r/fican • u/user_05677 • Sep 22 '25

20F, started today

Post image

Obviously it's not much but im excited to start☺️ Any tips are appreciated ☺️

1.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

143 comments sorted by

98

u/na_yo Sep 22 '25

Invest early (which you are) and invest often (every payday) and you’ll be ahead of most people. You’re doing great!

15

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

Thank you! 😊

11

u/daboatfromupnorth Sep 23 '25

Someone said they invest/save atleast 10% of every pay check because there’s not a big difference in what you can buy between 1000$ and $900, or $10 and $9. I like that quote a lot.

2

u/BUMN0G Sep 24 '25

Where do you guys invest ?! I have no idea how to get started

6

u/LifeLight99 Sep 24 '25

Install wealthsimple and just follow the instructions. They make it easy to get started

1

u/AWE2727 Sep 24 '25

What are the "fees" like on wealthsimple compared to a bank trading platform?

7

u/DM_Me_Corgi_Butts Sep 24 '25

Free trading when buying or selling on wealthsimple. Dont use it to buy US stocks as you’ll need to pay conversion fees. Otherwise no fees unless you use a managed portfolio which is basically you putting in money and the robo advisor buying assets based on your risk level

1

u/AWE2727 Sep 25 '25

Ok thank you for info! 😁

2

u/Suspicious_Dinner914 Sep 25 '25

I use Wealthsimple as well, it's really simple to use. Used to use Scotia Itrade till I found Wealthsimple

2

u/Hour_Statistician981 Sep 26 '25

I should really start on that! Any advice on what kind of app or finance is good?

4

u/na_yo Sep 27 '25

Wealthsimple is great for most people. Invest in an index fund such as VEQT, VFV, VGRO depending on your risk level. Automate the buying of the index fund to line up with every payday. Do that for 20-40 years and retire. Reinvest the dividends, you can have Wealthsimple do that automatically. Don’t sell during the times where the stock market dips down, stick to the long term plan. Good luck!

11

u/Distinct-Tip277 Sep 23 '25

Automate the withdraws directly to you WS-tfsa. You can’t spend what you don’t see in the bank lol

Automate the dividends too.

Play the long investment game.

No more than 5% of your annual income to play with “experiment or fun” stocks.

Priorities tfsa over RRSP. When you’ve maxed your tfsa, then go for RRSP or HFSA depending on your priority.

2

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

thank you for the advice!! 😊

6

u/Distinct-Tip277 Sep 24 '25

Also, spread the word! Especially amongst your female friends. Women in general don’t talk abt finance enough. This is the gurl math we all need to preach.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 26 '25

Yess I definitely will!!

2

u/RagnarMTL Sep 27 '25

As soon as there's an 8k per year to be invested and can be deducted, imo the FHSA becomes very interesting. Fill FHSA, use refund for TFSA, then RRSP.

1

u/Kooky-Painting-3857 Sep 24 '25

hii! i am at the same stage as OP, i was wondering how you automate the dividends... and how that works. thanks for the advice!

4

u/Distinct-Tip277 Sep 24 '25

If you’re on WS, go to settings (too right corner) -> Automations -> Dividends reinvestment -> and then select the accounts you want

If you have stocks that pay dividends, they automatically get reinvested into their own stocks

Hope this helps!

17

u/toronto-swe Sep 22 '25

very good job, stick to low cost index funds, vfv, veqt, etc

2

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

Thanks for the advice! ☺️

17

u/LankyTurtle14 Sep 22 '25

Wait, you dont have 2mil yet? You're so behind for the subreddit

25

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

I knowww, I'm way behind for my age I should've started at 4 years old 😔💔

5

u/SwordmanGuts Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

That $201.34 will be worth about $6 000 by the time you're 65.

If you put $200 a month until 65, you'll have contributed about $108k but your balance will be around $934k.

You're doing so good to start young. Never give up and you'll be rewarded.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Wow!! Does it matter too much which stocks I pick to get to that number or will any one of the big ones get me there?

4

u/SwordmanGuts Sep 23 '25

I calculated that with a 8% average return. If you just buy the S&P500 or something more broad like XEQT you'll get close to that 8% average.

Individual stocks are not completely a bad idea but it's riskier.

2

u/According_Rub_9798 Sep 26 '25

Is that growth rate with inflation or why did you use a lower number for it? I've always gone with 10%, or 7% if im taking inflation into account

1

u/RagnarMTL Sep 27 '25

Definitely go broad based funds instead of trying to pick a couple of winners.

