Patricia tripled her salary and is now earning $80 - $100 k

Meet Patricia

• Mid 30’s

• Immigrated to Canada during elementary school

• Lives with partner and step-children

• Planning manager in a company with 500+ employees

• Personal income in ranging from $80 - $100k

Patricia describes herself as an opportunist when it comes to money.  I would say she’s more like a stylish huntress meets MacGyver for problem solving.  

Drawn to the arts, Patricia studied design at a university in Toronto. She saw early on the financial challenges associated with the arts and knowing her lack of comfort with a “granola vagabond” lifestyle, she decided to focus on interior design.  It still offered an opportunity to be creative and came with benefits of stability and comfort .

After graduating, Patricia knew she needed to leave her multiple low wage retail, call center and reception jobs and start her career.  She says during school she "didn't know how to get good jobs so was just working at things that were easy to get".

Patricia needed something that helped her get started.  Given bad timing (it was 2001 and no one was hiring), little connections and no known job opportunities, she knew she had to take a short term hit to get to where she wanted to go.  She moved back home, made a portfolio and a list of 10 design firms she could work for. She proceeded to call them one by one and offer a 10-week free internship.

Patricia found a firm willing to take her. She took the unpaid job and worked her but off for the 10 weeks.  The firm had little organization and when she asked about staying on, they were not willing to make an offer. After the 10 weeks had ended, she stopped going to work and was about to start doing this all again when she got a call from a manager saying they needed her and wanted to offer her a full time job.  

This was great, she had achieved her goal – a job in her career of choice !!  Go Patricia!  Wait a minute; they offered to pay her $27,000 annually.  She was working 50-60 hours a week and commuting 3 hours a day.  With no other options, knowing she needed experience on her résumé and that the firm had a good brand, she decided to accept the offer.

After 3 years, Patricia decided it was time to move.  She had built up her portfolio and the company’s lack of organization and poor management was increasingly frustrating.  She took a 3-month contract at an architectural firm.  She knew it was a risk but she couldn’t stand her old firm any more.  She was 26 at this point.  

Luckily, Patricia was able to translate this contract into a full time gig and continued to focus on developing her portfolio, innovating and going above and beyond.  She continuously took on new projects; established the firm’s architectural library, set up drafting standards, and systems to manage relationship contacts.

During the next few years she bounced around between a few different firms, using each move as a way to slowly increase her salary.  She was able to move out of her family home and move in with her partner.  She took a couple of longer vacations between jobs which she really enjoyed.  She worked to learn more about other’s success stories and info sharing with friends. She used PayScale and glassdoor to understand salaries.  She read MoneySense magazine to understand the ins and outs of money.

Through this period, she started to see the benefits in having a house.  She saw how the value was consistently growing and how it provided security.  She established a goal to buy a house.  This was not easy in her situation.  Although her salary range was in the $50 - $80 k range at this point, her partner has 2 kids from a previous relationship so had limited ability to contribute financially towards a house.  

This is where the stylish huntress comes in.  She saved $80 k in 6 years for a down payment on her house.  How in the world???  Here are Patricia's strategies:

• She sets goals; Patricia is aware of all her expenditures and has not only her big hairy goal ($80 k for a down payment) but also smaller specific goals and challenges with herself. She continuously challenges herself with“out of reach” goals that force her to think out of the box. Examples include:

  • Putting away $100-$200 per month in RRSP's

  • Reducing the grocery bill by 30%

  • Reinvesting 10-10% of tax return in RRSP's with a goal of maximizing the benefit of the First Time Home Buyer tax credit

  • Using only 2nd hand stores for housewares, books and toys that children quickly grow out of

• She focuses on growing her income; Patricia continues to pursue new employment opportunities that leverage and build her skills as well as increase her salary. She has broadened her knowledge and is shifting towards more general management which is higher paying

• She exercises patience: Patricia has an idea of what she wants and what she is willing to pay for something. Once she knows, she often does a bit of research and percolates on how to get it in a cost effective fashion. She is not aggressive or concerned with getting it right away. She is instead concerned with getting it at the right price. This waiting and problem solving is what helps her to find and create alternatives

  • When buying the house, Patricia spent 3 years watching the market. She understood the various costs and premiums associated with location, size, and houses that did not need updating. This enabled her to jump quickly on a house in a neighborhood she wanted

• She is continuously assessing, revising and managing: Patricia will on a monthly basis look at where she spent her money and how she can spend less. She is continuously refining her budgets

• She focuses on reducing her expenses through free and lower cost alternatives: Patricia is always problem solving her way to more value. She identifies what is most important and what she is willing to pay full price for like her rock climbing gym membership. She then enjoys the bargain hunt for her remaining expenses;

  • Patricia and Greg's dining room table is this gorgeous piece of reclaimed wood they got in a clearance bin. Greg used the Toronto Tool Library tools to build it

  • Patricia loves clothing swaps and one year experimented with only buying clothes that cost under $5.00

  • Home décor, appliances and lighting have all come at unbelievable prices. She frequents garage sales, Value Village and Rotblott’s for hardware and renovation items. She is particularly proud of her pot lights - they cost $0.30 each

  • Patricia & Greg use Toronto Public Libraries, Parks & Recreation as well as community centers for family activities, as well as sports & fitness for the kids

  • They have cancelled cable and opted for free streaming and Netflix

  • Patricia bikes to work, drastically reducing her transit expenses

  • She has long hair - this enables her to have one hair cut a year instead of 4 (that's $75 vs $300 annually

  • Patricia is always looking for a good deal. This is where the stylish huntress comes in. When we met for tea, she was wearing this sleek black outfit and these super cool shoes that cost $75 but retailed for over $500

• She is creative:

  • Patricia enjoys the process of going to see what food is good and cheap and coming up with gourmet economic meals. She picks ingredients based on price and plans her meals accordingly. Before our tea, she offered me duck soup that had been made from the leftovers of BBQ duck and salted with herring and fish sauce. A lovely filling soup that I thought of as a Chinese version of Vietnamese Pho

• Patricia and Greg are DIY (Do it Yourself) all the way:

  • At work, Patricia keeps light groceries (fruit, oatmeal, salad ingredients) so she can always make something tasty

  • Patricia and Greg enjoy the process of creating and building together. They love keeping a vegetable and herb garden. They make flavored salts with fresh herbs and preserve in the summer for the fall

  • Greg just finished fixing up her bike and built himself a bike at volunteer run Bike Pirates

Patricia is now happy with her income, owns a portion of her house (the bank owns the rest) and has set a goal to grow to a VP level which will give her a significant salary bump.  She is now thinking about getting an MBA but finds it too expensive so has started to look at which companies might invest in supporting employee education.  She recognizes that this will take a few years but is setting herself to be in the right position to make it happen.

Patricia says this requires discipline, can be painful and takes significantly longer than a DIFM (Do it For Me) approach. Renovations on their house are now starting to annoy her. It was extremely challenging to move home and work 10 weeks for free with a 3 hour commute, only to get a starter job at $27,000.  But without other resources, this has been the most effective path she could find to build her career, income and net worth.

From a systems perspective, how might we enable all individuals to take advantage of the growth, tax and community benefits associated with home ownership?  How might we create an economy where new graduates and other vulnerable populations do not have to work for free for 10 weeks to secure experience? 

Might we work on shifting our investments to those opportunities that give the greatest social benefit?  Instead of exempting residential properties from capital gains tax, might we instead provide down payment matching funds or rental tax credits to lower income populations that need it?  Instead of providing tax incentives to large companies, might we benefit more from providing funding to small entrepreneurs who are working to add employees to their business?

If you enjoyed this article and think it was helpful, please share it. If you have suggestions for others and or would like to tell your story, please comment or send Strive an email.

Aimee's a PSW who has doubled her income by working independently

Aimee is a Personal Support Worker who who has been working in the field for over 20 years.  She is a single mother who has figured out how to double her income.  After 15 years of struggling with an average annual salary of $30,000 and a bureaucratic agency system that did not value her work, Aimee began to believe there had to be a better way.  Knowing that patients wanted better care, that the industry is growing with people wanting to stay home longer, and understanding the funding system Aimee decided she could be better off by working independently. 

This was not an easy decision.  Within the agency world, everything was organized and Aimee just had to show up and do the work.  But, that world had Aimee struggling to make ends meet and it did not enable her to provide they quality of care she enjoyed providing.

Aimee moved towards working independently

She started by picking up a few clients on the side.   She did these evenings and weekends and then 5 years ago she picked a name, ensured all her certifications were in order, got insurance and launched her own company.

She invested in networking and marketing herself.  She grew her relationships with agencies, reached out to people she had previously worked with, as well as individuals from organizations that provided funding opportunities such as insurance companies, personal injury lawyers and government funded programs like the passport program.  She listed her company with CCAC’s and developmental services. 

Aimee identified which populations she wanted to focus on and started going to hub meetings and drop in sessions targeted at these individuals.  She created weekly day programs and organized outings at local centres or churches to both service her targeted population and increase her connection with possible clients.  

On an ongoing basis, she has to supplement her actual personal support work with her marketing efforts and business management.  She is acutely aware of how many clients she needs to service monthly to hit her salary targets.  She continuously works to build and maintain her relationships.  If for some reason, she loses a client, she actively invests in finding another, positing on kijiji, visiting nursing homes, and or reaching out to her existing relationships.   

Overall she absolutely loves her new world.  From a pay perspective, she charges the same rate as agencies, so between $30 & $40 and effectively makes double what she used to make.  She finds that families appreciate having a higher consistency, continuity and quality of care than is typically provided in the agency world. 

She also loves her job so much more.  She gets to build stronger relationships with her clients.  In most cases she is part of the family, a genuine companion.  Aimee loves having control and flexibility over her schedule.  She finds she is able to do a lot of things agencies cannot do – she can provide a tailored service.   She does have to work evenings and weekends and does her best to accommodate clients but she has control over when this happens. 

In her new world, Aimee finds that clients are much happier.  As she is not struggling to meet the allotted time for a bath or to figure out how to make ends meet, Aimee has more brain space to be truly present and give. 

Aimee feels like “she won the lottery”.  She values the experience she received from the agencies she worked at previously.  Her knowledge and practical skills were definitely built within this environment.  That being said, she is delighted with her choice 5 years ago.

Now Aimee gets to enjoy her profession, the relationships she builds and the positive response from families.  And her clients get better care.

Aimee is a positive outlier.  She has figured out success within a system where care is often rushed to meet allotted time buckets and most of the over 100,000 personal support workers in Ontario[1], struggle to make ends meet, earning an average salary of $32,590[2].  

How might other PSW's replicate Aimee's success?  And if more PSW's did shift to independent work, might we be able to transition personal support work to an industry where workers are valued and given the time and space needed to bring meaningful connection, and higher quality of comfort, relief and support to patients?

[1] Ontario won’t regulate personal care workers, CBC News, April 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-won-t-regulate-personal-care-workers-1.907601

[2] glassdoor; https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/personal-support-worker-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm

Daniel has built a net worth of $1.5 Million over 16 years

Daniel grew up in communist Eastern Europe where most people were lower middle class.  He knew that counting on government will lead you to be somewhere between poor and lower middle class.  He saw that if you wanted anything over and above the basics, be it, experiences, things or even money for the sake of money, you had to work and hustle for it. 

Interested in moving towards a better life, Daniel studied business in Toronto.  He graduated and pursued a breadth of different opportunities.  His first job in digital marketing paid him $47,000 17 years ago.  He was there for a year, loved the people but not the job.   He lived at home and did not have any major expenses so he decided to resign.  From there he spent 6 months traveling, reading books and figuring out his next move. 

During this time Daniel had an opportunity to start a bar with a friend.  Needing some continuity of work while he embarked on this new venture, he secured a full time job at a research company in project management.  He realized that this job and company could not provide a full time career he enjoyed with the pay he wanted, so he did his job “well enough” but no more. 

He spent 2 years working full time hours in project management and another 30-40 hours at the bar.  Daniel and his two friends successfully built up the bar and Daniel took home $50,000 incremental to the salary at his day job.

From a day job perspective, Daniel has continuously worked to progress. Recognizing that project management was an ever growing and well paying field, he pursued a project management certification and got job at an agency that excelled in this area.   Over 6 years, he enhanced his project management skills with expertise in digital strategy.  He built up his knowledge and experience consistently growing his income by taking on greater responsibility and new roles.  He salary hit six figures in 2011. 

Shortly after this he was able to secure a role at a large consulting firm and negotiate a large salary increase.  Recognized for great work, he was recruited to join former colleagues at another agency in a Director role and now earns over $150k. 

Parallel to this standard world of 9-5, Daniel has continued to juggle many opportunities. In 2003, when he lost his bar lease, he got out of that business feeling good that he had made some nice money and learned a ton. 

