Where to start with personal finance in Canada?
There are some great answers on this site similar to what you asked, with either a non-jurisdictional or a US-centric focus. I would read those answers as well to give yourself more points of view on early investing. There are a few differences between Canada and the US from an investing perspective that you should also then consider, namely tax rules, healthcare, and education. I'll get Healthcare and Education out of the way quickly. Just note the difference in perspective in Canada of having government healthcare; putting money into health-savings plans or focusing on insurance as a workplace benefit is not a key motivating factor, but more a 'nice-to-have'. For education, it is more common in Canada for a student to either pay for school while working summer / part-time jobs, or at least taking on manageable levels of debt [because it is typically not quite as expensive as private colleges in the US]. There is still somewhat of a culture of saving for your child's education here, but it is not as much of a necessity as it may be in the US. From an investing perspective, I will quickly note some common [though not universal] general advice, before getting Canadian specific. I have blatantly stolen the meat of this section from Ben Miller's great answer here: Oversimplify it for me: the correct order of investing Once you have a solid financial footing, some peculiarities of Canadian investing are below. For all the tax-specific plans I'm about to mention, note that the banks do a very good job here of tricking you into believing they are complex, and that you need your hand to be held. I have gotten some criminally bad tax advice from banking reps, so at the risk of sounding prejudiced, I recommend that you learn everything you can beforehand, and only go into your bank when you already know the right answer. The 'account types' themselves just involve a few pages of paperwork to open, and the banks will often do that for free. They make up their fees in offering investment types that earn them management fees once the accounts are created. Be sure to separate the investments (stocks vs bonds etc.) vs the investment vehicles. Canada has 'Tax Free Savings Accounts', where you can contribute a certain amount of money every year, and invest in just about anything you want, from bonds to stocks to mutual funds. Any Income you earn in this account is completely tax free. You can withdraw these investments any time you want, but you can't re-contribute until January 1st of next year. ie: you invest $5k today in stocks held in a TFSA, and they grow to $6k. You withdraw $6k in July. No tax is involved. On January 1st next year, you can re-contribute a new $6K, and also any additional amounts added to your total limit annually. TFSA's are good for short-term liquid investments. If you don't know for sure when you'll need the money, putting it in a TFSA saves you some tax, but doesn't commit you to any specific plan of action. Registered Retirement Savings Plans allow you to contribute money based on your employment income accrued over your lifetime in Canada. The contributions are deducted from your taxable income in the year you make them. When you withdraw money from your RRSP, the amount you withdraw gets added as additional income in that year. ie: you invest $5k today in stocks held in an RRSP, and get a $5k deduction from your taxable income this year. The investments grow to $6k. You withdraw $6k next year. Your taxable income increases by $6k [note that if the investments were held 'normally' {outside of an RRSP}, you would have a taxable gain of only 50% of the total gain; but withdrawing the amount from your RRSP makes the gain 100% taxable]. On January 1st next year, you CANNOT recontribute this amount. Once withdrawn, it cannot be recontributed [except for below items]. RRSP's are good for long-term investing for retirement. There are a few factors at play here: (1) you get an immediate tax deduction, thus increasing the original size of investment by deferring tax to the withdrawal date; (2) your investments compound tax-free [you only pay tax at the end when you withdraw, not annually on earnings]; and (3) many people expect that they will have a lower tax-rate when they retire, than they do today. Some warnings about RRSP's: (1) They are less liquid than TFSA's; you can't put money in, take it out, and put it in again. In general, when you take it out, it's out, and therefore useless unless you leave it in for a long time; (2) Income gets re-characterized to be fully taxable [no dividend tax credits, no reduced capital gains tax rate]; and (3) There is no guarantee that your tax rate on retirement will be less than today. If you contribute only when your tax rate is in the top bracket, then this is a good bet, but even still, in 30 years, tax rates might rise by 20% [who knows?], meaning you could end up paying more tax on the back-end, than you saved in the short term. Home Buyer Plan RRSP withdrawals My single favourite piece of advice for young Canadians is this: if you contribute to an RRSP at least 3 months before you make a down payment on your first house, you can withdraw up to $25k from your RRSP without paying tax! to use for the down payment. Then over the next ~10 years, you need to recontribute money back to your RRSP, and you will ultimately be taxed when you finally take the money out at retirement. This means that contributing up to 25k to an RRSP can multiply your savings available for a down payment, by the amount of your tax rate. So if you make ~60k, you'll save ~35% on your 25k deposited, turning your down payment into $33,750. Getting immediate access to the tax savings while also having access to the cash for a downpayment, makes the Home Buyer Plan a solid way to make the most out of your RRSP, as long as one of your near-term goals is to own your own home. Registered Pension Plans are even less liquid than RRSPs. Tax-wise, they basically work the same: you get a deduction in the year you contribute, and are taxed when you withdraw. The big difference is that there are rules on when you are allowed to withdraw: only in retirement [barring specific circumstances]. Typically your employer's matching program (if you have one) will be inside of an RPP. Note that RPP's and RRSP's reduce your taxes on your employment paycheques immediately, if you contribute through a work program. That means you get the tax savings during the year, instead of all at once a year later on April 30th. *Note that I have attempted at all times to keep my advice current with applicable tax legislation, but I do not guarantee accuracy. Research these things yourself because I may have missed something relevant to your situation, I may be just plain wrong, and tax law may have changed since I wrote this to when you read it.
