5% = balanced. 4% = HISA. 7% = aggressive.
Time to reach $100,000
11.3 years
136 months at $500/mo, 5.0% annual return.
At 5% annual return, contributing nothing extra and starting from zero, $100K never arrives. With $500/mo it takes about 12 years; $1,000/mo about 7 years; $2,000/mo about 3.8 years. The biggest lever is contribution amount, not return rate — doubling your monthly cuts the timeline roughly in half, while doubling your return rate from 5% to 10% cuts it by maybe a quarter. That's why personal finance writers harp on savings rate over investment performance.
Short horizons (under 3 years) belong in a HISA or GIC inside a TFSA — capital preservation matters more than return. Medium horizons (3–10 years) suit a balanced ETF portfolio inside a TFSA. For a first home specifically, FHSA beats every other account in the country — you get the tax deduction going in and tax-free withdrawal coming out.