At the same time, recognizing that he needed to figure out a way to have his money grow independent of his labour and that there was no more land in downtown Toronto, he decided to buy a house with a friend. Daniel borrowed money from his parents for a downpayment.  He and Richard bought a run down triplex in an undesirable part of downtown – Daniel would live in it, pay rent and they would both share the value of the house and rental income.  With a down payment of 5%, the initial value of the house has grown over 300% over 14 years.  With real estate, your investment is limited to the down payment but you receive a return on the entire asset, so there are opportunities to have above average rates of return.   

He invested in another business venture with his friends - a high-end restaurant that he loved.  They built it up to one of Toronto’s top 10 and then the recession of 2008 hit and they closed it down.  Net net, Daniel probably lost $30,000 on this endeavor but the experience was great.  He enjoyed the business and used it as a way to connect, network and “build his credibility in the business world”.

In 2009, Daniel bought another house and moved in with his partner.  Last year they bought an additional rental property with two close friends.  The group of 4 manage the property together and see it as a place to put their money and let it grow. 

Overall, Daniel has just over $1.5 M in assets in his early 40s. 

What has been the secret to his success?

1.    An understanding of the situations that enable success and a goal to operate in those spaces.  Back home he learned that “to succeed in a system that is broken, you have to understand and figure out how to benefit from its shortcomings – otherwise you will bang your head against a brick wall”.  Daniel knew that even if he put a chunk of work into his project management job, the organization and management team were of such low quality and his chances of success were diminished.  He knew that now matter how good he was at a family owned company, he would never really rise to the top because it was family owned and managed.  And he ultimately knows that to make real money, you have to have money grow by itself.  It can not be solely dependent on your labour – this is what drives his consistent time investment in a breadth of other opportunities.

2.    A great ability to extract and be satisfied with the good that exists. There is no doubt that Daniel works hard, an estimate of 50 hours a week at his day job + the time he spends on the two rental properties and whatever current opportunity he has bubbling.  During this, Daniel does not get frustrated he is not moving fast enough, he accepts where he is and works to enjoy it for what it is. 

This means that his day-to-day life and comforts are focused on the pieces he truly values and other pieces often take a back seat.  He enjoys traveling and so goes away at least once a year with family or friends.  A couple of years ago, he took a sailing class and is currently planning on taking his next lessons in the Caribbean.  

At the same time, a basement rental apartment he rents out is much nicer than his living space because he has not prioritized renovating his old house.  He also has a mishmash of furniture collected over the years and he just got rid of a 15 year old car that he drove to the death after buying it for $3,000 from his sister.  He picks and chooses where to invest his time and resources, realizes he can not have it all and enjoys the experiences of his choices.

3.    A willingness to take risks.  Daniel has taken a breadth of risks throughout his career.  Some have paid off in standard monetary terms and others have paid off in learning, experience or connections.  He values each experience for what it is and keeps building his reserves to enable him to continue taking risks.

4.    A focus on true relationships vs networking.  Daniel has endless amounts of time to provide, connect, grab a coffee or provide help to others.  He is not short sighted or purposeful in this but has a genuine interest in people and nurtures real long term relationships both inside and outside of the workspace.  His friends are often is partners and co-conspirators in the side hustles he pursues. 

Daniel is another positive outlier.  He has figured out the system and worked hard to navigate his way through.  How might we better enable other Canadians to excel in their own ways?

Recognizing the stagnation in wages, would we as a society benefit from increasing our investment in entrepreneurship training and support services? 

Would we benefit from expanding the understanding of the contributors to success and build a comprehensive and sophisticated knowledge to enable others to succeed?

And most importantly, recognizing that lower income Canadians are not able to access or benefit from the wealth creation of asset ownership or the $5B in annual tax credits to home owners[1], might we be able to rethink how we build bridges to asset ownership?  Might we be able to take that $5B and use it to support low income individuals and families to create assets?

Christopher Pollon, Time to end the capital gains giveaway to Canadian homeowners?, The Tyee, March 2017, https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/03/21/End-Capital-Gains-Giveaway/

Margaret invested in education & has tripled her salary in 13 years

Money has always been very important to Margaret.  She immigrated to Canada with her parents when she was a child. While there was always enough money for food and necessities, the family struggled significantly during the economic crash of the 80’s.  She remembers vividly the stress of losing the family home and having to rebuild from scratch.

Given her family’s financial situation, Margaret always had a part-time job, paid her way through university, and considered money a significant factor in her decision-making.  Enjoying travel, she taught English abroad for a number of years but found it difficult to get ahead and returned to Canada to restart her career. 

Margaret decided to go back to school to pursue her Masters of Library and Information Science.  Through this process, she continuously looked at industries and organizations where her skills would be most valued and where she could grow.   Since completing her Masters in 2004, Margaret has worked in three different industries, in 4 different organizations.  She has tripled her salary from her starting point of just under $50,000 annually.  She accomplished this through a skillful maneuvering of her career towards general management roles and fierce negotiation skills.  Her key strategies are: 

• Have a north star:  As finances were important to Margaret she set personal goals around wages.  She recognized that senior roles in a general management area were highly paid.  Given this she continuously looked to broaden her skill set with a breadth of projects and roles that enabled her to expand beyond her expertise in research. 

  • Early on in Margaret’s career she would constantly look for ways to make improvements and opportunities to learn beyond her role. She recognizes that some organizations are more open to this than others. "Some want to put you in a box and want you to stay there".  If that is the case, she knows there is little room for professional or income growth

• Understand what your organization values: Margaret is keenly aware of the value of different roles within her organization as well as her contribution.  She has established this by working to understand salaries, how much others in similar and different roles make, how much her organizational leaders and managers make.  This means she has a good sense of what her boss gets paid for what work and skill level and thinks about all this information when she sets a goal for her salary

  • She has built this knowledge up incrementally. She takes time to read salary scales using both glassdoor and PayScale, reads the Globe and Mail's profiles section which provides salary examples as well as Moneysense magazine, ask questions of colleagues and HR, and discusses money with friends

  • When negotiating her last role, Margaret took into consideration the following figures: her previous salary and remuneration including the economic value of the pension, employee RRSP contributions, professional development and other benefits offered (compensation for transit, phone etc.)…., as well as her understanding that salaries for comparable roles in organizations of similar scope and size ranged in the $140 - $190 k

  • She knows that once an organization sees your value, it is easier to negotiate for new roles, increases and opportunities; "If you are not a performer or have no value add - you have no starting point from which to negotiate". Given this, she is very strategic about the type of work she does - she only volunteers for projects that she knows are highly valued in the organization

• Use your values and goals as criteria for decision making: Margaret has a target salary and has a glide path to get there. In addition to financial remuneration she also knows what is important for her including professional development, time off and location

  • In one of her previous salary negotiations, her manager outlined how they had budget constraints and so were not able to increase her salary.  Given she was able to walk to work and had a small child at the time, she was not willing to move.  She did not miss out on this opportunity though.  She used it to secure commitment to investment in an out of province leadership program and attendance at out of country conferences worth roughly $10k.  This win was the result of knowing what she wanted, understanding the different buckets of budget within her organization and building the business case that demonstrated the value to the organization. This did not provide immediate financial benefit, but it built her expertise, and better positioned her for future financial growth.  It also demonstrated to management that she was willing to negotiate but that she would not settle

• Create an understanding of your goals with organizational leaders:  Margaret has always been clear about her goals with her managers. They know her interests both in terms of work and pay

  • Margaret uses every opportunity she can to make her goals clear. When beginning negotiations, she makes sure there is collective understanding for her long term salary and career progression goals. She then bargains as hard as she can when she enters a new role

  • Margaret has an understanding of the salary range as well as the full scale of remuneration ranging from investment in professional development, health and dental benefits to contribution to RRSP's. She sets a goal for overall compensation and for each of the pieces; "Usually you know when you have hit the max just as you know when you have not asked for enough. It is a fine line and must be carried out respectfully"

  • She is always very positive and solutions oriented in her negotiations, making clear her desires, yet also seeking to understand organizational areas of openness, policies, and constraints

  • Margaret recognizes that once you are in the role, it is tougher to negotiate for increases. At the same time, she knows that no one is going to offer you anything in this world

  • She notices that few people comprehend that: "I have been managing staff for nearly 10 years and I have never had anyone try to negotiate an increase outside of a review process and when they have asked – they have never been in a position of power with respect to performance. If you have just had a mediocre review it is not the best time to be asking for a significant raise"

• Use every opportunity to pre-negotiate and negotiate: Negotiations do not just happen at salary review time. They are happening year round. You are demonstrating your value every day. You are also demonstrating your knowledge and expectations every day.

  • Margaret describes a perfect example of this; In her discussions with her former CEO about remuneration for an employee who was being terminated, Margaret made it clear that she was uncomfortable with a clause in her own contract which severely limited the amount of severance she would be entitled to should she be dismissed. Essentially Margaret’s contract did not entitle her to severance pay of any kind (statute, common law or otherwise). She articulated that this was unfair and she intended to renegotiate this at a later date. Margaret understood that to stay long term in this role with a potential change in leadership would be a financially risky proposition and that she had signed away her rights to take the job.  Outside of review time, she made it clear that she wanted this fixed

  • Margaret has used a breadth of conversation starters to negotiate including celebrating the success of a big project / initiative and discussing her future vision for the initiative or team.  This provides an opening to discuss the support, resources and remuneration needed to bring the vision to life

If you enjoyed this article and think it was helpful, please share it. If you have suggestions for others and or would like to tell your story, please comment or send Strive an email.

Samir's resilience helped him move from minimum wage to an annual salary of $85,000

Samir’s journey from a successful career in India to the pursuit of greater opportunities in Canada, is a testament to the relentless dedication to his goals and strategic allocation of his available resources.

Meet Samir

•  Arrived in Canada in 2019

• Business Affairs Manager earning $85,000

• Lives with his wife

• Monthly rent of $2,800

• Monthly expenses of $4,000

Amidst the myriad of Canadian immigration narratives, Samir's story stands out as a testament to effective money and time management as well as an unwavering commitment to keep moving forward. Samir completed his Master's in advertising in 2013 and embarked on a career in the vibrant realm of entertainment. His professional journey began at Reliance Entertainment and he steadily climbed the ranks to Producer. Despite leading a well-settled life in India, his ambitious drive led him to explore the possibilities of immigration to Canada. In 2018, he applied for Canadian permanent residency and started preparing to enter the Canadian job market.

During the permanent residency application process, Samir strategically invested time in networking with professionals in Canada. He subscribed to LinkedIn Premium and spent an average of 2-3 hours per day to meticulously research organizations, reach out to individuals working in production houses, and engage in informational discussions. He built the foundation for a seamless transition into the Canadian job market. His proactive approach bore fruit when a connection from his past at a London-based production house provided valuable insights into launching his career in Canada.

In August 2019, Samir obtained his permanent residency beginning his Canadian chapter. Accompanied by his friend Kabir, Samir entered the challenging Canadian job market . To manage expenses from their savings, they chose a cost-effective rental basement apartment, with a rent of $1200. Samir's share of rent was $600. The duo spent hours in coffee shops, diligently applying for jobs, making connections, and engaging with potential employers. However, the job search proved challenging.

While Kabir was able to secure a position in Montreal after 15 days, Samir was having greater difficulty and his savings were dwindling. Given this, he decided to take on a minimum-wage retail job at Best Buy in October 2019. He aimed to take maximum shifts of work to cover his household expenses. Amid 5-6 hours of daily work, 3 hours of everyday travelling and additional household chores, it became difficult for him to dedicate time to pursuing opportunities in his field.

Through this challenging process, Samir learned the importance of resilience and adaptability. He discovered that setbacks could be opportunities in disguise, and by staying focused on his goals, he could overcome obstacles. As time went on, he became more effective by refining his time management skills. He began reaching out to production houses, juggling work, and job hunting with determination . He explored online job opportunities and attended networking events to broaden his professional connections. This multi-faceted approach started showing results as some producers expressed interest and invited him for meetings in the coming months. As fate would have it, the pandemic struck, closing doors for Samir just as opportunities seemed within reach.

Having no income, he began living at a friend’s house. Despite facing setbacks, Samir never gave up. In April 2020, he pivoted to a warehouse job at Amazon as it paid more than his retail job. He decided to stay with that friend and began paying him $700 per month as rent. The job became his lifeline, providing stability and a platform to continue his job hunt in the competitive Canadian market. Juggling night shifts, household chores, and the constant pressure of managing expenses while earning $17-18 per hour, he persevered through physical exhaustion and financial tension.

For a year, Samir balanced his warehouse job with relentless applications to nearly 50 positions daily in his field. In January 2021, his perseverance paid off with a callback for an interview. “After screening, they told me that there were no immediate openings for me, but asked to follow-up. I used to send a reminder e-mail to HR every 2 weeks, hoping to get a call again,” he shares.

