you make money. The 2026 TFSA limit is $7,000, but if you have previous years’ unused contribution room or a 2025 withdrawal of, say, $3,000, a $10,000 contribution is possible.

Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ) is a stock to buy at any upcoming dip when the crude price falls below US$70. The stock is in an upcycle, and the company’s low production cost and strong balance sheet give it an edge to continue growing dividends. The stock can give you both dividend growth and capital appreciation.

The 2026 energy shock drove its stock price up 53% as WTI surpassed US$100 and has been hovering above US$90 for most of the time. CNQ  earned surplus cash, considering its mid-US$40s cost per barrel after including dividend and maintenance costs.

If you already own the stock, consider booking profits and buying at the next dip. The TFSA will protect you from capital gains tax. Suppose you invested $4,500 in 2025 and bought 100 CNQ shares for $45 per share; today you can sell 50 shares for $68 per share and get $3,400. Later, when the stock falls to $58, you can use this amount to buy 58 shares.

While your 50 shares stay locked in the core portfolio, the remaining 50 shares help you accumulate more shares through profit booking and buying the dip. However, limit profit booking to once or maybe twice a year, as trading is not allowed in a TFSA. Frequent buying and selling in the same stock could attract the Canada Revenue Agency’s attention and make the capital gains taxable.

Tax-Free dividend reinvestment in a TFSA

CT REIT (TSX: CRT.UN) is a buy and opt for the dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP). The REIT gives monthly payouts to unitholders from the rent it collects from its parent, Canadian Tire, for leasing the stores. CT REIT has some of the safest dividends as its payout ratio is gradually reducing despite dividend growth. When your parent pays rent, the default risk is almost nil and occupancy is never a concern. The benefit of having an assured tenant without paying brokerage fees or placing ads gives CT REIT a cost advantage and helps it grow dividends.

A 5.8% yield, plus 3% average dividend growth, and a DRIP that uses the dividend amount plus a 3% bonus on the dividend amount to buy CT REIT units can compound income significantly. A little over $4,000 invested in CT REIT can buy 238 units, which can pay $233.24 in dividends spread over 12 monthly installments.

Tax-Free capital appreciation in a TFSA

Shopify (TSX: SHOP) is a stock to buy between March and June. The seasonality of this e-commerce stock makes it a perfect investment for rebalancing and profit booking. Its flywheel concept and asset-light model continue to deliver double-digit revenue growth and mid-teens free cash flow margin. Even during a slower year, the stock still experiences a seasonal rally, though it remains below its usual 40% to 50% gain.

You can make the most of Shopify’s seasonality by selling during the October to February peak, as the rally is triggered by holiday season sales. This amount can be used to buy Shopify shares in the March-June period.

Shopify stock has already increased 25% from its June price of around $154. If you already own the stock, consider selling it when its price crosses $230, which is 50% above its June level.

Investor takeaway

Dividend reinvesting, capital gain reinvesting, and dividend growth with the above stocks can help fuel your TFSA money-making engine.

The post How to Convert $10,000 Into a TFSA Money-Making Engine appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Shopify. The Motley Fool recommends Canadian Natural Resources. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Fool contributor Puja Tayal has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

Many tech platforms come and go, but few convert tech into a responsible business. Shopify (TSX: SHOP) is one of them. It successfully made a place for itself in the e-commerce landscape dominated by Amazon and Alibaba. The ride was never smooth for Shopify. The 2022 tech stock meltdown was one of its worst setbacks. To build an end-to-end solution, Shopify launched a logistics business. However, logistics was asset-heavy and didn’t align with Shopify’s asset-light model. While the idea was strategic, the timing was bad.

A logistics business needs a certain scale of regular order volumes and cash flow to make economic sense. The 2021 pandemic rally pulled 10 years of future growth into a single year. However, the end of lockdown in November 2021 and the interest rate hike in April 2022 pushed growth into the future.

Shopify has earned a permanent spot in my portfolio

Slow, resilient growth is always better and stronger than quick, windfall growth. Shopify has moved past the windfall growth, offloaded its logistics business, and achieved resilient growth over the last three years. The e-commerce platform has turned its operations profitable and reported a double-digit free cash flow margin in the last 12 quarters.

The above table shows how Shopify’s revenue growth rate accelerated, slowed, and is now gradually accelerating without any external catalyst, like the pandemic. This has earned Shopify a permanent spot in a long-term portfolio.

The resilient growth of Shopify

Shopify’s resilient growth in the last three years came despite geopolitical tensions, tariff wars, and the AI boom disrupting trade, making goods expensive, and cutting IT jobs. Despite the chaos, Shopify’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) kept growing. Its revenue from apps, themes, domains, and other platform fees increased, hinting that existing customers expanded their Shopify stores.

