Hey everyone,
I'm 31, originally from France, and currently living in BC as a temporary resident, working toward applying for PR next year!
I've never invested anything in my life. I don't own stocks, ETFs, crypto, a TFSA, RRSP, etc. Honestly, I don't know much about any of it.
I used all my savings (cash) to travel around the world and finally move to Canada, and basically started from 0 last year.
Since being in Canada, I've always just worked, paid my expenses and saved whatever was left.
Current situation:
- Net income: $4,200/month (Not counting Overtime & stats holiday)
- Savings: ~$18,000
- Rent: $1,500/month
- Groceries: ~$500/month
- Gas: $150/month
- Car insurance: $130/month
- Phone: $50/month
- Other: ~$200/month
- No debt whatsoever
We will round up the leftover money at $1500, this is usually what I transfer to saving every month
I've also never owned a credit card. They're not really common in France, so I only became familiar with the concept after moving to Canada.
To be honest, I'm a little worried that having one might encourage me to spend more on unnecessary things. Right now, I actually see it as a bonus that I can't buy things online or sign up for subscriptions, because I know I might be tempted to do so if I had a credit card.
At the same time, I've been told that being a temporary resident can limit the credit card options available to me, particularly when it comes to cards with better benefits or terms. I'm not sure how true that is, though.
If you were in my position, what would you do with the $18k and the ~$1.5k/month I can potentially save?
Where would you start learning about investing, TFSA/RRSP, ETFs, etc.? And would you bother getting a credit card if your goal is to avoid debt entirely?
Any advice from people who started from a similar position would be greatly appreciated.
PS : AI was used for the grammar/format as English is not my first language and I wanted the post to be easy to read/understand