"I speak from a position of experience, My BS and MS are both in Comp Sci. I know very little about loans or finances. That is very unfortunate as you are obviously an intelligent human being.  Perhaps this is a good time to pause your formal education and get educated in personal finance.  To me, it is that important. I study computer science, and am thus confident that I will be able to find work after I finish school. This kind of attitude can lead to trouble.  You will likely have a high salary, but that does not always translate into prosperity.  Personal finance is more about behavior then mathematics.  I currently work with people that have high salaries in a low cost of living area.  Some have lost homes due to foreclosure some are very limited in their options because of high student loan balances.  Some are millionaires without hitting the IPO/startup lotto.  The difference is behavior. It's possible that someone in my family will be able to cosign and help me out with this loan. This is indicative of lack of knowledge and poor financial behavior.  This kind of thing can lead to strained relationships to the point where people don't talk to each other.  Never co-sign for anyone, and if you value the relationship with a person never ask them to co-sign. I'll be working as a TA again for a $1000 stipend. Yikes!  Why in the world would you work for 1K when you need 4K?  You should find a way to earn 6K this semester so you can save some and put some toward the loans you already acquired.  Accepting this kind of situation ""raises red flags"" on your attitude towards personal finance.  And yes it is possible, you can earn that waiting tables and if you can find a part time programming gig you can make a lot more then that.  Consider working as a TA and wait tables until you find that first programming gig. I am just about done with my undergraduate degree, and will be starting graduate school at the same university next semester. To me this is a recipe for failure in most cases.  You have expended all your financing options to date and are planning to go backwards even more.  Why not get out of school with your BS, and go to work?  You can save up some of your MS tuition and most companies will provide tuition reimbursement.   Computer Science/Software Engineering can be a fickle market.  Right now things are going crazy and times are really good.  However that was not always the case during my career and unlikely for yours.  For example, Just this year I bypassed my highest rate of pay that occurred in 2003.  I was out of work most of 2004, and for part of 2005 I actually made less then when I was working while in college.  In 2009 my company cut our salaries by 5%, but the net cost to me was more like a 27% cut.  In 2001 I worked as a contractor for a company that had a 10% reduction in full time employees, yet they kept us contractors working.   Recently I talked with a recruiter about a position doing J2EE, which is what I am doing now.  It required a high level security clearance which is not an easy thing to get.  The rub was that it was located in a higher cost of living area and only paid about 70% of what I am making now.  They required more and paid less, but such is the market.  You need to learn about these things! Good luck." For Canada No distinction is made in the regulation between “naked” or “covered” short sales. However, the practice of “naked” short selling, while not specifically enumerated or proscribed as such, may violate other provisions of securities legislation or self-regulatory organization rules where the transaction fails to settle. Specifically, section 126.1 of the Securities Act prohibits activities that result or contribute “to a misleading appearance of trading activity in, or an artificial price for, a security or derivative of a security” or that perpetrate a fraud on any person or company. Part 3 of National Instrument 23-101 Trading Rules contains similar prohibitions against manipulation and fraud, although a person or company that complies with similar requirements established by a recognized exchange, quotation and trade reporting system or regulation services provider is exempt from their application. Under section 127(1) of the Securities Act, the OSC also has a “public interest jurisdiction” to make a wide range of orders that, in its opinion, are in the public interest in light of the purposes of the Securities Act (notwithstanding that the subject activity is not specifically proscribed by legislation). The TSX Rule Book also imposes certain obligations on its “participating organizations” in connection with trades that fail to settle (see, for example, Rule 5-301 Buy-Ins).  In other words, shares must be located by the broker before they can be sold short. A share may not be locatable because there are none available in the broker's inventory, that it cannot lend more than what it has on the books for trade.  A share may not be available because the interest rate that brokers are charging to borrow the share is considered too high by that broker, usually if it doesn't pass on borrowing costs to the customer.  There could be other reasons as well. If one broker doesn't have inventory, another might.  I recommend checking in on IB's list.  If they can't get it, my guess would be that no one can since IB passes on the cost to finance short sales. "There's a lot of personal preference and personal circumstance that goes into these decisions.  I think that for a person starting out, what's below is a good system.  People with greater needs probably aren't reading this question looking for an answer. How many bank accounts should I have and what kinds, and how much (percentage-wise) of my income should I put into each one?  