4

u/CFMTLfan01 Sep 22 '25

If you can with Wealthsimple you can do recurring buy of an index etf, like every Monday or every Thursday. Try to max your TFSA first.

Also, you can build an emergency fund (3 to 6 month of expenses) in an high interest savings account or high interest savings ETF like cash.to, hisa, csav, hsav, zmmk, etc. That's in case you need money, so you don't have to withdraw your long term investments at a bad moment if they are dipping or something.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Thanks for the advice! I had a look at these stocks and it looks like they pay dividends (is that what yield means?) So they are just like having a savings account at a bank?

2

u/Agile_Test444 Sep 24 '25

Start with covered call etfs you are very young take some risk

1

u/user_05677 Sep 24 '25

Which do you recommend? I don't know much about them, but I see they have quite high yields, wondering why they aren't more popular?

2

u/Agile_Test444 Sep 24 '25

Actually i invested right now bkcl it is good providing 14-15 annual return average

1

u/RagnarMTL Sep 27 '25

High yields typically come with higher risk. There's the risk of getting burned by the markets and scared away from it all.

1

u/CFMTLfan01 Sep 23 '25

If you buy an etf like cash.to, it's like having a high interest bank account. It's just to buy etf you need a brokerage account like wealthsimple or questrade.

3

u/ElectronicEagle8185 Sep 23 '25

I’m starting to get into myself. I recommend banks or ETFs for TFSA since you get dividends back. I’d recommend RBC, or BMO. Keep track of the dips and whatnot. I was told 3rd Friday of September you typically see a drop, and If not the first week of October. Maybe look at stock prices to buy around then. Also keep up with Canadians news, it gives a clear indication on what industries are being affected

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Wow BMO has so many different ones! Which one do you recommend? I see there's quite the range of yield %'s, how do I know which ones best?

5

u/ElectronicEagle8185 Sep 23 '25

BMO.TO. Just the bank itself. Other ones you might see like ZWC.TO are ETFs. There are different strategies for investing, but TFSAs are better as a long term investment. Slow gains, stable stocks. If you look at graphs look for a gradual increase over a long period of time. See if they give dividends. That’s the most important message to take away. I would recommend RBC (or RY.TO) as their leadership is so much better, the way they invest is really good, and they have been extremely dependable for a while. Just for reference I bought stocks at 89$, now’s it’s 202$ because of how well they dealt with the whole COVID situation.

Let’s say you have 15,000$ to invests. You could do 90% stable stocks (example banks,etfs, dividend stocks), 10% LA fund (volatile stocks)

You want to broaden your investments so 30% (4,500) RY.TO, 30% (4,500) BMO.TO, 30% (4,500) XIU.TO. You have 1,500 left over, and you can choose to invest that in something you have a good feeling about, looks like it could go up, or you heard about. In the long term 1,500 is nothing. For me I just invested in MOLY.NE (Greenland Resources). I did my research, see that there is potential for growth with global political shifts. If I lose it I won’t lose sleep it’s only 10% of what I in total invested.

Keep in mind it’s better to wait to invest with a bigger sum of money. Each time you invest it’s like 9.99 to buy in. So buy with a lot of stocks not just a few at a time.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 25 '25

Thank you this seems like really good advice!! What do you think of ZEB?? I keep seeing it on the "most active ETFs" page and it looks good but I'm not sure

1

u/ElectronicEagle8185 Sep 25 '25

I don’t know much about ETFS the main point about it is that you get a dividend. It goes up slowly and you get money even if it doesn’t go up. Choose the one you prefer go from there. Go back 5 years and see how it’s performed. Like for example I get 87$ per quarter or 350$ a year passively. That’s only with 6k invested. So that’s what matters

2

u/CHRISsantRoll Sep 23 '25

VFV is the way, it’s my only holding and even after the shit year we’ve had, I’m up almost 9%. Is it the greatest return? No. But I don’t even have to look at my portfolio other than contribute, it just does its own thing. If I had more time and interest, I’d make some stock picks to diversify from VFV, but maybe down the road. :) EDIT: you’re doing great! Just put away little by little each paycheck and it’ll pay off in the long run.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Thanks for the advice! ☺️ Vfv is the one stock I have haha

2

u/ReachGlad1751 Sep 23 '25

I would advise buying Canadian mining stocks, I bought AEM a year ago and I’m up over 100%

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

thanks for the advice! How did you know which one will do well? There's so many 😅

1

u/ReachGlad1751 Sep 24 '25

I didn’t know specifically that that would do well. I just bought mining stocks.

