Financial reality check: 5 money rules Gen Z should retire + MORE Dec 18th

A new poll revealed that a quarter of Canadians feel the financial advice they inherited from older generations no longer applies in 2025. For Gen Z, that number jumps to 34%. And for big-ticket purchases, the gap is even bigger: almost half of 18 to 34 year olds say traditional home-buying advice no longer applies, and a third question career and income advice from mom and dad, too.

Frankly, they’re not wrong. Cost of living has surged, incomes have stayed the same, the financial system is more complex, and the tools available today didn’t exist when parents bought homes on one income or invested exclusively through a bank advisor. 

To help bring you up to speed, we spoke with Canadian money expert and Qualified Associate Financial Planner (QAFP), Jessica Moorhouse, author of Everything But Money, who maps out four crucial updates to the financial playbook. 

Dated rule #1: “Buy a home as soon as possible”

2025 update: Renting + investing may build more wealth than forcing homeownership…

Three years after the ChatGPT-fuelled AI craze swept across markets and sent tech stocks soaring, some investors are looking at whether they can still get in on the rally. Alim Dhanji, a certified financial planner at Assante Financial Management, is no stranger to young investors asking about how to start investing in AI stocks—and what the right exposure is. “It comes up pretty much in every client meeting,”  he said. 

The tech sector has seen significant volatility recently, as speculation mounts on whether there’s an AI bubble percolating after a major rally. For young investors looking for a piece of the action, experts say with the right strategy, it’s possible to participate without risking it all.

Align AI investing with risk tolerance and goals

Dhanji said he usually begins with the basics—assessing his client’s risk profile and financial goals. “Not everyone can tolerate the risks of AI companies because they are more volatile,”  Dhanji said…

The Canadian Press has been speaking with young people about the financial challenges facing their generation—a tough job market, unaffordable housing and goals that seem out of reach.

Waiting for everything to work out

A few hours into a night out with friends in downtown Toronto, 19-year-old Eleni Koumoundouros has a choice to make. Does she end the evening early and start the hour-long commute to Oakville, where she lives with her parents? Or, does she savour the evening a little longer and contend with late-night transit and walking home in the dark? It’s a recurring question for the third-year undergraduate at the University of Toronto, who says the commute puts a damper on her social life.

Koumoundouros works 30 hours a week in addition to her schooling, but downtown Toronto rent isn’t affordable. “I’m working so hard to make this money, even if it feels like the money is kind of going nowhere.”

Koumoundouros says her generation is dismayed by scarce job opportunities…