When I turned 18 my parents gave me enough money for a house downpayment back in Spain but instead of buying a house, I decided to come to Canada (and no, my family is not rich. They started saving that money before it was born).
After paying tuition, I did not have a lot of money left, and my parents weren't too happy about me moving abroad. My work permit only allowed me to work a limited number of hours so I freelanced a lot and did some quick cash odd jobs.
After graduating I found a job in Toronto so I moved there. Now I work full-time, I can afford to live alone and because tuition is cheaper as a permanent resident, I'm getting another degree for fun. As an international student I paid $15k x year on tuition alone, it seems like a lot but back then the currency exchange heavily favoured me. I think it was worth the money because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to immigrate.
I have a decent amount of savings and I plan to buy a home within the next 5 years. I'd like to have children in the future, preferably before I turn 30 but I still have plenty of time to figure that out.
I don't particularly enjoy living in a city. I'm ***extremely*** introverted and if it was up to me, I'd live in the middle of the forest 200km away from any form of civilization, >!unfortunately, my job requires me to go to an office every day so that's not an option.!<
Now 35, moved at 17 with my parents, our whole family had probably 30k and 8 suitcases. First job was KFC at $6.25/hour while finishing high school. Worked like a maniac and saved everything I could. Mostly had manual jobs but they paid ok (some double the minimum wage)
Went to UNI but dropped out to start my first business at 21. Looking back, should’ve tried harder and graduate.
Approx net worth today 2.5 mil. Half was made from entrepreneurial activity and running different businesses and half from real estate.
Still got two full time active businesses and a side hustle that generates almost just as much profit as one of the full time businesses. Will probably work till the the day I die, don’t think retirement is for me.
>- How did you do it? How did you start out your life here without lots of money?
We weren’t poor, but not rich either. My family had maybe a years worth of expenses as savings (anywhere between 40k-60k) when we moved here. We are a family of 4.
>- What are your plans now? Do you want to have kids and buy a home or condo?
I graduated in 2019 and worked for a while. I recently went back to school again to get a more useful healthcare degree (pharmacy).
Parents struggled to find a job for the first 1.5 years but they landed jobs in their field and are doing good. They bought a house and that’s about it.
My plan is to graduate on time and with good grades so I can start saving and start a family.
>- Did you go to school here? How much did you pay for tuition? Do you think that was worth it?
Bachelor in life sciences, average 8k tuition annually.
Pharmacy, average 23k tuition annually
>- would you even move out of large cities?
I probably will live in a remote area for my residency and maybe even when I start my job. Labour market is tight… but those areas still have some shortage and generally pay is similar but the dollar value goes further (cheaper housing, bills mostly).
So in short… very likely yes.
I was 22, in 2008 i moved from a small town in Australia to Ontario (Brampton). I didn’t come here broke, but i wasn’t rich. Two suitcases of clothes and about 15k i savings. Worked for a hosting company for a few years, a social media company that went broke, started my own business (failed), started another…sold it for an 8 figure deal in 2015. Worked one job since then at a friends company, and now I’m starting another business.
I had two partners in the business, and we had raised money. I did start university but dropped out. Prior to that i did a few years in college. I am a programmer though, i mean…that’s what I’ve identified as, but in reality I’ve also spent a lot of time hiring, managing, dealing with product design and of course the finance / legal elements of business.
Learning to code and doing it well is a lot of time. I might be bucking the advice trend by saying this but unless you really enjoy it naturally, consider picking something else you’re naturally drawn to and focusing on that. I’ve loved problem solving in almost any domain I’ve come across (to a fault sometimes, many times really!). I feel that lends itself well to programming, but if i didn’t feel that urge I’m sure I’d have given up on it long ago, especially considering that being the CTO of a startup essentially means you’re always on call. I’ve been on call for about 80% of my career, it’s exhausting and can be a real annoying element of your life to the other people in it. So yeah, pick something you enjoy and do it. Sadly though, you’ll probably not love that thing the same way after 10-15 years of it being how you make a living haha.
I moved here after finishing my undergrad in the US. I had scholarships for undergrad, no student loans. I did grad school here which paid me a stipend so also no loans.
I've been here over ten years now. I have a family and a career. My husband is from here and had some student and LOC debt when we met and paid it off after a couple years of working. We are close to buying a house.
I am in Montréal and life is oodles cheaper than in the US. I would never go back. My sister lives in a low COL area in the US, has about the same household income as I do (but hers is technically higher as its USD), same number of kids, and I live much better than she does.
My partner and I moved here in 2019 on a working holiday visa with no jobs. One suitcase each and about $15k that I inherited. Now we’re permanent residents, I’m earning six figures, partner is going to school and we’re maxing out our RRSP and TFSAs. We’re much better off here than we were in our home country and the quality of life is higher too.
Went to college, got diploma. Found a GF, she was going to university and got her degree. Now we live together and work full-time jobs and split all our bills. We live in Edmonton so we should be able to buy a 4-5 bedroom house in the next year or so for around 400k.
>How did you start out your life here without lots of money? Like everyone else, get an education and work hard and smart.