 Samir’s consistent follow-ups eventually paid off when he secured a position as a Rights Management Coordinator with an annual salary of $50,000. This marked a significant improvement and allowed him to transition from the warehouse job to a role more closely aligned with his career aspirations. With a renewed sense of purpose, he bid farewell to his warehouse job and embraced the new chapter in his career.

Soon, Kabir also got a job in Toronto and moved back. With a newfound job and financial stability, Samir, along with his friend, rented an apartment in downtown Toronto in August 2021 with a rent of $2300. Personal milestones soon followed. Samir married his long-time girlfriend in India in December 2022 and initiated the process to bring her to Canada.. As he navigated the complexities of immigration to bring his wife to Canada, Samir continued to seek growth in his professional journey. Alongside the challenges of the immigration process, he also faced additional costs, including PR processing fees, underscoring the financial commitment and dedication required to reunite with his spouse.

In March 2023, driven by the need for financial and career advancement, Samir pursued opportunities a large, reputable firm. Even though he faced an initial setback when he was turned down, his determination and abilities were proven when he later received an offer to work as a Business Affairs Manager with an annual salary of $85,000. By May 2023, Samir had achieved remarkable professional growth and stability.

On July 1, 2023, a symbolic day for Canadians, Samir attained his Canadian citizenship. His journey from a Best Buy retail job to a thriving career in the Canadian media industry showcases the tenacity of an individual determined to turn challenges into stepping stones for success. Samir's story is a beacon of inspiration for those navigating the complex path of immigration, job hunting, and settling in a new land.

Isaac secured a full time job in his career within 6 months of arriving in Canada and now earns $60,000

As I interview more and more individuals about their financial journeys, I realize each individual has unique strengths. When you look back at their journey you can see just how their strengths have enabled them to succeed.

Meet Isaac

• Married family man with three kids in his mid 40s

• Arrived in Canada two years ago with $10,000 US

• Financial planning associate earning $60,000

• Monthly rent of $950

• Monthly expenses of $2,800

• Monthly savings of $100

Isaac is a disciplined planner! Not just a thinker or list maker, a full out planner who has the discipline to invest significant time and effort thinking about the future and making it easier for himself.  I believe this long term thinking has been a core enabler of his success.

Isaac was born in Nigeria to an upper middle class family.  He went to university, studied microbiology first and then went back, pursued his MBA and worked in banking for 16 years. 

At the age of 40 with three kids aged 9, 8 and 5, Isaac and his wife started to seriously think about emigrating.  They wanted a better life for their kids and so despite being a well-paid middle manager in a bank and owning some small pieces of land, Isaac and his family decided to uproot their lives and move go Canada. 

From the beginning, Isaac found out as much about the immigration process as he could.  He researched not for profit organizations who might provide support, the cost of living, as well as any and all available support services…. During this time he had heard about Windmill Microlending, which provides low-interest microloans to help skilled immigrants and refugees invest in securing the Canadian credentials they need to continue their careers in Canada.  He parked the concept into the back of his mind.  Isaac sought out and took advantage of everything that could help him. 

From a financial perspective, he worked as hard as he could in the 2-year application process, researching all the options, learning from previous immigrants and working to pay for the exams, documents, tickets and all other expenses as they came.  In 2017, after having sold everything, Isaac, his wife Jol, and three children immigrated to Saskatchewan with $10,000 US. 

What is important to note is that when they got off the plane, the family already had a place to live.  Isaac’s preparation had enabled him to get in touch with members of the Nigerian community in Saskatchewan and a community member had already organized an apartment for them to rent.   The rent was $975 a month so basically the family had a maximum of 9 months of rent before they ran out of money.  

Isaac focused on getting a job. Despite their education and previous careers, they knew they needed money now and so Isaac and Jol both took jobs in retail stores earning minimum wage and were working within a month. 

Recognizing that it was going to be hard to get a job in his field, Isaac secured support from résumé writing services and started sending out as many resumes as possible.  He knew he did not want to work retail and so continued planning for and working on his future. 

Within 6 weeks he received a job offer from a bank for a position as a financial services representative in a rural northern town of 2,500 people, 4 hours from his home.  His pay would be $38,000 a year and he would need to live there and commute home on weekends.  Although difficult for the family, Isaac’s plan was to work in his field of experience and he knew that this opportunity provided him with some Canadian experience so he took it.  His plan and long-term vision encouraged him to say yes.  Without that he may have passed up the role and been stuck in retail for a longer period.

While working, he continued to aggressively send out resumes and apply for other jobs.  Within 10 months he was able to transfer within the same bank to a similar role in another town that was only 1.5 hours away.  This was great - he was able to move back in with his family!

Despite this big step forward, Isaac still needed to commute 3 hours a day to his job.  He was also interested in something at a higher level within the bank.  He realized that Canadian education in his field would help and so Isaac wanted to start the Canadian Securities Course. 

Unfortunately the course and associated exams were out of his budget but he remembered Windmill Microlending from his earlier research.  He thought they may be able to help him get Canadian education which would help him advance his career goals. He applied for a loan with Windmill, was accepted and began the Canadian Securities Course as a way towards becoming a certified financial planner (CFP).   At the same time, he continued to dedicate time and energy to researching and applying for jobs. 

He saw a posting for a role at another bank in wealth management and given he had completed his CSC course, had Canadian experience as well as international experience and education, he was able to secure an interview and was offered the role.   He feels that “without those funds, he would not have been able to do the CSC course, he would have struggled more and had more difficulty transferring into his new, higher skill and higher pay role.

Isaac is now a Financial Planning Associate making $60,000 annually after being in Canada 2 years.  He has also paid back his microloan in full.  In the first year he is required to pay interest only but he wanted to ensure that he paid it back quickly in order to have his finances in order and to minimize his interest. 

Isaac’s disciplined planning skills can also be seen in his daily money management and budgeting.  Isaac lists his priorities: rent first, bills, food and necessities.  He recently started an excel sheet for a budget that is very helpful for him. They make their decisions based on their goals.  Currently Isaac and his family are saving for a down payment on a home.

With this goal in mind, Isaac and Jol are both mindful and frugal.  They actively manage their money, discussing what they have and what needs to be bought at least every other day.  They regularly shop second hand using facebook marketplace, Value Village, and Kijiji.  They cook 95% of their meals.  Isaac has lunch out maybe once a week and they buy pizza for the kids as a treat once a month.  They have cut out credit cards and use cash or debit so they have a more up to date picture of their money and so they do not spend money they do not have.   They selectively choose where they spend.  They would have loved to have signed their kids up for more summer programs, but they were expensive and so they invested in a couple of key ones. 

Thinking about his journey, Isaac says he is in a good place now.  He is feeling stable with secure employment in his field, has a good handle on all his money and a new goal of buying a house.

When asked what advice he would give to others, he says:

1.    Be prepared. It makes no sense to come blind.  You could be just wasting the opportunity

2.    Save up, come with as much money as possible and be money mindful. Isaac says that you will get to a point where you can afford to buy what you need and what you want.  Be patient, it will happen.  If you try to buy everything you want when you start earning money, you can increase your risk and it may limit your progress towards your goals.

3.    Take advantage of the all the supporting organizations and resources that exist.  Help and support can make your journey easier and faster.  Take the time to understand what support would help you, research what exists, and ask for help.

Faisal was able to get a scholarship that covered his tuition and living expenses

Faisal is successful because he is clear about where he is going, strategically looks for opportunities to enable him to get there and recognizes the importance of meaningful relationships

Meet Faisal

• 3rd year full time business student living independently off campus

• Monthly living expenses of $ 2k-$3k

• Monthly earnings of $ 5k-$6k

• Working 30 hours part time per week in developing his own business

• No expected debt upon graduationas all his tuition and related expenses are covered by his scholarship

Faisal grew up in South East Asia in an upper middle class family – his mother is professor and his father works in government.  Faisal had the benefit of a strong education and clarity around the various types of jobs and opportunities that exist.  Faisal’s brother had studied in the west and then returned home and started an energy aggregation business with Faisal’s uncle. 

Seeing the benefits of entrepreneurship first hand inspired Faisal and he became interested in moving from doing a job to starting his own business. Given his interests, Faisal thought studying business in the west would be the best pathway for him.  He began to dream of going abroad but was very aware of the cost barriers as an international student.  Although his parents had a comfortable life, the high fees associated with tuition and living abroad (York University’s tuition for international students is over $25,000 annually) combined with the exchange rate made it impossible for Faisal’s parents to fund his education.

Faisal understood cost was a barrier to his dreams and so he knew he would have to problem solve to find solutions.  Faisal had one of the highest grade point averages in his class and was involved in extracurricular and sports activities such as debating, writing and tennis. He was also fairly active in his community, volunteering at local hospitals for two hours daily for almost 2 years. Given this, Faisal hoped he would be able to secure some form of scholarship.

Midway through his high school years, Faisal asked his parents to sit down and talk about finances and his education.  He continued to dream of going away, knew that any help his parents could provide would be beneficial and so started a discussion about the collective effort.  Although culturally, it was common for parents to pay for their children’s education, Faisal did not expect this from his parents.  He maturely wanted to talk about possible avenues, ask their advice and discuss how they could work together.

Given his grades and community involvement, Faisal strategy focused on applying for scholarships.  Faisal made a list of universities that granted funds and applied to 10 US, 3 Canadian and 2 UK schools as well as completing their separate scholarship/funding applications. He also sent in funding applications to his local government and non-government educational support organizations.

This took 1-2 hours daily over six months working with fellow students, teachers, high school admission counselors and other experts. Faisal attended workshops, visited university admission offices, went to presentations and sought out one on one counseling support. The work paid off and Faisal received a York University scholarship covering both his tuition and living expenses.  He was delighted at both the support and the opportunity to come to Canada. 

Faisal came to Canada 3 years ago to study business full time.  In addition to his studies, Faisal has spent approximately 30 hours a week to build his own business.  Given insights from his brother and uncle on the energy aggregation market, and the deregulated nature of the US market, Faisal thought it would make sense to focus on becoming an energy broker in the US.  Although he has an idea of how things can work, he is still starting from scratch. 

That means that he has been researching organizations, cold calling potential clients, working to build relationships, invested time in going to the US to work on attracting clients and money in online marketing.  After 2 years of unpaid business development, his work has paid off and he has secured several top S & P companies as clients.  This has enabled him to hire several employees who are experts in the energy business to support and run the business out of the US as well as an office in downtown New York, while he maintains an oversight role.   

Speaking of his approach to business development, Faisal discusses how he has worked at perfecting the process of connections.  He looks to understand what others are interested in or need, makes himself available to support or enable others, and is always prepared and professional.  He knows that this effort pays out in the long run.  He also knows he is quite skillful as none of his business colleagues know that he is a 20 year old university student. However, he understands where to seek help and is hiring better and more experienced employees to aid in developing his business. 

On a day-to-day basis, Faisal has a yearly and semester budget, invests time and effort trying to find economical options that enable him to stay within his budget and is mindful of both his expenses and goals.

Faisal’s goals are to stay in Canada, wait and see if the energy deregulation concept develops here while growing his business in the US.  He knows that this will be costly as he is building a life from scratch and so is very strategic with his time and financial investments.

From a systems perspective, Faisal’s story makes me think about how we might create opportunities for all Canadians to invest in themselves and in building viable businesses for a long term sustainable economy.

Kavith is successful because he knows what he values, thinks ahead & is disciplined with his time

Meet Kavith

• 4th year full time business student living at home

• Monthly living expenses of $1,000

• Monthly earnings of $900

• Working 15 hours part time per week

• Expected OSAP upon completion of university: $20,000. Kavith will be able to pay this off immediately with the money he has saved from his internships.

As a first generation Canadian, Kavith has a good sense of what hard work feels like.  Throughout his childhood, he heard how his parents escaped civil war to come to Canada.  He spent years watching them slowly build a better life; they worked overtime to put food on the table, spent time studying in order to get better paying jobs and tightly managed their money to make ends meet.

This combined with seeing some family friends struggle during retirement encouraged Kavith to think about money and personal finance in a unique way.  Driven to be secure and stable, Kavith first read The Wealthy Barber in high school and then Wealthing like Rabbits.  He started to get hooked on personal finance. 

In Grade 10, Kavith’s house was broken into and he felt firsthand “how volatile and insecure everything was”.  This motivated him to take control of his financial future.  He read as much as he could and entered into a national financial literacy contest, emerging as a winner on the national stage.  He saw what other youth were doing and found that motivational. 

