Good replies in this thread, but one thing nobody has explicitly mentioned is that tax rates in canada are marginal. Not sure if that's clear to you. Apologies if this is old news.
Here is an explanation of current federal personal tax rates from CRA:
15% on the first $44,701 of taxable income, +
22% on the next $44,700 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over $44,701 up to $89,401), +
26% on the next $49,185 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over $89,401 up to $138,586), +
29% of taxable income over $138,586.
So you don't pay a 29% tax rate on your entire income of $139k... you pay 15% on the first 44k, 22% every penny between 44k and 89k, etc. etc...
Re: first attacking TFSAs or RRSPs, if I were you, I'd fill the TFSAs first. A couple reasons why:
-at 60k income, any RRSP contributions you make won't give you an enormous tax benefit. At least not compared to when your income goes up to 100k and you drop $50k into RRSPs and walk away with a massive tax refund!
-TFSAs are a truly beautiful thing. Max it out every year, and leave it alone until you need the money. Time is an investor's best friend. Milk this sweet sweet investment vehicle by letting it compound for as many years as you can. (RRSP income is taxed when you take it out).
-Max book value on a TFSA are like... $35k or something (can't be bothered to look it up). It's such a low amount, why wouldn't you max it out right away? Then you can stop spending mental energy worrying about stuff like this and just plan to add $5500/yr to your already-topped-up-TFSA.
The only reason I'd consider contributing to an RRSP (as a young person) while my TFSA is not maxed out, is if I needed to offset some income in order to get a good tax return.
Also, yes, TD e series is a good way to go. They will not allocate your portfolio for you, you have to do it yourself based on what investments you buy. I had to go into a branch to get an E-series mutual fund TFSA and RRSP account set up. The people in the branch had no idea what it was, and they didn;t know how to set it up. They tried to sell me higher cost mutual funds, I had to explain what their own products were. Once it's set up (it took several weeks actually!), you go online thru TD online banking and transfer money from a normal TD chequing account to the e-series mutual fund account. Then you buy mutual funds (minimum order is $100). It takes a couple business days for the transaction to go through.
RBC is a good bank to own shares of, but they are known as one of the banks with higher fees. PC financial is the best no-fee way to go, but I prefer TD for their service and branch hours.