Investing Through the Ages, Part 1: What to set aside (and how) during your working years

No matter what stage you're at in life, saving and investing can seem daunting. That’s why this episode, we're bringing you the first of a two-part series we’re calling Investing Through the Ages. In it, we’ll work our way through different age groups and break down how they should be thinking about saving and investing at each stage along the way. In this installment, we’re focusing on what experts call the accumulation stage – roughly age 25 to 50. These are most people’s core working years where they accumulate the majority of their wealth. Devon Lacombe, Vice President of Retail Investments at Scotiabank, is our guest and has some practical tips on how to balance short-term and long-term savings goals during this pivotal phase. 

For legal disclosures, please visit http://bit.ly/socialdisclaim and www.gbm.scotiabank.com/disclosures 

Key moments this episode: 

2:05 – Devon explains what the accumulation phase is 

3:44 – The start of the accumulation stage: how should people be investing and saving in their 20s and 30s 

4:36 – A key tool to ensure people are hitting their saving and investment goals during this period 

5:48 – The first type of account people should be thinking of during this phase 

8:11 – What about people who are carrying student debt? How should they approach saving? 

9:43 – The benefits of starting to save and invest early 

10:53 – At what point should someone talk to an advisor when it comes to saving and investing? 

11:55 – A mistake Devon made early in her accumulation stage and the lesson she learned from it 

13:04 – The next potential milestone during the accumulation stage: home ownership. How does that factor into investing and saving goals? 

14:06 – A primer on the First Home Savings Account (FHSA) 

15:55 – How much of your income should go towards home expenses? 

17:11 – What about buying a house as an investment? 

18:32 – Another milestone during this phase: having children. Devon explains how an RESP works 

19:27 – How to prioritize saving and investing when financial responsibilities are piling up during this phase 

22:31 – How to approach investing during the next major life milestone: middle age (and a good benchmark for what you should have saved for retirement at this point) 

24:50 – How should wealth transfer from parents impact financial planning? 

26:02 – Planning for the next phase (and our next installment of this series): the decumulation stage