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Hey, I’m not gatekeeping or shaming! I’m just trying to draw attention to the opportunity you have here to do well for yourself.

Not a financial advisor, not your financial advisor, do your own research and make your own decisions. The TFSA is usually considered best utilized when it’s not just used as a “savings” account within a bank, but as an “investment” account. Banks like Tangerine have fairly easy to understand options to do that (invest your money), but if you’d like to go a step deeper down the rabbit hole, a discount brokerage (a company that can buy and sell stocks, bonds, and funds on your behalf) like Questrade is both cheaper and more powerful in what you can do with it. Here’s why you might want to consider one of those.

Your ~1.5% per year interest in a TFSA “savings” account is very secure and consistent, but you’re technically losing money against inflation, which is typically between ~2-3% per year. A significant amount of people subscribe to the idea that investing is as easy as buying a fund (such as a mutual fund or an ETF, exchange-traded fund) that holds a collection of other stocks and bonds in order to represent the entire market. That is to say: if the entire market goes up, your money increases; if the entire market goes down, your money decreases. This was an approach pioneered by a very smart man named John Bogle, which you could learn more about in r/bogleheads.

Index-based investing, as described above, has returned an average of 10% per year for the last several decades. However, this is a higher-risk investment, and if you expect to need the money inside of 5-10 years, you should consider looking in lower-risk areas, or potentially splitting your lump sum into smaller chunks to invest at different risk levels. There are a lot of really good resources on this concept, called risk-management or asset-allocation, but this is an excellent resource that I like to link.

I would also recommend you take a look at this website, which is a solid introduction into taking charge of your own financial future. The “How do I become a Couch Potato?” section would be a good start.

If you’re still interested after all that, then here’s a good dump of information to explore.

• https://www.canadianportfoliomanagerblog.com/
  
  
• r/PersonalFinanceCanada
  
  
• https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
  
  
• r/FinancialIndependence
  
  
• https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Barber-Successful-Financial-Planning/dp/0773762167/

I agree, I think she follows very much in line with Dave and I think you are right in her success being from the Baby Steps. I love Dave and am so thankful I found his plan to get me inspired to change but I also like watching other people bring their own ideas to the table of what works for them. Her paycheck budget worksheet and her highlighting method have been super helpful as I am a visual person. Every dollar app is great and all but I like writing things out and seeing it on paper.

I linked the wallet that I bought myself which is cheaper than others I have researched. I love it...I think it comes in black and navy as well as the red.

All-in-One Cash Envelopes Wallet with 12 Budget Envelopes & Budget Sheets - Red https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VZP184G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6UOMDbPVW4Z6M

Honestly, the two things that helped me the most were:

• YNAB: Read the articles and tutorials. Take the free webinars. Commit to it fully.
  
  
• Dave Ramsey: Don’t bother buying his books. Check them out at the library and read and re-read them. I’m not a fan of his politics but his methods work for a reason. Give them a shot.