Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials HomeWealthSmart MoneyNot their parents' financial plan: Gen Z Canadians skip saving for a down payment and splurge on travelWith homeownership seemingly out of reach, more young people have shifted their priorities away from traditional goalsLast updated Jan 06, 2026 You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.A traveller passes Air Canada planes at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. About 43 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 say they prioritize travel as a money milestone. Photo by TERESA SMITH/PostmediaWendy is a 25-year-old data analyst in Ottawa saving up for her first international trip to the United Kingdom next year. She is planning on travelling for about two weeks to visit a friend and sightsee, watch a West End show and enjoy a traditional English tea.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Accountor“It’s really important to experience these things when you’re young now,” said Wendy (whose surname has been omitted to protect her confidentiality due to her discussing her finances).Budgeting for a vacation also feels like a more realistic goal, compared with her and her partner saving for a down payment on a home, which ranks lowest among her financial priorities.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again“We’re currently renting in a neighbourhood that’s pretty nice, and we probably couldn’t afford a home in it,” she said. “Paying for a mortgage for 30-plus years doesn’t seem like something I want to put on my plate.”What was once the hazy dream of homeownership now feels like a massive financial burden for many younger Canadians. So, instead, they’re completely rewiring the spending priorities of older generations, such as buying a home and saving for retirement, and choosing to actively save for travel and experiences that fulfil them.About 43 per cent of younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 say they prioritize travel as a money milestone, topping the 38 per cent who want to buy and the 34 per cent saving for retirement, according to a recent survey by FP Canada.Paying for a mortgage for 30-plus years doesn't seem like something I want to put on my plate.Sam Maglio, a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto Scarborough and Rotman School of Management, said travel is a goal that can be achieved sooner in time and requires less money to fund.“(Younger Canadians) are recalibrating their priorities for something more (immediate),” Maglio said. “If the really big goal seems too distant, too big, too impossible to achieve, (they’re challenging themselves) to achieve a goal (they can) actually hit.”Steve Pomeroy, a housing policy research consultant and adjunct professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said that none of the students in his graduate class in 2023 thought they would ever be able to afford to a home, and a third said they didn’t want to.“They had basically given up on that,” he said. “They felt that the cost and the sacrifices associated with homeownership were too high relative to their other priorities, and they felt that renting for a long-term option was perfectly acceptable.”Home prices skyrocketed coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the non-seasonally adjusted national average peaking at $816,720 in February 2022, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Although this has since declined to $690,195 as of October 2025, the national average home price is still about 30 per cent higher than it was six years ago.Ryan Lee, a Vancouver-based certified financial planner and owner of Twain Financial Partners LLC, said many younger Canadians haven’t reached their peak earning years yet, making it significantly harder to afford larger purchases such as a home.Instead, he said they are prioritizing a healthy work-life balance and want to have some experiences to make sure they don’t burn out before reaching their next financial milestone.Generation Z may have also noticed their parents working hard and saving money, but not enjoying their lives as much, so they are reversing this dynamic by making the most out of what they have in the present, Lee said.This does not necessarily mean younger Canadians are settling for less or are making poor financial decisions, Maglio said.“They’re being pretty bold in saying the priorities that older generations had when they were their age don’t really work anymore,” he said.Thirty-four per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 said financial advice from older generations no longer felt relevant, with nearly half specifying that advice on home buying no longer applies to them, according to an October report from Simplii Financial.“The prominent sentiment with generation Z is that there are a lot of things that are beyond their control, and the kind of world they inherited is so different than the ones they were expected to be given by their parents and grandparents,” Jessica Moorhouse, a millennial money expert and a certified qualified associate financial planner, said.Younger Canadians are disillusioned with traditional money milestones and are seeking more realistic ways to build wealth while still feeling fulfilled through enjoying experiences and travel, she said.Pomeroy said there has also been a significant shift in perceptions of homeownership and what it can provide as an investment, rather than a financial necessity. He said the mobile nature of today’s labour landscape can require more frequent moves so renting provides greater freedom.