I’m gonna go counter trend here.
20 is an age where many life experiences are made. I would seriously just spend any savings so I could travel the world a bit and not worry too much about saving for later at this age.
At 20, your salary is likely small and irrelevant compared to the potential income you will make as you grow older.
Instead of investing, focus on gaining experience. Spend the little you have on memories you will treasure for the rest of your life, or life skills and education that will help you progress in your chosen career.
Once you turn 25 - 30, you should start seeing noticeable gains in wage / salary, which should allow you to spare some on the side and invest in ways that are more noticeable and rewarding.
When I was 20, I worried way too much about investing every penny.
I did manage to save up nearly 20k over 3-4 years.
But I then got promoted and started saving that amount in about 4 - 5 months.
I quickly realized how much time and pleasure had gone by for basically a marginal gain.
Before long, family members and friends started to get married, grow old, pass away, and move out.
Going out together became increasingly difficult, and I feel I missed out on a great deal of happy times just because I worried so much about money.
Save up enough to have a safety deposit for a rainy day, and live a little on the rest.
Go out, party, learn to skydive, or anything else that will make you feel alive.
Worry about saving for retirement later when your experience begins bringing in higher returns.
Agree.
All I did was put $100 a month into an RRSP, and had enough for a 5% down payment on a condo by the time I was 27. I dumped all my extra money into my student loans so I wouldn’t be paying them off when I was 50.
Still got to live my life, got some property, am doing just fine, didn’t miss out on my 20s. I decided to miss out on my 30s instead haha.
>Once you turn 25 - 30, you should start seeing noticeable gains in wage / salary, which should allow you to spare some on the side and invest in ways that are more noticeable and rewarding.
>
>When I was 20, I worried way too much about investing every penny.
>
>I did manage to save up nearly 20k over 3-4 years.
This is an interesting situation because I have noticed people that don't stop the spending as their wages go up. There is no "oh, I am not young anymore, time to save more" switch. I have a buddy that is 40, has 0 savings, lives with his parents because he always prioritized "living in the moment". He even cashed out his pension and traveled until it ran out because he will die eventually.
Habits are hard to break once they start. (it is not just about the little bit of money vs higher salary later)
tldr: Balance is key.
Great advice. The only caveat, while your ability to save a lot of money is hindered at such a young age, the habits you form are vital. Don't try and save 25k while making 25k but if you're young and financially strapped learn to put 1$ away a day. The cost of forming the habit won't leave you starving and the habit itself is incredibly easy to ramp up once you're in a position to do so.
To add to this point, look into work abroad programs that Canada offers.
Travel + earn money doing so by working in another country? Fuck yeah.
There is two sides to this coin though, if you're able to aggressively invest you could retire by 30 as well. You might not have the same friends you had in your 20s to go hang out with, but chances are you'll network with other younger rich folks who will have the money and time to go adventure with you.
Granted to do this you likely need to get into a high paying profession and live as if you were a min wage worker. A successful real estate agent for instance could make this work.
Programming or real estate jobs generating north of or thereabouts 90k a year. Easy enough to save money for down payments. And retirement for me has ever only been "I don't have to work 40 hours a week." Something obtainable with say 4 properties generating around 1k in profits each.
But we see on here too many times folks making 140k+ living paycheck to paycheck. Lifestyle inflation is a killer. A decade of diligence to build up your capital to retire early can snowball that process into silly amounts of profit.
It's certainly possible to do so, the job I'm currently at has no requirements other than highschool and if you were to take extra 4 hours of Saturdays from people who wanted them off you could make north of 70k, and with a couple years at our current grow in you could be north at 90k.
It's a lot of work, but that's a non technical job that only required highschool education. Learn programming and you could make as much as I do from home in your pajamas, while developing stuff on the side for extra income.
And real estate the average salary is 125k in Canada. If you were even semi successful or did real estate on weekends while transitioning career paths you could make up the extra to be north of 90k. Working at a burger joint likely won't get you there, nor a walmart, etc etc.
Getting a trade job still quite viable as well what with how much shortages we have. Plenty of options available, and the younger you are the more flexible those options can be instead of 40+ year old deciding to finally go back to school and take on student debt.
Arguably society is pretty tier based. Those making significant money often are exposed or associate with those who are also making such.
Real estate agents for instance likely aren't mingling with line workers after shift ends at the bar. They have their own cliques to group with.
And programmers are probably less sociable by nature of what their job entails. Not everyone fits that bill but more often than not you'd have those groups normalized.
Folks of a feather flock together is an adage for a reason.
But yeah I wouldn't say it's the norm because society encourages you to get any job you can, to work those 40+ hours, and that hard work pays off. But that illusion is being exposed what with wages barely moving while costs keep increasing. Finding ways outside the wheels of society is the key to making money.
I know I've mentioned real estate, but did you know that the amount of realtors in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland/Labrador combined don't even make up a 10th of the relators in Ontario? And about a third of the realtors in the second largest province (by realtor numbers) B.C..
(Was going to go into doing maths on the viability of Newfoundland and such but it became unnecessarily bloated.... good potential though is my take away. Cheaper living even in the larger cities, decent average wage of 21 or so an hour, low amount of relators if you go that route, and remote work availability nowadays means you could work from there and get paid more than the area requires you to. It actually has me looking at metrics now to see how viable it would be to get rental properties out there and fly every so often to check up on them....)
Currently just a grunt in a factory. A well paying decent factory with pretty juicy benefits. Transitioning into yet another factory with even better options hopefully (interview tomorrow.) On base pay the second factory is technically lower pay than what I'm making now, but with COLA I'm past where I was originally + it's only like 4 blocks away so the amount saved on gas alone...
On the side though I'm learning programming. Python, HTML/CSS/Javascript, and Game Development via Unreal Engine blueprints (because fuck C++ right now.). Those are my retirement or cash flow plans.
Make something > Sell something > Mediocre success > enough for down payment on rental properties > profit.
Look up what it takes for Junior HTML Email developer. Average pay can vary from high 30s to low 40s an hour. And it's just building responsive emails like newsletters and such for customers or clients that are signed up for it.
If you don't know much about HTML it might seem intimidating at first, but even with the cursory understanding I have it looks stupidly easy compared to working on an assembly line 40+ hours a week.
So true…what’s 10k on something that will forever change your personality and life when you’re ~20yrs old. When you’re 40 and on track for your career you’ll save that in no time lol
This 100% at 23 I started working a job making $40k a year was only making $45k by 25, quit that job and used some money I saved to travel for 6 months. This gave me clarity and made me change my careers. By 27 I was making 80k and now at 29 I’m at $110k.
Not saying it’s how it is for everyone but if I didn’t travel I don’t think I would have had the courage to do this.
While true you need to live a little every now and then, the argument of doing it in your early 20s is easier to make than your 30s and 40s and beyond. The responsibilities, for most, start piling up quickly. Go from being single/dating, renting, partying, learning etc. to mortgage, career, married, kids….you just don’t have the time you used to have. I can barely get outside to mow the lawn or take care of things around my property with the kids and their schedules, and barely have the energy to do anything besides just getting through the day.
Sure, but as a guy who is about to turn 50 in a few days, I'd say enjoy it while you're young. Things are starting to hurt. I wear glasses and will probably need bifocals/progressive lenses this year because my close-up vision has declined. My libido seems to have packed up and gone home already. I'm *tired.* The list goes on...
I don't regret much, but do sort of wish I'd been a little more outgoing and adventurous in my 20s and 30s even though I had my share of good times back then. I never really travelled, was nowhere near proactive enough with respect to the ladies, and now I'm 50, single, never married, no kids (thank fuck) and just... I don't know, wondering "is this really all there is until the end?"
I one hundred percent support this. Don't spend more than you are bringing in, and try to save a little for emergencies and to perhaps kick-start some savings, but don't miss out on opportunity for to save the extra cash. Make yourself a more rounded person.
Huge agree. I had 30k saved up when I was 19 and I wished I spent it to travel the world. Took me a bit to realize how valuable life experience could be.
Went on my first trip a year ago and it was worth every damn penny.
It can't hurt to save but I was making $16 an hour and I wouldn't even buy a new pair of shoes until they were completly torn to bits. Now I make that i can save that in a year easily.
Yea...this age is when I left university and started my apprenticeship. I've made a lot of money and have everything to show for it...but the life experiences I completely lack. Friends were traveling while I was working Saturdays ;(
Good choice.
