"Investing" in Your Retirement

I am not the be-all-end-all expert in investments. Not even remotely close. All I can do is advise that YOU should do your own research to what kind of investments to have, but that you SHOULD have some sort of interest-gathering account for your future.  

This is personal experience only. Every person's situation is different of course... BUT, start some kind of interest-gathering investment as early as you can in life, and seriously, DON'T touch it. Even just a little amount put away for retirement while you are young adds up to a lot over the years, and it's so much better than trying to scramble the last few years before retirement to build up your after-work income!

Personally, I have 3 different "investments"/savings:

-I have a tax free high interest savings account. I took advantage of a promotion at a brand new bank that opened near me, who have a 90-day GIC (guaranteed interest credit I think it stands for) at 3% interest (which is triple what anyone else seems to have) to kick start this account, but afterwards it's a locked away account that just gains as much interest as possible at 1.5%. I had this money in TD first but it was like 0.25% and equalled out to $2 a month interest. It's absolutely better than just sitting in your checking account or in a book under your mattress though, so this is probably the first place I would say to start with your little nest egg. It's also reliable (as reliable as it can be in a bank), and the money won't go down in value like it can in an "investments" setting

- I have a Mutual Fund RSP. I started it with a $400 check I got from a stock at Disney my mom bought when I was born for a penny (haha, 23 years later..), and I started this fund about 3 years ago. Fast forward to now, the fund is at $1445, with only a $25 investment every month and with $2-$5 a month on top of that reinvested (kinda like interest).

I'm not concerned about growing this overnight, and even if I just keep trucking on the way it's going (it's just in the safe investments bracket, not the crazy risk ones that can yield much higher returns), that's $300 a year more to get interest on that I don't notice. By retirement that's $12,000 minimum + any of the reinvested distribution. I'm sure when it gets close to $5000 though I'll throw it into that tax-free high interest account instead. 

- I have a work-organized retirement savings account. This one was a no brainer as my work will match whatever money (to a max) that I put into it. It's free money, so why wouldn't I! It'll just grow that much faster. I've put the max in that my work will match (and I just started this, so I'm excited to see how quickly it grows). 

On the reports it has this little thing about if I continue on at the same contribution rate I'm doing, what that would mean I would have at retirement. Kinda fun to see it. 

Something else I learned which I have to do some digging on is "Tax Free" accounts. At the new bank they put me under a protective tax-free umbrella, and then put both my GIC and my savings accounts under the umbrella. This means that any interest gained will not be taxable by the government as "income". This was news to me, as the bank lady explained that if I didn't put my GIC under the tax free umbrella I was going to have to pay $30 to the government for the 3% interest gained. Again, better in my pocket than theirs (seems to be a motto I use). 

Look into your options and ask around. If you're trying to save up a nest egg and a retirement fund, the above are all great starts to also make that money grow without any added effort on your part :)