Glossary

A

Aspect ratio

The proportion between a video or image's width and height, written as two numbers separated by a colon — 16:9 for standard widescreen video, 9:16 for vertical formats like Shorts, TikTok and Reels. Converting between them means cropping to a new proportion, not simply resizing the original. See: Aspect Ratio Calculator.

Averaging down

Buying additional shares of a stock you already hold at a lower price than your earlier purchases, which mechanically drags your weighted-average cost — and your break-even point — down with it. The effect is bigger the larger the new purchase is relative to what you already hold. See: Stock Average Calculator.

B

Basic personal amount (BPA)

A federal or provincial credit that shelters a slice of income from tax, valued at the lowest tax rate rather than subtracted directly from taxable income. It is one of the amounts credited alongside the CPP/QPP and EI/QPIP premium credits when working out tax owed from a bracket calculation. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

Body fat percentage (Navy method)

An estimate of the share of body weight that is fat, calculated from neck, waist and (for women) hip tape measurements using the U.S. Navy's formula. It typically runs a few percentage points from a DEXA scan reading, so it suits tracking a trend across repeated measurements better than treating one reading as exact. See: Body Fat Calculator.

C

CPP2

A second, separate CPP (or QPP) contribution that applies only to earnings between the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings and a second, higher ceiling, the Year's Additional Maximum Pensionable Earnings. It was added in 2024 to extend contributions, and future benefits, further up the income scale once the regular contribution stops. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

CRA bonus method

CRA's required method for withholding tax on a bonus or other irregular payment: annualize the employee's regular pay, calculate the year's tax on that figure, add the bonus and calculate the year's tax again, then withhold the difference. It is why a bonus cheque can look heavily taxed even though bonuses are not taxed at a special rate — the withholding, not the actual tax owed, is what spikes. See: Bonus Tax Calculator.

D

Dividend gross-up

An adjustment that increases a Canadian dividend above its cash amount before tax is calculated on it, meant to approximate the pre-tax corporate income the dividend came from. A bigger gross-up applies to dividends paid from income taxed at the higher general corporate rate, since more corporate tax was already paid on that income. See: Salary vs Dividends Calculator.

Dividend tax credit (DTC)

A federal and provincial credit that reduces personal tax on a grossed-up dividend, meant to credit back the corporate tax already paid on that income before it reached the shareholder. Dividends taxed at the corporate general rate carry a bigger credit than those taxed at the small business rate, because more corporate tax funded them. See: Salary vs Dividends Calculator.

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA)

Investing a fixed amount of money on a fixed schedule regardless of price — buying more units when the price is low and fewer when it is high. Over time the average cost per unit smooths out, and the investor never has to decide whether right now is a good time to buy. See: DCA Calculator.

DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan)

A plan that automatically uses every dividend a stock or fund pays to buy more of that same stock or fund, usually including fractional shares and with no commission. Reinvested shares then pay their own dividends the following period, compounding the share count over time. See: DRIP Calculator.

E

Engagement rate

A measure of how much an audience interacts with a post, most often the sum of likes, comments, shares and saves divided by either the audience's follower count or the post's impressions — two different formulas that are easy to mix up. Some platforms weight shares and saves especially heavily because they signal real value rather than passive approval. See: Engagement Rate Calculator.

F

First-time home buyer land transfer tax rebate

A rebate or exemption several provinces offer against land transfer tax for a qualifying first-time buyer, on top of the province's regular bracket calculation. Each program sets its own eligibility test, but most share a common core: never having owned an eligible home anywhere, a residency or citizenship requirement, and moving into the home as a principal residence within a set time. See: Land Transfer Tax Calculator.

Fiverr seller service fee

A flat percentage Fiverr keeps from every order a seller is paid, applied to the whole amount a buyer pays including tips, before any separate withdrawal fee. It differs from Upwork's fee, which scales with how much a freelancer has billed a given client rather than staying flat. See: Fiverr & Upwork Fee Calculator.