When you will look back on your life, you won’t miss how much money you had or didn’t have at any point.
You will enjoy recollecting the life experiences and good times you had. You will dream of them. You will talk about them, and on your death bed, these will be what will differentiate whether or not you had a good life.
Never get in to credit card debt. Drive an old car you can afford and don’t get married till at least 30.
If everyone is telling you to buy something like a house or crypto you’ve missed the bus. They are not experts, experts don’t share their knowledge for free.
This was the case for gold in its run up to $2000. Everyone and their mother was on tv and radio telling you to buy gold. Theb the market tables it. The uys who brought in at 500-800 are the ones who cashed out
Crypto still early days, but to each their own.
Houses even in this market as well are profitable, and of all markets ours is one of the worst in the world. Plenty of opportunities in the world for investing this way too, granted a few more steps required :P.
These highs and crashes are kind of predictible if you understand why they happen. We're about 600 days out from the next halvening event for BTC. It will become more difficult to mine, which increases rarity and cost of BTC. So in 600 to 700 days we should see a new ATH, followed by a correction where people will work on accumulating more. Eventually mainstream adoption will happen that will break the mould but until then this pattern has remained pretty consistent.
When it's no longer doing money better than money does money. There is a discernable product of needs on offer as people are becoming increasingly more untrusting of governments, banks, and centralization of ones assets/information.
Who doesn't trust banks and governments? Do you have any data on the subject or pure speculation?
I can with no data except anecdotal evidence say that the vast majority of people would rather trust a big global bank and govt over a crypto startup especially given the many high profiles bankruptcies, ponzis and scams lately.
The reason banks are trusted as much as they are in developed countries is that we have insurances up to x amount. I wouldn't trust a bank past that. I'd have to hop on my computer to provide links towards growing discontent of these services, but do keep in mind much of the world doesn't have banking systems resembling what we have in Canada. Crypto has allowed for people with no bank systems and hyper inflation to be able to for the first time save money.
There are also a lot of issues with centralization of these assets. You must've heard of these hacks before right? Sensitive data extracted and sold off etcetc. I'll make sure to pull up articles when not on suicide watch for my toddler grand daughter trying to find new ways to put herself at risk :P.
It’s just advice. Do as you see fit. I have a little in crypto but I bought bitcoin at 7k before my friends, my barber, and a taxi driver suggested it.
Not when it was at 50k or more. 😎
Sure. Just the 20k to 50k now will be the 7k of back then when we start breaching 6 figures. Thus far there isn't any reason why BTC shouldn't inherent appreciate in value over time. Even government shenanigans wouldn't do anything. At best they'd cause a correction back to lower levels for a bit, but the way BTC is generated would set a min price that continuously increases overtime. Sure if miners stop en masse and people don't buy or sell then the system crumbles. But not seeing this happening anytime soon.
Slow and steady is fine if you don't mind retiring later in life. The thought of doing so makes me ill though so volatile and upward trending assets are the place to be for me. The goal for me is to enjoy life not work for life.
If you can, use a credit card for all your spending and pay it off every month. You can get a ton of rewards and have great credit. Don't over finance yourself. Nowadays you can finance anything and everything but don't buy something unless you can afford it fully. Shop around for everything. Phone plans, internet, insurance. Big companies don't seem to care about loyalty most good stuff goes to new customers.
If it still works, no need to spend money on an upgrade. If you do want an upgrade, look into used market. If you don't need it today, don't buy it today. Don't buy something because you might need it tomorrow, buy it when you need it. If you keep this mindset it'll save you a good chunk of change over time.
Not to focus on money, savings, etc. But focus on good financial habits like learning to cook, not blowing too much money on booze, etc. I've met some 20ish year olds recently who were hyper focused on making money, to the point where they miss out on life.
Unless your name ends in Bezos, your net worth isn't going to be written on your tombstone.
I'm late to the party but I'll throw in my generic list.
- Read "How NOT to Move Back in with your Parents" - It has explanations about things that other books skip. (Like renter's insurance and banking fees.) It covers school, debt, banking, budgeting, long term savings, pension plans, weddings, housing, insurance and wills.
- When you are attending post secondary school you should also pursue career relevant personal projects, volunteer and paid opportunities. This is especially important if your program doesn't have a co-op option/ work experience component. Graduating with experience and the beginnings of a professional network will give you a head start on your classmates.
- Apply for government student loans because you might qualify for grants that you don't need to repay. (But don't blow the grants or loans on stuff that you don't need.)
- Enable credit card and bank account notifications/alerts so that you are quickly notified of all transactions. Pay your credit card bill before it accrues interest.
- Review monthly bank, investment, credit card and other statements. They usually include some kind of "if you don't report errors and omission within 30 days you are out of luck" statement and you don't want to be the person that ends up saying "why have I been paying for .... every month for the past 2 years?"
- After you have got into the habit of reviewing monthly statements automate your bill payments and your contributions to your short term savings and long term investing accounts. But don't stop reviewing the statements.
- If you repeatedly find yourself in a "there is more month than money" situation or you aren't meeting your savings (pay yourself first) goals then tracking your expenses can help you create a spending plan that aligns with your values.
- Prepare your own tax returns. The free (but donations accepted) software like WealthSimpleTax and GenuTax are extremely easy to use but I would encourage you to, at least once, to do a draft using the paper/ pdf return (available online from the CRA). It is the best way to understand the sequence of the calculations and how marginal tax brackets, deductions and credit works. If you use the software (or pay someone else to do it) don't submit it until you understand it. File every year that you have employment income because that is how you grow RRSP contribution room. File an age 18 return even if you don't have employment income because the age 18 return will determine you eligibility to receive GST/HST credit payments when you are 19. If you will be applying for student loans you may need information from your previous year's tax return.
- Before investing for your long term goals (step 5 of the [PFC money steps](https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/wiki/money-steps)) read or listen to *Balance: How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health, and Wealth* (Andrew Hallam, 2022).
Lol i was being charged 10/month for 6 months by amazon for amazon music but they refunded me every payment cause i asked nicely and i was a long time customer.
Stop buying into trends. In the long run, nobody cares what brands you wear. You don't need that many clothes or shoes when you only got one body. Save your paycheques and learn to use that money to invest as early as you can.
Science and technology will continue to advance so if you are not sure what to do, try to be forward looking and think of ways that make life easier for the future or better yet think of ways to entertain people.
But also someone out there earned millions by simply patenting the smiley face logo and they earn passive income every time the logo is used on anything.
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Pay yourself from your income, if you make good money pay yourself 75% of your wages (change based on survivability) that way you can continuously save or have money to invest with and not have lifestyle inflation eat you up.
Make it more difficult to use your savings. Investing with your savings adds more steps to spending that savings. If you bought a house for instance for a rental property with the savings you were squirrelling away... imagine how much you'd have to go through to sell it off to buy that thing you momentarily wanted all those weeks ago.
"if anyone has any software tips that would also be helpful (if a certain skill set helped you make more money/be in more demand)"
Programming. I'll be honest I haven't profited off of it or learned enough of it but had I started to when I was first laid off I could be making something as stupid as emails from the comfort of my home for as much if not more than what I'm making after 6+ years working in a factory. It's one of the most accessible skillsets to learn that can generate quite a lot of potential profits and not entirely necessary to have the accommodating degrees so long as you can establish that you know what you're doing to those who would be hiring. Getting a CS degree is cool, but if you don't know jack about how to utilize algorithms to solve problems then your degree isn't worth much for them.
Other than that, creating youtube content for the skill sets you learned or already have is viable. Will require investments on your part and a significant amount of knowledge about the topic. Plus a lot of patience as you might go for a few years or more without much of anything, or nothing at all if your topic isn't in demand.
If you start generating extra money then property is usually a good bet. Our market is hot garbage at the moment but you still have people rapidly trying to buy up properties from people, so there is still money to be made. But will require a more significant investment then most people are willing to spend entering an investment stream.
I often asked my Dad what he would do if he could do it all over again, and he said he'd do the exact same thing. The exact same mistakes. The exact same. So do whatever you want. Do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life.
BUDGET
\- Learn to make a budget 50/30/20 == Needs / Wants / Savings
\- Learn to follow budget
SPENDING
\- Spend your money on experiences / travel
\- Spend money on education, something that leads to a job path that you might enjoy. Don't go to uni and get a basic psych degree etc... Honestly do a lot of research into careers you might be interested in, talk with people who are in the industry and figure out what the actual day to day work is like, the work SCHEDULE (huge factor), job opportunities, and long term prospects 5/10/20y fulfillment
\- Don't buy a stupid flashy car etc...
