u/RomanNaut

Scotiabank currently has what seems like a pretty crazy offer running from July 3 to October 29, 2026.
You can get $700 for opening a Preferred or Ultimate chequing account and completing some pretty normal banking requirements:
(Set up an eligible recurring direct deposit for at least 6 consecutive months)

Then you can get another $200 for opening their Savings Account, which has no monthly fee, and enrolling in one of their Smart Savings Tools for 90 consecutive days.
So that’s $900 total without even needing to open a credit card.

The Preferred chequing account costs $16.95/month unless you keep $4,000 in it. Personally, I don’t really want to park $4,000 in a chequing account because I’d rather use that money for investing, maxing registered accounts, paying down debt, etc.
But even if you just pay the monthly fee while waiting for the bonuses:
$16.95 × 10 months = $169.50
$900 − $169.50 = $730.50 net
So you’re potentially making around $730 net just for moving your payroll over, paying a bill, opening a free savings account, and keeping everything open until the bonuses are deposited (9 months)

Even without having $4,000 sitting around to waive the monthly fee, this still seems like an incredible deal.
Why isn’t everyone eligible for this jumping on it?

Edit: why are people downvoting this? I thought sharing nice new offers was the point of this Reddit? I wanted to help :(

https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/bank-accounts/chequing-accounts/package-features.html#Chequing

I’m 29 and moved to Toronto from Europe about three years ago. I’ve been making around $100k for the last 2.5 hears and then I got a raise to $120k about six months ago.
Other than about $40k in my RRSP, I have almost no savings.
I live alone downtown and pay $2,350/month in rent. I know it’s expensive, but I don’t really want roommates and there aren’t many decent one-bedroom options that are much cheaper.
Now that I’m earning more, I can finally save a bit, but realistically it’s only around $3–4k a year.
What I can’t wrap my head around is seeing people my age with similar incomes who already have $200k–400k invested. I genuinely don’t understand how they got there.

Is it mostly family money, buying property early, dual incomes, huge stock gains, or something else? Because based on my numbers, it feels mathematically impossible to reach that level by my mid-30s.

If you’ve built significant savings on a similar income, what did your path actually look like? What am I missing?

Update: Thanks for the responses!! Most people seem to think the issue is that I choose to live alone.
Even if I lowered my rent to $1,500, that would save me about $10k a year. That could add up to the low six figures by my mid-30s, but it still doesn’t explain how some people have $300k–$500k invested.