Like most high school students, Kavith began thinking about post-secondary education.  He started to understand the costs.  He knew that he could get OSAP but wanted to be proactive.  He worked as hard as he could to get his grades up.  He spent about 5 hours a week thinking about what he was good at and looking for scholarship and contest opportunities.  He applied for and competed in a number of opportunities and was ultimately successful in securing $45 000 in funding for school from more than 10 separate providers, with awards ranging in value from $100 to $30 000.

In order to manage his costs, Kavith decided to live at home and commute to campus 1.5 hours each way for a total of 3 hours a day.  Given this commute, Kavith realized that he could only manage a part-time job if it was on campus. He started researching on campus jobs using his university’s Career Centre website and learned that he could apply for jobs once he was accepted and start working once he was a student. He ended up applying for and securing on-campus employment, which he has retained for the past three years. 

On a day-to-day basis, Kavith diligently manages his money.  He has a budget with all his costs yet tries not to look at the cost of necessities on a day-to-day basis.  He works 15 hours a week, saves a large majority of what he makes and is hoping to be able to pay off OSAP when he graduates.

With an interest in personal finance, Kavith decided to study business and thought about being a financial planner.  He has done well, had two internships in this space and has been offered a full-time opportunity when he graduates.  He attributes this to the time and effort he put into connecting with others. 

Kavith recognized the importance of relationships and the valuable knowledge that you can get from others.  As such, Kavith spent about 10 hours a week in his first and second years researching careers, identifying interesting people, reaching out and making time to connect with them.  This has been very beneficial to Kavith, opening new doors he would not have expected. 

Unfortunately, the financial planning industry is not what Kavith had imagined.  He feels that it is too focused on sales and not on the work of truly enabling people, which is what he is interested in.  Given this, Kavith is feeling that he will take some time to build his way towards other opportunities.  This means that he may be turning down a job upon graduation driven by the desire to do work he is passionate about.

Kavith has researched and learned about a variety of career paths.  Given his education and experience, he feels confident in being able to find an alternative opportunity.  He is also grateful for the resiliency that living at home with his family will provide during the transition.

Looking at his years in university, Kavith knows that he has probably missed out on some of the social aspects but feels that for him, the stability and resiliency is well worth the cost.  If he were to give advice for high school students, it would be to realize the tradeoffs between saving and living in the moment.

From a systems perspective, I think of how we might enable everyone to have a better sense of the total costs and tradeoffs associated with various expenses.

Esfir used university to go from minimum wage to secure & stable employment

Meet Esfir

• Early 30’s

• Immigrated to Canada from Iran with her husband when she was 23 years old

• Education in chemistry & engineering, education and HR

• Works in the banking sector

• Student debt of $55,000

• Income of $45,000 to $65,000

Esfir came to Canada, driven by the desire for a career where, her contributions would be valued based on their merit and as equal to those of her male colleagues. She was frustrated that as a woman, she didn’t get meaningful opportunities at work.  “They didn’t see me as a professional… I didn’t have equity and no matter how good I was, I couldn’t get any higher”.

Esfir grew up in Iran within an upper-middle class family.  Valuing education, Esfir pursued her undergraduate degree in chemistry / engineering and then a second degree in English as a second language.   Upon completing school she ended up working in a bank full time and teaching English part time.  She met Farrokh, an IT professional; they married and bought an apartment back home.  They were financially comfortable. 

In 2010, at the age of 23, Esfir and her Farrokh decided to move to Canada.  Her vision had evolved; she dreamed of being in a leadership position, of transitioning to HR and of starting a family.

They came to Canada with what they thought was enough money to last 6 months.  With the currency exchange and the costs of getting settled, they realized they had significantly less than expected. Esfir also realized how difficult it was to find a job in one’s field.  Worried about the costs of living, she applied for and was able to secure a minimum wage retail job at HBC within 10 days of arriving.  Farrokh had a more difficult time.  His English was not as strong as hers and so it took him 3 months to find a minimum wage job at Future Shop, which he would later lose when they were sold to Best Buy.

Looking back, Esfir’s strategy (in addition to hard work) was to 1) look for ways to move up within her job in order to increase her Canadian experience, 2) secure additional education in HR where she wanted to direct her career and 3) network and engage others in her journey.

She started working at HBC in 2010 and 2 years of minimum wage later, Esfir was promoted to a manager within the cosmetics department, managing 5 people and increasing her wage to $18 per Hour. Esfir and Farrokh both wanted to go back to school but it was expensive and they had to wait for a time when they could afford it.  After losing his job, Farrokh took 6 months to find another job but this time it was in his field. Within another year, Esfir was able to move up again to a store manager for a cosmetic brand.  4 years after arriving in Canada, Esfir was earning $50,000-$60,000 and Farrokh was earning in the $60,000-$70,000 range. 

Given the increased stability, Esfir was able to start a post-graduate degree in HR at York University in 2014.  In addition to the financial cost of another degree, Esfir’s education was not fully recognized here and so she had to invest money and time in taking preliminary courses and exams. 

Esfir continued to work full time while pursuing her post-graduate degree.  This is what enabled them to pay for their living costs and her school costs.  In 2015, through a close friend, Esfir heard about an opportunity as a banking advisor at RBC. 

With her experience in the banking industry back home, her Canadian experience managing a retail store and expertise in customer service, she was able to secure a significantly better role with same salary.  She was delighted with this opportunity because the size of the organization and their commitment to investing in people gave her hope.  She could see a pathway to move into HR and grow into a leadership position.

She has been at the bank now for just over 2 years.  She is not yet in HR but she enjoys her work, feels she is fairly compensated and has had good honest discussions with her manager, mentor and senior leaders in the organization.  They know she is interested in HR and she is actively working on building a pathway forward.  Esfir and Farrokh are also enjoying parenthood - they had a beautiful son in November 2016. 

Looking back, Esfir realizes that her strategy of engaging others in her journey was not something she immediately thought of. Instead, struggling with the stress of immigration, financial difficulties, loneliness, and the loss of her brother in an automobile accident, Esfir realized she needed to start socializing and be a greater part of the community to be healthier. 

As she grew her network of people, Esfir learned she was not the only one going through difficulties.  She realized she wasn’t alone; “there were lots of doctors and engineers like me who weren’t able to find a job in their own field… Farrokh and I weren’t the problem…it was an outside problem”.  This gave Esfir hope and kept her moving towards her goals. 

Esfir’s goals now including, building a bridge from her current role to one in HR, which could some involve internal courses, more networking and figuring out ways to develop HR skills in her current role.  Farrokh and Esfir are also saving to purchase a home, take a vacation together, support their son’s education and eventually retire.

It has been 9 years and Esfir has made significant progress she is proud of.  It turns out that immigration and starting fresh in a new country is significantly harder than expected. It takes exponentially more time and money than it should; Esfir and Farrokh had to find jobs, figure out how to live on minimum wage, figure out how to get jobs that would use their skills, apply, get no response, apply for more jobs, get rejected, re-write their resume, apply for more jobs, learn the culture, work long hours and extra shifts to be able to take on more responsibility. 

They had to spend time managing every bit of their spending, learn the banking system; how it works and the various products that were different from their home country where credit cards are not common, meet new people, invest in making friends, understand the educational system, associated costs and benefits and make critically important decisions.

Despite these challenges, Esfir and Farrokh are very proud of their progress and the foundation they have built.  They see how far they have come and look forward to continuing to work towards their goals. As their citizenship judge said, “you can be anything you want to be in this country, I was an immigrant and now I am a judge”.

In writing Esfir’s story, I can’t help but be impressed by her clear focus on her goals, her hard work, determination and persistence.  I also can’t help but think how much better we could be as a country if we made the immigration process easier, valued immigrant skills and if our minimum wage was a living wage giving individuals space to invest in reaching their goals faster. 

How Esfir and Farrokh make it work day to day

• Budget & plan expenses both monthly and weekly; they have a fixed monthly plan that may change with life changes.  Weekly they write down all their expenses and they review everything together regularly.

• Write down all their expenses; Esfir is in charge of the master spreadsheet

• Work together; they have the same view of finances and have worked out a savings and expense plan that works for them both

• Have a small budget for unexpected situations

• Buy ingredients, make lunches and dinners; They realize that eating at home is much cheaper and healthier than dining out so that is how they manage their day to day life.  The purchase food out a maximum of 1-3 times per month for special occasions or if they are working late.

• Choose low cost entertainment; They love Netflix and instead of expensive vacations or entertainment, they focus on day trips to places like Niagara Falls

Ricardo is an immigrant who grew his salary from $32,000 to $94,000

Meet Ricardo

• Early 40’s

• Immigrated to Canada from Argentina 13 years ago

• Studied Advertising & Communications at University

• Works in the digital advertising space

• Household income in the range of 190-240 K

• Personal income in the range of 100-130K

You would not guess it from talking to Ricardo but he is a planner at heart.   Not a planner in the traditional sense – he has no spreadsheets, lists or timelines written down.   But you can see his thinking; you can see that he plans in his head.  He has an understanding of what he wants,  what is important to him and engages others in his journey. 

Ricardo was born into an upper middle class family in Argentina.  Although he loved the country, the culture and was close with his family and friends, he had an understanding that his opportunities for long-term happiness were limited due the lack of economic security, scarcity of jobs, the violence (he had once been held up at gunpoint), and the high level of corruption. 

Ricardo wanted more control over his future and decided he was going to emigrate.  Speaking English he debated between the US where his brother was, Ireland (where he had additional family), Canada and Australia.  He chose Canada because of the openness to cultural diversity, the more left leaning politics, the access to nature, the existence of health care, the economic opportunity and the vibrancy of Toronto. 

And so at age 32, after spending 1.5 years on paperwork and saving $2,000, Ricardo left his job as an Account Director in marketing and boarded a plane to Canada.  Taking advice from his brother, Ricardo knew he had to solve his problems one by one. 

First he had to find a place to stay.  He left his suitcase at Union station and went to a backpackers hostel.  He got one bad tip and then jumped on one of the first opportunities he had for decently priced accommodations.  He ended up renting a room in a Richmond Hill house (about an hour from the city centre) for $500. 

His next task was to find a job.  Someone told him to go to the library and there he started to access some of the services available for those looking for a job.  He got help putting together his resume and through a job program, learned how to look for a job.  He was very grateful for the help in understanding how things worked. 

Ricardo’s goal was to get something inside a larger company.  He felt that if he got his feet in, he could build Canadian experience and grow.  He just needed to get in the door.  

He thought of it as a numbers game.  The more he applied, and the more interviews he got, the greater his chances for success.  He applied for every posting he saw, reached out to companies he had worked for in Argentina and took every interview he could get.  This let him practice his English and the wording he would use to describe his background and skills.   Ricardo spent lots of time talking about how he would sell newspapers door to door…

After a month, he secured a position at a call centre in a research firm he had previously worked for in Argentina.  He had come with a letter of recommendation from that firm.  A few weeks in, the HR person he had previously connected with let him know that there was a co-ordinator position available.  He applied and got the job securing a salary of $32,000 a year.   This enabled him to move from the room he was renting in Richmond Hill to a bachelor in the city. 

Ricardo was responsible for co-ordinating communications for people doing surveys.  After 12 months, he was promoted to a project manager and received a $2,000 raise.  During his time as a project manager, Ricardo became friends with other project managers and he learned his salary was $10,000 below theirs.  He was making 33% less than those with the exact same job.

Knowing that he was underpaid, and that it is much easier to negotiate when entering a new job than when getting promoted, Ricardo spent time and energy looking for new opportunities.  After, 9 months as a Project Manager, Ricardo moved companies and was able to increase his salary to $46,000. 

At his new company, Ricardo once again worked hard and within 14 months, was promoted to Account Director.  Again he was given a small raise.  This time he received $4,000, increasing his salary to $50,000.  He was told that once he proved himself, he would be given a raise.  Ironically, they had just given him a promotion for proving himself.  He knew people around him were making $70 - $90,000.

Within a year, he once again moved to a competitor in an Account Director role and then increased his salary to $94,000.  With that jump, Ricardo was finally at the same salary level as his Canadian counterparts. 

So in four years, Ricardo went form an annual salary of $32,000 to $94,000.  It is important to note that Ricardo was in a growing industry and already had the skills (he had worked in this field in Argentina).   What he was focused on doing was building Canadian experience so that he could effectively negotiate when entering new positions.

What were the key factors that enabled Ricardo’s success?

1.     Ricardo works to understand the context around him – He reads and connects with colleagues and friends openly with the goal of everyone succeeding.  He shares his information and in exchange others share with him.  This is how he built a good understanding of the earning potential for his skills.  This is how he learned that in most cases, companies do not properly reward you when they promote you internally.

2.     Ricardo develops strategies that take his context into consideration.  Knowing that he wanted more stability, safety and economic opportunity, Ricardo’s strategy was to emigrate from Argentina.  Knowing that he wanted to increase his salary in his industry, Ricardo’s strategy was to work hard, get promoted at a company and then to move companies and get a salary bump.

