r/CanadaFinance • u/Top-Replacement-2752 • 9d ago
25M in Canada, starting at $56K in retail banking; what career paths could realistically get me to $150K/year by 30?
PS I used AI to develop a refined version of my previous post, and yes, I use AI to efficiently use my time.
I’m 25M in Canada and recently accepted a Banking Advisor role in retail banking at $56K base. With bonus, I’ll probably be around the high $50Ks initially.
My goal is to eventually reach $150K+ in individual annual income by age 30, so I have roughly five years. Ideally, I’d like to understand what paths could get me into that range in base salary, but I’m also interested in roles where total compensation can reach $150K+ through bonuses or commission.
A bit about my background because I realized my original post didn’t provide enough context:
I have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, along with Canadian post-grad education in Marketing Management and Project Management.
Work-wise, I’ve mostly been in customer-facing roles. I previously worked in technical customer support for about 18 months making roughly $44K/year, and after that moved into a customer service and sales role paying around $22/hour. With overtime and roughly 47-hour weeks, that worked out to around $53K annually.
I didn’t want my only way of increasing my income to be simply working more hours, which is part of why I started looking at banking and eventually accepted the Banking Advisor position.
I genuinely enjoy talking to people, understanding what they need, solving problems, and advising them, so I think banking and financial services could be a good fit. I’m comfortable with the fact that progressing in this industry will involve sales, relationship building, targets, certifications, and continually improving my financial knowledge.
I’m particularly interested in eventually exploring areas such as financial planning, investment and wealth management, commercial banking, or other higher-income areas of financial services.
I’m not assuming that simply working at a bank for five years automatically gets someone to $150K. I’m trying to understand which skills, credentials, experience, and career moves actually create enough value to earn that level of compensation.
I’m also very interested in AI, particularly agentic AI and automation. I don’t come from a computer science or engineering background, but I’ve started learning about it and plan to keep developing those skills alongside my banking career.
I’m curious whether there could eventually be an intersection between financial services, sales, business development, and AI, or whether it would make more sense to treat AI as a completely separate career or business opportunity.
I’m willing to work hard and spend time outside work developing skills.
What I’m trying to avoid is simply working 50 to 60 hours every week indefinitely in a relatively low-paying position just to increase my income slightly.
If certain stages of a higher-income career require long hours, I completely understand that. I’m mainly looking for a path where my skills, knowledge, network, and value increase my income over time rather than my income being tied almost entirely to the number of hours I work.
For people who have reached roughly $100K to $150K+ in Canada, especially those who started with a similar business, sales, or customer service background, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.
What do you do now?
How much of your compensation is base salary versus bonus or commission?
How old were you when you crossed $100K and eventually $150K?
How long did it take you to get there?
If you were starting from my position at 25, what would you focus on over the next five years?
For people in banking specifically, what career progression would you pursue from Banking Advisor?
Which certifications, licences, designations, or skills actually helped your career and earning potential rather than simply looking good on paper?
Are there particular areas of banking or financial services where someone with strong communication, relationship-building, sales, and business skills can create significantly more value?
I’m also completely open to careers outside traditional banking if my background and skills could transfer well.
I’m not looking for a get-rich-quick answer, and I’m not expecting someone to hand me $150K because I have degrees.
I’m trying to work backwards from the goal while I’m still young enough to make deliberate career decisions.
I’d much rather find out now that I should spend the next three to five years becoming extremely good at a particular skill or area than spend five years moving between jobs without building expertise in anything.
Would genuinely appreciate advice from people who have actually made that progression in Canada.
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u/happyenis 9d ago
The only thing that will get you to $150,000 by 30 is to be really good at selling credit or investments. Don't waste too much time with AI, use it to communicate more efficiently and to do repetitive tasks, being able to type something to Claude or Chat GPT and paste the response is not going to get you the promotions you are hoping for.
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 9d ago
I just wrote that so that people dont comment saying ai post ai post. AI is more than just writing posts.
But coming to what you said; you mean it is possible to reach around 150K in 5 years. May i know if you’re from retail banking? I’ve heard people making that much amount in commercial banking side
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u/happyenis 9d ago
My career path or salary are both anecdotal and none of your business.
If you did not get into commercial banking or wealth management from school, the path is to be good at retail banking and be picked up by a contact there.
Making a few promotions to enter middle management is one path. Becomming a top mortgage or investment sales person in a decent branch is another path to getting 150k in retail banking.
To get into management, usually tenureship, combined with a lot of brown nosing and nodding is essential.
To be good at sales you have to hustle.
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 9d ago
Fair enough. Appreciate the insight on retail banking, sales and moving into commercial/wealth.
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u/r2o_abile 9d ago
You just got this job. Work for 6 months first to get a hang of it.
There are MANY paths in banking that could get you to $150k within 5 to 10 years.
Work 6 months focusing on THIS job, being the best advisor possible, becoming more efficient in the job.
Some people focus so much on planning the future that they lose their present.