“You’re not a failure if you rent,” he said.Pomeroy’s son, Spencer, a 35-year-old financial services professional based in Ottawa, rents and spends two weeks to four weeks travelling every year. He and his partner are currently saving for a month-long trip to South America that will cost about $10,000.As a young millennial further along in his career, he said he feels financially comfortable spending money on travel, and he typically allocates between 15 per cent to 20 per cent of his income to leisure and experiences. He said he could realistically purchase a home today, but he would need to make some major lifestyle sacrifices.“I’m currently saving up for a home, but … the timeline on that is ambiguous,” he said.Spencer said he is saving about 20 per cent of his income in a first home savings account (FHSA), a tax-free savings account (TFSA) and a registered retirement savings plan, but he is not in any rush to purchase a home until the timing, location and costs make sense for him and his partner.“I’d like to be in a place where I could (comfortably afford) my mortgage payment and make those unforeseen payments, but still be able to travel, go out for dinner here and there, and enjoy my leisure time,” he said.As a renter, Spencer said his total housing costs take up about 18 per cent of his gross income, providing him with more cash flow. As a homeowner, he estimates these costs could set him back at least 30 per cent.There can be financial benefits to renting, according to a September report from Toronto-based wealth management services company PWL Capital Inc.“Owners bear the costs of property taxes, maintenance and depreciation, and the opportunity cost of having capital invested in a single home rather than invested elsewhere,” PWL Capital chief investment officer Benjamin Felix and senior investment analyst Hamza Bin Arif said in the report. “Renting has the advantage of separating housing costs from investment, allowing for more liquid and diversified investments with higher expected returns.”The researchers analyzed 12 metro areas across Canada and determined that renting at least matched the wealth of owning in seven of those areas between 2005 to 2024, with renters surpassing the wealth of owners in places such as Ottawa and Montreal. This model assumes that the renter spent the difference between their housing costs and a homeowner’s costs into an investment portfolio, but “this is unlikely to reflect reality,” the authors said.For someone such as Wendy who is not planning on living in a specific home or area for a long time, renting poses much lower risk, offering her flexibility to move and live in a nice neighbourhood for a lower price tag, she said. It also takes the stress out of managing issues such as mould when she has a reliable landlord, she added.While Wendy isn’t focused on homeownership, and is saving for an upcoming trip, travel isn’t her top financial goal either. She wants to bulk up her TFSA in case of emergencies, given the uncertain economic conditions and a shaky job market. After experiencing a brief stint of unemployment following a contract job, she said she is prioritizing having at least a year’s worth of savings to give herself a safety net.Saving for retirement is on the back burner in terms of her current financial priorities, though she is still setting aside funds for it. She doesn’t foresee a full retirement in her future, given that she loves to work and wants to keep herself stimulated, and also because the future seems so uncertain.“I wouldn’t really be able to retire until 40 years from now and I’ve just seen in the last five years, (a big shift in the) job market and how people are recruiting nowadays, so I can’t really figure out if my future is going to be 100 per cent safe if I don’t work,” Wendy said.There was a fairly even split between younger Canadians saving for a full retirement (20 per cent) compared with a semi-retirement (21 per cent) in the FP Canada report. Altogether, only 34 per cent of younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 are actively saving for retirement (some respondents selected both responses), compared to half of respondents of all ages.More than a quarter of all respondents said they were saving for a retirement where they work less, compared with 35 per cent who said they are saving for a retirement where they don’t work at all.Spencer said he has done the math and is planning to retire between the ages of 60 and 65. He said he takes a long-term investing approach and mainly buys exchange-traded funds that provide steady passive income.He is not planning on a full retirement and is considering working part time in retirement so that he can continue to afford travel and leisure, he said.“I don’t think having a house is the best investment,” he said. “It’s a good investment, for sure, but it’s not the only way to finance retirement. Being able to do things now goes a long way.” Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.