When Do We Stop Investing? 😟

Happy Saturday! We don’t know about you, but this past month flew by for us - how is it November today?! 

The good news is that a new month means a new issue of Money Convos, and this month we have a little bit of everything. We have money tips, we have updates, and we have two forms for you to potentially fill out. So, let’s get into it! 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• When do you stop investing…? 🚨

• …and when should you be investing? 🤔

• Are you in a relationship? 👀

• It’s FLM time 🤓

• We were on a live show! 🎥

• It’s time for a budget revamp 👨🏿‍💻👩🏼‍💻

Money Convo Of The Month

When Do You Stop Investing?

When do you (or should you) stop investing your money? 

That’s a really interesting question that we’ve been thinking about a lot lately - when you’ve been prioritising investing as much as possible, as early as possible, when does spending money on some of your other life goals come into play? How do you balance those two things (investing as much as possible and spending when you’re ‘ready’ to)? 

There’s multiple ways to look at this question, but what we’re going to dive into today is: When do you stop investing so you can make a specific big purchase (we’re talking about buying a car, a house, pay for a wedding, pay for kids…)? 

All of those big purchases that typically align with a major life event are traditionally pretty expensive, and they require some financial planning and preparation in advance. A few issues of Money Convos back, we actually talked extensively about why we don’t own a car yet, and how we plan to navigate purchasing a car when the time comes… but, what we didn’t talk about is how that purchase ties back to our overall money goals. 

What we mean by that is the fact that right now, we invest a large percentage of our monthly income into the stock market, so where is the money to buy a car going to come from? In general, are we (or are you) supposed to sell our investments once we’re ready to buy a car, a house, have a wedding, have kids, etc.? 

Before we answer that, let’s back up for a second and remind ourselves why investing as much as possible, as early as possible, is important. It’s because the one thing you can’t get back - at all - is time. By investing as much as possible, as early as possible, you’re taking advantage of time being on your side - the longer your money is invested, the more it (historically speaking) will grow, and the better off future you will be. 

And this applies to anyone at any age - the earlier you start, the better off future you will be (and you’re currently the youngest you’ll ever be, no matter how old you are!). 

So, with that in mind, if you take money out of your investment accounts to pay for major life purchases (aka you sell some of your investments and withdraw the money to pay for a car, house, wedding, etc.) then that money will no longer be growing or benefiting future you as much as it could’ve. 

Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it, but it's important to really think through your plan, and make sure that it’s worth it to you and your long-term financial goals! Just because investing for retirement is important, it doesn’t mean that your shorter-term goals aren’t important, too. After all, that’s ultimately why we’re investing - for that money to eventually be spent! It’s about thinking through if this is the moment you want to spend that money, and how much you can afford to spend. 

FYI - if you do ever plan to pull money from your investments, please understand the rules for that specific investment account (ie. taxes, fees, etc). 

The other option is starting to save up separately for your shorter-term purchases, and leaving the money you already have invested to keep growing. For example, if your goal is to buy a car in a year, then you could start directing a portion of your monthly income towards your Car Savings Account, and invest the rest. 

The reality is that life comes in seasons, and there are seasons of life that are more expensive than others - but, here are some things to remember: 

• Investing as much as possible, as early as possible, can help guarantee your financial future (and the earlier you start, the less money you have to contribute yourself, thanks to compound interest!) 

• The largest wealth creator in North America has by far been the stock market (shout out to real estate for being a huge transfer of wealth across generations, too… but right now, the average house costs as much as 7x the average annual salary, so the barrier to entry is higher) 

TLDR - When do you (or should you) stop investing your money? Ideally never, but there are times where you might need to prioritize other financial goals. 

Personally, we plan to balance investing as much as we can with saving up for those shorter-term big purchases as they come up, but we’ll continue to base our decisions off of what we can actually afford at that point in time.

When Should You Invest? 📅

Should you invest your money monthly or weekly? 

ICYDK, we usually invest $2,000 per month on the first of the month. 

Why? Because we get paid on the first of the month, and we automatically transfer a set amount of money from that monthly paycheque to our investment accounts. 

