A $25,000 Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) can start to feel less like savings and more like a tiny employee. It doesn’t call in sick. It doesn’t need coffee. It just sits there, hopefully kicking out tax-free cash while the rest of life keeps sending invoices.
Putting that cash to work
The TFSA is built for this. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says the 2026 TFSA dollar limit is $7,000, updated on January 1, 2026. So a $25,000 contribution only works for investors with enough unused room carried forward. Otherwise, that “cash-pumping machine” can quickly become a CRA penalty machine, and nobody needs that plot twist.
The appeal is simple. Dividend income inside a TFSA can grow without creating taxable income when withdrawn. That gives investors a useful place to build cash flow, especially if they want retirement income, emergency flexibility, or just the sweet psychological treat of seeing deposits arrive.
The trick is choosing a business that can actually support the cash. A high yield can look lovely, but dividends need profits, cash flow, and discipline behind them. Wishful thinking is not a payout policy. It is just a very expensive hobby.
TOU
That brings us to Tourmaline Oil (TSX:TOU). Tourmaline stock is Canada’s largest natural gas producer, focused on exploration, development, production, and acquisitions in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. In normal-person terms, it produces a lot of natural gas, plus oil and natural gas liquids, from one of Canada’s most important energy regions.
Natural gas has a new tailwind in Canada. LNG Canada says its Kitimat facility loaded its first cargo in June 2025 and can initially export about 14 million tonnes of LNG per year. Ottawa also listed LNG Canada Phase 2 as a major project that would double production and help diversify Canada’s energy exports to markets in Asia and Europe.
Canadian gas producers have long faced a frustrating problem: plenty of supply, but limited access to global pricing. LNG exports do not fix every pricing issue overnight, but they create a clearer path between Canadian gas and global demand. Very useful when your business is, well, gas.
Earning even more
The dividend case looks straightforward. Tourmaline stock paid a $0.50-per-share quarterly base dividend in both the first and second quarters of 2026. That equals $2.00 per share annually before any special dividends, yielding about 3.4%.
On a $25,000 TFSA investment, that works out to about $810 per year in tax-free dividend income, or roughly $67.50 a month if investors smooth the quarterly payments across the year.
That is the base case. Tourmaline stock has also paid special dividends in prior years, including several through 2025. Investors should treat those as bonus cash, not grocery-budget money. Special dividends depend on commodity prices, free cash flow, and management’s capital plans.
Looking ahead
The latest results support the income story. In the first quarter of 2026, Tourmaline stock produced 666,089 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), within guidance, and generated $862.2 million in cash flow. Free cash flow reached $202 million, while net debt sat at $1.5 billion, below the company’s long-term debt target.
That net debt number is worth remembering. Energy companies can look heroic when prices rise and suddenly less heroic when prices fall. A stronger balance sheet gives Tourmaline stock more room to manage weak gas prices, keep investing, and return cash to shareholders.
The risk is obvious. Tourmaline stock depends on natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids prices. If North American gas prices weaken, free cash flow can fall quickly. LNG growth helps the long-term story, but project delays, pricing swings, and production curtailments can still hit results.
Foolish takeaway
All together, Tourmaline stock looks like a strong TFSA candidate for investors who understand energy cycles. It offers a growing base dividend, potential special dividends, exposure to LNG-linked demand, and a balance sheet built with discipline.
A $25,000 TFSA will not turn into a cash machine overnight. Yet with Tourmaline stock, investors can start building tax-free income from a Canadian energy leader tied to one of the country’s biggest export opportunities.
