{"id":874663,"date":"2026-08-28T14:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874663\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:52:13","slug":"steady-nerves-and-shopify-reward-ottawa-residents-with-bountiful-tfsas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874663\/","title":{"rendered":"Steady nerves and Shopify reward Ottawa residents with bountiful TFSAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

jadamprostore\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

This is TFSA Trouncers, a series that profiles how Canadian investors invest their tax-free savings accounts. Whether you\u2019ve been successful in growing your TFSA or not, we\u2019d like to hear from you. Please fill out this form<\/a> to contribute. You may choose to be anonymous, but we do require an e-mail address and may request a screengrab of your portfolio for fact-checking purposes. <\/p>\n

The tax-free savings accounts of Ottawa residents Bree and her husband, Kay, have reached a combined value of more than $1.3-million. They got there by maxing out their TFSA contributions and following a buy-and-hold approach to investing in a portfolio of approximately 30 stocks, weighted toward growth companies. <\/p>\n

Kay, a labourer who retired four years ago, is happy to let his wife, an accountant on the cusp of retirement, manage both TFSAs. The gyrations of growth stocks make Kay nervous. He prefers a calm life. <\/p>\n

Bree, though, has a high tolerance for roller coaster rides. Indeed, the success of their TFSAs owes a lot to a company that has one of the most volatile of stocks: Shopify Inc. SHOP-T<\/a><\/p>\n

Her investment in the e-commerce company began in 2016, after visiting its offices, located at that time on six floors in the Performance Court tower on Elgin Street in Ottawa. She was quite impressed by the unique layout, decor and design elements. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were private cubby spaces, nature designs, a slide in the fully stocked cafeteria and so on \u2013 definitely a novel concept in this government town,\u201d she remembers. She was also impressed by the freedom staff were given.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appeared to me that they were investing in their people to get the best out of them.\u201d For this reason, she felt Shopify would do well as a company. Reinforcing the decision to invest was a belief that online stores were going to be a huge growth area.<\/p>\n

How a farmer and his wife grew their TFSAs to $2.3-million<\/a><\/p>\n

After she began buying shares, a pivotal moment occurred during a 2018 discussion that took place in her investment club, the Ottawa Share Club. Shopify shares had appreciated a lot by then and some members said they were thinking of taking profits. <\/p>\n

But Bree decided to hold on, influenced by what one of the members said. \u201cI clearly remember the conviction of one lady exclaiming she was going to \u2018let it run to the top.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Shopify\u2019s stock continued marching higher, albeit with periodic setbacks that Bree waited out. Then it really took off and soared during COVID-19, as house-bound people started online stores and switched to buying goods online. <\/p>\n

During the run-up, she unloaded sizable portions of their TFSA holdings, reaping gains well into the six figures by mid-2022. She kept some shares and is hoping for another upswing.<\/p>\n

How can Mandy, 64, and Syed, 65, make the most of their hard-earned savings in retirement?<\/a><\/p>\n

Nvidia Corp. NVDA-T<\/a> also did a fair amount of the heavy lifting in their TFSAs. She got the idea to buy its shares from an investment service, 5i Research. It gave her several other good ideas, as well. The BNN Market Call program on TV was another useful source of ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also have a dear friend who I met 15 to 20 years ago at a TD Waterhouse DIY workshop and I listen to what she says,\u201d says Bree. But not so much when it comes to advice on when to sell because her friend \u201cis more nervous than me and sells stocks earlier than I do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Many of Bree\u2019s other stock picks over the years were losers. That\u2019s to be expected in a portfolio of more than two dozen stocks. As it turned out, a couple of shooting stars in the TFSAs offset the duds to generate stellar returns overall.<\/p>\n

There may have been a bit of luck involved in this outcome. But Bree\u2019s higher risk tolerance and buy-and-hold investing in mainly growth stocks provided fertile ground for it to occur. <\/p>\n

The TFSAs were a place to put the couple\u2019s more aggressive assets while holding more conservative assets elsewhere. The latter included registered retirement savings plans and non-registered accounts worth $1.3-million (soon to be turned over to professional management), more than $800,000 of equity in a mortgage-free home and Bree\u2019s defined-benefit pension.<\/p>\n

These conservative assets were like a safety net. Even if the TFSA stocks had melted down, Bree and Kay would still be able to carry on with the lifestyle to which they were accustomed.<\/p>\n

What an expert says<\/p>\n

We asked Shiraz Ahmed (CIM, AIA, PMT, CSC), founder and CEO of cross-border wealth-management firm Sartorial Wealth, for his thoughts on the TFSAs of Bree and Kay. (Comments were edited and condensed.)<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the most useful takeaway here is the account Bree chose to hold her growth stocks in. She put the majority in their TFSA accounts, which have no tax on growth or withdrawals. Had she done the same thing but used her RRSP instead, it would have been recognized later as fully taxable income. If this were in a non-registered account, at the current inclusion rate, half of each realized gain would be added to income. Typically, most investors do the reverse and leave TFSA room sitting in a savings account earning next to nothing.<\/p>\n

From a risk-management perspective, looking at this single account in isolation could be considered an ultra high-risk strategy. Security-concentration risk is a real challenge, but, as Bree saw, it can also work to your benefit and amplify your returns. Her logic, which appears to make sense, is that she used their TFSAs as the \u201crisk-on\u201d portion of her overall wealth, so, from a broader net-worth perspective, her risk appetite appears to be suitable. Having 30 concentrated growth stocks in a portfolio, backstopped by a pension, is a different decision from having 30 stocks without one.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, she had a good sell discipline here too. This is a pro move that we often see with professional portfolio managers. Trimming your gains into strength while keeping a residual position is often psychologically harder to do than buying.<\/p>\n

Larry MacDonald is the author of The Shopify Story<\/a> and blogs at Shopify\u2019s Journey<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: jadamprostore\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images This is TFSA Trouncers, a series that profiles how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-874663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}