33M, recently started investing, looking for feedback on my plan
33M here. I’m fairly new to investing and Canadian personal finance, and I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who have been doing this longer than I have.
I became a Canadian resident in October 2024. When I first arrived, I honestly had very little understanding of how things like TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, contribution room, tax deductions, etc. worked. I also didn’t realize that I needed to actually open an FHSA to start accumulating contribution room, so I missed out on that during my first year.
I’m self-employed and get paid in USD. I’ve mostly been using Wise to convert USD to CAD because the exchange rates have been pretty good and the transfers are basically instant.
My financial situation
From 2025 until now, I’ve made roughly $53K USD from my work. My income varies, but I currently make around $3.5K–$5K USD/month.
My expenses have been extremely low until now. I’ve been spending roughly $1,300 CAD/month:
- ~$350 rent for a room
- ~$300 groceries (I mostly cook at home) and i make sure to order online to take advantage of promo codes and points and everything.
- Car insurance, phone, gym, etc.
- The remaining ~$400 is basically discretionary spending, Some gas, movies, eating out, shoes, etc. I have an embarrassing number of shoes at this point
I also paid my car (2014 Accent) in full, around $5K. And i don't move around alot with it especially in summer, i got an electric bike and e scooter which helps me a lot.
Because my expenses were so low, I was able to save roughly $45K CAD / $32K USD over the past couple of years.
I have no debt. I have one RBC credit card, which I pay in full every statement.
What I was doing with the money
For the longest time, most of my savings were just sitting in my bank account doing nothing.
Then about a week ago, I started seriously looking into Canadian personal finance. I spent a lot of time learning about TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, tax deductions, government benefits, investing, and how these accounts can be used toward long-term goals like buying a house.
Honestly, it was pretty overwhelming at first, especially coming to Canada without knowing how any of this worked.
I’m also Muslim, so I’m trying to keep my investments Shariah-compliant. For example, Wise offers around 3.4% interest on USD balances, but earning interest isn't something I’m comfortable with, so I didn't use that option.
After doing a lot of research (mostly with GPT), I decided to open a Wealthsimple account and start investing in halal/Shariah-compliant ETFs.
What I've done so far
The plan that GPT gave me:
TFSA: (21k room)
- 70% SPUS
- 20% SPWO
- 10% GLDM
FHSA: (8k)
- Same allocation as TFSA
RRSP: (~4.5k)
- 100% SPUS
I also turned off interest and stock lending where applicable.
I’ve basically maxed out the contribution room I currently have in these accounts, while carefully tracking the CAD equivalent of my USD contributions so I don't accidentally go over my contribution limits.
I also recently closed my CAD RBC chequing account because I was paying the $12.95 monthly fee. I now use Wealthsimple for most of my day-to-day banking and have automatic payments set up for my RBC credit card.
One complication is USD transfers. Wealthsimple doesn't currently allow me to directly connect my Wise USD account because the Wise USD account is based in the US rather than Canada. So I opened a USD account with RBC to make moving the money around easier. Hopefully Wealthsimple/Wise integration improves in the future.
My current cash position
After investing, I still have around $23K CAD sitting in cash/checking.
I'm getting married soon (about 3 months from now), so my expenses are going to increase significantly over the next few months. I expect my monthly expenses could reach around $3.5K CAD/month once rent, living expenses, etc. are included.
Because of that, I was advised to keep the $20K as an emergency/safety fund rather than investing some of it in an non registered. At roughly $3.5K/month in expected expenses, that's around 5–6 months of expenses.
My income is currently around $3.5K–$5K USD/month, so assuming my income remains reasonably stable, I should still have some money left over each month to continue investing.
My long-term goal
My main financial goal is to eventually buy a house.
I'm thinking roughly 10 years as a timeline, and ideally I'd like to buy it without a mortgage. I really don't like the idea of being in debt, so my current goal is to build enough wealth over the next decade that I can hopefully buy a home mostly or completely in cash.
I know that might not be the most financially optimal approach compared with using a halal mortgage/Murabaha and investing the difference, but avoiding debt is personally very important to me.
So, what do you think?
I’m basically trying to figure out whether I’ve made reasonable decisions so far or if there are things I’m overlooking.
Did I invest too much too quickly?
Is keeping ~$23K in cash reasonable given my upcoming marriage and expected ~$3.5K/month expenses?
Does my TFSA/FHSA/RRSP allocation make sense for a 10+ year horizon?
Is there anything I should be doing differently with my USD income, especially when converting to CAD and contributing to registered accounts?
And more generally, if you were in my position, what would you be looking at or doing differently?
I’m interested in hearing from people who understand Canadian personal finance and can point out mistakes, blind spots, or things I should learn about.
I know I’m still very new to all of this, so I'd genuinely appreciate the criticism.
TL;DR: 33M, became a Canadian resident in 2024 and knew basically nothing about Canadian investing/taxes. I’m self-employed, make $3.5k–$5k USD/month, have no debt, and managed to save about $45k CAD because my expenses were very low ($1.2k/month).
I recently learned about TFSA/RRSP/FHSA and started investing in what I believe are halal ETFs:
TFSA: 70% SPUS / 20% SPWO / 10% GLDM
FHSA: same
RRSP: 100% SPUS
I’ve used most of my available contribution room and still have ~$23k CAD in cash. I’m getting married soon, so I expect my expenses to increase to around $3.5k/month, which is why I’m keeping the cash as an emergency fund.
Long term, I’d like to buy a house in ~10 years, ideally without a mortgage.
Am I approaching this reasonably, or did I invest too much too quickly? Anything I’m overlooking as a self-employed person earning USD in Canada?