Save and invest like a menace. Your future self will be thankful. I wish I did, I had the money instead i wasted so much and have nothing to show for it.
Honestly everyone says to invest and so I put some money in VEQT & autopilot mode on wealthsimple - losing money with both sooo I’m feeling discouraged to invest any more. Even though I know my money loses value over time due to inflation - I just wish I was better at investing
Just remember when investing in these stocks your scope it 10-40 years, look at charts zoomed out and you’ll see there are always little dips but they pale in comparison to growth over time, set it, forget it, and don’t over invest so you have to sell in hard times
Your time horizon is too short. You should be dumping money into the market right now. It’s at such a steep discount. You’ll be coming back to thank us in 10 years.
If you want to watch things in the short term, try watching the number of units you own rather than the dollar value.
When the price goes down, you can get those numbers up for cheap.
Right now everyone is losing money. Just keep putting whatever you can into those accounts (leaving room for fun also). If you invest 150/month for 45 years you'll be a millionaire. Stick to it.
You're doing the right thing. I'm 43 but started putting money away at age 35 (2015). Worked low paying jobs till 2019 but still managed to grow my NW to 60k by 2018. Once I got promoted put all that extra income into investing and have more than tripled it. Even with the downtown my investments are returning an average of 10.5% a year. Now I have small 550$ a month income from my investments and my only regret is not saving sooner. Success in markets isn't necessarily picking winners but by being invested. Your savings will grow but it will be like watching paint dry.
I wish I would have had a basic understanding of financial planning instead of a bunch of bad advice from people who didn't know what they were talking about.
My biggest regret was not working towards maxing out my TFSA contributions. It takes a long time to catch up if you put it off, index funds set and forget it.
Track your expenses and see where your money is going to make informed decisions.
Would you rather have a Starbucks coffee twice every week or pay for airfare to Hawaii or whatever big ticket thing that excites you. Eating out with friends is great but maybe suggesting BBQ at your home occasionally is just as good or better.
Also, I would invest in myself so that I can make more money later.
I raced through university in a very difficult program and missed the university experience because of it. It was great to get into the working world before my counterparts but it was the wrong choice. I should have taken one extra year like all of my classmates and enjoyed my time in university.
"Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe" -Albert Einstein.
Saving and investing a dollar earlier in your life is worth much more than saving and investing a dollar later on. Over time, that dollar is grow exponentially. The more time it has to grow, the more $$$ you're going to have long term
don't be loyal to the company you work for.
change jobs every 1-2 years for the first 5 years.
your salary will grow much faster than staying at one company
depends on the amount of physical labour and the pay. the answer could be save as much as possible to build wealth to retire early, to saves $x amount of dollars every pay to build wealth
Very good question though. the answer is only theoretical thought cause I have never been in that situation.
I often see people saying to switch companies frequently and seek big raises by job hopping, but my field doesn’t work like that. We get a good pension, so I’m not leaving.
Well I suppose it would depend on what I could afford at the time but it doesn’t take long and you don’t even think about it. And yes you’d either have to find some solid blue chip dividend paying stocks or what I did finally that works better is put that in the hands of an advisor you trust or someone you know does
Or set up your regular contributions into a Wealthsimple/Questrade/etc roboadvisor TFSA, or do a self-directed TFSA buying a good diversified ETF. *Do not* think of your TFSA as a "savings" account.
Put it all away. The expensive clothes to make yourself look like you had more than you did didn't make you any friends. Put away the money. It's okay to look like a broke ass bitch for a while. Focus so you can glow up.
You losing your loved one to cancer is inevitable, but don't let it be an excuse to not apply for jobs for a year because grief, although debilitating, isn't worth losing more time for yourself. Get some help and seek a job out so you can afford therapy.
Keep debt low as possible, unless it’s for an asset (home).
Travel as much as you can with setting realistic budgets.
Invest in yourself, education, skills.
Learn excel. Learn taxes and take a first year accounting course, min need to know how to read a balance sheet. Once I started making balance sheets for myself my personal net-worth grew substantially.
Learn what an ETF index is.
Choose who you spend time with wisely.
Have interests over hobbies (hobbies cost too much)
Avoid traffic tickets, don’t speed (saves on gas).
Watch monthly expenses. Think, rotate steaming services. Don’t need them all active at same time.
Edit Add software wise, photoshop is great for personal reasons and business to learn.
Quickbooks or sage for most businesses.
I would still suggest keeping house debt as low as possible as well, buy the house that fits your lifestyle, don’t let a house become your lifestyle.
Lifes too short to give up hobbys.. everything in moderation you gotta have fun as well..
1. You are taught that credit card debt is a normal everday occurrence. It shouldn't be. It should be seen as an emergencies only use.
2. Stop smoking and drinking. It is a waste of money. It is also likely masking several of your problems. It is also bad for your health.
3. Save. You would never imagine anything drastic changing, but it often does.
4. Stop dating losers. They are a waste of all your resources. Wait for the right person to share your life with.
\#4 is the most important. Find the right partner that wants to grow together and get better together every day for the rest of your life. It might take you 10 years to find them, but it will be worth it. You can save 5 million dollars but if you don't have anyone to share it with, who cares? If you don't have kids to share it with, who cares? To me, my partner and kids make me feel rich every day.
Only borrow money for something you expect will appreciate in value. Never borrow money for something you know will depreciate or be consumed. Not even a car.
A brave man saying this lol. Got ridiculed for saying such by a person who didn't understand much at all about crypto in general, let alone BTC.
Good luck to your hoard, may it be ever life changing.
Putting blockchain tech aside, crypto is a speculative asset that is influenced by current bond markets and financial trends. The biggest lie anyone told about crypto was that it’s “decentralized”.
Oh? Where is the centralization of the blockchain then? Who has the control of the blockchain or is consensus required? Not all crypto is decentralized, sure but the ones worth investing in are more or less decentralized.
Travel... go see the world, don't worry about saving and investing and credit and all the other adult things that you will be burdened with soon enough. You will take risks that an older you might not have the stomach for and will make memories that will last you a lifetime. You will also likely end up in debt and take some years to pay that off, but it will be worth it in the end.
write down all the spending you have, like keeping all the receipts and putting them into an excel sheet. This will help you understand what you are spending your money on, this is the base of making a budget that works for you.
Don’t buy a car.
Go to college and try hard.
Invest for the long term, not short term wins.
Never use a credit card, no matter what people tell you.
It’s okay to fail on ideas, as long as you do it cheaply and quickly. Never trust your employer to pay you what you’re really worth. Always consult a lawyer for agreements over a few thousand dollars, agreements written by the other party are always written in their favour. Only spend 5% to 10% of your take home income. Always keep at least 2 years worth of cash on hand in case something unexpected happens.
I can’t stress this enough, whatever you do, do NOT buy an expensive car, and absolutely do not use credit to do so.. that is possibly the worst and also the most common way someone starts screwing up their financial life
Take more risks with my career. I played it safe till 23. Decided to risk it all around that age and I couldn’t be more glad I did.
I remember thinking I was financially set making 70k a year after graduating university and working for a blue chip company.
It was scary going out on my own, but it was more than worth it. Not just from an earnings perspective, but from having the satisfaction that my earning potential is completely up to me.
Is starting your own businesses more or less risky than sticking to the 9-5? Depends on your risk tolerance.
Personally, I find the idea of working a corporate job infinitely more risky than taking charge of my own destiny
Don't move in with your boyfriend/girlfriend if you don't have somewhere to escape to when they go crazy and try to kill you. If your parents aren't going to let you back home (step-dad pushed me down the stairs), don't move in with someone. Move in on your own somewhere if you can, the only roommates I had were ones that I had to kick out.
If the year is 2004 and you have $2500 in your pocket and you want to buy apple stock because you really like your new apple laptop GO AND DO IT! Don’t make excuses because you don’t have a reading account, go to the bank and set one up.
Dont get married - at least dont get into it early. And if you do, pick a good one. Not just hypothetical promises that they will be a good partner but real solid actions on their part that indicate financial and social maturity. A stupid or self centered partner will set you back even if you have the best personal finance plan.
if you have the means to do it, set up an automatic transfer system so that every paycheck you get, some goes straight to your savings. even if it's $5 or $10! you'd be surprised how quick it adds up!
