You made it!! Degree in hand, student email about to expire, and a job lined up (hopefully?). The life you’ve been living in for the past four years is about to change. Your income is going to change, your loans are entering repayment and your employer is about to hand you forms and options that didn’t exist in your life a month ago.
This issue is for the grads. If you’re coming back to school in September, Issues 9, 10, and 11 have you covered for the summer.
Your money situation is about to change faster than it has at any point in your life so far. A few key decisions in the first 90 days will shape the next several years. Lets get right into it!
Your student loans
Your loans don’t come due the day you graduate. Both Canada and Alberta student loans give you a grace period before repayment starts, and both are interest-free during that window.
| Loan Type | Grace Period | Repayment Starts | Interest During Grace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Student Loan | 6 months after study period ends | 1st day of the 7th month | None (0% permanently since April 2023) |
| Alberta Student Loan | 12 months after study period ends | 1st day of the 13th month | None |
Your Canada loans live on the NSLSC (accessed through My Service Canada Account as of May 2025), and your Alberta loans live on Alberta MyLoan. You need to set up both, verify your balances, and configure your payment method on each one before the first payment date arrives.
Canada Student Loans charge 0% interest, permanently. The federal government eliminated all interest on Canada Student Loans on April 1, 2023. This applies during repayment too, not only during the grace period.
Alberta Student Loans charge interest once repayment begins. The rate is CIBC’s prime rate (4.45% as of April 15, 2026), floating. You can make a one-time request to lock in a fixed rate. A 17% tax credit is available on student loan interest you pay, which softens the cost.
If money is tight: The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) can reduce your payments to $0 if your income is below certain thresholds. For a single person, the threshold is $3,788/month gross (~$45,456/year). You reapply every 6 months, and both Canada and Alberta have their own versions with different thresholds.
Your first paycheque
In Issue 10 we covered how to read a paystub and why students overpay tax. As a full-time employee, the math changes. Your payroll system will annualize your income correctly now because you’re earning a consistent salary year-round. The withholdings on your paycheque will be close to what you owe. Don’t expect the big tax refund you got as a student.
Here’s how the numbers shift (for illustration, based on 2026 tax rates). A student earning $15,000 from summer and part-time work pays roughly $0 in income tax (below both the federal and Alberta basic personal amounts). A new grad earning $55,000 pays approximately $5,400 in federal tax and $2,600 in Alberta tax, plus about $3,000 in CPP and $900 in EI. Your combined marginal rate in the $45K–$58K range is about 22% (14% federal + 8% Alberta). Your situation will vary depending on your income and deductions.
That’s a lot of money leaving your paycheque. But you’re also about to get access to things you didn’t have as a student.
Benefits
Most full-time jobs come with a benefits package. If you’ve been paying out of pocket for prescriptions, dental cleanings, or glasses, that’s about to change. Your employer’s plan typically covers:
- Extended health insurance: Prescriptions, physio, massage therapy, psychologist visits, vision care. Most plans cover about 80% of prescription costs.
- Dental insurance: Cleanings, exams, fillings. Some plans include major dental work (crowns, orthodontics) at a lower coverage rate.
- Life and disability insurance: Your employer often provides basic life insurance (1–2x your salary) and disability coverage that replaces 60–70% of your income if you can’t work.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Free confidential counselling for mental health, financial stress, legal questions. Most people don’t know this exists until they need it.
The enrollment window matters. Most employers have a waiting period of about 90 days before coverage begins. Some start on day one. Either way, you’ll have a deadline to enroll and select your options. If you miss it, you may have to wait until the next annual enrollment period. Pay attention to your onboarding paperwork.
The employer RRSP match
If your employer offers a Group RRSP with matching contributions, this is the single most important financial decision of your first month on the job.
Employer matching means for each dollar you contribute (up to a cap), your employer adds money to your RRSP too. A typical match is 3–5% of your salary. If your employer matches 100% up to 3% and you earn $55,000, that’s $1,650/year of free money deposited into your retirement account (for illustration only, actual amounts depend on your employer’s plan). Skipping the match is leaving that $1,650 on the table.
Group RRSP contributions come off your paycheque pre-tax, which means they reduce your tax withholding immediately. You don’t wait until tax time to get the benefit like you would with a personal RRSP contribution.
Vesting: In most Group RRSPs, you keep the employer’s contributions right away. If the employer contributions go into a Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP) alongside the RRSP, there may be a vesting period of 1–2 years before that money is yours.
A note on RRSP room: Your 2026 RRSP contribution limit is based on 18% of your 2025 earned income. If you earned $15,000 from student work in 2025, your 2026 room is about $2,700 (plus any unused room from prior years). These numbers are for illustration; check your CRA My Account for your actual room. Your room will jump in 2027 once it’s based on your full-time 2026 income. Keep this in mind when setting your Group RRSP contribution rate.
TFSA vs. RRSP vs. FHSA: where to put extra savings
Beyond the employer match, you’ll need to decide where additional savings go. The answer depends on your income and your goals.
