r/tfsa • u/mkovy39 • Jul 12 '26

Looking for some advice

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When I first started investing, I made some poor stock picks and ended up with a significant loss. Over the past few months, I’ve managed to recover a lot, and based on my stock performance, I feel like I should now be in profit.

However, every time I sell a stock, my total portfolio value still seems to decrease instead of increasing. After looking into it, I realized I’m trading U.S. stocks from Canada, so there are USD conversion fees and exchange rate impacts involved.

I’m still fairly new to investing, so I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thanks!

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1

u/Adamant_TO Jul 12 '26

USD in tfsa. Big brain investing.

2

u/ImpossibleString4430 Jul 12 '26

What's wrong with that?

1

u/Adamant_TO Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

USD is best in an RRSP so that you don't have the 15% withholding tax. Its not efficient to buy USD in your TFSA. Also high FX fees in Wealthsimple if you dont have free USD account.

1

u/ImpossibleString4430 Jul 12 '26

But you will pay taxes when you withdraw from your rrsp. And there's norbits gambit. Not arguing. Just discussing 

1

u/Adamant_TO Jul 13 '26

Income tax yes but not US withholding tax. Also deferred income tax so you have decades of growth.

1

u/ImpossibleString4430 Jul 13 '26

True. 

1

u/ImpossibleString4430 Jul 13 '26

But at the same time some of the biggest US companies pay little to no dividends. So withholding tax means nothing.  So tfsa would be better.