Lessons of starting over in Canada

For this week’s Reality Cheque, we’re looking at the money misconceptions about starting over in Canada.

Moving to a new country can feel like a fresh start. But for many newcomers, it can also mean starting from zero financially. One of the first financial hurdles is also one of the least visible: arriving without Canadian credit history. And that’s a bigger deal than it sounds. According to TransUnion Canada, in the first three months of 2025, newcomers took on $2.6 billion in new credit balances.

The disciplined approach to coming to Canada

Sidharth Iyer, 38, knows how challenging that reset can be. When he arrived in Toronto from Mumbai in 2017, he had a job waiting for him and about $12,500 in savings, the amount the Canadian government required as proof of funds at the time. Like most every other new Canadian, he also had no credit history in his newly adopted home: “I basically started from scratch.”

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Iyer started his career in India as a business journalist before moving into marketing and communications for a film production company in Toronto. He travelled to Canada before immigrating and was drawn to what he saw as a better work-life balance and the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally. “I felt like I was in a safe zone, a happy place back in India and not really growing as an individual,” he explains. Canada offered a chance to change that.

But building a life here came with a steep financial learning curve. His first months in Canada felt like a crash course in the country’s financial system. Credit cards were new to Iyer, as was the importance of a credit score. “I had never really used a credit card in my life,” explains Iyer. “It was only debit cards and cash back in India.”

He quickly learned that building a credit history is key to reaching bigger financial milestones, including eventually buying a home. His first landlord, a family friend, helped him open a bank account and get his first credit card, with a $1,000 limit. Iyer focused on paying bills on time and in full, keeping spending in check and steadily building a credit track record. Within a couple of years, his credit score had climbed above 700. In 2019, he bought his first condo.

Today, Iyer is a director at an event technology start-up, owns three properties around Toronto and is working toward financial independence. His strategy has been straightforward: save, invest and spend deliberately. “It’s not glamorous,” he says. “But at the same time, I know the end goal I’m working toward.”

Navigating the Canadian money system

For Nidhi Kalra, 41, the reset was less straightforward. She arrived from India a year after her then-boyfriend, now husband, Cyril. She weighed Canada against Australia, but Canada’s permanent-residency pathway and proximity to family in the U.S. tipped the balance.

The adjustment went beyond employment. Kalra had to learn a new workplace culture, navigate a different job market and adapt to “sky-high” living costs.

As a copywriter in Canadian advertising agencies, she was often, as she says, the only first-generation, brown person in the room. It took about five years to feel professionally re-established. Seven years after arriving, she says she finally feels settled.

Kalra arrived in the GTA with $10,000 in proof of funds, borrowed from her parents. She expected to get a good-paying job right away and buy a home within a few years. Despite having years of experience in India, it took her eight months—including six months working as a receptionist—to land her first full-time copywriting job. 

“Looking back, I was so naive. Nothing translated the way I’d pictured it,” Kalra explains, adding, “Starting from scratch meant the playing field was never level. I’ve spent years making up for lost time.” Freelancing has made that reset more complicated. “There’s no ladder to climb. Every few years, I’m back in the market, finding the next gig and chasing the best hourly rate I can get.”

When it comes to credit, Kalra says she had a “head start” thanks to her parents’ experiences in the United States. 

“I understood the basics before I landed,” she says, adding, “Then Cyril’s first job here was at a credit collection company. That gave us a front-row seat to what happens when payments slip.” She describes her credit building approach as disciplined, “I paid every loan and installment on time. I cleared my credit cards before they were due. Month after month. Consistency did the rest.”

Rebooting your financial history

Iyer and Kalra’s experiences show that when immigrating to Canada, a financial history doesn’t always follow you. Despite the skills, savings habits and financial knowledge someone brings with them, they still need to establish themselves within a new financial system.

Opening an account can take days, but building financial stability takes much longer. Credit history needs to be established. Income needs to become predictable. Savings need to accumulate. Newcomers need to make housing decisions, all while learning a new country’s financial vocabulary.

Kalra says investing was unfamiliar when she arrived. So was the role credit would play in everyday life. “I come from India, a land of savers,” she says. “There, you spend what you have. There’s no real credit culture. Here, credit shapes so much of your life.”

Iyer went through a similar learning curve, eventually discovering tools such as the tax-free savings account (TFSA) and using investment income to buy property. He sticks to one credit card, pays the balance in full each month and avoids letting access to credit become an excuse for him to spend. Along the way, he cut back on eating out, movies and midweek nights out. His goal isn’t simply property ownership. He wants enough invested wealth to choose his work, rather than depend on a full-time salary, by the time he’s 45.

Kalra takes a shorter view: “One micro goal at a time.” For her, that approach has added up. “Seven years in, I feel settled. I own a home. I drive. I know my way around my city. And I’ve found a healthy balance between the India I remember, the India that exists now, and the Canada I’ve come to appreciate for what it is.”

A different kind of fresh start

For newcomers, starting over happens through a series of small firsts: the first bank account, Canadian paycheque, credit card, apartment, tax return and investment. And each milestone has its own learning curve. Iyer wishes he’d known more about Canadian savings and investment vehicles, like TFSAs, before arriving. Kalra wishes someone had encouraged her to build skills beyond writing. 

Iyer’s advice: talk to trained professionals to learn about the financial products available to you, including TFSAs, registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), and registered education savings plans (RESPs) for those with kids. And don’t forget about the first-time homeowner incentives offered by the government.

Iyer describes the process as “befriending the value of money,” because sometimes, starting over doesn’t mean recreating the life you left behind. It means figuring out what you want the next one to look like.

 Newcomer’s financial checklist:

• Talk to a trusted financial planner about tools available to you, including TFSAs and RRSPs.
• Learn how debt, savings and investing works in Canada.
• If your work offers any RRSP matching or investment incentives, take advantage of this “free money.”
• Have kids? Open an RESP and watch their post-secondary savings add up with government grants.
• Buying a new house? Look into the first-time home buyer incentives.
• Pay at least the minimum payment on your credit card every month or, better yet, pay the full balance.
• File your tax returns on time.

Read more from this issue of The Get:

1. Canada’s federal Debt: Should you worry? Is it your problem?
2. Moms at Work founder Allison Venditti on return-to-office mandates
3. Do you need $1.5 million (or more!) to retire in Canada?
4. What can a retiree in Canada do to increase their income?