Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Good morning. AI is making it harder than ever to know what (or who) to trust, to the point where it could push some people away from online sources of information. However, one corner of the internet continues to attract Canadians looking for answers to some of their biggest financial questions: Reddit. But should you trust strangers on the internet for money advice? That’s what I wanted to find out.
Can good money advice be found on the internet?
With more than one million weekly visitors, the r/PersonalFinanceCanada subreddit is one of Canada’s biggest forums for money conversations. Every day, people turn to it to ask questions they might never ask a financial adviser, family member or friend: Can I afford a home? Am I saving enough? Should I invest or pay down debt?
Its popularity is an anomaly in the age of Google and AI summaries. But alongside thoughtful advice comes social comparison, trolling, snarking and AI video-generated content (despite rules against it).
I interviewed some folks who use the subreddit. Here’s a glimpse of what they had to say:
(Left to right) Miller Kriese, Lienke Abdeen, Katherine Wong Too Yen and Allison Dubé.Photo illustration by the GLobe and Mail. Sources: Chad Hipolito/The Globe and Mail, Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail, Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
Miller Kriese (a 23-year-old who got a job that allowed him to start saving for the first time): “The advice that sort of succeeds and gets to the top is generally quite sound and less polarized, which I think you compare to a platform like TikTok, where a really big percentage of personal finance content is essentially directly affiliate promoted content.”
Lienke Abdeen (a 29-year-old who felt negatively about her own money situation after she compared herself with those on the subreddit): “I’m working so hard, and my salary is maybe 10 per cent of what these people seem to be making.”
Katherine Wong Too Yen (a 35-year-old who joined the subreddit in her early 20s to learn more about money): “When I initially joined, it was a community that felt safe to post. ... As the subreddit has grown, you will see more people who are more judgmental. You will have some answers that are more sarcastic, people who are trolling, and you will see people make posts where you’re like, ‘Okay, all of this was clearly ChatGPT-generated.’”
Allison Dubé (a 40-year-old who thinks that people are drawn to the platform because of their distrust in traditional financial knowledge-holders): “I think it reflects kind of our relationship with financial institutions, because we don’t view them as a trusted source entirely, because we do recognize that they’re selling a product, right?”
Here’s the full story (which looks incredible, thanks to The Globe’s visual and digital teams).
The Calculator
Workplace pension plans hold more than $2.1-trillion in assets, but those savings are far from evenly distributed. Frederick Vettese, former chief actuary at Morneau Shepell, writes that the average public-sector worker has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars more in workplace pension assets than the average private-sector worker.
The Retirement Receipt
ThongSam/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
How this investor built a TFSA worth $875,000
The numbers: Albert, 40, has has built a TFSA worth about $875,000 while holding a diversified portfolio of roughly 50 stocks, with no single position making up more than 5 per cent of the account.
The strategy: Rather than concentrating his bets, Albert built his portfolio by following the stock purchases of top asset managers, buying companies he liked after price pullbacks. He also boosted his TFSA’s growth by making carefully timed in-kind transfers of stocks and call options from his taxable account.
Best of the Rest
🪙 Crypto trading is getting more competitive in Canada. Coinbase Canada says it wants to become an “everything exchange” where Canadians can manage all of their financial assets in one app, starting with plans to launch crypto futures trading in the coming months, pending regulatory approval.
🏠 Canada needs more home care workers, but many are stuck waiting for permanent residency. Thousands of caregivers who applied through a dedicated immigration stream more than a year ago remain in limbo over their residency status. Some are unable to work as permits expire, while families across the country continue to face shortages of child care and personal support workers.
🏘️ Canada’s biggest cities are losing the people they’re trying hardest to attract. Economist Mike Moffatt says adults aged 25 to 44 (especially those with young children) are leaving Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal in search of more affordable housing, a trend he argues could slow economic growth and deepen inequality.
👵🏽The travellers who just want to be with grandma. With stress levels running high, more Gen Z and millennials are seeking out travel experiences that are low-key and “grandma-inspired,” such as learning to make pasta with an Italian nonna.
Try This
📈 Another round of The Globe’s Trade Off stock game is coming up. It’s a no‑risk stock simulation game, where you get to use $100,000 in virtual cash and real‑time market data to try to win big. If you do come out on top, you have a chance of winning $5,000 of real money.
