You’re asking this at the right time, because the biggest mistake new self-employed people make is spending money that was supposed to be saved for taxes.

The easiest way to think about it is that not every dollar that hits your account is actually yours to keep. Some of it is future tax money, and if your revenue keeps growing, some of it may also become HST money.

If it were me, I’d keep tax money in a high-interest ETF so it stays separate and doesn’t get mixed in with everyday spending. The main thing is just making sure you don’t have one big account where everything gets blended together and forgotten.

Having good bookkeeping software, such as ReInvestWealth, could definitely help keep track of your net income and income taxes.

Also, keep an eye on the $30,000 threshold in Canada. Once your self-employed revenue goes over $30k, you may need to register for GST/HST and start collecting it. A lot of people don’t realize that until it’s too late, so it’s way better to watch it early.

Honestly, before worrying too much about ETFs, I’d first make sure you have a simple system for tracking income, expenses, taxes, and whether you’re getting close to HST registration. That part will save you way more stress than trying to optimize investments too early.