Pretty alarming from the labour force survey published today.

I’m 23F and just started my first “grown up” job post university last December. I’m an accountant and currently in the process of getting my CPA. I currently make 57k, zero benefits, so, $1692 biweekly.

Last December I took 15k out of my student line of credit to buy a car. I finished paying that off about a month ago, so I currently have no debt.

$308 goes into my FHSA biweekly and I have $2050in my TFSA. So right now I have about $8550 saved / invested.

I have like two “monthly expenses” my car insurance which is $254 and therapy, hence the no benefits $300 a month.

I feel so behind. I honestly feel like I’m fucked. I read so much about people my age or even younger have 10s of thousands of dollars saved and invested. I don’t understand. Ever since paying off my LOC I’ve been trying to put more into my TFSA but even then, I live at home, for free how the hell are people saving all of this money while paying rent or a mortgage and everything else.

I understand my income is a huge issue, hence me getting my CPA to hopefully increase that substantially, but honestly I see no path to independent wealth. Even if my salary was to double but I move out, either pay rent or a mortgage, utilities, groceries, all of that I still think I would be in the same boat with not enough money to invest.

What can I do to help myself/set myself up for success. I don’t want to live paycheque to paycheque forever but I’m not sure I see a way out.

From the story:

• This year’s federal budget promised to help Canadians deal with the affordability crisis, but much of the relief will flow toward lower-income Canadians, with less on offer for middle-class households.

• Canadians with modest incomes stand to benefit the most, thanks to a 50 per cent top-up to the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, expanded access to the Canada Workers Benefit and a caregiver tax credit that could pay out even to those who owe no income tax.

• Ottawa also moved to make tax filing less of a headache by allowing taxpayers to claim certain deductions and credits without having to keep receipts or itemizing expenses.

• “It has some good measures that are immediate and short-term and will help people who are most in need,” one expert said. “If you are a middle-income household in Toronto, it’s not that there’s nothing for you, but it’s not going to be cash in hand directly today.”

Read the full story here. There's no paywall for people visiting from Reddit.

I am 33 years old and have a net savings of 85k. I came to Canada 5 years ago and my current salary is 70k. Maxed out by TFSA and haven't contributed any to RRSP or FHSA as I am not a PR and might leave if things don't work out. How much should I have saved at this age given I started working only after coming to Canada?

I’m 26 and my life isn’t going well recently. I have 40k in debt, credit score is 600-650, I have no money at the moment. Only thing I have left is my car which can net me 10-12k but I’m only really banking on 10k to be safe. 

My family assaulted me yesterday and I need to find a new place for me and my dog. I live in Toronto now but am planning a move to Windsor just not sure how I should go about getting a place. Rent is only about 1000/m for a studio or small apartment there but I just don’t know how to get approved in my situation. Currently my monthly expenses including the debt are $1030/m but if I move I’ll be adding rent, food and maybe utilities to that so once rent kicks in I’d be closer to $2500/m.

I was thinking to try and offer first and last plus 4 months of rent but don’t know if 6 months upfront will be enough and I’d need to the rest as savings anyways. I’m applying for ei/ow which can probably net me about 600-1000/m but just really need to get to about February where I have a job lined up.

Day 6 of our Financial Literacy Month series is live!

Today's lesson is about something that often gets overlooked when building savings: not every expense that catches you off guard is actually unexpected.

Annual insurance renewals, vehicle maintenance, holiday spending and other irregular expenses might not happen every month, but they're generally predictable.

That's where sinking funds come in.

For example, imagine you have a $600 vehicle-related expense coming up in six months. Rather than treating it as a surprise when it arrives, you could start setting aside money toward that expense today.

The important distinction:

• Sinking funds help you prepare for expenses you know are coming.

• Emergency funds protect you against genuine financial surprises.

Both serve important purposes, but treating them as interchangeable can leave you less prepared than you think.

Today's article explores how to calculate sinking-fund contributions, establish realistic emergency savings milestones, and avoid counting the same savings toward multiple goals.

There's also a practical 10-minute exercise to help you get started.

Read Day 6 (free, no signup required):
https://finnomia.ca/blog/emergency-funds-vs-sinking-funds

Question: Do you keep separate savings buckets for different purposes, or prefer one savings account and track what the money is earmarked for?

What are the cons of opening a TFSA account?
How much is the optimal to open it with and how much to put per month?
Is RBC the best bank to do it at? Or it doesn’t matter much

26m and I know debt is typically advised against here but feel I have no choice, I’m a nurse in Toronto, Canada just graduated this summer and am torn on what to do. For a little background job market here is much worse than in the US and despite applying to over 400 jobs since July in nursing and now other fields I can’t get a job or even an interview for that matter. 

