pfcPersonal Finance Canada Connect to Claude

Money questions Canadians actually have, answered in Canadian.

Two calculators built on the rules that apply here: mortgages compounded semi-annually, CMHC insurance premiums added to the loan, land transfer tax charged twice in Toronto, and a principal residence that pays no capital gains tax when a portfolio would. Free, no sign-in, nothing stored.

Rent vs Buy

Not "is the mortgage cheaper than the rent" — if you liquidated today, which path leaves you holding more? Counts the cost of getting in and out, invests the down payment on the renting side, and taxes the portfolio but not the house. Tells you the year one overtakes the other, which is really the question.

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Mortgage & Amortization

Payment, full schedule, the balance you renew at when the term ends, and what every payment frequency actually costs. Accelerated bi-weekly is a prepayment dressed as a schedule, and on a typical mortgage it is worth tens of thousands — so it is priced here rather than buried.

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What makes these Canadian

Semi-annual compounding

A Canadian fixed rate is compounded twice a year, not monthly. Use the American formula and the payment comes out about $20 a month high on a $700,000 mortgage, every month, for 25 years.

CMHC premiums, financed

Under 20% down the premium is 2.80–4.50% of the loan and is added to the mortgage — you borrow it and pay interest on it. In Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the sales tax on it is due in cash at closing.

Land transfer tax, sometimes twice

The largest closing cost in most of the country, and charged by both the province and the city in Toronto and Montreal. First-time buyer rebates are applied where they apply.

The principal residence exemption

A home's gain is tax-free; a non-registered portfolio's is not. A rent-vs-buy that ignores this is quietly arguing for renting, so the account the renter invests in is an input here.

Terms and amortizations

Five-year term, twenty-five-year amortization. Only the term's rate is known, so the balance you renew at is shown as its own number rather than hidden in a total.

Every input is in the URL

Change anything and the address bar keeps up. Send the link and the other person opens your exact scenario — no account, no saved state, nothing to lose.

These calculators are also an MCP server. Add them to Claude and you can paste a listing, have the numbers pulled out, and ask for the breakeven — then get a link back to the page with the scenario already filled in. Set it up →