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

$109,000.

That’s the maximum amount a person can contribute to a TFSA if:

1. The person was 18 or older in 2009.
2. Has made no prior contributions.
3. Has never lived abroad full time.
4. Did not realize gains bringing the balance well above $109,000, withdraw the larger amount, and then wait for a year to pass.

$109,000 is also the most you could have contributed to a TFSA by contributing annually from 2009 to today.

So, $109,000 is something of a “TFSA milestone” in 2026. Having contributed that much shows that you are truly serious about growing your TFSA.

With that being said, how many Canadians actually contribute $109,000 to their TFSAs? This is information worth knowing, because it can tell us how effective Canadian banks are at encouraging their clients to invest tax-free. In this article, I’ll explore the question of how many Canadians actually hit the $109,000 milestone. I will start with hard data on how many age and gender groups achieve the milestone, then move on to the question of how many individuals hit it (the answer to that latter one is a little more speculative).

By gender and age bracket: none!

Official StatCan records show that no age or gender demographic group has yet achieved a $109,000 TFSA on average. The highest average balance in 2004 was $76,000. That distinction was held by females over the age of 80. All other groups had lower balances. Unless a lot of Canadians are losing money on their TFSA investments, no age or demographic group has, on average, contributed $109,000.

Now, if we look look at TFSA balances by income category, we might find a different story. Presumably, Canadians earning $250,000 or more would have no trouble socking $109,000 into a TFSA; however, StatCan’s tables on TFSA balances by income bracket, do not include balances… I wonder why!

Individuals: Possibly around 1.6 million

While there are no data showing how many Canadians have contributed $109,000 to their TFSAs, we do know that there are 19,322,000 unique TFSA holders. Some banks have reported that about 8.5% of their clients contribute the maximum amounts to their TFSAs. If this second point is accurate, then there are about 1.6 million Canadians who have contributed $109,000 to their TFSAs.

On maximizing the value of your TFSA

If you do not yet have a $109,000 TFSA balance, you might feel like you’re a bit behind. “I could have contributed that much if I’d just cut out fancy dinners” you might be saying to yourself. It’s natural to feel that way. The good news is, you are not, in fact, behind: the oldest Canadians, do not have $109,000 in their TFSAs on average.

On the topic of increasing your TFSA balance without pain-staking savings:

That can be done with prudent index fund investing.

Take a fund like the iShares S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index Fund (TSX:XIC), for example. It holds 220 stocks, making it ultra-diversified. It has an ultra-low 0.05% management fee, and a 0.06% total expense ratio. It represents all sectors of Canada’s economy. Finally, as a very popular and widely traded fund, it has a narrow bid-ask spread (the wider the bid-ask spread the more money market makers take from you). The characteristics above have made XIC a valuable TFSA-boosting tool for many Canadian retirement savers.

The post How Many Canadians Actually Hit That $109,000 TFSA Milestone? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

Should you invest $1,000 in iShares Core S&p/tsx Capped Composite Index ETF right now?

Before you buy stock in iShares Core S&p/tsx Capped Composite Index ETF, consider this:

The Motley Fool Canada team has identified what they believe are the top 10 TSX stocks for 2026… and iShares Core S&p/tsx Capped Composite Index ETF wasn’t one of them. The 10 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 over $17,000!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor Canada’s total average return is 97%* – a market-crushing outperformance compared to 88%* for the S&P/TSX Composite Index. Don’t miss out on our top 10 stocks, available when you join our mailing list!

Get the 10 stocks instantly #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 July 6th, 2026

More reading

• What the Typical 25-Year-Old Canadian Has Saved in a TFSA?
• The Top 3 Canadian ETFs I’m Considering for 2026
• The Top 3 Canadian ETFs I’m Considering for 2026
• The $109,000 TFSA Benchmark: Here’s How to See Where You Stand
• What the Average Canadian TFSA Looks Like at Age 50

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.