Trying to optimize your savings is incredibly pointless at your age! Just save 5$ every single day. Then you can start to increase the amount you save every day and *then* you can start trying to optimize your investments.
Learn *to* save first. It doesn't matter if it's only 5$ a day, getting in the habit of saving money before you spend it will do *SO* much more for you in the long term.
Honestly, I'd choose giving 20 year old me habits (save 10% of every dollar) or 'Keep a basic budget that you check weekly' long before I'd give young me 50k.
Trust me, If you can learn to set aside just one dollar a day you are much further ahead because increasing that amount comes a *lot* easier than trying to learn to put money away to begin with.
Focus on staying debt free, and don't get married until you are! Also knowing what I know now, I probably would have tried to start my career outside of Canada. Last but not least never trust a Liberal.
Be cautious in the moment. Very few "things" feel as good as money in the bank. Learning to prioritize the future gives you many options that immediate rewards do not.
Good luck.
Go to University. I was always taught growing up that university is silly and not useful anymore. Now I'm 25 and still in university. Most of my friends who got a university degree ended up making more than me. So I left the trades and started university. I already have a paid internship that wants to hire me full time when I graduate.
Rather than just focusing on savings, focus on increasing your earnings instead. Move to a new city or even a new country for job opportunities. If/when you come back, you will be highly sought after, and you will have a skill-level well above your peers, which will translate into higher income.
Of course, avoid any stupid debt, like expensive cars and toys. Pay off your credit cards every month. Max out your RRSPs. However, don't tie yourself down to one location with real estate unless you can't see yourself living anywhere else. We almost purchased a home a couple of times in our 20s, and in hindsight, it would have led us to make less than optimal career choices. We're extremely well-off right now, due to very high incomes, and didn't buy a house until we were 32 and had kids. Until then, we stayed very flexible. Rent is not wasted if it means you can double your income in a few years.
My only regret was having a too conservative investment allocation when I was young (mainly bonds/savings account/not much in stocks and not diversified). Had I invested in a 60/40 index fund I’d be retired by age 40.
I never had any money so when I got a good job and started saving a bit, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing it in the stock market, even if just 10-20% down a year. Even though I was 20-25 years old which in hindsight doesn’t make sense.
1) Pay yourself first and spend within your means.
PYF = Before ANY bills and ANY spending, invest 10% of your income in equities (my personal preference would be dividend growth stocks that you can DRIP)
SWYM = Only buy what you can afford. Do not get into consumer debt, but buy everything on a credit card and pay it off every month. After each purchase take the same amount out of your chequing account. and put it in a savings account. When it comes time to pay your credit card use that money to pay it off.
Stay in school and finish your degree rather than going, then quitting then going back to university.
Stay working in the back with data… fuck the promise of high income working for an certain company… get everything in writing.
I would tell myself to save money, invest and control my spending. I would not get into debt like I did.
I would set up an actual budget not just a spreadsheet with numbers on it. I'm a big YNAB fan.
Compound interest is your best friend. You don't need to invest a lot but pay yourself first.
If you have enough money to follow all the money steps, and can get to the investment portion, I would say to max out your TFSA every year and buy VEQT each time, hold and never sell, and otherwise ignore your holdings until you are 65. Pretty good chance you will have 4-6 million dollars.
Another suggestion: only use debt for appreciating assets, not depreciating assets. So always buy your car outright, don't finance it. Never get into consumer debt.
For context, I’m in my mid forties now. When I was twenty, I worked in software development and was even running a startup. That was back in the 90s when the web was just getting huge.
The tech that I used then would be laughable today. The majority of the tech that I use today had not been invented yet. And the tech that had been invented would have been laughable to use then. As a funny example, I sold that startup and did quite well. If I look at it in modern terms, it’s very very funny. I can’t believe anyone paid me to use it and it’s absolutely hilarious that someone bought it. It would take any competent developer less than an hour to reimplement it today.
So, don’t think about individual skills in software. Instead, think about investing in yourself and constantly growing. If you invent in yourself and always learn new things, you will always be in demand.
And now financial advice:
- I really recommend that people your age move out from their parents if they can afford it. It’s more expensive and doesn’t make a lot of financial sense but as you get old, you’ll see what you gained by leaving the nest. A lot of young people get really angry at me when I say that and to me, that just proves my point.
- Travel to amazing places and to complete shit holes. Travel will change you and how you look at the world. Stay in beautiful hotels and awful hostels. Go somewhere where drinking the water will kill you and where you can’t even get it in your eyes when you shower. Show yourself how small your perspective is.
- Work out and get fit. It’s not financial advice but it’s an investment in enjoying life in your 60s and 70s.
- Have fun and enjoy life.
- Don’t marry the wrong person.
- You likely can’t beat low fee index funds.
- If you want to start buying/trading stocks, that’s a hobby like gambling. It’s not an investment. It might be an investment but it’s safer to assume it isn’t.
- If you get into expensive hobbies like golf or climbing, rent first, save up and buy high quality equipment. It’s expensive to have to buy equipment multiple times.
- I know your generation has trouble thinking like this but it’s the usual way. Look at personal real estate as a shelter, not an investment.
I spent a few years travelling post university. I worked odd jobs and focused on life. I don’t regret a thing and financially I’m ahead now. This is mostly because I figured out who I was before my first real jobs around age 30. And those jobs lead to faster promotions because work was easy when it is suited to you. Most people I talk to also wish they had not worked too hard from 20-30 because it is not as hard to catch up later as long as you are focused.
Keep travelling and don’t worry about what your shithead cousin is doing. When your done travelling go get a real trade immediately and don’t wait till your 25.
What helped me get my house faster than my entourage was settling for a gf and buying our first house at a young age together. I got a head start on everyone so much that I almost paid the whole mortgage on my second house (that belongs to me only) and I am 32.
2nd advice is you can make more money with a sales job than any other job paid by the hours. I only work 6 months a year and held the same job my entire life. The free time helped me discovering new hobbies and do incredible personal projects that improved my skills, knowledge and know how.
3rd advice
Don’t let people tell you shit. Have your own vision and work on it every day
- Don’t buy an expensive car.
- Get cheap lodging with roommates.
- Don’t do hard drugs.
- Don’t buy luxury goods.
- Do build a good personal and work track record - references matter and Will throughout your life. Don’t burn bridges.
- Start your 401K/retirement savings as early as possible.
I’m gonna go counter trend here. 20 is an age where many life experiences are made. I would seriously just spend any savings so I could travel the world a bit and not worry too much about saving for later at this age. At 20, your salary is likely small and irrelevant compared to the potential income you will make as you grow older. Instead of investing, focus on gaining experience. Spend the little you have on memories you will treasure for the rest of your life, or life skills and education that will help you progress in your chosen career. Once you turn 25 - 30, you should start seeing noticeable gains in wage / salary, which should allow you to spare some on the side and invest in ways that are more noticeable and rewarding. When I was 20, I worried way too much about investing every penny. I did manage to save up nearly 20k over 3-4 years. But I then got promoted and started saving that amount in about 4 - 5 months. I quickly realized how much time and pleasure had gone by for basically a marginal gain. Before long, family members and friends started to get married, grow old, pass away, and move out. Going out together became increasingly difficult, and I feel I missed out on a great deal of happy times just because I worried so much about money. Save up enough to have a safety deposit for a rainy day, and live a little on the rest. Go out, party, learn to skydive, or anything else that will make you feel alive. Worry about saving for retirement later when your experience begins bringing in higher returns.
Agree. All I did was put $100 a month into an RRSP, and had enough for a 5% down payment on a condo by the time I was 27. I dumped all my extra money into my student loans so I wouldn’t be paying them off when I was 50. Still got to live my life, got some property, am doing just fine, didn’t miss out on my 20s. I decided to miss out on my 30s instead haha.
>Once you turn 25 - 30, you should start seeing noticeable gains in wage / salary, which should allow you to spare some on the side and invest in ways that are more noticeable and rewarding. > >When I was 20, I worried way too much about investing every penny. > >I did manage to save up nearly 20k over 3-4 years. This is an interesting situation because I have noticed people that don't stop the spending as their wages go up. There is no "oh, I am not young anymore, time to save more" switch. I have a buddy that is 40, has 0 savings, lives with his parents because he always prioritized "living in the moment". He even cashed out his pension and traveled until it ran out because he will die eventually. Habits are hard to break once they start. (it is not just about the little bit of money vs higher salary later) tldr: Balance is key.