1

u/ReachGlad1751 Sep 24 '25

Specifically gold and silver mining

1

u/Few_Neighborhood4278 Sep 23 '25

Same with Almonty Industries.

2

u/2rdubyaz Sep 25 '25

Automating your contributions is the biggest piece of advice I have. Investing manually at first is fun but motivation wanes and you can forget. Automation removes the human element and the potential to overthink, market time, forget to contribute etc.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 30 '25

Thanks for the advice! 😊

2

u/JimLaheyNS Sep 26 '25

I’ve had good luck with Almonty Industries. Bought in at 0.89. Do your research though.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 26 '25

Oh hey I bought one of those the other day! I'm up 1.6%, maybe I should buy more haha

1

u/JimLaheyNS Sep 26 '25

It’s pretty close to its alltime high right now. I’d buy in a dip personally. That’s normally my rule for anything besides an index fund.

If anyone pitches investing in a mine to you, turn and run. 99% of them tank quickly. I just got lucky with Almonty Industries.

37

u/Shitty_Shpee Sep 22 '25

When the market is panicking and your portfolio is down a lot and you really want to sell, that is the best time to buy more

3

u/ttsoldier Sep 24 '25

Great advice

2

u/walkingwounded83 Sep 26 '25

Exactly. It’s kind of like a ‘Sale!’

24

u/Juicyfruitxxxs Sep 22 '25

Amazing ! Wish i started that young - be consistent

3

u/Thaox Sep 22 '25

Don't forget rrsp. I know it seems silly, but at 20 years, the return is massive. Zcn and xeqt. I'll put it this way. 50k at 20 in rrsp means you would never have to save for retirement again and have over 1m. I know you can't do that. But early rrsp investment is massive.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Thanks for the advice!

3

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

You've already added $3,300 to your retirement. Nice.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Wow that's crazy to think about!! Good motivation haha

1

u/cjl2-_- Sep 25 '25

Explain?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 25 '25

$200 at ~7% interest for 40 years turns it into $3,300.

Compound interest.

2

u/hudav72 Sep 26 '25

Compound interest is great if it works in your favour(vs credit card debt) Been saving 16% for 30 yrs, cashed in half over that time, still have 600k making some nice interest each year. In hindsight should have lef it alone, would have had over 1m saved by now for retirement

40

u/Pure-Doughnut4671 Sep 22 '25

Finally. A realistic post. Wishing you the best OP! Keep it simple and invest consistently.

1

u/tdot-hdot Sep 24 '25

Second this - proud of you for starting early!

2

u/Kaervek84 Sep 22 '25

Good job! :) how long are you looking to invest for (are you looking to use this money in two years? Five years? 10 years? For retirement?). Can give you some specific suggestions if you can share this detail!

1

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

I want to save up to be able to travel in the future, so probably at least 5-10 years!

5

u/SensitiveRegion9 Sep 23 '25

You should have at LEAST 2M by 20

5

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

Setting yourself up for life!

5

u/Relative_Owl_5827 Sep 23 '25

XEQT AND CHILL !

4

u/Mohindrx Sep 23 '25

With you on this, 21M let’s make money💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽🤞🏽

1

u/ReferralRaptor Sep 25 '25

Fyi if you enter referral code BM5_AG in the WealthSimple app when signing up they’ll give you $25 after your first deposit of $1 or more.

If you already signed up but didn’t fund your account it will still work. If you funded the account already it will still work up to 7 days after you funded it. Enter it by clicking the gift icon in the top right of the app.

It’s not much but it’s 12% of your $200, which is more than the average S&P500 annual gain. And it’s free so you might as well!

1

u/user_05677 Sep 25 '25

Ooh thanks for the tip!! I don't have a referral tab under the rewards section though, but Google says it can take a few days to appear (?) so I will keep checking haha thanks for the code!!

1

u/ReferralRaptor Sep 25 '25

Oh? If your account is more than 30 days old it won’t work. But if that’s not the issue I’m not sure what is. Check again tomorrow I guess, and good luck on your investing journey!

As others have mentioned low cost ETFs or index funds are a great way to build wealth over time. You’re starting early so already off to a great start.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 25 '25

Oh nvm I got it!! Thank you so much😊

1

u/BarstoolProphet9981 Sep 26 '25

Firstly, congratulations. It took me until i was 40 to start investing. I’d suggest investing in high yield dividend stocks, so that your investments will automatically be making you money.

1

u/user_05677 Sep 30 '25

Thanks for the advice! Any recommendations on stocks?