G

GDS (Gross Debt Service)

One of the two debt-service ratios a Canadian mortgage lender checks: housing costs alone — the mortgage payment at the qualifying rate, property tax, heating and a share of condo fees — divided by gross income, capped at a set percentage for an insured mortgage. See also TDS, the ratio that adds every other debt payment on top. See: Mortgage Affordability Calculator.

GIC ladder

Splitting one deposit into equal portions across several GIC terms — commonly five rungs of one through five years — so each rung earns its own term's rate and matures on its own schedule. As each rung matures it is reinvested into a fresh long-term rung, so eventually every rung is the same long term and one matures every year, blending a long term's better rate with a yearly chance to access part of the money. See: GIC Calculator.

GST/HST harmonization

Some provinces have merged their own provincial sales tax with the federal Goods and Services Tax into one combined Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), collected as a single line by the CRA. Other provinces instead charge a separate provincial or retail sales tax alongside GST, Quebec runs its own Quebec Sales Tax administered by Revenu Québec, and a few jurisdictions charge no provincial sales tax at all — but every shape is calculated on the same pre-tax price, never stacked on top of another tax. See: GST/HST Calculator.

M

Marginal vs average tax rate

Average tax rate is total income tax divided by gross income — the overall share of every dollar earned that went to tax. Marginal tax rate is the rate charged on the next dollar earned, which is almost always higher, because Canada's tax brackets are progressive and only the income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

Mortgage qualifying rate

The rate a federally regulated lender must use to test whether a borrower can afford a mortgage, instead of the rate the borrower will actually pay — whichever is higher of the contract rate plus a fixed buffer, or a stated floor rate. Provincially regulated lenders, such as many credit unions, are not required to apply this stress test (though many large credit unions mirror it voluntarily) and may qualify a borrower differently. See: Mortgage Affordability Calculator.

N

Non-billable overhead

The share of a freelance project's price that covers time spent on work other than the billable task itself — emails, calls, revisions and project administration — layered on top of hours × rate so a quote covers the whole project rather than only the typing. A chattier client or a project with many stakeholders typically needs a bigger overhead share than a quiet one. See: Freelance Quote Calculator.

O

OAS recovery tax (clawback)

A repayment, not a loss of eligibility: once a retiree's net income for the year passes an annual threshold, they repay a fixed share of every dollar over that line, capped at the full Old Age Security they were paid — never more than they actually received. It is calculated on the tax return, the same mechanism CRA uses for other income-tested benefits that phase out at higher income. See: OAS Clawback Calculator.

One-rep max (1RM) formulas

Formulas — Epley, Brzycki, Lombardi and O'Conner among them — that estimate the heaviest weight someone could lift once from a lighter weight lifted for several reps. They assume a fairly predictable drop in strength as reps increase, which holds reasonably well under about ten reps but drifts further from reality at higher rep counts. See: One-Rep Max Calculator.

Overtime threshold

The number of hours in a period beyond which a province's employment standards require an overtime rate, typically time-and-a-half, on top of an employee's regular wage. Overtime pay is ordinary taxable income calculated the same way as regular wages — a big overtime cheque can look heavily taxed only because payroll temporarily over-withholds it, not because a special tax rate applies. See: Overtime Pay Calculator.

Q

QPIP (Quebec Parental Insurance Plan)

Quebec's own parental-leave insurance program, which covers the parental benefits that Employment Insurance provides everywhere else in Canada. Because QPIP already covers that ground, Quebec workers pay a reduced EI premium rate alongside a separate QPIP premium. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

Quebec federal abatement

A flat reduction of federal tax that Quebec residents receive because Quebec collects and administers its own provincial income tax instead of leaving that to the CRA. It applies on top of Quebec's own bracket-and-credit calculation, which follows Revenu Québec's own formula rather than the federal one every other province uses. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

R

RPM vs CPM

CPM (cost per mille) is an advertiser-side number: what brands pay YouTube per 1,000 ad impressions. RPM (revenue per mille) is a creator-side number: what actually lands in a creator's pocket per 1,000 video views, after YouTube's cut and across every revenue source — always lower than CPM, since not every view shows an ad. See: YouTube RPM Calculator.