3.     Ricardo is genuinely interested in people, in doing and in being active.  These interests have really helped him be successful.  He does not network in the American sense of the word.  Instead, he is interested in meeting and getting to know different people.  He makes time for lunch, connecting either with colleagues or re-generating on his own.  He plays on a field hockey team, regularly goes to see live music and walks his dog daily.  Through these activities, he has gotten to know a variety of people and built up his knowledge of opportunities and salary levels.  He shares information and others share with him. 

He has been in Canada 13 years and has worked at 7 different companies within that time period.  He found 2 of those jobs himself through the standard job application process.  The other 5 were all through acquaintances.  His acquaintances did not get him any of the jobs, but they let him know the opportunities existed, sometimes making introductions.  This often opened the door to an interview.

Ricardo says “You have to move and do things, if you sit around, nothing will happen.  People help each other when they know and like each other.  It’s human nature.” 

Ricardo is now happy with where he is.  When he looks back, he says he would not do anything drastically different.  It would have been good to have more than $2,000 to emigrate but then again he knows that if too much time had passed, he may have gotten stuck – you have to jump at some point.  He is happy that he kept his focus on moving and advancing and that he always makes time for people he likes.  He has not only built his career, but also built a community of Canadian friends that are like family. 

From a systems perspective, how do we enable all immigrants to leverage their skills, while being fairly paid and successful?  How can we meaningfully take advantage of their knowledge and expertise?  And how might we prevent companies from using their market hold on employment take advantage of those populations that are most vulnerable and most need employment? 

Might we just do that by coming together, sharing our knowledge and working to help each other advance?

Rohan reduced his borrowing costs by over $50,000

Meet Rohan

• Toronto resident mid 30’s who immigrated to Canada in 2008

• Masters degree

• Married to Saba who recently completed her PHD. She has secured a stable job with the government but will start in 12 months after taking unpaid maternity leave

• Parent to a new new, very cute baby boy who like all baby boys sleeps little and needs lots of cuddles and diaper changes

• Social entrepreneur, 18 months into starting his own business

• Personal income of under $40,000

• Debt consisting of student loans and credit card in $30 k range

• 3 words to describe money: necessity, trust, convenience

Rohan is an entrepreneur with a new baby who immigrated to Canada just over 10 years ago.  As you can imagine, his life is hectic and requires significant ball juggling. 

Growing up in Bangladesh, Rohan wasn’t rich but he also never felt poor.  His family always had enough money for the important things in life like education.

After completing his Master’s degree, Rohan came to Canada to further pursue his education.  It was here that money management became a critical part of his world.   Money was his “currency of independence”. 

Now in a foreign country, he had to figure out the banking system as well as how to pay for housing, food, clothes, education.  It was stressful to have to make all those decisions.  It also required a significant amount of discipline - every time he bought something, he had to think about the implications of the purchase. 

Upon completing his education, Rohan was very interested in the new and emerging space of social enterprise.  Feeling hopeful about the market opportunity and his ability to contribute to this area of work, Rohan did not look for a traditional job.  He began working independently and slowly built the strategy and foundation for his business. This means that at the beginning, it was mostly networking and volunteering, and then one day he got his first client.  Slowly but surely he has been meeting people and growing his client base, incorporating his own business in May 2015. 

What really keeps Rohan going is the success in the small steps; incremental growth in his clients and the macro vision of understanding the potential and seeing the market grow in this space. 

Rohan currently feels a bit of financial stress but it is softened by his hope for the future.  His greatest amount of stress is from being an entrepreneur, wearing a million different hats.  From marketing to service delivery, accounting to project management, Rohan is always juggling and switching gears.

This complexity of entrepreneurship has taken up the majority of Rohan’s brain space and time.  It has prevented him from pushing forward on some personal financial pieces.  In particular, Rohan was recently dealing with the high costs of credit card debt.  As self-employed and with no assets, he has had difficulty getting reasonably priced loans from traditional banks. 

The lack of good options and limited amount of time to look for solutions, led Rohan to focus on building his business instead of addressing the high cost of his credit.  

Rohan and his wife had a goal of buying a home and raising a family. After some coaching through Strive, Rohan began to look at the costs and to better understand the interest associated with his credit card debt. Using free amortization tools, Rohan realized that he would be paying over $65k in interest on a $30k credit card balance if he continued with minimum payments (he was paying $500 monthly with 19% interest). 

ARGH!!!!

Rohan started pushing for solutions, spoke to his bank, got a card at 12 % interest and was accepted for a $4,000 loan from Borrowell.  Over the lifetime of his loan, this is expected to save him over $50,000.  He also went through a review of his expenses and worked on reducing those cutting out cable and finding a new internet service provider. 

Through this process, Rohan realized that even though he had tried before and options did not seem available, he could make progress by continuing to push forward.  His work in pushing past the "no's" he had previously received and talking to different bank representatives at different institutions paid off. 

Overall, these are good steps forward in Rohan’s journey.  He still has more work to do but he is taking control and reducing the amount of money he is paying in fees.  This means more money for him and his family to spend on whatever they would like.

When I think about Rohan's experience, I see how difficult it is for newcomers with no credit history or assets to access capital at reasonable rates.  I also think about the importance and value of educating newcomers on our banking system, capital options and the process of seeking out viable solutions so that we are enabling new Canadians to succeed and help grow our economy. 

If you enjoyed this article and think it was helpful, please share it. If you have suggestions for others and or would like to tell your story, please comment or send Strive an email.

Avani's a single mother who went from minimum wage to $90,000 annually

As the saying goes, when life serves you lemons, you make lemonade.  Despite the challenges, that is what Avani a single mother of two managed to do.   Avani immigrated to Canada almost 15 years ago; she was driven by the opportunity to live in a country that offered economic growth, high standards of living, best in class education and peace of mind.

Meet Avani

• Early 40’s

• Specialized dialysis nurse

• Immigrated to Canada almost 15 years ago

• Studied nursing internationally and re-certified in Canada

• Started earning minimum wage

• Personal income of $90,000

Born and educated in India, Avani always believed that she deserved more than she was able to get in her country.  She was confident in her ability to put in the hard work needed for achieving success. Immediately after finishing her nursing school, Avani was offered a job in Dubai as a nurse. She worked in Dubai for a few years and eventually decided to immigrate to Canada.

In her late twenties, newly married Avani was excited about starting life in Canada, arriving with a small savings of $20,000.  Avani and her husband planned their life and thought carefully about how they were going to use their small savings to cover the all the expenses they were about to face.  They moved into a small basement and started hunting for jobs immediately.

Avani began working as a personal caregiver while her husband started working at KFC. Earning minimum wage, they brought in around $3,000 a month.  Barely able to make ends meet, they eventually exhausted their savings and were living paycheque to paycheque.   

As Avani  was unable to practice as a nurse until she passed the Canadian Registered Nursing exam, they saw the exam as the gateway to helping them live a more comfortable life. Given that hourly wages for nurses in Ontario start at $21.75 an hour and go as high as $40 an hour with benefits[1], passing the exam would help them leap frog into a significantly higher income bracket.

 Avani  was determined to pass the exam because she knew that being a Registered Nurse would more than double her income. For Avani , the exam became her only priority. She would work long hours and then study. “We had not even seen or visited the shops in our neighborhood yet, thinking we will have ample amount of time for that later.” With persistence and determination, she passed the exam in her first attempt and secured a full-time job at McKenzie Healthcare.

There was no looking back for her after that. It was just perfect and everything was finally falling into place. They moved into a bigger and better house, bought a car, and had two kids.  Within 3 years in Canada, Avani was once again happy and stable.

But destiny had other plans. Within a few months of working at McKenzie Health, her husband started to reject both his financial and emotional responsibilities.  Avani became the sole earner, covering all the rent and expenses. Things started to spiral downward quickly.  A frustrated Avani, thinking of the well being of the kids who were now 5, and 2 years old, decided to leave her husband.  She dreamed of a stress free and happier life.

The divorce was messy with her husband refusing to take on any responsibility for the kids. After months of arguments and counter arguments, Avani agreed to forgo any alimony or child support in exchange for full custody of her kids. Now she had the responsibility of bringing up two kids all by herself. This gave her a sense of urgency and responsibility, which was a source of strength.

 She started working harder and was determined to excel in her career, move away from distractions, focus and find ways to save money!

Avani ’s salary now ranged from $40,000 to $50,000.   and her  kids’ education and well being took center stage. She decided to move to a smaller town to cut down on her rent and expenses. “Moving to a smaller town was one of the best decisions of my life.” She was able to reduce her rent by 20% and her other monthly expense like grocery and travel by 10-15%. Avani then thought of how she could fulfill her dreams of owning a house with this extra sum. She started setting small goals, and developed a focus on ways to earn more and spend less. Simple logic she says.

Once the kids were settled in with their new school, neighbourhood and studies, Avani started doing 10 hour shifts as this was the only way she could earn enough to realize her dreams. “The cost of living has more than doubled since I first moved to Canada. The expenses keep increasing but the pay remained the same.” Soon the 10 hr shifts increased to 12 hour shifts and shuttling between two hospitals. This took a toll on her ability to give time to her kids. 

Economic security was important to her and she did not see another way to get it. She asked her parents to come live with her from time to time and she had to fork out quite a sum on a nanny. She also worked hard to spend as much quality time with the kids on weekends and holidays.

Day to day, Avani worked on earning more and spending less. 

She made sure that she kept aside at least $100-$200 every paycheque. Being a self made independent mother she taught her kids from a very young age the importance and value of money. “Kids want lot of stuff, stuff which is not important. I would only buy things that were important and justified the money spent.” Every penny was carefully accounted for.  Avani was careful and deliberate about her expenses on everything from food and clothing to appliances and gadgets.

Within 5 years, she had put aside over $10,000 from her paycheque savings, and combined with all her tax benefits and bonuses, she was able to build savings of $50,000. This period was a time of extreme practicality, frugality and prudence.  She trained for specialized medical areas and became a highly recommended and sought after dialysis nurse, earning $90,000 annually.

Finally her long unfulfilled dream of becoming a homeowner was on the verge of realization. She was approved for a home loan.

Today Avani  is the proud owner of a beautiful 4 bedroom independent house with a monthly mortgage of $2,000.  A major chunk of her salary still goes towards the mortgage and other expenses but she believes it is worth it.  It gives her security, fulfills her need be independent and gives the children a good home and real life education on the importance of working hard for your goals and managing money.  She contributes regularly towards her RRSP to her permitted limit and has also invested in mutual funds. She showed good investment acumen and bought a few plots of land in India. She believes these will secure her retirement or prove to be a good asset to liquidate in case of an emergency.

 Having achieved her dream house and successfully raising her kids on her own, she is happy and proud of all she has accomplished. 

Avani ’s tips to manage your money!

• Try to earn more and spend less

• Put aside small amounts whenever you can

• Buy things you need not want

• Put yourself in environments that are less expensive

• Pre-authorize payments on all your bills

• Stick to the grocery list, don’t overspend

[1] Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Retrieved April 26 from http://careersinnursing.ca/new-grads-and-job-seekers/find-nursing-job/dollars-and-sense-what-are-nurses-paid

Sam started stocking shelves and now owns his own business

Meet Sam:

• Mid 50’s

• Born in East Africa and immigrated to Canada in his teens

• Rents an apartment with his wife. Has one daughter and 2 grandchildren

• Has retirement savings invested the stock market

• Independently employed and so pension will be limited to Old Age Security and Canadian Pension Plan

• His wife will have a pension as she works in the public service

In all honesty, I have never met anyone like Sam before.  He is a hard work hustling grandfather entrepreneur who has done it all, loves yoga and is still dancing up a storm in Zumba.  Sam is a locksmith who saved me from the $300 key copying fee the Subaru dealership wanted to charge me. 

Sam immigrated to Canada in 1980 from East Africa.  He had just finished high school and his brother sponsored both him and his mother to come over.  Sam thought he was coming to Canada to go to school but living with his brother didn’t work out so Sam became responsible for supporting both himself and his mother. 

With no education, limited English and no Canadian experience, Sam got a full time job working at the Grand & Toy warehouse and a part time job working as an usher. Sam knew the drill and that he was not going to be able to live better at these wages so he was continuously looking for ways to get ahead.  He always dreamed of working for himself. 

He tried to find places where he could be more valued and earn more with his limited skill set. He decided to get his truck-driving license and used that to get a job driving Grand & Toy trucks.  This provided a bit of a small salary bump.

Around this time, Sam met a Lindsay – a beautiful young girl who was here from the UK as a nanny.  The next thing you know they got pregnant – damn how did that happen asks Sam?  Sam and Lindsay got married, got their own apartment and got through a tough first few years.  Sam was still earning little and was now supporting a new baby as well as giving his mother money to help support her. 