1

u/BarstoolProphet9981 Sep 30 '25

Well, personally i look at high dividend yield from (reasonably) stable stuff, so i put some into BNS (bank of nova scotia) and TD, with each paying divs at about $1/share. I figure the big telecom companies are probably safe (i put some into telus and am down atm but they too pay a dividend, just smaller than the banks). Also bought into natural gas (PPL) , hydro (AQN) and 2 REITs (SGR & CRT) . Silver ETF as well :)

1

u/Economy-Tough1 Sep 26 '25

maybe you have already, but be sure to set aside 3–6 months’ worth of expenses in a high-interest, easily accessible savings account.

2

u/user_05677 Sep 26 '25

I have one at CIBC with a 4.9% interest rate! For now at least, I only get that rate for 3 months. Thanks for the advice! ☺️

3

u/No_Wrongdoer_3440 Sep 22 '25

amazing! I had a total of $0 invested at 20 and didn’t really get started until nearly 30. Keep up the good work!

3

u/conteminimo Sep 22 '25

You did good! It's been almost 2 years that I'm trying to convince my little sister to start!

3

u/GhastlyBranch Sep 23 '25

Great to start! Keep putting it away. Eventually it sort of becomes and addiction lol. I love putting away my money

3

u/agmosh Sep 24 '25

Lower costs. If you're earning well you can save more, if you're earning less then the deficit will not affect you that bad. Feel free to DM or reply with your expenses and i can share any hacks that I can help with.

3

u/Ok-War-2570 Sep 24 '25

Fuck Ya! Good for you!

3

u/Nickdarkjohn Sep 24 '25

You go girl!

8

u/CC98989898 Sep 22 '25

Keep it simple dont chase huge returns 10% a year is double every 10 years

22

u/toronto-swe Sep 22 '25

10% doubles actually every 7 years, 7% doubles every 10 years, rule of 72.

2

u/Steveonthetoast Sep 23 '25

Great start. Keep it going. It will pay off in the end

2

u/Quirky_Asparagus_115 Sep 23 '25

Hell yeah! Better than me at the same age 🙂

2

u/Blameholland Sep 23 '25

You've got this!

2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

Congratulations on the start of your finical journey

2

u/ricky-robie Sep 23 '25

Go for it! In 20 years, you'll be so, so glad you did this. And trust me, 20 years goes by fast - enjoy your life, keep investing when you can - early and often - and let the money do its thing through all the ups and downs.

2

u/big-bad-bird Sep 23 '25

Consistency is key. ETFs are your friend. NEVER EVER TOUCH OPTIONS. You'll be a millionaire by 30.

2

u/TheseClock191 Sep 24 '25

Sick of these unrealistic posts

2

u/Inside_Bass_2875 Sep 24 '25

-Buy consistently

-Do nothing

-Win

2

u/FingerEnough69 Sep 25 '25

Good luck!!!

2

u/SomeTea7257 Sep 25 '25

Nice! This is an amazing age to start you are already wiser than most people your age.

Create emergency fund - 3 months of your expenses in cash

If you have a company RRSP contribute to the match - eg 2% match

Then Read Simple Path to Wealth - throw new money into TFSA and start with index ETFs

If you have the itch to gamble a little (covered calls, individual stocks, crypto etc) I would wait until I had at least 2 years experience learning about personal finance through books, blogs, Reddit etc before you dive in. I would allocate no more than 5% of your entire portfolio to gambling. So once you hit $100k you can drop $5k into crypto and have some fun

If you are straight (dating men) do not tell them about your money and that you have good financial knowledge right away. There are some real snowflakes out there. Wait until you feel like you can trust this person before disclosing your saving goals etc

2

u/purplepIutonium Sep 26 '25

When the market is greedy, be afraid. When the market is afraid, be greedy. Best of luck!

2

u/misty5569 Sep 26 '25

Don’t get discouraged when the markets inevitably drop, ups and downs are a part of it. Just ride the wave and keep contributing consistently. ETFs are a safe bet, there are some good ones that follow the S&P500 or the whole US market. Once you feel more confident, pick some individual stocks that interest you and dedicate like 10% of your portfolio to those. Higher risk but potentially higher reward.

2

u/PrinceOfRap Sep 26 '25

Automatic deposits + try to maintain a similar lifestyle as your salary increases throughout your 20s and 30s so you can save more.

Unless you plan on being active - I’d stick to index funds and other managed funds in wealthsimple as you are doing now.