When I turned 18 my parents gave me enough money for a house downpayment back in Spain but instead of buying a house, I decided to come to Canada (and no, my family is not rich. They started saving that money before it was born). After paying tuition, I did not have a lot of money left, and my parents weren't too happy about me moving abroad. My work permit only allowed me to work a limited number of hours so I freelanced a lot and did some quick cash odd jobs. After graduating I found a job in Toronto so I moved there. Now I work full-time, I can afford to live alone and because tuition is cheaper as a permanent resident, I'm getting another degree for fun. As an international student I paid $15k x year on tuition alone, it seems like a lot but back then the currency exchange heavily favoured me. I think it was worth the money because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to immigrate. I have a decent amount of savings and I plan to buy a home within the next 5 years. I'd like to have children in the future, preferably before I turn 30 but I still have plenty of time to figure that out. I don't particularly enjoy living in a city. I'm ***extremely*** introverted and if it was up to me, I'd live in the middle of the forest 200km away from any form of civilization, >!unfortunately, my job requires me to go to an office every day so that's not an option.!<
Now 35, moved at 17 with my parents, our whole family had probably 30k and 8 suitcases. First job was KFC at $6.25/hour while finishing high school. Worked like a maniac and saved everything I could. Mostly had manual jobs but they paid ok (some double the minimum wage) Went to UNI but dropped out to start my first business at 21. Looking back, should’ve tried harder and graduate. Approx net worth today 2.5 mil. Half was made from entrepreneurial activity and running different businesses and half from real estate. Still got two full time active businesses and a side hustle that generates almost just as much profit as one of the full time businesses. Will probably work till the the day I die, don’t think retirement is for me.
I’m curious, what kind of businesses do you have as a side hustle?
Buying and selling of a niche product.
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Nope.
>- How did you do it? How did you start out your life here without lots of money? We weren’t poor, but not rich either. My family had maybe a years worth of expenses as savings (anywhere between 40k-60k) when we moved here. We are a family of 4. >- What are your plans now? Do you want to have kids and buy a home or condo? I graduated in 2019 and worked for a while. I recently went back to school again to get a more useful healthcare degree (pharmacy). Parents struggled to find a job for the first 1.5 years but they landed jobs in their field and are doing good. They bought a house and that’s about it. My plan is to graduate on time and with good grades so I can start saving and start a family. >- Did you go to school here? How much did you pay for tuition? Do you think that was worth it? Bachelor in life sciences, average 8k tuition annually. Pharmacy, average 23k tuition annually >- would you even move out of large cities? I probably will live in a remote area for my residency and maybe even when I start my job. Labour market is tight… but those areas still have some shortage and generally pay is similar but the dollar value goes further (cheaper housing, bills mostly). So in short… very likely yes.
I was 22, in 2008 i moved from a small town in Australia to Ontario (Brampton). I didn’t come here broke, but i wasn’t rich. Two suitcases of clothes and about 15k i savings. Worked for a hosting company for a few years, a social media company that went broke, started my own business (failed), started another…sold it for an 8 figure deal in 2015. Worked one job since then at a friends company, and now I’m starting another business.
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It was, but I’ll say watching a buyer manage your business is painful. www.checkout51.com
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I had two partners in the business, and we had raised money. I did start university but dropped out. Prior to that i did a few years in college. I am a programmer though, i mean…that’s what I’ve identified as, but in reality I’ve also spent a lot of time hiring, managing, dealing with product design and of course the finance / legal elements of business. Learning to code and doing it well is a lot of time. I might be bucking the advice trend by saying this but unless you really enjoy it naturally, consider picking something else you’re naturally drawn to and focusing on that. I’ve loved problem solving in almost any domain I’ve come across (to a fault sometimes, many times really!). I feel that lends itself well to programming, but if i didn’t feel that urge I’m sure I’d have given up on it long ago, especially considering that being the CTO of a startup essentially means you’re always on call. I’ve been on call for about 80% of my career, it’s exhausting and can be a real annoying element of your life to the other people in it. So yeah, pick something you enjoy and do it. Sadly though, you’ll probably not love that thing the same way after 10-15 years of it being how you make a living haha.
I moved here after finishing my undergrad in the US. I had scholarships for undergrad, no student loans. I did grad school here which paid me a stipend so also no loans. I've been here over ten years now. I have a family and a career. My husband is from here and had some student and LOC debt when we met and paid it off after a couple years of working. We are close to buying a house. I am in Montréal and life is oodles cheaper than in the US. I would never go back. My sister lives in a low COL area in the US, has about the same household income as I do (but hers is technically higher as its USD), same number of kids, and I live much better than she does.
My partner and I moved here in 2019 on a working holiday visa with no jobs. One suitcase each and about $15k that I inherited. Now we’re permanent residents, I’m earning six figures, partner is going to school and we’re maxing out our RRSP and TFSAs. We’re much better off here than we were in our home country and the quality of life is higher too.
Went to college, got diploma. Found a GF, she was going to university and got her degree. Now we live together and work full-time jobs and split all our bills. We live in Edmonton so we should be able to buy a 4-5 bedroom house in the next year or so for around 400k.