RRSP, TFSA or FHSA: which account first?

A TFSA gives you no deduction going in and no tax coming out. An RRSP gives you a deduction now and taxes the withdrawal later. An FHSA does both — a deduction going in and a tax-free withdrawal for a qualifying first home.

That makes the FHSA the clear first stop if a first home is realistically in your next fifteen years. After that, the deciding factor is your tax bracket now versus your expected bracket in retirement. Higher now, lean RRSP. Lower now, lean TFSA.

The account is only a container. What you hold inside it, and whether you keep contributing, matters far more than the label on the front.