{"id":143786,"date":"2025-09-14T17:49:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/143786\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T17:49:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:49:05","slug":"vancouver-man-28-says-working-from-home-contributed-to-his-sizable-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/143786\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver man, 28, says working from home contributed to his sizable savings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Martin, 28<\/p>\n

Annual income: $120,000<\/p>\n

Debt: $0<\/p>\n

Savings: $30,000 in savings account, $110,636 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $34,771 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $18,049 in first home savings account (FHSA), $11,045 in cryptocurrency, $55,417 in pension plan, $2,386 in company stock, $2,998 in non-registered investment account<\/p>\n

What he does: Senior product marketing specialist<\/p>\n

Where he lives: Vancouver<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cBeing able to get the goalposts to stop moving and actually feeling good about it. Ultimately the plan means nothing if I don\u2019t feel good about it when the time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin started his career in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and says he benefited financially from many aspects of working from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Okay, this is cool, I can work from home and not spend any time and money on commuting,\u2019\u201d he said. He soon realized he was also saving money by not needing an extensive office wardrobe and not regularly going out for lunch. <\/p>\n

He still works from home most of the time. His team is spread across several cities, so there\u2019s little motivation to go into the office, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how, as a society, we\u2019ve always been going in every day,\u201d he said. \u201cYou waste so much of your day, you need nice clothes, you have to pack a lunch. It is a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

New immigrant, 32, says his investment gains were wiped out by tariff uncertainties: \u2018It was not fun.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin moved to Canada when he was younger and grew up in a family that emphasized living within one\u2019s means. His parents saved enough money to cover his university education, so he finished school without debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a head start,\u201d he said, acknowledging that paying back student loans is often a main focus for people his age. \u201cI am very grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the disparate financial stories of his grandfathers gave him examples of what to do and what not to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne had a lot of money, didn\u2019t take care of it and lost everything,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other started with very little and was able to build a very comfortable life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calgary man, 27, preparing to be among the first in his friend group to buy a house<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s approach is to plan out how much he\u2019d like to save in a given year \u2013 always more than the previous year \u2013 and figure out how to reach that number between his pension contributions, company stock buys, performance bonus and regular paycheques. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s also thinking ahead to retirement, saying his dream is to be able to live off his investments by his 50s. However, he\u2019s not sure how having a family one day, something he is interested in, might affect that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next 15 to 20 years, that\u2019s what I am going to have to answer,\u201d he said. \u201cAt what point do I say, \u2018This is comfortable, I am good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

His typical monthly expenses:<\/p>\n

Investment and savings: $3,860 <\/p>\n

$616 to pension. \u201cDefined contribution plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

$2,744 to various investments. \u201cIncludes maxing out TFSA and FHSA.\u201d<\/p>\n

$500 to savings account<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $0<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $2,000<\/p>\n

$1,800 for rent. \u201cTwo-bed, two-bath apartment in downtown Vancouver with a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

$20 on renter\u2019s insurance<\/p>\n

$100 on utilities<\/p>\n

$30 on transit. \u201cI don\u2019t own a car and live in a central location, close to public transport.\u201d<\/p>\n

$50 on Uber or taxis<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $675<\/p>\n

$350 on groceries. \u201cIn the last couple of years, I started spending more on groceries, coffee and treats.\u201d<\/p>\n

$75 at coffee shops. \u201cI\u2019ll go into a bougie coffee shop and not think too much about the price of the latte.\u201d<\/p>\n

$250 at restaurants<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $3,465<\/p>\n

$1,750 to income tax<\/p>\n

$492 to Canada Pension Plan<\/p>\n

$135 to Employment Insurance<\/p>\n

$20 on Netflix<\/p>\n

$30 on Spotify<\/p>\n

$100 on clothing. \u201cDon\u2019t really buy clothes often.\u201d<\/p>\n

$200 on memberships. \u201cGym, sports rec league.\u201d<\/p>\n

$83 on hobbies. \u201cMostly skiing.\u201d<\/p>\n

$30 on haircuts<\/p>\n

$375 on vacations. \u201cLast year, I did one big trip. This year, I did a few smaller trips.\u201d<\/p>\n

$250 on entertainment and going out<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial or Gen Z who would like to participate in a Paycheque Project? Send us an e-mail.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Martin, 28 Annual income: $120,000 Debt: $0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,10526],"class_list":{"0":"post-143786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-paychequeproject"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}