Shopify used AI to help customers shop for the right products and help merchants target the right customers. AI also partly contributed to accelerated revenue growth.

How to maximize returns from this growth stock

Despite global expansion, Shopify experiences seasonality. The holiday season continues to be its strongest, and March its weakest. Shopify’s share price tends to rally from October to February and fall between March and June. For such a seasonal stock, profit booking and reinvesting can help compound returns when done in a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA).

You could consider buying Shopify stock between March and June. Suppose you invested $10,000 in April when the shares traded at $163; you would own 61 shares. Shopify tends to give a 50% capital appreciation during the holiday season. Add 50% to $163; you could consider selling 30 shares for $240–244. Why sell only half the holdings?

Consider retaining 50% of the shares for long-term growth and using the remaining 50% for booking short-term profit. If you sell 30 shares for $240, you will get $7,200, which means a $2,200 capital gain. And since the profit booking is happening in a TFSA, the gain is tax-free. You can use this money to buy more Shopify shares in April. If you buy more shares at $170 per share, you can buy 42 shares. You sell 30 shares and buy 42 shares, making 12 shares free.

In some years, even the holiday season may pull down the share price. Understand the reason for the downturn, whether it is short-term or long-term, and buy more shares at the dip. This way, you can accumulate a sizeable number of shares through compounding without investing much.

The post Why Shopify Stock Has Earned a Permanent Spot in My Portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Shopify. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Fool contributor Puja Tayal has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

REITs are often associated more with monthly income machines than growth engines. There is a strong reason for this. Their business structure is that of a trust, and a trust cannot retain earnings. The Canada Revenue Agency levies the highest tax rate on retained earnings for a trust. Thus, trusts distribute most of their income to unitholders to retain their tax-free status. But this industrial REIT could help you grow your portfolio using its portfolio value creation and rental income growth.

This industrial REIT could be a quiet growth engine

Granite REIT (TSX: GRT.UN) has 145 industrial properties, including modern warehouses, multipurpose, and special-purpose assets, across six countries in North America and Europe. It disposes of low-yielding properties and acquires properties with better income and occupancy. This helps it grow rental income in addition to renewals and new tenants.

As of July 20, 2026, the REIT has disposed of three income-producing properties for gross proceeds of $158.6 million and has $66.2 million in assets held for sale. It expects to use the sales proceeds, cash on hand, and credit facility to acquire properties worth $195 million. This constant acquisition and disposition of property helps it grow and diversify its portfolio. Granite REIT’s management looks for properties that can create value and generate superior long-term total returns for unitholders.

Moreover, the REIT has an at-the-market (ATM) equity distribution program. Under this program, it raises equity capital to fund property acquisitions, developments, and repay debt. The unit dilution is not significant and gives it flexibility to expand the portfolio.

The increasing fair market value of the property portfolio adds the growth component, and the lease renewals add the income component. In this growth and income strategy, there is a pinch of seasonality.

Granite has significant exposure to e-commerce companies and industries that have storage needs. It earns 25.9% of its revenue from auto components maker Magna International and 3.7% from Amazon. The two tenants bring seasonality, with September and October being weak months and April and May being the peak period. The unit price varies from $80–100 between peaks and troughs. You can use Granite REIT’s seasonality to grow wealth and income.

How to use Granite REIT for growth

Just as Granite revives its property portfolio, disposing of weak-performing properties for better-performing ones, you can rebalance this stock too. Consider investing a larger amount every year in October when the unit price falls to around $80.

For $8,000, you can buy 100 units. Consider retaining 50% of the units for the long term and use the remaining 50% for profit booking and reinvesting. Since you buy 100 units in October, you can sell 50 units at the peak of $100 and get $5,000 in sales proceeds.

Now for the second phase of the strategy, reinvest the same $5,000 to buy more units of Graphite REIT in the October dip at around $80. For $80 a unit, you can buy 62 units, creating a value of 12 income-paying units.

If Granite REIT retains this seasonality, five years of profit booking and reinvesting can grow your unit count to 159 units. Even at the lower range of the unit price, it can convert $8,000 to $12,720.

Why not use this strategy for all 100 units? The real estate market faces risk from increasing interest rates, as it makes portfolio shuffling expensive. The 50 units held in your core portfolio for long-term returns ensure income keeps flowing. Granite REIT grew dividends by 3–5% annually for the last 13 years, and the retained 50 units can produce that income. Buying the dip can help you lock in a 5% dividend yield, which otherwise reduces to 3% during peak season.

Investor takeaway

This strategy is only possible in a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), which allows your investment to grow tax-free. Any capital gains realized, retained, and reinvested in the account are exempt from tax, and so are dividends withdrawn.

The post This Industrial REIT Could Be a Quiet Growth Engine appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Puja Tayal has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon, Granite Real Estate Investment Trust, and Magna International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.