From Saving to Investing: A Newcomer's Perspective

Two suitcases in tow, I scanned a sea of flickering digits on a giant LED screen at Beijing Capital International Airport. Boarding KA901 to Hong Kong, I took a deep breath. In about four hours, I would be only one flight away from my final destination: Toronto.

That was 2018 and I was on my way to graduate school. Then, as a Chinese international student, I was eager and curious. On the departing flight from China, I pictured Canada as a place with cleaner air. A democracy where freedom of speech is protected. A nation — whose leader famously declared "love is love" — that embraces differences and diversity.

Almost four years on, I'm marking my first Canada Day as a newly minted permanent resident in a country I now consider my adopted home. While the milestone is worth celebrating, it's also an opportunity to reflect.

Enter money.

I grew up in a frugal household. My parents saved whenever they could — and unfinished food on my plate would incur their wrath. Those thrifty ways left a deep imprint. During my seven-year career in Beijing, I cooked plenty, flew budget airlines and couch-surfed when travelling abroad. And I socked away my paycheque, year after year, in a savings account.

I'm glad I did. Without saving, an education in Canada would have been impossible for me, which would have prevented me from reaching the goals I've set for myself.

In graduate school, my habit of saving continued. With a shoestring budget, it made sense to do so. The income from a summer internship also helped as my savings dwindled. After paying for food, rent and tuition, I kept every penny — again in a savings account.

That discipline enabled me to finance my own education. During the pandemic, it also kept me afloat.

Today, however, things have changed. Life is not about a two-year master's degree anymore. Just two months ago, I was on a work visa that had an expiration date. With my resident status, I'm now looking forward to the day I can cast my first vote as a citizen.

At long last, a future in Canada feels real. The kind that confers not only legal status but a sense of belonging. A future where I can see myself buying a condo — not this year, not next year, but one day. But I know that absent financial security, my life goals — from homeownership to retirement plans — will remain elusive.

As my new chapter in life begins, I've realized that now's the time to start thinking about investments.

So I've started to take action, with baby steps. I've taken time to get myself up to speed on some of the jargon and acronyms related to investing. I just recently learned that bond yields have an inverse relationship to their prices! Plus, I've opened a practice account to figure out how trading works.

I'm also reading as much as I can. The book I'm currently on is about the history of money and how common financial concepts came to shape our society and civilizations. One of my takeaways so far: People who ignore financial literacy do so at their own peril.

Millennials have taken note on saving and investing. According to one report I read recently, close to a quarter of American millennials have $100,000 in savings and are part of a tight-knit community eager to learn how to be smart investors. On popular online discussion forums, young investors relish knowledge sharing and swapping stories about investing.

In Canada, among self-directed investors aged 18 to 34, nearly half began their foray into DIY investing during the pandemic, the 2022 RBC Direct Investing Young Investor Insights Poll found. That same poll found that many young investors, like myself, didn't grow up in investment-savvy households and are now investing for the long-term.

As a millennial, I may be a bit late to the game. But as I've been told many times, it's never too late to start.

I know I've still got plenty to learn. And given the recent market volatility, navigating the world of investing won't be easy. But I'm confident the journey will be rewarding. After all, I'm also investing in a new future, right here in my adopted home.

Owen Guo is a member of the RBC Direct Investing Inspired Investor team.