You should probably have one checking account and one savings / money market account.  If you're total savings are too low to avoid fees on two accounts, then just the checking account at the beginning.  Keep the checking account balance high enough to cover your actual debits plus a little buffer.  Put the rest in savings. Multiple bank accounts beyond the basics or using multiple banks can be appropriate for some people in some circumstances.  Those people, for the most part, will have a specific reason for needing them and maybe enough experience at that point to know how many and where to get them. (Else they ask specific questions in the context of their situation.) I did see a comment about partners - If you're married / in long-term relationship, you might replicate the above for each side of the marriage / partnership.  That's a personal decision between you and your partner that's more about your philosophy in the relationship then about finance specifically. Then from there, how do I portion them out into budgets and savings?  I personally don't believe that there is any generic answer for this question.  Others may post answers with their own rules of thumb.  You need to budget based on a realistic assessment of your own income and necessary costs.  Then if you have money some savings.  Include a minimal level of entertainment in ""necessary costs"" because most people cannot work constantly.  Beyond that minimal level, additional entertainment comes after necessary costs and basic savings.  Savings should be tied to your long term goals in addition to you current constraints. Should I use credit cards for spending to reap benefits? No. Use credit cards for the convenience of them, if you want, but pay the full balance each month and don't overdo it.  If you lack discipline on your spending, then you might consider avoiding credit cards completely." Take another job.  From a personal finance perspective this is the wrong reason to dip into a retirement account.  You will lose so much ground towards actually retiring.  Sure you won't be taxed, but you will be missing so much opportunity where that money won't be working for your retirement. The off-topic answer to take to the start-ups stackexchange site is:  don't quit your day job until your business plan is written out and you have an idea of where to get your startup capital. Yeah, I am Canadian and my professor is a big believer in Warren Buffet style valuation. Both of these probably play into his love for the CBV as well as having a couple former students who have it. I think I will start with the CFA and get the CBV if I think it is necessary. I have already started to study for the CFA, I downloaded the schweser notes. Hoping to take it in June after I graduate. Yes go TFSA first. Unless you make a lot of salary and want to lower your taxes.  In this case RRSP might be the way to go. But seeing as you're 30 and probably will make greater salary in the future, go TFSA. "There's a lot of personal preference and personal circumstance that goes into these decisions.  I think that for a person starting out, what's below is a good system.  People with greater needs probably aren't reading this question looking for an answer. How many bank accounts should I have and what kinds, and how much (percentage-wise) of my income should I put into each one?  You should probably have one checking account and one savings / money market account.  If you're total savings are too low to avoid fees on two accounts, then just the checking account at the beginning.  Keep the checking account balance high enough to cover your actual debits plus a little buffer.  Put the rest in savings. Multiple bank accounts beyond the basics or using multiple banks can be appropriate for some people in some circumstances.  Those people, for the most part, will have a specific reason for needing them and maybe enough experience at that point to know how many and where to get them. (Else they ask specific questions in the context of their situation.) I did see a comment about partners - If you're married / in long-term relationship, you might replicate the above for each side of the marriage / partnership.  That's a personal decision between you and your partner that's more about your philosophy in the relationship then about finance specifically. Then from there, how do I portion them out into budgets and savings?  I personally don't believe that there is any generic answer for this question.  Others may post answers with their own rules of thumb.  You need to budget based on a realistic assessment of your own income and necessary costs.  Then if you have money some savings.  Include a minimal level of entertainment in ""necessary costs"" because most people cannot work constantly.  Beyond that minimal level, additional entertainment comes after necessary costs and basic savings.  Savings should be tied to your long term goals in addition to you current constraints. Should I use credit cards for spending to reap benefits? No. Use credit cards for the convenience of them, if you want, but pay the full balance each month and don't overdo it.  If you lack discipline on your spending, then you might consider avoiding credit cards completely." "Fool's 13 steps to invest is a good starting point. Specifically, IFF all your credit cards are paid, and you made sure you've got no outstanding liabilities (that also accrues interest), stock indexes might be a good place for 5-10 years timeframes. For grad school, I'd probably look into cash ISA (or local equivalent thereof) -the rate of return is going to be lower, but having it in a separate account at least makes it mentally ""out of sight - out of mind"", so you can make sure the money's there WHEN you need it."