Growing Pains: Cash & Gen Y in the GTA
How much can you really do with your income?
Whether you’re dreaming of a fabulous beach vacation or a secure retirement, budgeting is a great tool to help you achieve your goals.
We asked David Stewart of Stewart and Kett Financial Advisors in Toronto for some advice. Here are a few steps to get you started:
FINANCIAL TOOLS
Step 1: PLAN
For younger adults specifically, Stewart feels that long term planning should be a priority. The biggest problem with any generation is keeping tabs on their money. “They don’t know what they’re spending it on, they don’t track it,” says Stewart.
“The benefits would be to get an appreciation on how long you’re going to live and how much money it’s going to cost. When people are younger they’re not getting into too many of the details about what's going to happen way down the road, but you should get a macro look at how much you really have to accumulate by a certain age.”
Step 2: BE REALISTIC
It’s also important for you to be realistic about financial expectations early on in your career.
“If people want to have a condo in one of the nice glass towers and a cellphone plan, and a car and things like that then they’ve got to be expecting more. On the other hand, people who are renting a basement apartment and taking public transit and expecting that are probably being more realistic about things,” says Stewart.
Step 3: START NOW
You don’t have a budget yet?
To get you started we’ve filled out a sheet from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada with a sample budget. Click here to download a copy. You can fill in your own information to make a budget that works for you.
You can also view the budget calculator and other resources online here.
Scroll down to see what people are saying on social media about managing your money
