For a few days, The newspaper presents you with portraits of young people who are about to start their lives. Inflation, real estate crisis, debt: Many young Quebecers are worried about their future.
A young 21-year-old nurse manages to save 60% of her salary for three years through a more modest lifestyle to buy her first house and marry her spouse.
“I read the collective agreement from A to Z in order to understand it. I have studied it. I asked questions to do what makes most financial sense,” explains Marie-Anne Bonneau, a young nurse in her early 20s from Montreal’s South Shore.
“Instead of working full-time, I decided to work part-time with double the hours and a $200 bonus. I earn very well,” she continues.
Thanks to her iron discipline, Marie-Anne Bonneau is about to accomplish a real feat: accumulate enough money to start life.
“I put 60% of my salary aside to buy a $700,000 house,” she summarizes.
old pussy
His secret? Affording a luxury apartment or a new car is out of the question, even if she can afford it.
Her current rent is barely 10% of her salary, and she’s content with an old Minoune she bought three years ago for $3,500 with her own money.
“I’ve calculated that I need to save $280 a week to get my 20 percent down payment, which is very realistic. I go to university full-time and get there,” explains the young woman in her company.
Her friend, an apprentice electrician, also has a good salary. He is pursuing the same dream as her by raising as much money as possible.
“It’s really the overtime that allows me to accumulate extraordinary amounts of money so quickly. You have to know the system to be able to save,” emphasizes Marie-Anne Bonneau, who has read a lot about personal finance.
Financial advisor, portfolio manager, accountant… she surrounded herself with a team that helped her achieve her goals. And it bears fruit.
“appearance society»
While young people often struggle to make ends meet, Marie-Anne Bonneau believes that too many people are living beyond their means.
That’s why she turned to Le Journal when she read our dossier on the finances of the young generation: she wanted to share her experience, to show that there’s a way to get rich if we’re determined.
To get there, you can’t have everything, she says. We must mourn what is valued in consumer society.
“Society values money and looks. People have to look at my car and say, “Yeah, but that’s what it looks like,” she said.
“I don’t have anything on credit. everything belongs to me I just have to pay my rent and hydro quebec. That’s all. That’s financial freedom. People don’t know that anymore and it’s sad,” she adds.
In the Journal, she confesses that when she was still working at Tim Hortons, she walked a good hour to and from work, earning her enough money to move into an apartment with her spouse by the age of 18.
“I accumulated money. I never got any money from my parents. I did it,” she concludes.