Before we bought our house, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what to expect. I’d rented for years before that, and I’m a strong believer that everyone should rent at some point in their life — it gives you a real, practical understanding of how to manage bills before you’re the one…
Fixed or variable is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make when buying a home in Canada — and it’s rarely as simple as “which rate is lower today.” Here’s what we chose, why, and what I’d actually factor in if I were deciding right now. What We Chose, and Why We went fixed at…
A lot of people ask me why I decided to start a blog while working a 9-5. “Isn’t blogging dead?” “That’s cool — what are you writing about?” “How do you even have time to run a blog?” Different questions from different people, but what I’ll say is this: it’s given me a sense of…
I did everything I was told to do. I went to school. I studied hard — Dean’s List. I stayed loyal at every job I’ve held, four-plus years at a time, and I have references that back that up. I’ve started and closed two businesses of my own. I’ve led complex projects from a blank…
If you’ve started looking into where to park your savings in Canada, you’ve probably run into these two options over and over: a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) or a High-Interest Savings Account (HISA). Both are safe. Both are protected by deposit insurance. But they work completely differently, and which one makes sense depends entirely on…
Every emergency fund guide tells you the same thing: save three to six months of expenses. Fair enough advice — but it never quite tells you how to actually structure that money, or what it looks like day to day when life throws something at you. So here’s exactly how Rachel and I do it. Our Two-Pot…
How to Choose a Mortgage Broker in Canada (What I Wish I’d Known) When Rachel and I started looking at buying our first home, we hit a problem before we’d even seen a single listing: we bank with two different institutions. I’m with RBC, she’s with Scotiabank, and each of them offered something different. At…
Introduction If you’ve been following along since the beginning — thank you. Genuinely. When I started Building-Up almost a year ago, I wasn’t sure what it would become. A hobby? A side hustle? Something that quietly faded out after a few posts like so many blogs do? I didn’t have a clear answer then and…
Introduction I used to hate investing a lump sum. You put in $500, and within a day the position is down 5%. It stings — not because you’ve necessarily made a bad decision, but because the timing just wasn’t right and now you’re starting in the red. I figured there had to be a better…
Introduction I picked up The Richest Man in Babylon from Indigo for about $12. I wasn’t sure what to expect — the cover looks old, the title sounds like something your grandad would recommend, and the whole thing is written as a parable set in ancient Babylon. I read it in a weekend. It changed…
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