Withdraw from a TFSA to contribute to an RRSP?

Pulling money out of a TFSA to feed an RRSP can look clever when your income is high and your cash is tight, but it only works if you do the math properly. This piece takes up that exact situation for someone in their late 50s. The trap, it explains, is treating a TFSA dollar and an RRSP dollar as equals, when an RRSP withdrawal later will be taxed and a TFSA withdrawal won't. The strategy makes sense only if your tax rate in retirement will be meaningfully lower than it is now, and you have to watch for clawbacks on benefits like OAS. The column also stresses grossing up the contribution so the refund replenishes your savings, and keeping some TFSA room intact for emergencies. It's a careful look at a move that helps in the right circumstances and quietly costs you in the wrong ones.