Editorial Policy

What we publish

FinancialTools.ca publishes free bilingual (English and Canadian French) personal-finance calculators and educational articles for Canadian residents. Every tool models a specific Canadian tax, benefit, or registered-account rule. Every article explains a concept in plain language and cites its primary source.

Who writes and reviews the content

All calculators and articles are written or reviewed by Alexandre Bernier, a Canadian financial planner (CFP®, CIM®, PFP®) with 18 years of experience in banking, wealth management, and financial planning. Contributor bylines and reviewer credits appear on every page along with a "Last reviewed" or "Last updated" date.

Primary sources we rely on

Every tax rate, contribution limit, benefit amount, and threshold on this site is verified against an authoritative Canadian source before publication and rechecked at each annual review. Our default sources are:

• Canada Revenue Agency (canada.ca) - federal tax brackets, credits, RRSP / TFSA / FHSA / RESP / RDSP rules, RRIF minimums, withholding tables.
• Revenu Québec - Quebec tax brackets, RRQ, QPIP, IQÉÉ, welcome tax, and other provincial rules that diverge from the federal equivalent.
• Department of Finance Canada - budget measures, rate changes, and inclusion-rate rules.
• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) - CPP, OAS, GIS, EI, CDSG, CDSB, and related benefit programs.
• Provincial finance ministries - provincial tax brackets, credits, and land-transfer-tax formulas.
• Retraite Québec - QPP, Allocation famille (Soutien aux enfants), Régime de rentes du Québec.
• Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) - mortgage stress test (B-20), CMHC insurance rules.
• Bank of Canada - CPI (for inflation calculators), overnight rate context, historical bond yields.

Secondary references (KPMG, PwC, EY, Deloitte tax-facts guides) are used only to cross-check numbers, never as the sole source for a claim.

Review cadence

Our calculators and articles are reviewed on a rolling schedule:

• Annual full review for every tax-year-sensitive calculator (tax, paycheck, TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RRIF, CPP/CPP2, OAS, CCB, capital gains, self-employment, mortgage stress test). Typically in December-January after the CRA publishes indexed thresholds.
• Event-driven updates for material federal or provincial changes (budget rate changes, CPP enhancement stages, new registered accounts). Example: the 14% federal first-bracket cut in 2026, or the cancellation of the 66.67% capital-gains inclusion proposal in March 2025.
• Continuous editing for articles when a cited source updates or a reader flags an error.

Every page carries a "Last reviewed" or "Last updated" line so the freshness is visible to the reader.

Bilingual publication

English and French versions are treated as parallel editorial products, not literal translations. The French edition is written in Canadian French (fr-CA) and uses the terminology preferred by Revenu Québec and the CRA's French pages: REER, CELI, CELIAPP, RAP, REEP, FERR, RPC, RRQ, SV, and so on. When a Quebec-specific rule diverges from the federal equivalent, the French version explains the divergence.

Corrections policy

If you find a factual error, a stale rate, or a broken link, please email us via the contact page. Every reported error is triaged the same week. When we correct a calculator or article after publication, we:

• Fix the underlying issue and bump the page's "Last updated" date.
• Update the dateModified field in the page's Article schema so search engines see the freshness signal.
• For material corrections (a rate that was wrong, not merely refined), add a short "Correction" note at the top of the affected page describing what changed and when.

Independence and conflicts of interest

FinancialTools.ca is built by the team behind PlanBase, a financial-planning software platform used by Canadian advisors. The two products are separate: PlanBase is a paid tool for planners; FinancialTools.ca is a free public site with no signup and no product recommendations. Neither product influences the math or the editorial line of the other.

Alexandre Bernier is employed as a financial planner at Exponent Investment Management. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated on behalf of Exponent, and nothing on this site should be interpreted as advice from or by Exponent.

What this site is not

The calculators and articles on this site are educational, not individualized advice. They cannot substitute for a conversation with a professional who knows your full financial picture. Using this site does not create an advisor-client relationship. If your situation is complex or the stakes are high (major sale, retirement decision, estate planning, tax filing dispute), consult a qualified professional - an accountant, CFP®, or lawyer as appropriate.