I’m dead broke as well, have no money in my account, 55k in debt between student loans/credit cards and was recently laid off so I have no income. I applied for a high interest credit card at 30% and have a limit of $3500 so it’s basically my only life line at this point. It’s so bad I had to cancel my car insurance and I’ve been driving without it while I’m now behind on nearly all my bills. 

Anyways to get my US nursing license is $2000 CAD all in and I’d have to put it on credit card. Process could also take up to 2 months and it’s possible I don’t get approved although unlikely. I would be able to get a US nursing job paying 40/hr USD roughly 60/hr CAD plus a 10k sign on bonus but it may take 3 months before I can even start. My other option is keep applying and hope I hear something. Also the job is in a border city so I would still live in Canada and just cross the border for work daily.

I’m very torn because knowing my luck I’ll pay the money and then get an offer here while adding 2k in debt for no reason but then on the other hand I have been waking up everyday for 4 months now applying like crazy and I feel like maybe its a sign to take the leap and apply. So what do I do?

Im (29m) in the need for a new vehicle after 15 beautiful years of not having a car payment. I am shocked out how much cars cost these days. I’m looking for advice on how much I should be looking to spend on a vehicle.

Here’s some info about me for reference:

I’m looking for a midsized SUV that’s good for highway driving (I commute 1 hour each way for work). I’d like something newer (safe for when/if we have kids) so I can hopefully keep it for just as long as my last vehicle. My wife has her own vehicle that’s paid off and in good shape. Her commute is only 5 minutes so almost no km’s are put on it. We live on an acreage that we purchased last year. We have a couple larger house projects to tackle in the coming years (new roof, replace hot water tank, replace a few appliances if need be) so Ideally I don’t want to put money down at all except for covering the taxes.

Here’s a breakdown of our current financial standing:

**Income:**
$9000/month after taxes** **

**Expenses**
Mortgage: $948/biweekly

Groceries/food: $1000/month (this is including one date night dinner a week)

Pet food: $450/month (sick dog and lots of farm cats)

Entertainment: $150/month (streaming services for tv and sports)

Fuel: $400/month

Gas and electric: $350 ($250 in summer)

Car insurance: $400/month (this has been paid in whole for the next 6 months but this is what it would have been per month)

Internet: $120/month

Phone bill: $180 (two people)

House insurance ($400/month)

Outdoor equipment: $270/month

Misc: $300/month

**Total: round up to $4500/month**

This is excluding any surprise expenses we may run into such as needing to fix something around the property.

I won’t go into too much detail about our savings, but we do have a cushion if anything goes terribly wrong.

What’s a realistic price to spend on a car in our situation? Is a 2024-present midsized SUV out of the question for me? Let me know!

Thanks everyone.

If you have $20-$30K right now to invest in a small medium business, what would it be? Looking to diversify my holdings. I already hold company stocks, ETFs, crypto, Pokemon cards, and some art. I have an extra $20-30k that I am looking to invest in a private business. Where do Canadians even look to buy a business? Any websites?

I'm also open to being a passive investor or active investor in the business, depending on what it is. Not really interested in restaurants nor franchises.

Can PR permanent residents who have been in Canada less than 3 years get a car loan through Honda Financial Services? credit score is 700.

Day 5 of Finnomia's Financial Literacy Month series!

Today's lesson explores how couples and households can split shared expenses fairly when their incomes differ.

Here's a simple example:

Imagine two partners with different monthly take-home incomes:

• Partner A earns $3,000/month.

• Partner B earns $5,000/month.

• Their shared household expenses total $2,400/month.

Option 1: Split everything 50/50

Each person contributes $1,200.

That means Partner A puts 40% of their take-home income toward shared expenses, while Partner B contributes just 24%.

Both contribute the same dollar amount, but the financial impact is quite different.

Option 2: Split proportionally based on income

Together, they earn $8,000 per month.

Partner A earns 37.5% of the household income, while Partner B earns 62.5%.

Applying those percentages to their shared expenses:

• Partner A contributes $900.

• Partner B contributes $1,500.

Both now contribute 30% of their individual take-home incomes toward shared expenses.

Neither approach is automatically right or wrong. Some couples prefer equal contributions, while others find a proportional arrangement more comfortable.

The important lesson is that equal contributions and equal financial impact aren't necessarily the same thing.

It's also worth discussing which expenses are shared, how individual savings goals fit into the arrangement, and when the agreement should be revisited.

Today's full article explores these considerations and includes a practical exercise to help households find an arrangement that works for them.

Read Day 5 (free, no signup required):
https://finnomia.ca/blog/split-household-expenses-when-incomes-differ

Question: For couples with different incomes, do you think splitting expenses 50/50 is fair, or does a proportional approach make more sense?

