If you are single or divorced

Your specific circumstances (resources, ambitions, visions, obligations, limits, etc.) may be different, but it may serve as a good start to consider the following, when thinking about your future:

Retirement planning is at least as important for you as it is for a married person. Learn about financial planning and investing in general. Take it into account that singles, typically, have somewhat different spending patterns (e.g., higher per capita housing or entertainment expenses), and usually somewhat more limited earning prospects than married people. It doesn’t have to be this way, since you have probably more opportunity (or at least time) to earn some extra if you want than a married person. However, statistically speaking, it’s still true that single people’s earnings growth flattens more and earlier than that of their married counterparts.

Should you start a family later, it might become even more challenging than usual to provide for the kids at a time when the urge to take care of your approaching retirement will become increasingly more felt. While some single people make the mistake of fearing too much the future alone and consequently limiting their lifestyle below what they could actually afford, there is an element of truth in their stance: singles should probably stockpile somewhat more reserves than married people (especially those married without dependents), and start saving for retirement even earlier than them.

If you are without kids, your interest in life insurance may be limited, or none, since you may not have the responsibilities someone with a spouse and/or children has. Still, you might find some of the arguments for having life insurance worthwhile to consider. True, life insurance is first and foremost for the protection of surviving dependents, but there are also additional functions and applications that might be of interest to you.

If you have kids, considering life insurance is probably even more important than for someone who raises those kids with a spouse. Also, ensuring that your children get good education can be an even more serious challenge than for someone with a spouse. You should definitely be aware of the features of RESPs, and possibly invest in them at least the amount that triggers the maximum available government grant.

Whether you have kids or not, protecting yourself from the consequences of injuries and illnesses is very important; you may have a great, supportive circle of family and friends, … but their support is probably not endless, and you may not even really want to rely on that. Anyhow, your fallback position is probably significantly weaker than of someone with a spouse. You should know about the wide availability of individually owned health, disability, critical illness, and long term care insurance, and the limitations of group policies from the workplace.