At $45K–$55K income: Most advisors lean toward the TFSA first. Your marginal tax rate is 22%, which means the RRSP deduction saves you 22 cents per dollar contributed. If your income rises over the next few years (and it likely will), banking that RRSP room for later, when the deduction is worth more, can be a better move. The TFSA gives you tax-free growth and full flexibility to withdraw whenever you need to.
At $55K–$65K+: The gap narrows. The RRSP deduction becomes more valuable as you approach the 28.5% combined rate (once federal income exceeds $58,523). At this point, splitting contributions between TFSA and RRSP can make sense.
If you plan to buy a home: The FHSA gives you the best of both. Contributions are tax-deductible (like an RRSP) and qualifying withdrawals are tax-free (like a TFSA). Annual limit: $8,000, lifetime limit: $40,000. If homeownership is on your radar, open one now. Your contribution room starts accumulating the year you open the account, and you can’t carry forward room from years before the account existed.
The order of priority:
- Contribute enough to your Group RRSP to get the full employer match
- Build an emergency fund (1–3 months of expenses to start)
- FHSA if you’re planning to buy a home
- TFSA for general savings and investing
- Additional RRSP contributions if your income warrants it
Lifestyle inflation
This is the section that matters most (I’m guilty of this too), and it’s the one most grads will ignore until it’s too late.
Your income is about to increase significantly. If you were earning $15,000–$20,000 as a student and you land a job at $55,000, your take-home pay roughly doubles. That feels like a lot of breathing room, and the temptation is to upgrade your life to match.
Bigger apartment. Solo lease instead of roommates. A car payment. Eating out because you “can afford it now.” New clothes for the office. A few subscriptions you didn’t have before. None of these feel like big decisions in isolation. Together, they eat the entire raise.
H&R Block Canada found that the average Canadian puts about 7% of their paycheque toward savings. 85% say living paycheque to paycheque feels like the new normal. That pattern doesn’t start in middle age. It starts in the first year of full-time work, when spending expands to fill the income and there’s nothing left to save.
The fix is boring and it works: pay yourself first. Set up an automatic transfer on payday that moves a fixed amount into your TFSA or savings account before you touch the rest. Even 10% is a strong start. George S. Clason wrote about this in The Richest Man in Babylon in 1926, and the advice hasn’t changed because the psychology hasn’t changed. If the money hits your chequing account first, you’ll spend it. If it leaves before you see it, you won’t miss it.
The other move: lock in your student cost of living for 6–12 months after you start working. Keep the roommates. Keep cooking at home. Keep the bus pass. The difference between your student expenses and your new income is the most savings leverage you’ll have in your life, because it exists before your brain adjusts to the new normal. Once you upgrade, hedonic adaptation kicks in and the new spending level feels like baseline. Going backward is much harder than staying put.
The first 90 days checklist
A shortlist of the things that matter most in your first three months of full-time work:
- Set up NSLSC and Alberta MyLoan. Verify balances, confirm repayment start dates, configure payment methods. Do this now, not in October.
- Enroll in employer benefits. Don’t miss the enrollment window. Review what’s automatic vs. what requires opt-in.
- Enroll in the Group RRSP. Contribute at least enough to get the full employer match.
- Open or fund your TFSA. Set up automatic contributions on payday. Our TFSA guide has the details.
- Build an emergency fund. Start with 1–3 months of expenses in a HISA. This is your buffer against car trouble, a medical bill, or a gap between jobs.
- Track your spending for 2–3 months. Understand your new cash flow before you make big commitments (new lease, car loan).
- Update your address with Alberta Student Aid and NSLSC if you’ve moved. If you move out of Alberta, update your bank and the CRA too. You pay provincial tax based on where you live on December 31, not where you earned the income.
Myth vs. Fact
”I’ll start saving once I’m settled in and earning more.”
The cost of waiting compounds fast. For illustration: a grad who invests $200/month starting at 22 and earns an average 7% annual return will have roughly $525,000 at age 62. A grad who waits two years and starts at 24 ends up with about $460,000, a gap of ~$65,000, despite only missing $4,800 in contributions. Returns are not guaranteed, but the principle holds: the first few years of compounding do the most heavy lifting because they have the longest to grow.
”My employer takes care of my retirement.”
Your employer provides tools (Group RRSP, pension plan, matching). They don’t provide a retirement. A typical employer match of 3–5% of salary is a strong start, but it won’t fund 30 years of post-work life on its own. The match is the floor, not the ceiling. Treat it as the minimum and build from there.
This Week’s Recommendations
Read: The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. Published in 1926, still relevant. The “pay yourself first” principle and the “seven cures for a lean purse” framework are a 30-minute read that will change how you think about your first real income. Short, story-driven, no jargon.
Listen: The Money Scope Podcast by Ben Felix, Mark McGrath, and Dan Bortolotti. Practical, evidence-based Canadian financial planning. Ben Felix is particularly good on the behavioral side of investing, which matters more than the technical side when you’re starting out.
That’s it for the Summer Setup Series. Four issues, from end-of-year checklists to your first real paycheque. We’ll be back with new topics in the fall. In the meantime, the learn section has deep dives on TFSAs, FHSAs, T2202s, credit building, and more. See you in September.