He thought being a mechanic would increase his prospects so he moved in that direction but the compensation was still so far from being what he wanted.  In 1990, in his late 20’s Sam got his cab driving license.  He continued to work full time as a mechanic but would drive cab 24 hours through the weekend.  He was making more money on the weekends than in the entire week as a mechanic. 

Weren’t you frustrated – I asked?  That’s life, said Sam. 

Sam went on to have 3 cabs.  He hired a manager to organize all the cabs and manage the administration.  Unfortunately she stole from him, he lost all the money he made and had to sell the two cabs.  He went back to just driving cab for himself. 

From here Sam went on to try his hand at a breadth of other areas from trying to get a job in an office to owning a balloon company, import / export business and then 3 hot dog stands in the Toronto area.  All this time Sam was busting his butt with 16-hour days.  He was making good money but the hours were crazy.

One day one of Sam’s employees was complaining about how he had to pay $300 for a locksmith to spend 30 minutes and let him into his house.  Sam thought – now there's a business model.

So Sam set off to learn more about the industry and opportunities within it.  Deciding that this might be a good fit, he started taking some courses– he did this while keeping the hot dog stands.  He found a job with a locksmith who was an expert and was willing to teach him.  It was poorly paid, probably just above minimum wage but Sam knew that if he learned the trade he could build a viable business.

Sam's mobile workshop

Close to two decades later and Sam has built a nice business for himself.  He finally gets to have a good lifestyle.  He gets up, does yoga, and starts his workday. He enjoys the work and connecting with people he meets along the way.  He loves the flexibility and the control and he finally makes good money.

Sam comes home at normal hours and gets to Zumba in the evening.  He does not own a house because his wife never wanted to buy one but he does have a reserve of funds stashed away for retirement and his wife is in the public sector so will have a pension.   He is not worried about retirement and feels that everything will work out. 

In talking to Sam, I can immediately see 3 things that have made him successful:

• Attitude; Sam has an attitude that is all about moving ahead. His thinking is really focused on “you are where you are and you have to figure out the best way to move forward”. There is no doubt that it sucked to not have an education and was extremely difficult to support his mother and soon after a wife and baby. It was frustrating and depressing to have his employee steal from him. And he was very pissed when he lost a chunk of stocks to the Nortel collapse. But through all this, Sam's attitude and focus was to keep going, to look for something that would get him to the next step, something he would like and that would value his time and effort
  

• Openness; Sam probably sampled close to 15 different careers before hitting on locksmithing. Although, he was very challenged by entry barriers, he continuously engaged and learned from people from all walks of life. He was open to new ideas and opportunities. He researched and used common sense to evaluate opportunities
  

• Commitment to learning; Sam has an unbelievable commitment to learning. He takes a piece of learning out of each experience. When he was at Grand & Toy, there was profit sharing in the warehouse and he realized the incentive it had on him. Learning from this, he was probably one of the only hot dog stand owners to allocate a percentage of profits to his workers and to invest in providing a breadth of different employee benefits. His commitment to learning means that he was never too proud to start at the bottom. His focus is always on moving forward

When I think about Sam’s experience, I can’t help but admire Sam's resilience.  I think about how Sam's learning and risks were all at his own expense.  He spent decades independently figuring out how to increase his success with very limited opportunities and examples of success.  This was costly, forcing him to lose his money and have to restart more than once. 

Most importantly, I think about how much more our society would have benefited from his intellect, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit if we had managed to leverage his skills earlier. I can easily envision how many jobs he would have created and how much others would have learned from him had he not been stuck working 16 hour days just to make ends meet. 

*If you enjoyed this article and think it was helpful, please share it. If you have suggestions for others and or would like to tell your story, please comment or send Strive an email.

Delyse self advocates her way from immigrant to a university student

Meet Delyse

● Mother of 12-year-old daughter

● Newcomer to Canada

● Bachelor of Arts in Communications

● Student debt of $40 - $45,000

● Emergency savings of 2,000 that she will dip into when OSAP funds are low

 Saying that Delyse has overcome many challenges is an understatement. Delyse was born in a country where violence against women is still prevalent; in that country nearly 1 in 5 women experience sexual violence perpetrated by someone other than a partner and intimate partner violence is even higher. Delyse herself faced sexual violence as a child and young teenager. Delyse was committed to finishing school, breaking the cycle of violence and building a good life for herself and later for her baby daughter.

Delyse was raised by a combination of relatives and although her family struggled financially, her father was able to send money home from the US to pay for her school. At 18 she started volunteering at a local radio station and immediately loved it. Working without compensation presented challenges and while Delyse sometimes had difficulty finding bus fare, she still chose to go as she enjoyed having something to focus on.   When she finished high school, the radio station hired her.

After 7 years of working, Delyse’s boss resigned and Delyse became the interim manager.  Two years into her role as interim manager, the station hired a manager with more education but less experience. They asked Delyse to train the new manager even though they were paying Delyse less than the new person. Delyse felt cheated, undervalued and disrespected.

Delyse came to Canada to make a better life for herself and her young daughter. Delyse left her daughter with a family member back home while Delyse tried to get settled in Canada. It was overwhelming to arrive in Canada with nothing and to face such limited job options, but Delyse never lost sight of her goals to earn enough to go back to school and to bring her daughter up in Canada.

Her first job was as a weekend babysitter. She was initially told she was going to be paid $160 but when she finally received her pay, the family had paid her only $100. Delyse felt that she had no power to complain. She soon left the family and got a job as a cleaning lady, in which she would work from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm 5 days a week. At the end of the first month, she was paid only $350 which was barely enough to pay for her rent and significantly less than she needed to make to be able to afford to go back to school

In the meantime, Delyse started having issues with her landlord. After about 3 years of living in the basement with her aunt, collectively paying $700 a month, they started to have no heat. The landlord started to say the hydro bill was too high and the heat and hot water started to break through the winters.

But Delyse was learning how to advocate for herself and learned how to process a complaint. It was then that she heard a bridging program at a nearby university. She used her self-advocacy skills to learn more about the requirements, the value and benefits for her. She also spent time thinking about whether or not this was the right move.

As she had been thrown into new situations her entire life, Delyse, very much valued the transition supports offered in the bridging program. She applied for OSAP, quit her job as a cleaner, moved close to campus, started the process of moving her daughter here. In September of that year, Delyse began her university career at the age of 29.

Delyse was finally reunited with her daughter in Canada and began the process of dealing with the challenges of introducing a 12 year old into Canadian culture.

Delyse finished her undergraduate degree with just over $40,000 in OSAP debt. Now her next big challenge is to decide whether to continue her education and apply for a Master’s degree or work for a while before applying to do post-graduate studies.

Looking at Delyse’s story, you can really see how 3 things made her successful: 1) a focus on her dream of being economically independent and building a better life, 2) a commitment to building her capacity which enabled her to advocate for herself, push her dreams forward, and recognize what levers were available to her, and 3) an ability to problem solve the myriad of challenges that came her way.

From a systems perspective, when I listen to Delyse, I sadly realize she is not alone. There countless other women in similar a position with no power and no clarity on how to get out. They are facing a “ Whack-A–Mole” series of problems.

Unfortunately lack of financial resources exacerbates these challenges. Without alternatives, many women get stuck in relationships with intimate partner violence.  Without the knowledge of how to advocate for themselves, many youth may be vulnerable to abuses in the workplace and in the home.

How might we create a society where individuals have the economic resiliency necessary to problem solve their way through life’s many challenges?  How might we create a society where all individuals have access to meaningful work, the ability to earn a living wage and pay for investments in education and individual advancement?

Fiona graduated & went from unemployment to a goal of being mortgage free

Fiona is unbelievably successful.  You would not know it right away. She does not sport the traditional symbols of expensive clothes and lavish travel we often use to distinguish the successful from the not.  Instead, she makes you understand what true success is.

Fiona was born in the Scotland to a middle class family.  Her mother was a nurse who worked nightshifts and tried to sleep during the day and her father was an independent house painter.   Given the working hours of her parents, Fiona was a latch key kid, spending lots of time with grandparents, neighbours and playing in a nearby forest with her sister.

Meet Fiona

●      Late 30’s

●      Immigrated to Canada from Scotland with her family when she was 11

●      Completed a Masters of Information Studies

●      Works in the not for profit sector

●      Personal income in the range of $45,000 to $60,000

Canada was recruiting nurses in the early 90’s, so her parents, driven by the opportunity for a better life, decided to immigrate.  Fiona was 11.  They moved into the basement of a friend’s house for a couple of months until they found a nearby rental home.  They then lived frugally with 2nd hand clothes for Fiona and her sister.  It took them two years to get settled, get jobs and save up a small down payment.  They bought their first house in Pickering in 1993 when Fiona was 13.

High school was a difficult time to enter a new school.  Kids can be mean, especially to new people who aren’t from the same cookie cutter.  Fiona loved reading, being outdoors and hanging out with her best friend Madeleine.  She was not interested in stuff, not interested in the same Roots sweatshirt everyone was wearing and certainly not interested in going to these “weird, immaculate, giant malls” that seemed to be everywhere.  Because she loved no cost activities and had distaste for consumption, Fiona did not see a reason to have a part time job in high school. 

Fiona was very fortunate that her parents agreed to pay for her undergrad degree and her 1st year of living expenses.  She recognizes the enormous impact of their investment.  With their support, Fiona went off to pursue a general arts degree at York University in Toronto.  There she met Andrew who was 6 years older and doing his PHD in philosophy. 

At the beginning of her second year of university, they moved into a 400 square foot bachelor apartment at Queen & Dufferin and paid $600 monthly in rent.  They had 2 small chests for drawers, a coat rack and a hot plate.  Fiona got a job at the information booth at the local mall and worked 20 hours a week for $10.00 an hour in addition to going to school.   Andrew paid the rent as he was a TA and was earning more.  Fiona paid all the groceries and house bills. They lived there for four years.

During this period, Fiona had become interested in religious studies and thought she would like to be an academic like Andrew.  She applied for her Masters at Laurier and off they went.  Rent in Kitchener was more affordable so they were able to get a nicer apartment with a balcony and paid $50 less a month. 

Fiona quickly realized that she had no interest in being an academic “spending years on researching something to get it into a journal that no one was going to read”. She was paying for a degree that was not going to take her anywhere she wanted to be. 

The silver lining was that through her research she realized that she loved organizing information and finding core insights that had meaningful value.  She knew this was a skill that had job opportunities and so she finished up her Masters in religion and applied to the University of Toronto for a Master of Information Studies. 

Andrew and Fiona returned to Toronto to find that they could barely afford a place to live – everything was at least $250 higher than what they had been paying in Kitchener.  They moved into a horrendous apartment at St.Clair and Dufferin. where she had to call the police on neighbours because she thought they were going to kill each other.  They lived there for 2 years.

Fiona completed her degree in 2009 and began looking for work during a period of significant recession.  She struggled.  She secured an 8-month contract with the government fixing a program database.  After that contract she was unemployed again.  It was the most stressful time in her life; financially and emotionally. 

Fiona met an old friend at a conference and he introduced her to a small not for profit looking for some database support.  Fiona began providing volunteer database support 2 days a week. Through this, she learned about another not for profit looking for a full time database manager.  Fiona applied and started full time in 2012.  She loves the work, the people, the cause and she is happy. 

In this role, she has earned between $45,000 & $60,000 annually.  She knows she could earn significantly more in the private sector where the average salary for the work she does is between $70,000 & $90,000 annually.  She chooses to stay where she is because she understands the difficulty in finding an organization consistent with her values, including being part of a small team.

In 2011, her partner inherited $1 million after his grandfather had passed away.  Andrew decided to buy a house.  Given they both had distaste for consumerism, they looked for something he could afford to buy outright and that would leave him with money for his future.   He spent $200k on a small 2-bedroom bungalow in Scarborough.  In 2014, after being common law for 15 years, Andrew decided he wanted to live a more off the grid lifestyle and moved to northern Ontario.  They had the house appraised for $380 k and Fiona secured a mortgage of $190k to buy out his half. 

Fiona has a goal of being mortgage free.  She has been focused on paying down as much of her mortgage as possible and has shaved 12 years off her payment period.  She is conservative from a financial perspective and so has also maxed out her TFSA’s and has a healthy RRSP account. 

Fiona is values driven in all her efforts making sure her decisions are consistent with who she is and what she wants. 

• She is a meticulous and frugal budgeter

• She tracks everything she spends on a master spreadsheet

• She cooks vegetarian spending less than $100 a month on groceries and $30 a month on entertainment

• Everything she purchases is purposeful and frequently second hand

The biggest symbol of her values is how she spends her time.  She enjoys spending time with her boyfriend, friends, traveling (she was in Florida and Europe this year) and volunteering in her community.  She is part of 6 community groups and has fun participating in and organizing everything from cycling events to not for profit data management groups. This is great – it provides her with endless opportunities to socialize without spending money. 

