The 5 millionaire habits that make early retirement possible — and how you can use them to reach financial freedom

Many Canadian workers aspire to retire as millionaires. A 2025 poll by the Bank of Montreal shows that Canadians believe they need, on average, $1.54 million in savings to comfortably retire (1).

However, you may need to save much more than that if you want to retire before 60. While it’s one thing to have a nest egg that lasts 20 to 30 years, stretching your retirement savings out over 40 or 50 years is a very different story.

If your goal is to reach your golden years sooner, saving and investing from a young age is key, and the right financial habits can make stowing away a comfortable nest egg a lot easier — but it's going to involve some discipline and sacrifices.

Here are five financial habits that will help you retire early.

1. Keep your housing expenses low

In July, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) revealed the average monthly mortgage payment for Canadians was $2,099 for new mortgage loans (2). Meanwhile, the average five‑year fixed mortgage rate in Canada was 5.07%, up slightly from 5.05% in June, according to YCharts (3).

These stats mean there’s a decent chance that housing will end up being your largest monthly expense — and the less you spend on it, the more you have to save and invest.

If you’re looking to buy a home, aim for one that’s less expensive than the maximum that you can afford. Or, buy your dream home, but rent out a spare bedroom so your tenants can help pay off your mortgage.

Anything you can do to keep housing costs down will go a long way in your effort to invest and retire early.

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2. Drive a low-cost car

Homes have a tendency to appreciate in value, so you could potentially make the argument for buying one that’s a bit more expensive since you may be able to sell it at a profit.

Cars, on the other hand, mostly depreciate in value. And if you’re able to keep your vehicle costs low, you’ll have that much more to invest for retirement. Nationwide, the average price for a new car was $64,445 as of Q2 2025 (4). Meanwhile, the average price for a used car was $37,664. However, it's important to note that used automobile prices have risen nearly 3.5% year over year as of June 2025, while brand new models have seen a decrease of 3.5% over the same period.

If you’re willing to drive a used car with fewer frills, you could end up saving a bundle over time.

3. Cook most of your meals at home

The average restaurant typically applies a markup on menu items between 200% to 300% of the total food costs, meaning the cost is two to three times the cost of the ingredients if you were to try and make the dish at home (5). And high-margin items such as specialty coffees, desserts and pizzas can have profit margins between 50% to 80%.

That makes sense, since restaurants have other overhead costs to cover. But if you’re willing to cook most of your meals at home, you could save a lot of money compared to the cost of dining out or ordering in. And that’s money you can put into an investment portfolio for your retirement.

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4. Delay having children

A 2025 survey conducted by BMO Financial Group found that 69% of millennials and 70% of Gen Zers have delayed plans to have children in favour of establishing their finances (6).

If you hold off on having kids, you can secure yourself financially and build savings for the future at a younger age, which could be your ticket to an early retirement. Of course, the flipside to holding off on having kids is bearing the cost of raising them later in life.

That said, you’ll need to carefully weigh the pros of having kids sooner rather than later to see if delaying makes sense for you. But at the very least, it could pay to wait until you’re financially stable — meaning, you have a solid emergency fund, you’ve established decent retirement savings and you have a steady, well-paying job.

5. Limit your student debt

Student loan debt remains a heavy financial burden for many Canadian graduates. The Government of Canada reported for the 2023-2024 school year, the average Canada Student Loan (CSL) balance for graduates was over $14,000 (7). Additionally, approximately 625,000 students receive a CSL every year, bringing the total amount of student loan debt to over $23.5B, underscoring the long-term impact student debt has on financial wellness (8).

The less money you spend repaying a student loan — as well as the interest that comes with it — the more money you should have to save and invest for retirement. With this in mind, you may want to research schools with lower price tags.

Other ways to save on an education include living at home and commuting to classes rather than staying in residence, pursuing work-study opportunities through your university and taking on extra credits to fast-track your way to graduation.

Other pitfalls to avoid

A big part of pulling off an early retirement is making the right decisions.

For example, trusting the wrong people with investment decisions can be a mistake many people make.

One common pitfall is choosing a financial advisor who works on a commission-based model, meaning they could sell you a product with high management fees that will eat away at your savings, rather than recommending something that’s more aligned with your investment and savings goals.

A better bet is to choose a financial advisor who charges flat fees or hourly rates to ensure you get unbiased advice that’s in your best interests.

If you're going to manage your portfolio on your own, however, it pays to simplify your investments. Rather than paying expensive mutual fund fees, consider a low-cost Canadian index fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks broad-market indices like the S&P/TSX Composite Index, giving you exposure to a broader segment of the stock market.

Finally, only put a portion of your long-term savings into tax-advantaged retirement plans like RRSPs or locked-in pension plans. While it’s nice to get a tax break on your money, these accounts can be overly restrictive, especially if you want early access to your money. RRSP withdrawals before retirement mean you’ll be charged a withholding tax of up to 30%, with the additional funds you withdraw tacked on to your taxable income for the year.

Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

BMO (1); CMHC (2); YCharts (3); AutoTrader.ca (4); TFI (5); BMO (6); Government of Canada (7); Robertson College (8)