July 16, 2026 · 7 min read
The Mid-Year Honest Look
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21
From Dan's Desk
July does something to financial intentions. The year started with plans: RRSP contributions, TFSA goals, a budget that was finally going to hold. Then real life happened, because it always does. Now it is the middle of July and the scorecard looks different from what you sketched out in January.
The good news: half the year still remains. That is a real window.
Two pieces this week worth reading back to back. One is about a specific money tool and whether the math actually works in your favour. The other is about sitting down with your real numbers, the ones from the last six months instead of the January plan, and seeing what they tell you.
From Wise and Faithful
Is the Wealthsimple Credit Card Worth It? An Honest Answer for Canadians
2% back on every purchase sounds like a clear win. The honest answer about whether it is actually worth it comes down to two conditions, and most people skip one of them. If you have the card or are thinking about it, this piece is the one-paragraph test to know which side of the line you are on. The short version: if you carry a balance, no rewards card on earth is worth it.
Mid-Year Money Review: A Summer Financial Check-In for Canadian Christians
The year is half over, which means the January budget is either holding or it is not, and now is the last useful moment to find out before the fall arrives. This guide walks through the honest mid-year audit: TFSA, RRSP, giving, debt, budget. One hour with your real numbers. Worth doing before the summer is over. Read it →
New: Money 101
I just published four short pieces, a Money 101 for Canadian Christian men, meant to be the front door to the whole site. If you read nothing else, read these. Each takes about five minutes and carries one corner of the picture.
- A Heart Issue Before a Math Problem. The heart behind your money.
- If You're Carrying Debt, Start Here. A first word for the man carrying it alone.
- How Money Actually Grows. The whole thing fits on a napkin, and time does the rest.
- The Freedom of Giving. Why giving first changes everything.
Worth Your Time
[Article] Bank of Canada Holds Rate at 2.25% — Bank of Canada, July 15, 2026
The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% today for the fifth consecutive decision of the year, citing competing pressures: a technically recessionary economy and inflation still running above target (May CPI was 3.2%, driven by fuel costs). Prime rate sits at 4.45%. Best 5-year fixed rate is 3.94%. If you are renewing a mortgage in the next six months, this is the context to understand before you sign. The next announcement is September 10. View current rate →
[Video] Graduates, Remember the Rich Young Man — Desiring God (John Piper, June 2026)
Piper preached Matthew 19 to a class of graduating young men and gave them one direct charge about money: "Don't want to be rich. Simplify your life and give lavishly." Twenty minutes of exactly the kind of faith-and-money content that is in short supply and high demand. Worth forwarding to any young man you know who is starting out. Watch →
[Article] Will the Church Enter the Guys' Group Chat? — Christianity Today, April 2026
Tracks how men's digital friendships have migrated from podcast recommendations to near-daily prayer requests and life check-ins. The argument: what the church offers (shared mission, accountability, presence, a common story) is exactly what algorithms cannot replicate. A well-sourced piece on why intentional men's discipleship is one of the church's clearest opportunities right now. Read →
The Week in One Number
59%
The share of unretired Canadians who don't expect they will ever be able to retire, according to the 2025 Canadian Retirement Survey (HOOPP and Abacus Data, n=2,000 Canadians). In the same survey, 39% say they have never saved for retirement at all, and more than 1 in 3 Canadians have less than $5,000 in total savings. A number worth sitting with before the second half of the year begins. [HOOPP / Abacus Data]
A Question I Keep Getting
"Should I wait until I'm debt-free before I start tithing?"
It comes up regularly. A man is doing the right things on debt, working a real plan, and he wonders: is it faithful to keep giving when the balance is still there?
My honest answer: the lean is to keep giving, even through the debt. Giving comes before saving in Scripture, and the principle holds across the seasons. Giving while carrying debt is hard in a way that is spiritually useful. It requires trusting God with something small rather than waiting until things feel easier. That trust is worth building, not deferring.
There is one narrow exception: the man who genuinely cannot make his minimum payments. Even then, the first question is whether there is discretionary spending to cut before the giving stops. Because giving something, even a smaller amount in a tight season, does something to the heart that a pause does not.
This is not a demand for a rigid 10% or God will be displeased. Legalism cuts both ways: the man rigid about the exact percentage and the man reasoning his way out of generosity are both missing the point. The pastoral question is simpler: are you trying to reason your way out of giving, or are you genuinely asking what faithfulness looks like right now? Start somewhere. Give with intention. Use your levers: spend less, earn more, or both.
It is not just 10% that belongs to God. It is all of it.
Good News About the Good News
Canadians are joining the Catholic Church in numbers that surprised the secular press. At Easter 2025, the Archdiocese of Vancouver welcomed more than 650 adult baptisms, roughly double the prior year and a record for the archdiocese. The Archdiocese of Toronto prepared 1,584 people for Easter initiation. Calgary recorded 400 adult baptisms. Edmonton reported a 61% increase in baptism candidates since 2017. A country widely assumed to be post-Christian is full of people searching for something the world cannot give them. Global News covered it. The Holy Spirit does not check the national census before moving. Global News, April 2025
Coming Next Week
Your teen may already be in a summer job, or about to start one. Next week: what to tell them before the first paycheque arrives, the practical Canadian stuff they actually need to know (SIN card, the T4 that comes in January, what happens at tax time), and why that first pay stub is a discipleship moment worth taking seriously.
Close
Jesus said your heart follows your treasure. He said it plainly.
The mid-year honest look is worth doing because of that sentence. The numbers in your accounts tell you where your heart has been heading, which is sometimes different from where you would like to think it is. The credit card balance, the TFSA that did not get topped up, the giving that got quietly reduced in February: those are financial data points, and they are also a map.
The good news, always, is that a map can be read. And corrected. Half the year remains.
Grace and peace,
Dan
P.S. If you know a man whose financial intentions from January have gone quiet, forward this one. Summer is when those conversations get easier because the urgency feels lower. That is also when they matter most.