Most importantly of all Fiona is happy.  She is living the life she wants and enjoys her success.

Marina is a student budget master

Meet Marina:

• Early 30’s

• Immigrated to Canada as a child

• A true global nomad calling Toronto the closest place to home there is

• Currently a full time student pursuing her Masters degree in Europe

• Single

• Personal income under $20 k annually

I have known Marina for years and I have found her openness to the world, learning and new experiences, inspiring.  She is smart, dedicated and knows that she wants to live a life with strong community, openness, sustainable ways of living and intellectual engagement.

The trouble is, this is often at odds with our society’s standard out of the box offering.  Let’s be honest, the ability to make a decent living, using your brain in a meaningful manner for an organization that positively contributes to society is pretty rare. 

Marina could get an everyday administrative job in research for low to average pay but she would probably still struggle financially and this does not give her what she needs.  Courageously, she has chosen to problem solve her way towards her desired life. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in a conservation field.  Knowing she wanted greater education yet cost was a barrier (the Ontario government had not yet introduced free tuition for students from low income families), she looked beyond Canada to countries that provide free education to international students.  

She identified Germany, Finland, and Norway as free options and France as an option with nominal cost.  Learn more about European tuition costs

As a full time student, she then works systematically and with an intense focus to manage her budget.  This means a number of strong lifestyle choices including:

• Shared living; In Europe she lives in student housing and in Toronto, she has been a long time renter of a room. She has built a strong relationship with the homeowner, often contributing to the care of the house and is the only person the owner rents to. This has kept her costs at $600 and provides her with the flexibility to study in Europe and then come to work in Toronto for 6 – 12 months at a time

• Intense knowledge & management of her finances combined with efforts to seek out alternatives that work for her;

  • She regularly looks and applies for scholarship and grant opportunities. She has engaged in 3 separate exchanges across Europe

  • She takes advantage of a breadth of free festivals and entertainment. In Toronto, she is a lover of art and frequently takes advantage of the free passes provided by the Toronto Library and Museum Art Pass program. In her school town, she found a retailer that sold foodstuffs that were about to expire but were most often perfectly fine

  • Marina lives with the material goods she has. When moving to Europe, she visibly saw how much money she had spent on accumulating things and how they had no long term value. She now works to refrain from buying things

  • Stays away from recurring costs; In Europe she uses a pay as you go phone and outside of Europe she manages just fine with skype and WhatsApp

• Investing in periodic breaks from her studies to focus on earning money to advance her life

  • Right now Marina is taking a break from her Masters to earn funds for living expenses. Although tuition is free, she is required to have a bank account with sufficient funds for living expenses during her studies. She is working to save up $8,500 to finish up her academic work

• Working during her studies; Marina earns supplemental income during the school year by providing editing, proof reading and translation services

This frugal approach to finances is enabling her to slowly but surely build the experience needed to advance her career. She recently pitched an international conservation organization on a free 10-week internship and has translated that into a paid consulting project.

When talking about how she priced her consulting project, she indicated that is was more important for her to do the work than to get the money.  Given this, she looked at the costs of existing consultants and wages for similar work.  She knew that their education and experience were greater than hers, so she priced her work in a way that was beneficial for her but also provided a cost savings to the organization. She also built in expenses for travel, which has enabled her to save additional money.

This lifestyle choice is not easy.  Marina has to live with intention in everything she does, always calculating, planning and finagling her way to where she wants to go.  There is no auto-pilot, no getting paid when you’re sick, no just having someone tell you what to do.  This takes a lot of effort and because of that Marina is very conscious to know her limits and not to over-extend herself.  

Marina is part of a large cohort of Canadians struggling to make ends meet and build a life with meaning.   It is frustrating that we have collectively built a society with such limited options and ridiculously high barriers for meaningful work and employment.  How might we rethink our spending and investments to create better opportunities for us collectively?

If you enjoyed this article and think it was helpful, please share it. If you have suggestions for others and or would like to tell your story, please comment or send Strive an email.

Diyon's a student living at home & working part time to fund his education

Meet Diyon

• Early 20’s

• 4th year university student studying business

• Lives with his family

• Works 10 – 15 hours a week as a lifeguard

• Earns $17.00 per hour

• Expected to graduate with $20,000 - $30,000 in OSAP debt

Diyon is a practical focused student working towards his goal of having a good quality life.  He defines a good quality of life as one where he is engaged in work he likes, has time to spend with family and to give back to his community.

Diyon is currently a 4th year university student studying business in Toronto.  His parents emigrated from South Asia before he was born and like most immigrants, Diyon’s parents who did not speak English, started at the bottom.  His father started by working odd jobs including washing dishes at a university cafeteria.  He slowly worked his way to other roles including cook, chef, bartender and he now owns a small restaurant.  His mother worked in a factory for a while and now works at a McDonald’s restaurant. 

Despite his family’s financial situation, Diyon lived in an environment where money did not seem to be challenging.  His parents worked hard, lived within their means and spent time encouraging and helping to build Diyon’s financial capacity. 

Diyon remembers hanging out at his Dad’s restaurant in the summer of Grade 5 and occasionally helping out.  At the end of the summer, his father took him to the bank and gave him $250 to deposit in a bank account.  This recognized the work he had helped with and also got him to think about saving.  The money was his but it was clear that its purpose was savings - Diyon did not get a bank card to withdraw it from the bank.

Diyon’s father was instrumental in gently pushing him towards lifeguarding as a community member had suggested it would be a good opportunity.  Diyon has been a lifeguard since he was 16, and now works as a swim instructor 10 – 15 hours a week earning $17.00 an hour.

Finally, Diyon’s parents pushed him towards academics.  His mother wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer. Given Diyon did not enjoy sciences and was looking for something practical that would give him a good quality of life, he netted out choosing business.

With a good understanding of finances, Diyon considered costs when selecting a university, choosing to live at home and comparing the tuition costs across schools. Diyon has taken out OSAP to enable him to pursue his education and is expecting to graduate with $20 - $30 k in debt.  He uses his work income to cover his living expenses.

Diyon considers himself to have good money management skills.  The biggest challenges he struggles with include unexpected expenses like conferences that he likes to attend to help build his network and knowledge as well as social pressures around going out. 

He knows that when he is focused on a goal he can be very effective at saving.  When he was planning for exchange, he was focused on saving the majority of the money from his part time job and eliminating spending where possible – for example he remembers delaying the upgrade on his phone until after he returned from Europe.  This helped him to save $10k to pay for his semester in Spain. 

Diyon has two bank accounts, one for savings and investing and a separate account for his monthly spending activities. Whenever he gets paid, he always puts a small amount into the savings account and that sometimes forces him to reorganize and trim down his spending to accommodate his other bills. He sees it as a way to pay himself first.  Once Diyon has $1,000 in his monthly use account he moves it to his investing account.

Since coming back from exchange, Diyon recognizes that he has been more careless with money – the urgency does not seem to be there, he says.   

Right now he is focused on preparing for graduation and getting a first job.  He is taking advantage of school resources like the career centre and working hard to build a network through extracurricular activities and upper year friends.

Currently, Diyon has a few goals in the back of his mind including a conference in Hamilton, a grad trip, paying off OSAP and getting a car within a couple of years after graduation.  Diyon is expecting to be able to secure a job earning in the $40,000 range.  Given the living costs in Toronto, Diyon plans to live at home for the first few years after graduation. 

Overall, Diyon is happy with where he is, the habits he has built up, the education he has invested in.  He is also very grateful for the support of his family.  They have made his journey easier through their guidance, encouragement as well as contentment to have him live at home so he could save money while attending school. 

From a systems perspective, I wonder how we might ensure the resiliency of all students, equipping them with the guidance, supports and encouragement they need to reach their goals. 

Ozias' problem solving super power enables him to support himself and his education

Although only 27, Ozias approaches life and finances like a wise elder.  He knows he has to make them work to build the life he wants but he is in no way driven by money. Ozias is able to focus on his passions through the development of what I would call fierce problem solving and hustling skills.

Meet Ozias

• Single 27 year old living independently in a 1 bedroom apartment

• 1st year university student

• Monthly living expenses of $1,800 including rent, food and transport

• Monthly earnings of $1,500

• Working 25 hours part time per week

• Expected OSAP upon completion of university: $30,000

Ozias was born in a country facing significant civil unrest.  His parents were not rich although they did invest in his education. Ozias went to university to study journalism and became an active voice speaking up against human rights violations and corruption.  His advocacy work made him a target putting both himself and his family at risk.  Fearing his life, Ozias went into hiding and his parents used up a large portion of their financial reserve paying bribes to hide Ozias and get him out of the country.

Ozias arrived in Canada in 2012.  He had no family or friends here.  He ultimately ended up living in a shelter for the first 5 months of his life in Toronto and then was able to secure supportive transitional housing for the following 10 months. To say his life was difficult is a gross understatement.

Since being given the opportunity to come to Canada, Ozias has demonstrated unwavering commitment to succeed.  With a deep understanding of the costs that his family bore to support him and a passion for human rights, Ozias started by doing volunteer work at a non-profit organization.  Given his journalistic background, he worked on communications and expanded to helping wherever he could, eventually becoming part of the youth network at the centre. 

Ozias worked hard and built great relationships with the team.  When funding was available, he was hired as an events coordinator part time and then as an art coordinator and in research development. Through these positions, Ozias began to understand how the organization was funded and how grants could support innovative work.  Inspired, he developed ideas for arts and youth programming, collaborated with the internal team to write grants and secure funding for new contracts for himself.   

Ozias says that his work with the social service organization was a blessing.  He met a breadth of people, made connections, learned about opportunities and it was really a home away from home. 

He worked at the centre for 5 years.  Given the non-profit nature of his employer and his work being part time, Ozias was earning $20 - $30 k annually, definitely not enough to live on.  Given this, he supplemented his income with a series of side hustles.  He says he has probably done everything.  Ozias would get any license he could to make him as attractive as possible to part time employment.  If you need heavy machinery operated on Saturday and someone to bartend at an event on Sunday, Ozias is your man. 

The side hustles combined with his job at the centre meant he was working 15-18 hours a day.  Given how hard it was for Ozias to earn money, he became very clear about what was and was not important to him.  He says now he has developed a habit of only spending on things that are necessary. 

After the transitional housing, Ozias was able to rent an apartment independently in a not so great area of Toronto.  Throughout this entire time period, Ozias was dreaming about going back to school.  He was more and more passionate about helping people and the field of social work.  His only barrier was cost.

Ozias started looking at funding opportunities for school and found a scholarship that would cover two years of education.  Realizing the importance of this opportunity, he called the organization, arranged a meeting, sought to understand what they were looking for, invested heavily in his application and then had friends review it.  I think it was all the hard work he put in that made Ozias successful and enabled him to start at York University 6 years after arriving in Canada.

 Right now Ozias goes to school full time and is studying human rights. In addition he continues his hustles.  He organizes social and cultural events on the weekends.  He very much enjoys going out but realizes that it is a costly activity. Given his commitment to his goals, the need to sustain himself financially on low income while going to school and his ability to problem solve, he realized that if he was involved in organizing social activities hew would not have to pay for them.  He also drives part time with Uber and makes sure to invest time in what he is passionate about.  He has created and is running an all-volunteer drop in program for youth in his neighbourhood.

Ozias, has a long term vision of doing meaningful work that he is passionate about, helping send money to his family back home and sharing his success with others.  He sees finances as a tool to enabling that and is adept at making them work for him.  He is currently juggling many balls he cares about and is thinking about pursuing a law degree.   

There is no doubt that Ozias is exceptional at developing strategies that enable him to secure the money he needs to get to his goals. There is also no questioning the amount of hard work Ozias has put in.  From a systems perspective, I can’t help but think how we might make Ozias’ level of success possible for a greater number of students passionate about doing good work for society.

Kristina is a part-time freelancer feeling stable and secure

I first met Kristina at a local Toronto community center; our kids were in a swim class together, which means we could have a few bursts of uninterrupted conversation.   Kristina was excited about having secured a childcare subsidy.  This meant she could increase the focus on her small business.  Curious as I am about financial finagling, I twisted Kristina’s arm into an interview.   

About Kristina

• Late 30's

• Mother of 2 kids, 3 years apart

• Freelance graphic designer

• Husband Richard works for a charity

• Household income ranging from $80,000 - $100,000

• Personal income ranging from $15,000 - $20,000

It turns out that securing a childcare subsidy was no small feat; the process and accessibility lines can be murky at best.  As Kristina describes it, she had to make sure that she was within this invisible unknown boundary of earning enough to demonstrate she had a viable business and not so much that she did not need a subsidy.

