My Story
I arrived in Canada with an engineering degree, a tech career — and zero idea how Canadian money worked.
My name is Raunaq Singh. I've spent my career in IT, working as a Solutions Architect — building systems, solving complex problems, and helping organizations navigate technical challenges. But when I landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia as a newcomer to Canada, even the basics of the financial system felt like starting from zero.
I knew how to architect technology solutions. What I didn't know was what a TFSA was, how the mortgage stress test worked, why my CMHC premium existed, or what the Home Buyers' Plan could do for me. I learned all of it the hard way — evenings after work, reading government PDFs, making costly mistakes along the way.
I discovered the FHSA two years after it launched. I opened my TFSA late. I overpaid on CMHC insurance because I hadn't understood down payment thresholds. Each of these was a completely fixable mistake — but only if you knew about them in advance. The information existed. It just wasn't written for people like me.
The frustrating part? None of this is rocket science. It's just not written for newcomers — busy professionals and families building a life from scratch in a new country, without the context of growing up inside this system.
So I built Maple Syrup Money. Not as a financial advisor, but as a fellow newcomer who figured it out and wrote it all down. Our ebook, Maple Syrup Money, is the guide I wish had existed on my first day in Canada. All 13 chapters, completely free — because the financial knowledge gap shouldn't cost you money to close.
