Important Tips for International Students In Canada

I wish someone had told me these when I had come to Canada around two years ago. Unfortunately, no one did. If only I had been aware of these things since 2019, I would be ten times at better place than I am currently (speaking from knowledge and financial perspective). If only I understood it while I still was a student...

Canada is undoubtedly a beautiful place and holds many doors of opportunities open for a lot of people. If I could create the mindset I have right now, I would be more at peace with my financial thingies! But anyways, let's dive right into my Four Most Important Tips for International Students in Canada.

And, honestly, even if you have been in Canada for awhile, at least one of these tips could still be helpful for you. These tips are for anyone who wants to learn more about how to save and invest.

Open Another Savings Account

Yes, I do understand that many of you already have both checking and savings account at the bank where you have your GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificate). But opening another savings account could potentially save you hundreds of dollars in the future months or even years. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself.

The easiest way I do this is by creating an account on Wealthsimple Invest (Its the W icon with yellow color). And don't worry I promise this is not some scamming application that you need to worry about. And it would be even better if you did your own research on Wealthsimple.

You can download the App from my invite and we both can earn some reward. Sounds good?! (Click here) It’s absolutely free of cost. Just follow the instructions on the screen to setup your account and voila! You have another savings account which won’t cost you anything at all (Remember to click on Cash/Save account when prompt during initial setup stage).

The saving interest rate is relatively high and what remains out of sight, is out of mind. Make sure to put some amount (fixed or not) from each of your paycheck. This could be your blessing account as I call it or emergency fund as people say.

But why open another savings account? Because if any of you is even a tad bit similar as me, when you see money in your account you tend to go and shop or use it to live luxuriously. And I am not saying that either of those is a bad thing. As long as it isn‘t coming in the way of your saving money, you do you! Whereas, I was raised in a middle class family, savings should have been my priority and not the glories of the world when I barely even stepped out in the world.

Anyways, not only its easy to just transfer your money to Wealthsimple Invest but it takes up-to three days to withdraw it. This is my favourite part!!!

By the time you finally get your withdrawal, you would probably change your mind regarding whatever it was that you were going to buy. This has helped me to stop impulsively buying things and tbh just the process of waiting three days seemed tiring to me. So, I only add money in it and haven't had to withdraw any yet.

Work Work Work

When I was new to Canada, it took me almost 4-5 months to finally land a part time job. Why do you think that would be? I wasn't capable? I was overqualified for the kind of part time jobs a lot of people around me did? Negative.

I was probably wrapped in home sickness and my happiness bubble of finally making it to Canada all alone. Yup that's probably why I was very lenient with trying to apply to jobs online or do walk-ins for handing the physical copies of my resume. A lot of my classmates had already found part time jobs whereas I was still living on my GIC. Not great, Simran!

But, anyways, please don't make the same mistake as me. Be active in applying to various jobs and if possible go around and see if they take walk-in interviews. And don't sell any job short. What I mean by this is, unless and until the job could physically or mentally harm you in anyway, any job is good to work for part time. Your goal is to earn and save. Make it your priority and you will thank me later :)

Live a Frugal Life

What it means is live a life where less is enough. I have to say this, when I was new in Canada I did not shop anything for six months. But then I did and spent around 250 bucks on summer clothes. That was just the starting.

Don't do as I did. I would be talking a lot regarding Minimalism and Frugal living in my upcoming blogposts so, if you don't fully understand it, that's okay I can definitely help with that. I too am a beginner and just learning the ropes of it. But in just few weeks, I am able to develop a mindset that goes completely opposite of impulsive buying or just buying a lot.

Frugal living is not only going to directly help you save and invest a lot of your money but it will also provide you with sense of security and peace within you. Knowing you are financial stable if an emergency came, is a proud thing for a student.

Make your insides strong, you can polish your outside later. What I mean is, fancier things, branded clothes or shoes, will provide you only temporary happiness. Once you have bought them, they will either stay in your closet forever because they are too expensive to be worn on regular days or you will forget about them after few wears. Either isn't a good thing to use your money for. Buy only what is of need and will provide you sense of happiness.

Learn and Grow

Now when you have another savings account open where some portion of your paychecks are depositing and also are able save most of your income by living a simple life with lesser things, let's move on to next step of your journey. That would be investing. You heard me!

I know for some/many stocks could be daunting and something we think is not suitable for us. But that couldn't be farther away from truth. And, remember, anything only appears scary until you learn about it.

There are different kinds of investing. One that is Day-trading which is for people with high level of understanding of stock market, and safe investing/low risk investing as I call it for people like you and me who hasn't taken classes on it or read books about it. What it means is buying the stocks of companies you eat from or shop from or you could just type in google "Top 20 risk free Canadian companies to buy stocks" and google should be able to further assist you!

This way you just put some more money out of sight and also would receive some kind of dividend by doing nothing. This is low risk but keep in mind that this won't make the amount you invested double overnight. What I can assure you is that over the course of some months or years, you would see a reasonable difference when compared to what you initially invested. Remember this isn't a one time thing. You have to keep investing to see it grow. TBH, this is way better than letting your money sleep in your bank's saving account and earn what 10 bucks a year? Make wiser choices now so you can live tomorrow better.

I personally use Wealthsimple Trade App Click Here (W icon with grey background color) . It's free of cost and very easy to navigate. I earned (if that's what I can say) more than 100 bucks in seven months. Now, tell me if that's not better than 10 bucks your bank would give.

P.S. I am absolutely not sponsored by Wealthsimple in any way. It is my personal choice and I have done adequate research to know it's legit place to trust. I did though drop my invite links up there for easy access and this way both you and I will earn some reward!

I hope these tips were useful to you in any way and helped you understand or learn something new.

Do you have some more tips that can help me or more people like me? I would love to hear what works best for you guys!