CRA: Here’s the TFSA Contribution for 2026, and Why January Is the Best Time to Use it

For 2026, the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) dollar limit adds another $7,000 of new room as of January 1. If you’ve been eligible every single year since TFSAs began in 2009, your cumulative TFSA room by 2026 would add up to $109,000. That said, your personal total can be lower or higher. This depends on when you turned 18, whether you were a Canadian resident in each year, how much unused room you carried forward, and what you’ve withdrawn. In any case, January can be the best time, mainly as it’s a clean reset point. New room appears, old unused room is still there, and you can set a simple habit for the full year before life gets busy again.

Before you start

Before you buy the first meme stock you can find, there are some items to consider. If you want to actually use that new room well, the first step isn’t picking a stock. It’s making sure you don’t accidentally overcontribute. A lot of people mix up deposits, withdrawals, and re-contributions and end up creating a problem they didn’t need. In January, a smart move is to check your room, decide what portion you can contribute right away versus monthly, and then set an automatic transfer schedule.

Next, decide what the TFSA is for. If it’s long-term wealth, you want investments that can grow and compound, and you want to avoid turning the TFSA into a trading account. If it’s income, you still want quality first, because a high yield can be a trap when the payout isn’t supported by cash flow. Either way, January is a good moment to simplify. Pick a plan you can stick with when markets wobble, and make sure you’re not forcing yourself into something you’ll panic-sell later.

The other January advantage is behavioural. People are naturally more willing to start fresh, so you can lock in a routine that quietly does the heavy lifting. A practical way to use TFSA room is to contribute early, then keep a small buffer of future room for opportunities later in the year. That stops you from feeling like you “missed your chance” if a strong company dips in March or October.

Consider BN

Now to Brookfield (TSX:BN). In plain language, this is a Canadian-led global owner and operator of real assets and businesses, plus a large asset-management engine that earns fees for managing money. That mix is why BN can feel hard to value for new investors. It isn’t a simple bank or a simple utility. Results can swing with markets, interest rates, and asset values, but the long-term goal is steady compounding through cash-generating businesses and investments that tend to last a long time.

Recent earnings show a few things new investors should pay attention to. In its third-quarter (Q3) 2025 interim report, BN reported net income attributable to shareholders of $219 million for the quarter, and net income per share of $0.08. It also shows the company completed a three-for-two stock split in October 2025. That doesn’t change the value of your holdings by itself, but does signal management’s confidence and makes the per-share price more accessible psychologically for some investors.

On income, BN is not a yield play, but it does have a shareholder payout that has been rising. For a TFSA investor, the kind of steady growth matters more than a flashy yield, as the real win inside a TFSA is letting both the price growth and the distributions compound without tax friction.

Bottom line

If you’re thinking about a January 2026 TFSA contribution, think about easing rates. If the Bank of Canada signals more cuts, markets often get more comfortable with long-duration assets and higher-growth cash flows. That can be a friendlier backdrop for companies tied to large-scale investing, infrastructure, and capital deployment. The pushback is that BN is still exposed to credit conditions and market sentiment. So, the cleanest way to think about it for a new investor is BN as a solid core compounder if you want one Canadian name with global reach. Plus, investors must be willing to hold through volatility.

The post CRA: Here’s the TFSA Contribution for 2026, and Why January Is the Best Time to Use it appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

Should you invest $1,000 in Brookfield right now?

Before you buy stock in Brookfield, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor Canada analyst team identified what they believe are the 5 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Brookfield wasn’t one of them. The 5 stocks that made the cut could potentially produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider MercadoLibre, which we first recommended on January 8, 2014 … if you invested $1,000 in the “eBay of Latin America” at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $20,568.17!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor Canada’s total average return is 99%* – a market-crushing outperformance compared to 77%* for the S&P/TSX Composite Index. Don’t miss out on our top 5 list, available when you join Stock Advisor Canada.

See the 5 Stocks #start_btn6 { background: #0e6d04 none repeat scroll 0 0; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2em; font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: 600; height: auto; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 30px 0; max-width: 350px; text-align: center; width: auto; box-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), 0 1px 0 #fff inset, 0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); border-radius: 5px; } #start_btn6 a { color: #fff; display: block; padding: 20px; padding-right:1em; padding-left:1em; } #start_btn6 a:hover { background: #FFE300 none repeat scroll 0 0; color: #000; } @media (max-width: 480px) { div#start_btn6 { font-size:1.1em; max-width: 320px;} } margin_bottom_5 { margin-bottom:5px; } margin_top_10 { margin-top:10px; }

* Returns as of January 5th, 2026

More reading

• TSX Today: What to Watch for in Stocks on Friday, January 2
• 1 Canadian Stock Ready to Surge Into 2026
• If I Could Only Buy 3 Stocks in the Last Month of 2025, I’d Pick These
• The Best Canadian Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever in a TFSA
• 1 Canadian Stock to Rule Them All — No Need to Find Them in 2026

Fool contributor Amy Legate-Wolfe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.