18 ways the federal budget will affect your wallet in 2019

The 2019 federal budget is full of winners and losers. In fact, everyone from first-time home buyers, to seniors, to workers looking to upgrade their skills walked away with money in their pocket. But small business and high-income earners? Not so much. Here are 18 key ways the federal budget will hit your pocketbook.

1. First-time home buyers can now borrow $35,000 from RRSPs—up from $25,000. It must still be repaid in 15 years.

2. A new first-time Home Buyer Incentive will allow buyers who have the minimum down payment for a mortgage to finance 10 percent on a new home or five percent on an existing home through a “shared equity mortgage” with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Doing so will lower buyers’ monthly mortgage payments—but terms and conditions apply. The main one? Only households with combined incomes lower than $120,000 annually will qualify. Still, for buyers who qualify, monthly mortgage payments could be lowered by several hundred dollars.