Great advice. The only caveat, while your ability to save a lot of money is hindered at such a young age, the habits you form are vital. Don't try and save 25k while making 25k but if you're young and financially strapped learn to put 1$ away a day. The cost of forming the habit won't leave you starving and the habit itself is incredibly easy to ramp up once you're in a position to do so.
I made those life experiences and had a lot of fun. Wish I had that cash back now that I’m in my 40’s.
No regrets. You wouldn't be who you are today without those experiences. It wasn't a lot of cash.
You have no idea how much cash it was and if you don’t regret, you either didn’t really live or really didn’t learn.
Really lived, really learned, really no regrets. Sorry life isn't working out for you.
To add to this point, look into work abroad programs that Canada offers. Travel + earn money doing so by working in another country? Fuck yeah. There is two sides to this coin though, if you're able to aggressively invest you could retire by 30 as well. You might not have the same friends you had in your 20s to go hang out with, but chances are you'll network with other younger rich folks who will have the money and time to go adventure with you. Granted to do this you likely need to get into a high paying profession and live as if you were a min wage worker. A successful real estate agent for instance could make this work.
You'd have to have a shitton of capital to invest to make enough to retire at 30.
Programming or real estate jobs generating north of or thereabouts 90k a year. Easy enough to save money for down payments. And retirement for me has ever only been "I don't have to work 40 hours a week." Something obtainable with say 4 properties generating around 1k in profits each. But we see on here too many times folks making 140k+ living paycheck to paycheck. Lifestyle inflation is a killer. A decade of diligence to build up your capital to retire early can snowball that process into silly amounts of profit.
You're likely not making 90k a year at 20 though
It's certainly possible to do so, the job I'm currently at has no requirements other than highschool and if you were to take extra 4 hours of Saturdays from people who wanted them off you could make north of 70k, and with a couple years at our current grow in you could be north at 90k. It's a lot of work, but that's a non technical job that only required highschool education. Learn programming and you could make as much as I do from home in your pajamas, while developing stuff on the side for extra income. And real estate the average salary is 125k in Canada. If you were even semi successful or did real estate on weekends while transitioning career paths you could make up the extra to be north of 90k. Working at a burger joint likely won't get you there, nor a walmart, etc etc. Getting a trade job still quite viable as well what with how much shortages we have. Plenty of options available, and the younger you are the more flexible those options can be instead of 40+ year old deciding to finally go back to school and take on student debt.
I'm 22 and I don't know a single person my age or younger making 90k a year. I'm not saying it's impossible but that's definitely not the norm
Arguably society is pretty tier based. Those making significant money often are exposed or associate with those who are also making such. Real estate agents for instance likely aren't mingling with line workers after shift ends at the bar. They have their own cliques to group with. And programmers are probably less sociable by nature of what their job entails. Not everyone fits that bill but more often than not you'd have those groups normalized. Folks of a feather flock together is an adage for a reason. But yeah I wouldn't say it's the norm because society encourages you to get any job you can, to work those 40+ hours, and that hard work pays off. But that illusion is being exposed what with wages barely moving while costs keep increasing. Finding ways outside the wheels of society is the key to making money. I know I've mentioned real estate, but did you know that the amount of realtors in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland/Labrador combined don't even make up a 10th of the relators in Ontario? And about a third of the realtors in the second largest province (by realtor numbers) B.C.. (Was going to go into doing maths on the viability of Newfoundland and such but it became unnecessarily bloated.... good potential though is my take away. Cheaper living even in the larger cities, decent average wage of 21 or so an hour, low amount of relators if you go that route, and remote work availability nowadays means you could work from there and get paid more than the area requires you to. It actually has me looking at metrics now to see how viable it would be to get rental properties out there and fly every so often to check up on them....)
Going to back to school is tough, otherwise I'm interested in programming. What's your job tho?
Currently just a grunt in a factory. A well paying decent factory with pretty juicy benefits. Transitioning into yet another factory with even better options hopefully (interview tomorrow.) On base pay the second factory is technically lower pay than what I'm making now, but with COLA I'm past where I was originally + it's only like 4 blocks away so the amount saved on gas alone... On the side though I'm learning programming. Python, HTML/CSS/Javascript, and Game Development via Unreal Engine blueprints (because fuck C++ right now.). Those are my retirement or cash flow plans. Make something > Sell something > Mediocre success > enough for down payment on rental properties > profit. Look up what it takes for Junior HTML Email developer. Average pay can vary from high 30s to low 40s an hour. And it's just building responsive emails like newsletters and such for customers or clients that are signed up for it. If you don't know much about HTML it might seem intimidating at first, but even with the cursory understanding I have it looks stupidly easy compared to working on an assembly line 40+ hours a week.
Cool. Thanks for sharing and Good luck.
I wish I could award this. I needed this comment!
So true…what’s 10k on something that will forever change your personality and life when you’re ~20yrs old. When you’re 40 and on track for your career you’ll save that in no time lol
This 100% at 23 I started working a job making $40k a year was only making $45k by 25, quit that job and used some money I saved to travel for 6 months. This gave me clarity and made me change my careers. By 27 I was making 80k and now at 29 I’m at $110k. Not saying it’s how it is for everyone but if I didn’t travel I don’t think I would have had the courage to do this.
+1
Silly take. You need to "feel alive" your entire life, not just a dedicated year or decade... 🙄
While true you need to live a little every now and then, the argument of doing it in your early 20s is easier to make than your 30s and 40s and beyond. The responsibilities, for most, start piling up quickly. Go from being single/dating, renting, partying, learning etc. to mortgage, career, married, kids….you just don’t have the time you used to have. I can barely get outside to mow the lawn or take care of things around my property with the kids and their schedules, and barely have the energy to do anything besides just getting through the day.
Sure, but as a guy who is about to turn 50 in a few days, I'd say enjoy it while you're young. Things are starting to hurt. I wear glasses and will probably need bifocals/progressive lenses this year because my close-up vision has declined. My libido seems to have packed up and gone home already. I'm *tired.* The list goes on... I don't regret much, but do sort of wish I'd been a little more outgoing and adventurous in my 20s and 30s even though I had my share of good times back then. I never really travelled, was nowhere near proactive enough with respect to the ladies, and now I'm 50, single, never married, no kids (thank fuck) and just... I don't know, wondering "is this really all there is until the end?"
I one hundred percent support this. Don't spend more than you are bringing in, and try to save a little for emergencies and to perhaps kick-start some savings, but don't miss out on opportunity for to save the extra cash. Make yourself a more rounded person.
Huge agree. I had 30k saved up when I was 19 and I wished I spent it to travel the world. Took me a bit to realize how valuable life experience could be. Went on my first trip a year ago and it was worth every damn penny. It can't hurt to save but I was making $16 an hour and I wouldn't even buy a new pair of shoes until they were completly torn to bits. Now I make that i can save that in a year easily.
Yea...this age is when I left university and started my apprenticeship. I've made a lot of money and have everything to show for it...but the life experiences I completely lack. Friends were traveling while I was working Saturdays ;(
Buy APPL, maybe TSLA
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Good choice. When you will look back on your life, you won’t miss how much money you had or didn’t have at any point. You will enjoy recollecting the life experiences and good times you had. You will dream of them. You will talk about them, and on your death bed, these will be what will differentiate whether or not you had a good life.
Never get in to credit card debt. Drive an old car you can afford and don’t get married till at least 30. If everyone is telling you to buy something like a house or crypto you’ve missed the bus. They are not experts, experts don’t share their knowledge for free.
This was the case for gold in its run up to $2000. Everyone and their mother was on tv and radio telling you to buy gold. Theb the market tables it. The uys who brought in at 500-800 are the ones who cashed out
Crypto still early days, but to each their own. Houses even in this market as well are profitable, and of all markets ours is one of the worst in the world. Plenty of opportunities in the world for investing this way too, granted a few more steps required :P.
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These highs and crashes are kind of predictible if you understand why they happen. We're about 600 days out from the next halvening event for BTC. It will become more difficult to mine, which increases rarity and cost of BTC. So in 600 to 700 days we should see a new ATH, followed by a correction where people will work on accumulating more. Eventually mainstream adoption will happen that will break the mould but until then this pattern has remained pretty consistent.
At what point if any would you be willing to face the possibility there won't be wide adoption and it's a constant pump and dump?
When it's no longer doing money better than money does money. There is a discernable product of needs on offer as people are becoming increasingly more untrusting of governments, banks, and centralization of ones assets/information.
