The $109,000 TFSA Milestone: How Do You Stack Up?

The maximum amount a Canadian can contribute to a TFSA in 2026 is $109,000, absent certain specific conditions. Unless you have already realized large gains in a TFSA, withdrawn funds, and then waited a year or more, $109,000 is the absolute maximum you can contribute. This amount is how much annual contribution room has accumulated since the TFSA was created in 2009.

A few thousand dollars worth of TFSA room accumulates each year; it’s the same for every Canadian adult regardless of income level; and $109,000 worth of room has accumulated between 2009 and 2026, inclusive. If you were 18 or older in 2009, have never ceased being a Canadian resident, and have made no prior contributions, you’re entitled to all of that amount.

So, if you’re 35 years old or older now, it’s worth asking:

How do you stack up?

At this point, you’ve had 17 years to stash the full $109,000 into your TFSA. If you’ve done that and invested sensibly in index funds and quality blue chip stocks, you’re probably quite well off at this point. In this article, I’ll share how the average Canadian TFSA holder is doing by age group, so you can see how well you stack up compared to the average Canadian TFSA holder.

The data we have to work with

Before going further, I should disclose the data we actually have on TFSA account balances and contribution rates. Unfortunately, the data isn’t as current as we might like; Statistics Canada’s data is published two years after the end of a fiscal year. Thankfully, we recently got the 2026 data dump – that is, the 2024 data – meaning that we have more current information than we had when I last wrote on this topic. So, here are the average TFSA account balances for Canadians from age 35 onward – i.e., those who could have contributed the maximum:

Age bracketTFSA balance35 to 39$21,56140 to 44$24,06145 to 49$28,08450 to 54$35,23555 to 59$43,51960 to 64$52,38165 to 69$59,34470 to 74$64,97275 to 79$71,09480+$76,305TFSA balances by age cohort: 2024, nationwide

According to this table, which is based on official StatCan data, not a single Canadian age cohort has $109,000 or more in their TFSA on average! This could be due to some of them having capital losses, withdrawals, or periods of non-residency. But on the whole, it appears that Canadians are not contributing to the maximum – all of the age cohorts above have substantial amounts of unused contribution room.

How to maximize your TFSA’s value

As the table above shows, not very many Canadians contribute the absolute maximum amount they possibly can to their TFSAs. If you’re a little shy of $109,000 worth of contributions – relax. You’re normal.

You can, however, increase the value of your TFSA quite easily – and the beautiful part is, it doesn’t even take additional contributions. By investing diligently in a diversified portfolio of defensive stocks, exchange-traded funds, and fixed incomes, you can grow your TFSA over time.

Let’s imagine that you held the Vanguard FTSE Canada ETF (TSX:VCN) in a TFSA over the last five years. If you did so, you would have seen the price go up 76%, and earned a 95% total return! Even starting with just $50,000 in TFSA funds, you would have quite a bit of money by now if you had produced those results. Now, of course, past results aren’t future results. The TSX is pricier now than it was in the past: I’d reckon that VCN probably won’t double (on a total return basis) once more over the next five years. Still, with its massive diversification (215 stocks) and ultra-low 0.06% management fee, VCN still has the ingredients for success. Personally, I’d wager it will power many a winning TFSA going forward.

The post The $109,000 TFSA Milestone: How Do You Stack Up? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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More reading

• 2 Canadian ETFs I’d Lock Into a TFSA and Never Touch
• How to Put $14,000 to Work for Monthly TFSA Income

Fool contributor Andrew Button has no positions in the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.