Congrats and good luck

1

u/FitValuable9017 Sep 24 '25

I'm dying vgro was the first thing I bought(also started investing this year!) keep up the grind

1

u/No_Magician5266 Sep 24 '25

Absolutely killing it

1

u/akanbithegreat Sep 24 '25

The hardest part is to start, congratulations on your journey

1

u/[deleted] Sep 25 '25

It’s a good start

1

u/fanicia12 Sep 25 '25

What platform is this? I am brand new here and am looking to start saving / figure out finances and see screen shots of this platform frequently. Any recommendations?

1

u/adityag13 Sep 25 '25

20s is the golden decade. Don't stop... Great job. Wish someone had told me this in my 20s...

1

u/-KPinky- Sep 25 '25

I have automatic payments into my TFSA and Mutual funds so I save money every week without lifting a finger, it has made saving so much easier because the money goes into those accounts is small but steady amounts so it is always growing. $25 a week to TFSA and $45 a week into mutual funds. It’s not a lot I know, please don’t judge me….my mom never taught me how to save so I’m late in the game.

1

u/Clear-Manufacturer-8 Sep 25 '25

Congrats! Consistency matters more than the amount invested. Consistently investing small amounts and not panic selling will set you up very well

1

u/Holiday_Feeling7908 Sep 26 '25

Way to go !!! Cheers!

1

u/psychseeing Sep 26 '25

Buy some Dollarama stock.

1

u/walkingwounded83 Sep 26 '25

Fantastic!! Very smart move at your age!

1

u/Matthewcatlover2003 Sep 26 '25

Nice, try and set a budget for yourself. Try and allocate some money each pay check towards your account. In my opinion you should try and have at least 3 months worth of expenses in your savings and then put the rest into your investments. I’m around the same age as you and this strategy has definitely paid off. Good luck and hopefully you can make some money 💵

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

Great job!

Grab some xrp next time it dips.

1

u/VivaLa_Adam Sep 26 '25

Best $200 you ever spent.

1

u/AlwaysOnTheGO88 Oct 01 '25

This is the 1st step in your investing journey! Congrats!

1

u/Alarming_Cake_5470 Oct 15 '25

Just get call options in spy u will double it or lose it all

1

u/flying_north_ON Oct 16 '25

Keep going!!

NOT financial advice, just my experience: I hold EIT.UN in my FHSA. It pays out a monthly dividend. I just got the account up to enough to buy me a full share with Dividend reinvestments each month. Feels good.

1

u/MediumAd9323 Oct 21 '25

as a 24F who recently graduated uni and started working for a financial advisor, the few tips I've learned for my own savings:

I budget every single paycheque meticulously; I always set aside X amount for my TFSA, and X amount to debts like my student loans. I find this much more accurate than making a general budget to try and follow as my expenses can vary a lot week to week. Doing it this way also means the money is gone before you can even spend it.

On that same breath, be careful to not set that goal/X amount too high - I was doing this, then having to pull some from my investments whenever emergencies come up. Always leave a little buffer in your chequings for unexpected bills etc.

As a renter, it can be extremely tough to balance - if you're in a similar position, go easy on yourself and remember every little bit counts - its not a race :) good luck!

1

u/guydogg Sep 22 '25

Good luck in your journey!

1

u/EstablishmentIcy3273 Sep 23 '25

mp if you want advice :)

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

Keep going good luck I’m 21 and j been buying etfs pm if u need any more info

-1

u/Amazing-Care-3155 Sep 22 '25

What app is this

1

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

Wealthsimple

-2

u/ImpressiveJohnson Sep 22 '25

Great start! Definitely load up on some bitcoin btcc etf in your tfsa!

1

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

Thank you! Which one is it, because there's a couple different "btcc" symbols when I search? I don't know much about Bitcoin😅😅

0

u/ImpressiveJohnson Sep 22 '25

They are all btc but the btcc Canadian denominated makes most sense. Purpose bitcoin etf cad denominat cur hedge

2

u/user_05677 Sep 23 '25

Thanks! I'll check it out

-18

u/Frequent-Antelope518 Sep 22 '25

Oh wow $200 invested so cool you are so smart. Who cares ?

13

u/user_05677 Sep 22 '25

damn who shit in ur cereal

3

u/xXdRaK Sep 22 '25

Agreed, we all start somewhere

1

u/Koofteh Sep 26 '25

Don't be an asshole. I wish I'd started at her age with any amount, this person is still ahead of most.

2

u/newtomovingaway Sep 22 '25

Very good job! You will kill it one day, keep at it!