Young people deserve better from the financial world

Last week I had coffee with a former Wealthsimple employee.

We talked for a while about the industry, about what's working, what isn't and we landed on something that's been sitting with me ever since.

Young people are deeply underserved by the financial world. Not because the tools don't exist. But because the whole system wasn't built for them.

Most traditional financial planners and advisors? They start working with you when you have $1M+ in assets. Which means they're helping people who already have it, not people who are trying to build it. There's a massive gap between "I just got my first real paycheque" and "I have a million dollars" and almost nobody is showing up for that space.

Wealthsimple is doing genuinely great things that the big banks have been sleeping on. But something we both noticed is that a lot of young people working in fintech (and just… young people in general) have this incredibly strong conviction that 20% returns are the move. That that's the path. That if they just find the right stocks, the right crypto, the right fund, they're going to get there.

And honestly? You can't even blame them.

We are the generation that watched older people buy houses for $200k that are now worth over a million. We watched wealth compound for people in a way that just doesn't feel available to us anymore. Homeownership feels out of reach. Retirement feels abstract. And "just be patient and invest slowly" sounds like advice from someone who bought their house in 1987.

So of course we're looking for the number that closes the gap faster. The anxiety is real. The logic behind it makes total sense.

But here's the thing I keep coming back to 👇

Chasing 20% returns without a foundation underneath you isn't a wealth-building strategy. It's a hope. And hope is not a plan.

The people I've seen actually build wealth, not inherit it, not stumble into it, build it, almost always do it the boring way. Consistently. With intention. With a plan that has actual reasons behind it, not just vibes and market predictions.

So what does that actually look like?

Get clear on what you're building toward Not "save money because that's what responsible adults do." An actual target and a reason. Money moves better when it knows where it's going.

Use the accounts that do extra work for you FHSA, RRSP, TFSA, in the right order, these aren't just savings accounts. They're a system where your money makes more money before it even hits the market.

Then invest but on top of a foundation, not instead of one Yes, take risk. Yes, bet in the market. But build something underneath you first so a bad month doesn't wipe out a year of progress.

The goal isn't to find the shortcut that closes the gap in one move. The goal is to stop feeling like the gap is the whole story.

You're not behind. You're just starting in a harder environment with less guidance.

And that's kind of exactly why I do this 💙

If any of this resonated, come talk to me. Book a free discovery call and let's figure out what your next move actually looks like.

One last thing, I'm curious: how often do you want to see this in your inbox? I want this newsletter to actually be useful, not just more noise. Biweekly or monthly? Just hit reply and let me know!