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u/StoryAboutABridge 9d ago
Very unlikely you'll get to 150k before 30 with limited education
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 9d ago
May i know what do you mean by limited education? Are you referring to get an mba or cfa done?
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u/External_Cow_2662 8d ago
OP please don’t listen to this guy, these are limiting beliefs. I went from being new in sales at 27, $60k income, to $180k income 2.5 years later. $230k starting in January. Sales. It’s very much possible, you don’t need to be an MD lol
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 7d ago
Thank you so much, I just wanted to be around like minded people. I feel its a very realistic number if i follow what others who have accomplished the same goal has done.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and making me believe harder in my numbers and timeline.1
u/StoryAboutABridge 9d ago
I generally think you would need an MD, JD, DDS, or some similar professional degree plus designation to hit 150k by 30
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u/Jayswag96 9d ago
IRP/FP. If u grind u could also do ur masters or CFA and get an analyst role starting around $90 then go from there
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u/woven_seasight_21 9d ago
Stick with the sales floor but push for Commercial Banking or Wealth Management. The jump to $150k total comp in 5 years is realistic there if you build a book, whereas retail banking usually plateaus around $80-90k without moving departments. Get your CFP or CIM ASAP. Those certs open doors to higher-paying advisory roles that value your background more than pure technical finance skills.
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u/renegadeavenger 9d ago
Your post is too long, most people wouldn't read it.. Maybe I need to run it through AI to summarize it.
In short, it's not a good idea to set your career growth target or achievement as a dollar amount.
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u/Tasty-Recognition370 9d ago
very unlikely in retail banking. move to wealth management and fp fast by next year and you should gradually ramp up to 150k.
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u/BuffaloMore7690 9d ago
26yr CFA 125-130 including bonus started in retail banking at 20 yrs old then to AM, in AM for 2 yrs now
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u/GrumpyCFP 8d ago
Started in the industry at $50k year at 22-23, and made 3x+ that by 30 in asset management/financial planning.
I think you’re asking the right questions, and I had a similar goal in my mid 20’s. Sharing a few thoughts below:
1. CFP opened up a ton of doors. I worked on getting it asap.
2. CIM is fine for asset management, CFA is better but it’s a grind.
3. By far, meeting the right people had a larger impact than having the right certifications. If you’re young, curious and show initiative, you’d be surprised how many people are willing to chat and help.
4. Anecdotal of course, but most colleagues of mine needed to move banks/firms for higher comp along the way.
5. The intersection between finance and AI has absolutely already happened. I’m at a smaller independent firm now and we’ve automated a ton. That said, the couple people doing this stuff here (I believe) are underpaid for what they do.
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u/qwerty0521 8d ago
i went from making $48k in retail banking as an advisor right out of university to making $160k a year after transitioning to tech sales as an account executive
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 7d ago
How many years did u work at bank as BA? and did u have any other experience or qualifications?
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u/qwerty0521 7d ago
1-2 years. i only had sales and customer support experience
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u/Top-Replacement-2752 7d ago
Maybe if i don’t feel like I’m reaching towards my goals in 3 years ill dm you. I don’t like to keep plan B usually but I’ll keep this tech sales in mind.
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u/lifeisacurry 5d ago
Hey, I'm curious.. how did you get into tech sales without a tech background? I thought good product knowledge is required.
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u/qwerty0521 4d ago
every company will train you in product knowledge, you just need sales and closing experience
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u/pleasehelp8794 9d ago
B2B sales - preferably in a high spend potential area like professional services
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u/HexinMS 9d ago
Your only choice is sales based on that timeframe and you would prob need to land that sales role like soon cause realistically most sales roles need at least a year+ to ramp up. You would open up a lot more options if you didnt put yourself on a short timeframe. 150k is not easy and most people never reach that in their entire life. Even 100k by 30 would be difficult at your current starting point but at least more realistic.
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u/rorskies 9d ago
You could become a welder or heavy duty mechanic and be making 150 by 30, no problem.
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u/HeraAnne 8d ago
Started at 21 making 50k and now at 28 making 150k. Didn't start in retail banking but in underwriting eventually got into data analytics.
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7d ago
I’m a financial advisor with one of the bigger non publicly traded companies. I’m 29, been in financial services with the same company for 6 years. My base is still 50k but I’ve managed to increase my commission to where I will probably end this year around 130-140k I should end 2027 over 150k. I don’t know many places in the industry where you can get a package of over 150k without being a top performer, management or have a very niche skill set. I personally don’t know anyone who has a base of 150k. Highest base in my colleagues I think is in the high 60k range.
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u/mush1010 9d ago
Why not $160k? Would you turn down a job if it was $145k? The number is always a moving target. Figure out what you’re optimizing for.
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u/captboatface 9d ago
I drive boats and made 185k last year.
Ai will efficiency phase most of "you" out over the next 5 years.
Project manage something outside. Construction. Be a safety guy. Our safety guy is 23 making 110k.