Through the process she realized that the subsidy was calculated for a household and not on a per child basis.  The municipality calculates how much a family can afford for childcare for a household, and the subsidy covers everything over and above that.  This means that she was also able to get after school care for her oldest child. 

In terms of the subsidy, she felt the entire process was unclear, confusing and stressful.  She was unaware of the different levels of support, what was required and what she could earn.  More clarity on the level of support and access would have significantly reduced her stress, perhaps encouraged her to apply earlier and to increase the amount of hours she can work.

Kristina is a hardworking designer who is a jack-of-all-trades.  She has been an independent freelancer for 7 years.  She decided to try and work for herself after years of working for a breadth of different employers and never having a boss she respected.

When pressed on what was so bad in her previous employment, she describes the gradual but consistent decline in the work environment, the toxic small and large offices with jaded employees and individuals focused on currying favor with management, as well as the often misogynistic business leaders who did not listen, engage or value their people.  She says she needed to get out before she became an “ugly, angry person”. 

Kristina recognizes that she is not alone; others experience the same situation and frustrations.  She thinks that what made her leave and others stay is that she and her partner are more quality of life driven (a short while ago, Richard turned down a job offer that paid significantly more because he loves his work), and they have the security of owning a small semi-detached fixer upper with fixed mortgage payments. “Individuals who are financially driven will put up with more in order to grow their incomes”. 

Once resigning from her job, Kristina began to try to drum up business with part time clients.  Through a friend she was hired by a large company and that became her biggest client for the past 6 years, with 70% of her revenue coming from that client.  Not having maternity leave covered, Kristina hired a nanny 2 mornings a week and then worked in the evenings to keep client work moving and earn an income.  Kristina liked having the combined stability (having a large client) and flexibility (having the ability to control her time, schedule and work), so she did not focus on growing or building her business.  

In the last year, her large client made a decision to bring their design work in-house and so Kristina was left to figure out how to make up a large portion of her income.  This feast or famine world caused quite a bit of stress. The challenge is she likes to do the actual work and not the networking and promotion that enables her to drum up business. That is a barrier that certainly keeps her income lower than it could be and creates more risk for her. 

Kristina knows she should spend more time on diversifying her clients.  Her major client has since come back and so she no longer has a sense of urgency pushing her out of her comfort zone.  That being said, she recognizes she could benefit from increasing her focus on business development and that there are a breadth of meaningful strategies that could help her (joining design related industry groups, attending meet-ups or learning sessions on issues she is interested in, sharing her successes and work). 

Kristina’s decision to work independently and reduce her hours has decreased her income by an estimate of 50%.  This means that her lifestyle has to be managed to fit her income.  This works for her because it fits with her personal priorities of valuing relationships, time and the process of creation over money. 

Kristina is a do-it-yourselfer all the way.  She grew up in what she says felt like an underprivileged family with 4 kids and learned everything from her father (at 72, he recently finished taking a college course on septic systems so he can install his own in order to save money). 

She is always thinking about how she can fix or make things cheaper.  She drywalls, frames, fixes and builds.  She also has a little hobby business on the side where she converts vintage jewelry into beautiful bridal items. Kristina is a value village shopper, frugal bargain hunter and grateful to be part of her community’s hand me down circles. 

Her kids have predominantly second hand everything, wear value village shoes and receive quirky inexpensive birthday gifts that can be enjoyed on family adventures.  Her little boy just got a headlamp for his second birthday.  It isn’t the easiest to answer questions like “why is this shoe darker than the other” but she figures out a way to make it a values lesson – “you won’t believe how much we saved”.  At the dollar store, the kids get to pick out one item and play with it while in the store and she picks out the necessities.  They then put it back and go about the rest of the day.

In exchange for working independently and working half time, there is a 50% in salary cut, an increase in the share of household work, and a commitment to a low-cost lifestyle.  Kristina feels that it is definitely worth it as she gets to spend more time with her children, have control over her day and be a greater part of her community. 

Kristina is now starting a new chapter in her life.  With full time child care and more space to dedicate to her business she is thinking about what to do next.  Although she likes design, she may not want to do it forever.  She feels fortunate to have had this time to work independently while the kids are young and is open to either growing her business or going back to the workforce full time if she could find the right employer. 

No matter what happens next, Kristina knows she will be ok.  She has built a lifestyle she can afford that is based on her values. Above all, she feels that no matter what happens she will be able to figure it out. 

What has been the secret to Kristina’s success?

1.     A strong values based approach to decision-making. Kristina knows what is important to her and makes her money decisions based on her values.   She enjoys living a lower cost lifestyle so that she can have more control, flexibility and time with her family.

2.     An incredible ability and joy in problem solving.  Kristina loves the process of making and creating.  When she or the family needs something that is an extra or unexpected cost, Kristina will automatically think about options for lower cost solutions.  In need of a new lamp, Kristina will look at the second hand stores and see how she can remake one to fit her aesthetic.  This inevitably is a small portion of the cost. 

3.     A commitment and joy in hard work.  There is no doubt that Kristina works hard in all areas.  She makes sure to deliver on client commitments.  She takes care of the children and maintains the house.  And critically important, she invests time to find or create economic solutions.  Spending less money on something, inevitably means that you have to spend more time to find or create the solution. 

As a positive outlier, Kristina is doing well.  She is financially stable and enjoys her life.  How might we help other Canadians succeed in what is important to them?

Recognizing the value of childcare subsidies for lower income families, can we more effectively spend our taxpayer resources by making the access and process clearer?

Would we benefit from challenging and questioning the value that consumption provides to our lives?

And most importantly, would we benefit from better building problem solving skills into our education so that a greater number of individuals are able to craft and benefit from their own solutions?

Shalini went back to school to build bridges to a new career

This story is a little different.  It is more about the human push for connection and how money can enable it.  Shalini is a passionate, driven and highly educated woman from Toronto. 

Originally growing up in Montreal in an upper middle class family with two sisters and a father who owned his own business, Shalini saw every day that you had to hustle for money if you wanted it.  She went to her father’s factory to help and overheard her mother’s business conversations.  As such she was very aware of how money was made – the engagement with others, the need to understand their wants, the process of negotiating, making commitments and then delivering on those. 

With this awareness and the financial support of her parents for schooling, she navigated her way through higher education, completing private college in Montreal, a certificate in management, and a BA in English.  Shalini then pursued a BEd programme with a focus on urban diversity in Vancouver, BC.  This added to her costs but she was able to reduce the burden by living with her sister and sharing the rent.  Her intellectual, volunteer and part time employment gave her a sense of connection to others and Shalini enjoyed her 20’s without making money a core factor in her decision-making. 

At the end of her 20’s, Shalini maneuvered towards a career in education, driven by the potential to have an impact, continuously learn, raise social consciousness, address the larger questions of life, be mobile and travel within her career.  She moved to Toronto to go pursue her Masters in Education in 2003.  She was starting off with close to $12,000 in debt and ended her graduate degree owing $25,000.

Shalini worked as substitute teacher part-time for the TDSB while completing her masters and secured full time employment with the board in 2005.  As someone who leaned towards spending, Shalini enjoyed the next few years with a stable income and the building up of her savings and teacher’s pension contributions.  She worked to pay down her debt and enjoy life, treating family and friends whenever possible.  During this period she was able to save $20,000, not nearly enough she says.

In 2011, after 8 years teaching and acting as a social justice advocate, nominated for a number of internal and external awards, Shalini was looking for something more entrepreneurial in nature as well as the opportunity to travel. She took an unpaid leave of absence to teach at international schools in the UK and then Bangladesh.  She was able to save an additional $20,000 during this period and continued to grow her skills with new work planning and developing curriculum for a new middle school.

With the death of her father, Shalini returned to Toronto after 2 years abroad.  She once again started educating but after two months realized that she had completely outgrown public school teaching and wanted to explore other options.  Despite the stability, security of her job, and defined benefit pension plan, she felt compelled to find something that enabled her to be more entrepreneurial, work on a wider platform and better connect.   She was also burnt out by the work and just could not imagine herself teaching every day for the rest of her career.

Knowing that something is missing, but not knowing exactly what that was, Shalini entered a 4-year period of heavy exploration.  Shalini knew she wanted to continue to engage on critical social issues but wanted to extend to a wider platform, with adults in a cross-sector fashion.  She liked building bridges as an educator and as such enrolled in the MSc Sustainable Development with a focus on climate change.

During this period she hustled to sustain herself, using the knowledge she had built from watching her parents.  She supply taught an average of 3 days a week while building bridges including overseas as she was interested in continuing to work abroad.  The cost of her international interest was an expensive one.  She had to pay for travel and some accommodations.   With limited networks and no work visa, Shalni had less opportunities to secure paid for contract work and spent about $10,000 of her savings in 2.5 months. 

Returning to Canada, Shalini continued to pursue her studies in sustainability, pioneered an international student representative system with colleagues, and continued to secure some paid contract work.  Shalini also volunteered with a breadth of organizations in the not for profit sector namely working on sustainability issues.  To enable her to do this, Shalini, once again moved in with her sister and reduced her accommodation costs.  Through this period, Shalini eroded her savings and took on a total debt of $5,000.

Shalini is not stressed about retirement because she has a strong belief in her capacity to earn and "pull it together".  She also expects to work a few more decades and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan she has earned would amount to $600 a month.  This is obviously not sufficient for a comfortable retirement but it is at least a good start. 

Shalini is now starting in on a focused period with clearer goals.  She is fixed on a career that will give her the opportunity to engage in cross sector work that enables her to lead social and political action.  Shalini has identified that the best way to her goals, given a breadth of work-study options and a deep network, is via the pursuit of a MA in Educational Technology.  This full time program will give her the foundation to use her skills in a manner that provides greater meaning for her.

Shalini will rely on provincial loans and bursaries, substitute teaching, university work opportunities and other career related contracts to complete her studies.  She will then work on finally settling down and building a “home to call her own – a place for her books, dresses and self to rest”.  Ultimately she is hoping this will bring her the connection she desires, enable her to leave a legacy and make her family proud.

Listening to Shalini and understanding her journey provided three great insights:

1. Success in the area of finances has much more to do with the focus on money and the degree to which it is important to a person than the intellect, drive, or strategic approach of an individual.

   • Shalini is very much driven by finding a way to use her time and skills to advance social causes that resonate with her. As this has been her focus, she has grown and succeeded in this area. She has not been driven by money and so she has not dedicated energies to saving for retirement or buying a house.

   • This brings to light a great opportunity. Even if money is not a driver, it is important to think about its role and the access or benefits it can provide in enabling personal drivers. Money has certainly helped Shalini engage in intellectual pursuits and enjoy life.

   • Figuring out ways to keep a focus on money and setting specific financial goals will be key to her success both in finances an in her career. Quantifying what she will need financially, the value of her pension well as what she needs to save on a monthly basis to get to her goals will help her get a home of her own and a comfortable retirement.
     

2. Exploratory work is critically needed but very time consuming. Transitioning industries, shifting roles, finding new employment, launching a new career are all significant efforts that require a deep understanding of individual skill sets, knowledge of specific opportunity areas where they can be valuable and a heavy investment in relationship building and skill demonstration to make the transition.

We should not avoid this work. Individuals critically need to engage and we as a society need this work to be completed.  It is what leads to new success pathways. 

Instead, we need to figure out how to create mechanisms to make these investments accessible.  From an individual perspective, there are opportunities to invest in this work while pursuing paid employment – this is how transitions are often accomplished.  Netowrking lunches, coffees, scouring glassdoor for an understanding of salaries and linkedin for an understanding of career pathways.  We can also bound our exploratory work by establishing criteria of what we are looking for and ensuring we are focused. 

Shalni spent $10,000 of her savings because her exploration involved both new fields and new geographies.  She had been successful at transitioning internationally within her existing field but it proved more costly to transition both into a new field and new geography. 

This will only work for those individuals who are not struggling to make ends meet or have enough time to invest.  From a community perspective, how do we create mechanisms for all Canadians to invest in exploration and build bridges towards meaningful employment with fair living wages that enable our communities to thrive?

3.  We design roles around tasks and not people.  From a systemic perspective, I can’t help but think that our design of jobs is preventing us from taking advantage of the passion of people.  What would it look like if employees had the ability to use their full intellect, initiative and passions to grow their work and impact?

How much happier would Shalini have been if she could have worked in the classroom half the time and set up regional programs for student activism the rest of the time.  How much would our students and communities have benefited?

How much would we as tax payers have saved by leveraging her skills, making full use of them and not having to train new people into the profession?

How can we design our jobs to earn and make wise use of the enthusiasm, initiative, loyalty and passion of individuals?