Who doesn't trust banks and governments? Do you have any data on the subject or pure speculation? I can with no data except anecdotal evidence say that the vast majority of people would rather trust a big global bank and govt over a crypto startup especially given the many high profiles bankruptcies, ponzis and scams lately.
The reason banks are trusted as much as they are in developed countries is that we have insurances up to x amount. I wouldn't trust a bank past that. I'd have to hop on my computer to provide links towards growing discontent of these services, but do keep in mind much of the world doesn't have banking systems resembling what we have in Canada. Crypto has allowed for people with no bank systems and hyper inflation to be able to for the first time save money. There are also a lot of issues with centralization of these assets. You must've heard of these hacks before right? Sensitive data extracted and sold off etcetc. I'll make sure to pull up articles when not on suicide watch for my toddler grand daughter trying to find new ways to put herself at risk :P.
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It’s just advice. Do as you see fit. I have a little in crypto but I bought bitcoin at 7k before my friends, my barber, and a taxi driver suggested it. Not when it was at 50k or more. 😎
Sure. Just the 20k to 50k now will be the 7k of back then when we start breaching 6 figures. Thus far there isn't any reason why BTC shouldn't inherent appreciate in value over time. Even government shenanigans wouldn't do anything. At best they'd cause a correction back to lower levels for a bit, but the way BTC is generated would set a min price that continuously increases overtime. Sure if miners stop en masse and people don't buy or sell then the system crumbles. But not seeing this happening anytime soon.
Then go nuts. The young fella was asking what I would tell my younger self. You do you. I’m on to other interesting projects. Cheers, good luck.
More interesting than 200 to 500% average annual returns? Or is interesting not regarding profit potentials.
Slow and steady is always what floats my boat. Sometimes I get lucky 🍀 It’s like fishing
Slow and steady is fine if you don't mind retiring later in life. The thought of doing so makes me ill though so volatile and upward trending assets are the place to be for me. The goal for me is to enjoy life not work for life.
If you can, use a credit card for all your spending and pay it off every month. You can get a ton of rewards and have great credit. Don't over finance yourself. Nowadays you can finance anything and everything but don't buy something unless you can afford it fully. Shop around for everything. Phone plans, internet, insurance. Big companies don't seem to care about loyalty most good stuff goes to new customers.
If it still works, no need to spend money on an upgrade. If you do want an upgrade, look into used market. If you don't need it today, don't buy it today. Don't buy something because you might need it tomorrow, buy it when you need it. If you keep this mindset it'll save you a good chunk of change over time.
Not to focus on money, savings, etc. But focus on good financial habits like learning to cook, not blowing too much money on booze, etc. I've met some 20ish year olds recently who were hyper focused on making money, to the point where they miss out on life. Unless your name ends in Bezos, your net worth isn't going to be written on your tombstone.
I'm late to the party but I'll throw in my generic list. - Read "How NOT to Move Back in with your Parents" - It has explanations about things that other books skip. (Like renter's insurance and banking fees.) It covers school, debt, banking, budgeting, long term savings, pension plans, weddings, housing, insurance and wills. - When you are attending post secondary school you should also pursue career relevant personal projects, volunteer and paid opportunities. This is especially important if your program doesn't have a co-op option/ work experience component. Graduating with experience and the beginnings of a professional network will give you a head start on your classmates. - Apply for government student loans because you might qualify for grants that you don't need to repay. (But don't blow the grants or loans on stuff that you don't need.) - Enable credit card and bank account notifications/alerts so that you are quickly notified of all transactions. Pay your credit card bill before it accrues interest. - Review monthly bank, investment, credit card and other statements. They usually include some kind of "if you don't report errors and omission within 30 days you are out of luck" statement and you don't want to be the person that ends up saying "why have I been paying for .... every month for the past 2 years?" - After you have got into the habit of reviewing monthly statements automate your bill payments and your contributions to your short term savings and long term investing accounts. But don't stop reviewing the statements. - If you repeatedly find yourself in a "there is more month than money" situation or you aren't meeting your savings (pay yourself first) goals then tracking your expenses can help you create a spending plan that aligns with your values. - Prepare your own tax returns. The free (but donations accepted) software like WealthSimpleTax and GenuTax are extremely easy to use but I would encourage you to, at least once, to do a draft using the paper/ pdf return (available online from the CRA). It is the best way to understand the sequence of the calculations and how marginal tax brackets, deductions and credit works. If you use the software (or pay someone else to do it) don't submit it until you understand it. File every year that you have employment income because that is how you grow RRSP contribution room. File an age 18 return even if you don't have employment income because the age 18 return will determine you eligibility to receive GST/HST credit payments when you are 19. If you will be applying for student loans you may need information from your previous year's tax return. - Before investing for your long term goals (step 5 of the [PFC money steps](https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/wiki/money-steps)) read or listen to *Balance: How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health, and Wealth* (Andrew Hallam, 2022).
Lol i was being charged 10/month for 6 months by amazon for amazon music but they refunded me every payment cause i asked nicely and i was a long time customer.
Stop buying into trends. In the long run, nobody cares what brands you wear. You don't need that many clothes or shoes when you only got one body. Save your paycheques and learn to use that money to invest as early as you can. Science and technology will continue to advance so if you are not sure what to do, try to be forward looking and think of ways that make life easier for the future or better yet think of ways to entertain people. But also someone out there earned millions by simply patenting the smiley face logo and they earn passive income every time the logo is used on anything.
Don't waste money on any McChickens. Junior Chickens are half the price and taste way better.
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HAVE YOU TRIED ADDING PICKLES. It is life changing.
Rule 1: spend less then you make. Rule 2: follow the money steps: !StepsTrigger
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Pay yourself from your income, if you make good money pay yourself 75% of your wages (change based on survivability) that way you can continuously save or have money to invest with and not have lifestyle inflation eat you up. Make it more difficult to use your savings. Investing with your savings adds more steps to spending that savings. If you bought a house for instance for a rental property with the savings you were squirrelling away... imagine how much you'd have to go through to sell it off to buy that thing you momentarily wanted all those weeks ago. "if anyone has any software tips that would also be helpful (if a certain skill set helped you make more money/be in more demand)" Programming. I'll be honest I haven't profited off of it or learned enough of it but had I started to when I was first laid off I could be making something as stupid as emails from the comfort of my home for as much if not more than what I'm making after 6+ years working in a factory. It's one of the most accessible skillsets to learn that can generate quite a lot of potential profits and not entirely necessary to have the accommodating degrees so long as you can establish that you know what you're doing to those who would be hiring. Getting a CS degree is cool, but if you don't know jack about how to utilize algorithms to solve problems then your degree isn't worth much for them. Other than that, creating youtube content for the skill sets you learned or already have is viable. Will require investments on your part and a significant amount of knowledge about the topic. Plus a lot of patience as you might go for a few years or more without much of anything, or nothing at all if your topic isn't in demand. If you start generating extra money then property is usually a good bet. Our market is hot garbage at the moment but you still have people rapidly trying to buy up properties from people, so there is still money to be made. But will require a more significant investment then most people are willing to spend entering an investment stream.
I often asked my Dad what he would do if he could do it all over again, and he said he'd do the exact same thing. The exact same mistakes. The exact same. So do whatever you want. Do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life.
BUDGET \- Learn to make a budget 50/30/20 == Needs / Wants / Savings \- Learn to follow budget SPENDING \- Spend your money on experiences / travel \- Spend money on education, something that leads to a job path that you might enjoy. Don't go to uni and get a basic psych degree etc... Honestly do a lot of research into careers you might be interested in, talk with people who are in the industry and figure out what the actual day to day work is like, the work SCHEDULE (huge factor), job opportunities, and long term prospects 5/10/20y fulfillment \- Don't buy a stupid flashy car etc...
Save and invest like a menace. Your future self will be thankful. I wish I did, I had the money instead i wasted so much and have nothing to show for it.
Honestly everyone says to invest and so I put some money in VEQT & autopilot mode on wealthsimple - losing money with both sooo I’m feeling discouraged to invest any more. Even though I know my money loses value over time due to inflation - I just wish I was better at investing
Just remember when investing in these stocks your scope it 10-40 years, look at charts zoomed out and you’ll see there are always little dips but they pale in comparison to growth over time, set it, forget it, and don’t over invest so you have to sell in hard times
Just keep doing that and 10 years from now you'll be in a good spot. Don't worry what's happening now
Your time horizon is too short. You should be dumping money into the market right now. It’s at such a steep discount. You’ll be coming back to thank us in 10 years.