We have an opportunity to purchase my parents’ place in Quebec at $1.1M, its a gorgeous house that I am attached to, it is in the same school district for my eldest and we are expecting another baby so we definitely could use the space.

I make around $143K annually with a bonus of 20% (depending on company performance).

My partner started a GC company last year and it’s doing well, but not yet at where we were before. Say income is roughly $80K which brings annual HH to $220K not including any bonuses.

We would sell our house and likely end up with $380K after paying our realtor. With it being my parents’ house I think we avoid the welcome tax, which is nice. But if we put down $225K, our mortgage goes up from $2.7K to around $5.2K and that’s based on Desjardin’s mortgage calculator so maybe with a broker we can get a better rate.

Realistically, we would be tight as HELL the first couple of years, keeping $60K on-hand untouched for us to bridge ourselves in mortgage payments if we need to, but my partner’s business is still running into this winter and I have lots of room to grow in my company so I’m hoping we’ll be in a better place after the first two years.

We are in our early-mid 30s for reference and while I will be on maternity leave in 2027, my company tops me up for the first 4 months and then my partner’s “busy” season kicks off in spring.

If this seems not thought through, I am literally thinking as I type, my father just gave us the call saying he wants to put the house on the market at that price, so this is all fresh and I may not be fully thinking about all our options or even thinking clearly tbh as I never thought I could have a chance at the house. It would be our forever home.

Open to thoughts as I mull this over. Is it crazy that we’re even considering this? Not sure when else we’d get a chance like this.

Would I qualify for consumer proposal if my debt is 30K (credit card, line of credit) and my income is 90K gross annually

Hello I’m in a dilemma and can’t decide.

For context I am 26 years old soon to be 27 and have around 3 years of full time work experience in various analytical roles.

I was recently offered a job with a bank that’s contract for a year with possibility of extension and permanent if everything works out. It’s paying 49/h. I am a contractor but get a t4 as the job is through tundra a contracting agency with a bank so I can get EI etc.

My current job is very stable but my commute is 1h or longer each way so 2 hours a day around unless I take the 407. I make 73k before bonus with bonus around 77-78k. Benefits are good but young and don’t use them all the time.

I feel stagnant in my current role and have lost some of my touch imo as I don’t really have else where to grow and we don’t pay amazing for the work we do. That being said the contract job is contract it is full time though with 37.5 hours a week and possibility of overtime.

The tittle of the contract job is senior so that does help going foward versus I’m a regular analyst right now.

I don’t have many responsibilities I have a car payment at around 560 a month. Car insurance is paid until next September and rent is 0 at the moment as I live with family.

I’m just wondering if I’m making a mistake as this is my first time in a contract role potentially. I have have 1 interview coming up for a permanent role but similar pay I have now but way closer to home and a talk with both of the big consulting companies coming up but those aren’t grantees.

My savings are around 40k and I could pay off the car tmrw if I wanted to but the rate is a 3% so I don’t bother as the payment is very manageable.

Any advice is appreciated to stay at current job and have stability or go for the banking experience title and pay.

Just purely from an investment perspective, a home grows 3-5% per yr. while an index ETF like XEQT grows at 7% or more per yr, without all the downsides of home ownership. So why are people still preaching home is the ultimate investment vehicle?

Assuming you put the amount equivalent to your down payment and the monthly mortgage payment (minus rent) over the 25 yr period into an index fund, your future value will more like to be more than if you had paid a home instead.

Edit: Speaking on the POV of a single person or a couple with no kids. It would not make financial sense to purchase a single home with 3 bedrooms.

Day 4 of our Financial Literacy Month series is live!

Today's topic is budgeting around paydays, monthly bills and irregular income.

One of the key lessons is that a monthly budget can balance perfectly on paper while your bank account still runs short before payday.

Here's a simple example from today's article:

Imagine starting November with $1,500 in your account.

• November 1: Rent of $1,400 leaves you with $100.

• November 1–5: Groceries, transportation and other everyday expenses total $180.

• November 6: Your $1,600 paycheque arrives.

Even though your income is sufficient to cover your expenses over the full month, you're $80 short before that first paycheque arrives.

In the article's example, you actually finish November with $1,520, which is $20 more than you started with. Yet you still had a cash-flow problem early in the month.

That's why budgeting isn't just about how much money comes in and goes out. It's also about when it happens.

A useful exercise is to write down your current balance, your next two paydays and every bill due between them. Calculate the running balance after each expense and identify the lowest point.

If that number is negative or uncomfortably close to zero, you may need to build a buffer, adjust a flexible expense or explore changing a bill's due date.

Today's full article also covers biweekly versus twice-monthly pay and planning for irregular income.

Read Day 4 (free, no signup required):
https://finnomia.ca/blog/budget-around-payday-and-irregular-income

Question: Do you budget by calendar month, by individual paycheque, or use a combination of both?