Recently, we got a question from someone wondering why we invest the full $2,000 all at once, instead of splitting it up into weekly contributions of $500 throughout the month… and we actually had a very specific answer to that question. 

It’s because the majority of the time, it’s best to have your money in the stock market as soon as possible.

There’s research that shows that most of the time you’ll see a better return on your investments over the long-term (specifically 67% of the time according to the research we cited in this video) when you have your money invested for as long as possible, as opposed to trying to potentially get a lower purchase price by splitting up your investment buys into smaller, more frequent purchases. 

When you do that, you’re essentially trying to time the market (just in a less active way than truly having no set schedule at all). 

So, for us, whenever we have money to invest - like on pay day - we invest it all as soon as possible, in one lump sum. Technically, we’re dollar cost averaging by investing on a consistent schedule, but we’re also investing all of our money as soon as possible. 

If you want to hear more of our thoughts on this topic, you can check out this video.

Apply For Our New Podcast 🎙️✨

If you’re in a relationship, we have a few questions for you! 👀 

Do you and your partner have an interesting financial situation, or a specific money problem that you’d like to work through? Who’s the money person in the couple (aka who deals with the money and/or makes the money decisions)? 

Why do we ask? Because we’re working on a really exciting new project, and we’re looking for couples who want to be a part of it! 

We’re looking to spend ~1 hour talking to you (and your partner) about how money plays a role in your relationship, and make sure that you have a money system that works for both of you long-term, where you’re both on the same page so you can hit your financial goals. 

If you and your partner are interested in participating - and are comfortable having an on camera conversation with us - then please fill out the application form linked below. 

We can’t wait to talk to you! 

➡️ Click to fill out the Money People Application Form

Happy Financial Literacy Month 💰

It’s November 1st, which means that it’s officially Financial Literacy Month! 

Financial Literacy Month is basically just about making money simple for people (and making financial education more accessible!), which is exactly what we’re all about. 

There’s always more to learn when it comes to money, so we came up with a list of specific topics for you to dive deeper into this month. Pick the topic(s) that you’re most interested in, and spend a few minutes becoming even more financially literate. 

• Is your bank charging you high fees? If they are, learn How To Switch Banks here 

• Are you planning on buying a car soon? If you are, learn How Much Car You Can Actually Afford here and/or if you should Buy, Lease or Finance A Car here 

• Have you switched jobs recently, and are looking to transfer your pension? If you are, then learn How To Transfer Your Corporate Pension Plan here 

• Do you have a diversified investment portfolio? If you don’t (or you aren’t sure), learn about Why We Invest In Global ETFs here 

• Do you know the difference between risk capacity vs risk tolerance? If you don’t, learn What Your Investing Risk Level Should Be here

Check out our YouTube channel for more educational videos like these throughout Financial Literacy Month!

We Were Guests On A Live Show (Again!) 👀

We were invited back on TD Direct Investing’s live show called Inside Investing last month! 

We went in studio to record the live episode, and we specifically focused on:

• How you don't need a lot of money to start investing

• Why investing as soon as possible - even with small, but consistent, amounts of money - can lead to a lot of growth over time (thanks to compound interest!)

• Our simple investing approach, and how investing doesn’t need to be complicated

• And a Q&A session with the live audience!

We love talking about money, and of course making money simple, so we had a great time. 

If you missed it, you can listen to the full episode here.

Budget Template Update Requests ✍🏿✍🏻

We know that many of you have been using our Budget Template throughout 2025, and we hope that you found it helpful as you made, saved, invested and of course spent money throughout this year! 

Now, we want your feedback - we plan on making a few tweaks to our template before the new year hits, so that it’s even better for you all when you start fresh in 2026 (we know it sounds too soon, but it’s going to come up quickly!). 

Please fill out the anonymous form linked below - we promise that it should only take you a few minutes! 

➡️ Click to fill out the Budget Template Feedback Form 

We’ll share a link to the updated budget template before the new year. 

Thanks in advance, and don’t forget to finish off your 2025 budget strong!