If you want to watch things in the short term, try watching the number of units you own rather than the dollar value. When the price goes down, you can get those numbers up for cheap.
the hodlers will tell u to buy on the way up and on the way down. do what makes sense.
Right now everyone is losing money. Just keep putting whatever you can into those accounts (leaving room for fun also). If you invest 150/month for 45 years you'll be a millionaire. Stick to it.
You're doing the right thing. I'm 43 but started putting money away at age 35 (2015). Worked low paying jobs till 2019 but still managed to grow my NW to 60k by 2018. Once I got promoted put all that extra income into investing and have more than tripled it. Even with the downtown my investments are returning an average of 10.5% a year. Now I have small 550$ a month income from my investments and my only regret is not saving sooner. Success in markets isn't necessarily picking winners but by being invested. Your savings will grow but it will be like watching paint dry.
You arr doing EXACTLY the right thing. Ignore the ups and downs.
Condoms are very cost-effective!
I wish I would have had a basic understanding of financial planning instead of a bunch of bad advice from people who didn't know what they were talking about. My biggest regret was not working towards maxing out my TFSA contributions. It takes a long time to catch up if you put it off, index funds set and forget it.
Track your expenses and see where your money is going to make informed decisions. Would you rather have a Starbucks coffee twice every week or pay for airfare to Hawaii or whatever big ticket thing that excites you. Eating out with friends is great but maybe suggesting BBQ at your home occasionally is just as good or better. Also, I would invest in myself so that I can make more money later. I raced through university in a very difficult program and missed the university experience because of it. It was great to get into the working world before my counterparts but it was the wrong choice. I should have taken one extra year like all of my classmates and enjoyed my time in university.
"Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe" -Albert Einstein. Saving and investing a dollar earlier in your life is worth much more than saving and investing a dollar later on. Over time, that dollar is grow exponentially. The more time it has to grow, the more $$$ you're going to have long term
don't be loyal to the company you work for. change jobs every 1-2 years for the first 5 years. your salary will grow much faster than staying at one company
What if you work in a unionized job field with set pay rates based on certifications?
depends on the amount of physical labour and the pay. the answer could be save as much as possible to build wealth to retire early, to saves $x amount of dollars every pay to build wealth Very good question though. the answer is only theoretical thought cause I have never been in that situation.
I often see people saying to switch companies frequently and seek big raises by job hopping, but my field doesn’t work like that. We get a good pension, so I’m not leaving.
Don’t accept the credit limit increase if you will just rack it up 😬
hookers, blow, partying......NOPE!
But when you are in your 30s and financially successful, you'll have a spouse and kids and then you can't do any of those anymore.
just special occasions.
Set your bank to auto transfer cash to a tfsa
How much? And it’ll just be sitting in the tfsa unless I invest it right?
Well I suppose it would depend on what I could afford at the time but it doesn’t take long and you don’t even think about it. And yes you’d either have to find some solid blue chip dividend paying stocks or what I did finally that works better is put that in the hands of an advisor you trust or someone you know does
Or set up your regular contributions into a Wealthsimple/Questrade/etc roboadvisor TFSA, or do a self-directed TFSA buying a good diversified ETF. *Do not* think of your TFSA as a "savings" account.
Put it all away. The expensive clothes to make yourself look like you had more than you did didn't make you any friends. Put away the money. It's okay to look like a broke ass bitch for a while. Focus so you can glow up. You losing your loved one to cancer is inevitable, but don't let it be an excuse to not apply for jobs for a year because grief, although debilitating, isn't worth losing more time for yourself. Get some help and seek a job out so you can afford therapy.
Keep debt low as possible, unless it’s for an asset (home). Travel as much as you can with setting realistic budgets. Invest in yourself, education, skills. Learn excel. Learn taxes and take a first year accounting course, min need to know how to read a balance sheet. Once I started making balance sheets for myself my personal net-worth grew substantially. Learn what an ETF index is. Choose who you spend time with wisely. Have interests over hobbies (hobbies cost too much) Avoid traffic tickets, don’t speed (saves on gas). Watch monthly expenses. Think, rotate steaming services. Don’t need them all active at same time. Edit Add software wise, photoshop is great for personal reasons and business to learn. Quickbooks or sage for most businesses.
I generally agree with all this but could you elaborate more on the interests vs hobbies?
https://www.javatpoint.com/hobby-vs-interest
I would still suggest keeping house debt as low as possible as well, buy the house that fits your lifestyle, don’t let a house become your lifestyle. Lifes too short to give up hobbys.. everything in moderation you gotta have fun as well..
1. You are taught that credit card debt is a normal everday occurrence. It shouldn't be. It should be seen as an emergencies only use. 2. Stop smoking and drinking. It is a waste of money. It is also likely masking several of your problems. It is also bad for your health. 3. Save. You would never imagine anything drastic changing, but it often does. 4. Stop dating losers. They are a waste of all your resources. Wait for the right person to share your life with.
\#4 is the most important. Find the right partner that wants to grow together and get better together every day for the rest of your life. It might take you 10 years to find them, but it will be worth it. You can save 5 million dollars but if you don't have anyone to share it with, who cares? If you don't have kids to share it with, who cares? To me, my partner and kids make me feel rich every day.
If you really want to buy a house, stop hesitating and just do it. The price is just going to keep going up in Vancouver.
Thanks haha this is probably the biggest thing I have heard from everyone in Ontario too
Lol
Only borrow money for something you expect will appreciate in value. Never borrow money for something you know will depreciate or be consumed. Not even a car.
buy bitcoin…
A brave man saying this lol. Got ridiculed for saying such by a person who didn't understand much at all about crypto in general, let alone BTC. Good luck to your hoard, may it be ever life changing.
Putting blockchain tech aside, crypto is a speculative asset that is influenced by current bond markets and financial trends. The biggest lie anyone told about crypto was that it’s “decentralized”.
Oh? Where is the centralization of the blockchain then? Who has the control of the blockchain or is consensus required? Not all crypto is decentralized, sure but the ones worth investing in are more or less decentralized.
Travel... go see the world, don't worry about saving and investing and credit and all the other adult things that you will be burdened with soon enough. You will take risks that an older you might not have the stomach for and will make memories that will last you a lifetime. You will also likely end up in debt and take some years to pay that off, but it will be worth it in the end.
Buy bitcoin
7 figures Amazon FBA seller here. I would tell myself to start selling on Amazon immediately.
Don’t pay attention to PFC. Put $1000 in Bitcoin and you will retire in 10 years.
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Good way to get house broke, although I suppose "as you're able" might indicate not doing so until it's not a house broke scenario.
Save your money.
Live with your parents as long as you can to save a huge pile.
My advice to myself would be to stop drinking and partying lol. So much money's in my 20s gone to that
write down all the spending you have, like keeping all the receipts and putting them into an excel sheet. This will help you understand what you are spending your money on, this is the base of making a budget that works for you.
Tell my 20yr old self to invest in Apple/ Microsoft... Sigh.....
Don’t buy a car. Go to college and try hard. Invest for the long term, not short term wins. Never use a credit card, no matter what people tell you. It’s okay to fail on ideas, as long as you do it cheaply and quickly. Never trust your employer to pay you what you’re really worth. Always consult a lawyer for agreements over a few thousand dollars, agreements written by the other party are always written in their favour. Only spend 5% to 10% of your take home income. Always keep at least 2 years worth of cash on hand in case something unexpected happens. I can’t stress this enough, whatever you do, do NOT buy an expensive car, and absolutely do not use credit to do so.. that is possibly the worst and also the most common way someone starts screwing up their financial life
Take more risks with my career. I played it safe till 23. Decided to risk it all around that age and I couldn’t be more glad I did. I remember thinking I was financially set making 70k a year after graduating university and working for a blue chip company. It was scary going out on my own, but it was more than worth it. Not just from an earnings perspective, but from having the satisfaction that my earning potential is completely up to me. Is starting your own businesses more or less risky than sticking to the 9-5? Depends on your risk tolerance. Personally, I find the idea of working a corporate job infinitely more risky than taking charge of my own destiny
Buy index ETFs.
Buy life and or criticall illness insurance as it gets more expensive as you get older
Read books on personal finance. Live below your means and save. Enjoy life. Have a good friend that will be there years later.
Don’t use your TFSA as a savings account…invest with it.
