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Name, age: Anna, 30
Annual income: $45,000
Debt: $0
Savings: $21,200 in chequing account, $40,500 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $6,400 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $30,000 worth of gold.
What she does: Freelance journalist
Where she lives: Toronto
Top financial concern: “Work, in terms of irregular pay. I don’t know where I am going to get it in the off months or the down months. I get really worried.”
Anna, 30, has a master’s degree and has lived in five countries, but wanted to settle down and get a permanent job with benefits when she got married a few years ago. She found one, at a news outlet, and worked there for two years before she was laid off during the summer of 2024.
“I spent a few months looking for a job and realized it wasn’t working and I was wasting time,” she said. “I hear about people applying for hundreds of jobs a month.”
Winnipeg aviation worker made $315,000 last year, but often works 12-hour shifts, eight days in row
Now, she’s a freelancer, an arrangement she loves because she can work anywhere.
“Travelling is probably one of the biggest pleasures of my life,” says Anna, who lives in downtown Toronto. She grew up in South Asia and came to the suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area when she was 10 years old. “I centre a lot of what I do around being able to move freely.”
But to make a decent income freelancing, she has to work a lot.
“I am working all the time: in the plane, in the hotel lobby, at the wedding. If someone wants to talk to me [for work] while I am in the United Arab Emirates, I will wake up at 3 a.m. and take that call.”
Her mental health has taken a hit. She put her gym membership on hold last fall, since she struggles to prioritize exercise when she could be working.
“Last year was so messy,” says Anna, whose partner has a stable and high-earning job as an engineer. “I had so many incredible career milestones, but my health fell completely off a cliff. I’ve never given up on myself like that before.”
She says she struggles to dedicate time to her well-being.
“It has changed my brain chemistry.”
Rural Saskatchewan dad, 37, says it was an affordable place to live ‘but that is changing’
Anna is Muslim, and her religion forbids paying or receiving interest payments. As a result, she keeps her cash in a chequing account instead of a savings account. One of several of her TFSAs is a halal account through Wealthsimple, invested in a mix of gold, cash and global factor equities.
She also invests in physical gold, saying she has about $30,000 worth of gold jewelry, tablets and coins, much of it purchased in her travels around the world.
“Sometimes I really freak out because I don’t have a job. I don’t have benefits. I don’t have a steady income,” says Anna. “But when I see a physical asset like gold I feel calmer. I feel a bit more stable, and I feel like it’s okay.”
Her typical monthly expenses:
Investment and savings: $570
$550 to TFSA. “I sometimes will also add in random $1,000 here and there.”
$20 to RRSP. “I just started doing this this month.”
Servicing debt: $0
Household and transportation: $1,155
$1,000 to rent. “The total is $2,400 and my husband takes care of the rest.”
$30 to transit
$125 to Uber or taxis
Food and drink: $240
$30 to groceries. “The random things from Rabba if we run out.”
$55 at coffee shops
$150 at restaurants. “Husband takes care of this unless I’m alone/with my friends.”
$5 on alcohol. “A budget wine for $10 to $15, maybe three to four times a year.”
Miscellaneous: $692
$300 on entertainment. “We do date nights and try to find activities: Ring-making, wine-tasting, etc.”
$67 on apps. “Spotify, Otter, Zoom, WordPress, GoDaddy, Google storage, The Globe and Mail.”
$30 on clothing
$39 on gym membership. “I put my gym membership on pause until April in October last year; I paid $117 monthly.”
$35 on scrapbooking supplies.
$33 on haircuts. “$200 total, twice a year.”
$60 on manicure
$17 on dentist. “$200 yearly for two cleanings.”
$20 on donations
$75 on gifts
$16 to accountant. “$193 last year. I don’t know how much I paid in taxes.”
Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story.
Participate in the Paycheque Project
Welcome to Paycheque Project, a regular series in The Globe and Mail that looks at how much young Canadians are earning – and where that money is going. We'd like to hear from young adults from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographic locations, and earnings ranges.
If you're a millennial or Gen Z and would like to participate, fill out the form below or send an email to Roma Luciw at rluciw@globeandmail.com. Please include your name, age, where you live, occupation, your biggest financial concern and your email. And remember, Paycheque Project is a judgement-free zone.