RRIF minimum withdrawal

The mandatory annual payment a RRIF holder must withdraw starting the year after converting an RRSP, calculated as the account's value on January 1 multiplied by a prescribed factor that rises with age. It applies whether or not the holder actually needs the money that year — there is no opting out once the minimum-withdrawal years begin. See: Retirement Calculator.

RRSP deduction limit

The most a taxpayer can deduct from income for RRSP contributions in a year, generally the lesser of a fixed percentage of the previous year's earned income and that year's dollar limit, plus any unused room carried forward from earlier years. Contributing beyond it, past a small buffer CRA allows, triggers a monthly over-contribution penalty rather than a bigger deduction. See: RRSP Refund Calculator.

S

Safe withdrawal rate (SWR)

The percentage of a portfolio's starting value that can be withdrawn each year, adjusted for inflation, with a high probability of lasting the retirement it was tested over (the classic 4% rule rests on 30-year history; longer horizons call for a lower rate, which the calculator suggests from your own inputs) — the basis for a FIRE (financial independence, retire early) number, calculated as annual spending divided by the safe withdrawal rate. It depends only on planned spending, not on income, which is why the FIRE community focuses on spending rather than salary. See: FIRE Calculator.

Small business deduction

A reduced combined federal-and-provincial corporate tax rate that a Canadian-controlled private corporation pays on its active business income up to an annual limit, with income above that limit taxed at the much higher general rate. Which rate applies also decides whether a dividend paid from that income counts as eligible or non-eligible, and therefore how big a gross-up and dividend tax credit it carries. See: Salary vs Dividends Calculator.

Statutory vacation pay

The legislated minimum vacation pay an employer owes, set as a percentage of gross wages that increases with an employee's years of continuous service, varying by province or under the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated employers. It is a floor, not a typical outcome — an employer can always offer more than the statutory minimum, but never less. See: Vacation Pay Calculator.

T

TDS (Total Debt Service)

The second of the two debt-service ratios a Canadian mortgage lender checks: the same housing-cost numerator as GDS, plus every other monthly debt payment a borrower carries — car loans, credit cards, lines of credit — divided by gross income and capped at a higher percentage than GDS. A borrower carrying other debt can fail on TDS even while comfortably under the GDS limit. See: Mortgage Affordability Calculator.

TFSA contribution room

The amount a TFSA holder can still contribute without penalty, built up as a running total: every year's TFSA dollar limit since becoming eligible, plus withdrawals added back, minus every contribution ever made. A withdrawal is only added back as room on January 1 of the following calendar year, not immediately — re-contributing it sooner counts as a brand-new contribution against whatever room remains. See: TFSA Contribution Room Calculator.

U

Upwork sliding-scale service fee

Upwork's per-contract fee, set as a variable percentage rather than one flat rate, shown to a freelancer before they submit a proposal or accept an offer and then locked for the life of that contract. It replaced a single flat fee in 2025, and unlike Fiverr's flat seller fee, the rate a freelancer pays can differ from one contract to the next. See: Fiverr & Upwork Fee Calculator.

W

Weighted average cost

The true cost basis across multiple purchases of the same stock at different prices, weighted by how many shares each purchase contains rather than averaged as if every purchase were the same size. A large lot pulls the average toward its own price much harder than a small one, which is why two investors holding the same number of shares can have very different break-even points. See: Stock Average Calculator.

Y

YAMPE (Year's Additional Maximum Pensionable Earnings)

The second, higher earnings ceiling that caps CPP2 (or QPP2) contributions, sitting above the regular YMPE ceiling. Earnings between the YMPE and the YAMPE are subject only to the CPP2 contribution; above the YAMPE, CPP contributions stop entirely for the year. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.

YMPE (Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings)

The earnings ceiling above which the regular ("base") CPP or QPP contribution stops. It is also the floor of the income range CPP2 applies to — CPP2 was introduced specifically to extend contributions, and future benefits, to earnings above this ceiling. See: Take-Home Pay Calculator.