How to invest as a teenager in Canada + MORE Dec 5th

If you’re starting to save the money you’ve received from birthdays, holidays and part-time jobs, you may be wondering how you can invest your savings. An important life lesson for any young person is the habit of saving—so investing for some teenagers can be the next step. 

In Canada, many provinces have upped their personal finance curriculum content for elementary and high school since I was a kid. Social media also has a lot more information about money and investing, as well as trending content about spending money as well. 

How to start saving as a teen (or younger, or older for that matter)

A minor —under the age of 18 or 19, depending on the province or territory—will generally need a parent or guardian to be named on the account as well. A parent or grandparent can open a bank account for a child—even a newborn. These accounts may come with features like a bonus for opening the account or no monthly fees. The young person can have a debit card that they use to access their account online or to buy things on their own…

There are some tax deductions and credits you know you should claim on your income tax return every year. It’s unlikely you’ll ever forget to deduct your RRSP contributions, for example, and claiming a tax credit for your charitable donations is a no-brainer. But other claims can be easy to overlook if they’re new—or just new to you because you haven’t had the opportunity to use them before.

With that in mind, here are some of the deductions and credits that you should check to see if you are eligible to claim this year—along with their potential tax savings—to make sure you don’t end up leaving money on the table. (Note that these are all federal claims; in some cases there may be similar claims you can make on your provincial/territorial taxes.)

Is there a medical expense tax credit?

If you or an immediate family member had a whack of uninsured medical costs in 2021, and/or your income was lower than usual (perhaps due to COVID-19), it’s worth it to tally up those expenses to see if you have enough to claim this non-refundable tax credit…