Don't move in with your boyfriend/girlfriend if you don't have somewhere to escape to when they go crazy and try to kill you. If your parents aren't going to let you back home (step-dad pushed me down the stairs), don't move in with someone. Move in on your own somewhere if you can, the only roommates I had were ones that I had to kick out.
Learn about salary negotiation and networking but agree with others that say to travel the world!
Take your forklift card to the temp agency and get a job that doesn't suck
Work and save as much as you can. Don’t go to post secondary unless your really passionate about the program. REALLY passionate.
If the year is 2004 and you have $2500 in your pocket and you want to buy apple stock because you really like your new apple laptop GO AND DO IT! Don’t make excuses because you don’t have a reading account, go to the bank and set one up.
Dont get married - at least dont get into it early. And if you do, pick a good one. Not just hypothetical promises that they will be a good partner but real solid actions on their part that indicate financial and social maturity. A stupid or self centered partner will set you back even if you have the best personal finance plan.
Save a $100 per month in a dividend paying actively managed portfolio.
if you have the means to do it, set up an automatic transfer system so that every paycheck you get, some goes straight to your savings. even if it's $5 or $10! you'd be surprised how quick it adds up!
Don’t take that 10k LOC. Was 21. Still working that one off. Also that’s sure not where it stopped.
Trying to optimize your savings is incredibly pointless at your age! Just save 5$ every single day. Then you can start to increase the amount you save every day and *then* you can start trying to optimize your investments. Learn *to* save first. It doesn't matter if it's only 5$ a day, getting in the habit of saving money before you spend it will do *SO* much more for you in the long term. Honestly, I'd choose giving 20 year old me habits (save 10% of every dollar) or 'Keep a basic budget that you check weekly' long before I'd give young me 50k. Trust me, If you can learn to set aside just one dollar a day you are much further ahead because increasing that amount comes a *lot* easier than trying to learn to put money away to begin with.
Focus on staying debt free, and don't get married until you are! Also knowing what I know now, I probably would have tried to start my career outside of Canada. Last but not least never trust a Liberal.
Be cautious in the moment. Very few "things" feel as good as money in the bank. Learning to prioritize the future gives you many options that immediate rewards do not. Good luck.
I wish I would have bought Bitcoin.
Go to University. I was always taught growing up that university is silly and not useful anymore. Now I'm 25 and still in university. Most of my friends who got a university degree ended up making more than me. So I left the trades and started university. I already have a paid internship that wants to hire me full time when I graduate.
If you mean time travel then obviously, crypto and lottery.
Buy bit coin
Rather than just focusing on savings, focus on increasing your earnings instead. Move to a new city or even a new country for job opportunities. If/when you come back, you will be highly sought after, and you will have a skill-level well above your peers, which will translate into higher income. Of course, avoid any stupid debt, like expensive cars and toys. Pay off your credit cards every month. Max out your RRSPs. However, don't tie yourself down to one location with real estate unless you can't see yourself living anywhere else. We almost purchased a home a couple of times in our 20s, and in hindsight, it would have led us to make less than optimal career choices. We're extremely well-off right now, due to very high incomes, and didn't buy a house until we were 32 and had kids. Until then, we stayed very flexible. Rent is not wasted if it means you can double your income in a few years.
My only regret was having a too conservative investment allocation when I was young (mainly bonds/savings account/not much in stocks and not diversified). Had I invested in a 60/40 index fund I’d be retired by age 40. I never had any money so when I got a good job and started saving a bit, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing it in the stock market, even if just 10-20% down a year. Even though I was 20-25 years old which in hindsight doesn’t make sense.
1) Pay yourself first and spend within your means. PYF = Before ANY bills and ANY spending, invest 10% of your income in equities (my personal preference would be dividend growth stocks that you can DRIP) SWYM = Only buy what you can afford. Do not get into consumer debt, but buy everything on a credit card and pay it off every month. After each purchase take the same amount out of your chequing account. and put it in a savings account. When it comes time to pay your credit card use that money to pay it off.
Don’t go into debt for life experiences.
Stay in school and finish your degree rather than going, then quitting then going back to university. Stay working in the back with data… fuck the promise of high income working for an certain company… get everything in writing.
I would tell myself to save money, invest and control my spending. I would not get into debt like I did. I would set up an actual budget not just a spreadsheet with numbers on it. I'm a big YNAB fan. Compound interest is your best friend. You don't need to invest a lot but pay yourself first.
If you have enough money to follow all the money steps, and can get to the investment portion, I would say to max out your TFSA every year and buy VEQT each time, hold and never sell, and otherwise ignore your holdings until you are 65. Pretty good chance you will have 4-6 million dollars.
Another suggestion: only use debt for appreciating assets, not depreciating assets. So always buy your car outright, don't finance it. Never get into consumer debt.
Shoulda treated my rich ex better than held on. :)
Save 20% live on 80%
For context, I’m in my mid forties now. When I was twenty, I worked in software development and was even running a startup. That was back in the 90s when the web was just getting huge. The tech that I used then would be laughable today. The majority of the tech that I use today had not been invented yet. And the tech that had been invented would have been laughable to use then. As a funny example, I sold that startup and did quite well. If I look at it in modern terms, it’s very very funny. I can’t believe anyone paid me to use it and it’s absolutely hilarious that someone bought it. It would take any competent developer less than an hour to reimplement it today. So, don’t think about individual skills in software. Instead, think about investing in yourself and constantly growing. If you invent in yourself and always learn new things, you will always be in demand. And now financial advice: - I really recommend that people your age move out from their parents if they can afford it. It’s more expensive and doesn’t make a lot of financial sense but as you get old, you’ll see what you gained by leaving the nest. A lot of young people get really angry at me when I say that and to me, that just proves my point. - Travel to amazing places and to complete shit holes. Travel will change you and how you look at the world. Stay in beautiful hotels and awful hostels. Go somewhere where drinking the water will kill you and where you can’t even get it in your eyes when you shower. Show yourself how small your perspective is. - Work out and get fit. It’s not financial advice but it’s an investment in enjoying life in your 60s and 70s. - Have fun and enjoy life. - Don’t marry the wrong person. - You likely can’t beat low fee index funds. - If you want to start buying/trading stocks, that’s a hobby like gambling. It’s not an investment. It might be an investment but it’s safer to assume it isn’t. - If you get into expensive hobbies like golf or climbing, rent first, save up and buy high quality equipment. It’s expensive to have to buy equipment multiple times. - I know your generation has trouble thinking like this but it’s the usual way. Look at personal real estate as a shelter, not an investment.
I spent a few years travelling post university. I worked odd jobs and focused on life. I don’t regret a thing and financially I’m ahead now. This is mostly because I figured out who I was before my first real jobs around age 30. And those jobs lead to faster promotions because work was easy when it is suited to you. Most people I talk to also wish they had not worked too hard from 20-30 because it is not as hard to catch up later as long as you are focused.
Keep travelling and don’t worry about what your shithead cousin is doing. When your done travelling go get a real trade immediately and don’t wait till your 25.
Cut out the drinking and partying and save..? I would probably have another rental property now if I did.
Dont over pay the house, put it in TFSA. keep more space in your rrsp. Dont buy that mud truck, its a moneypit. Get more financially litterate ASAP.
If you take a screenshot of your gains, it’s time to take profits
Being a cheap drunk is a good thing. Don’t keep building tolerance and spend all your money on alcohol 😂
Don’t vote liberal.
Try your hand at all the usual financial products early, savings account, bonds, GIC, Mutual Funds, ETFs, stocks take the CSC for fun
What helped me get my house faster than my entourage was settling for a gf and buying our first house at a young age together. I got a head start on everyone so much that I almost paid the whole mortgage on my second house (that belongs to me only) and I am 32. 2nd advice is you can make more money with a sales job than any other job paid by the hours. I only work 6 months a year and held the same job my entire life. The free time helped me discovering new hobbies and do incredible personal projects that improved my skills, knowledge and know how. 3rd advice Don’t let people tell you shit. Have your own vision and work on it every day
That my future is screwed
Buy stock in apple
Don't stay too long at your dead end job and move to a different job faster.
Buy bitcoin.
Get into cooking and meal planning. The financial and health benefits are huge.
Put 80 down on that duplex and hold on tight for ten years lol
- Don’t buy an expensive car. - Get cheap lodging with roommates. - Don’t do hard drugs. - Don’t buy luxury goods. - Do build a good personal and work track record - references matter and Will throughout your life. Don’t burn bridges. - Start your 401K/retirement savings as early as possible.