I’ve just heard of someone doing that and it ended badly, but that was because the person over contributed. I wonder if it would be legal/smart for me to do that? I don’t make enough to max out my TFSA and don’t take risks investing (only invest in global ETFs and bonds).
For a regular personal loan it might be close. I can say over the last year my TFSA did a little better than the rate on my line of credit, but that’s just an anecdotal data point. Where it usually makes more sense is something like having a mortgage, which is generally a lower rate, making the minimum payments on a long amortization period and using any extra cash to invest. For a minimal risk investment like GICs and such the return is minimal. For a longer horizon, more volatile equity investments will do better, but also more risky for short term gains.