How to save $10,000 and $100,000 on a Canadian salary

For this week’s Top Story, we’re looking at savings goals from your first $10,000 to $100,000—yes, in this economy.

In today’s economy, of course Canadians are finding it hard to save money. A 2025 Abacus Data and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan survey found that one in five respondents has no savings at all. Despite this, saving for big purchases and retirement were considered top financial priorities by survey takers. It’s a challenging task, but not impossible—even on a low income.

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The Get talked to two financial planners, Kelly Ho and Aravind Sithamparapillai, with a mission: learning how to save $10,000 and $100,000 at three different income levels—minimum wage, $69,000 and $100,000. The planners were told to model a single person with no dependents, and to consider what steps might help someone save for goals like the trip of a lifetime, going back to school, buying a home or even building a retirement nest egg. There are pathways to these goals, but along the way you need to be patient, flex your budgeting skills and make sacrifices.

How to save when you earn minimum wage

The minimum wage, or lowest rate employers can pay most adult employees, ranges from $15 in Alberta to $19.75 in Nunavut. Ontario workers earn a minimum of $17.60 per hour, about midway through the pack. Saving $10,000 in a year requires putting away about $833 monthly. If your take-home pay is about $2,400, “that leaves you $1,600 a month for everything else,” says Ho, certified financial planner and partner at DLD Financial Group. “Unless you don’t have to pay rent, that’s very difficult.” Taking on gig work or a second job to fund savings could be an option to boost income.

But Sithamparapillai, a certified financial planner with Ironwood Wealth Management Group, says saving big bucks might be the wrong goal in this income bracket. “Instead of leaving savings in a bank account, you should be figuring out how you can level yourself up,” he says. For example, putting extra funds towards training can help you shift to a higher-paying career, which makes it easier to build wealth.

As for saving $100,000 while earning minimum wage, unless family inheritances are on the table, the most sensible option is patience. “It’s going to take a long time,” Ho says, and it will require scrimping, saving, investing, maybe even living with family long-term. In Sithamparapillai’s view, living in shared housing and economizing might allow a minimum-wage earner to save $500 monthly, but won’t allow for much of a social life or other discretionary pleasures. “Even with investment compounding over time, it will take somewhere between 10 to 15 years to get to $100,000.”

The average salary-earner’s path to savings

Based on recent Statistics Cananada reports,  the average Canadian salary across all workplaces is about $69,000. At just under $4,800 a month in after-tax income, Ho says it can still be tight to save $10,000 if you live solo. Taking a roommate or making discretionary spending cuts can accelerate your progress to this goal.

Talking with friends about savings goals, Sithamparapillai says, is helpful because if the friends in your group chat are all trying to save money, you could hang out at a friend’s place for dinner or drinks instead of going out. Ho adds that it’s reasonable that a person earning the average could save $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year.

If the savings goal is for a real estate down payment, $8,000 of this amount could be used to max out first home savings account (FHSA) contributions ($8,000 annually), and then enjoy the tax benefits on the money put in—potentially freeing up more cash to save, Sithamparapillai says. Park the balance in a tax-free savings account (TFSA). Including growth, this strategy could potentially put $100,000 in your coffers within about six years.

“The TFSA is very useful, but you are trading tax efficiency for flexibility,” Sithamparapillai says. It can be useful to speak with an advisor because your tax bracket and desired financial goals may change how you use tools like registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), FHSAs and TFSAs.

Locking away all your savings in certain registered accounts can be “extreme,” suggests Sithamparapillai, as funds have to be used for a house or deferred for retirement, or they’ll get taxed when taken out—not ideal for every saver.

Set aside five or six figures while earning $100,000

In the not-too-recent past, $100,000 was broadly considered “making it.” Publication of government employee “Sunshine Lists,” which list six-figure earners, used to be news events, yet these salaries no longer feel exorbitant. Depending on their liabilities, it can be possible for these earners to reach savings goals quickly. With monthly take-home pay of about $6,600, socking away $10,000 could be possible in a few months.

Ho says that by saving $3,000 a month, the six-figure goal could theoretically be reached in three years, though it would be more comfortably achieved in four or five. Sithamparapillai says that with the right combination of RRSP and FHSA investments, reinvesting the tax rebates, and market growth, “You’re going to basically be there in two.”

Saving a big sum requires sacrifices and careful planning, no matter what income bracket you’re in. Now that you’re inspired, besides chatting with a trusted financial professional, a great first step is to analyze your expenses. Ho encourages clients to break down their weekly living costs to better understand what’s essential and what can be trimmed. “When you look at it that way, it’s a lot more digestible,” Ho says.

The breakdown

Read more from this issue of The Get:

1. Money management for couples: For richer, not poorer
2. George Stern on how to deal with a toxic manager—and not be one yourself
3. Stop getting duped by AI photos and shop online with confidence
4. Why can’t I find a job I like?