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dianne maley From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published Friday, Mar. 02, 2012 5:30PM EST Last updated Friday, Mar. 02, 2012 8:42PM EST

George has the lofty goals and dreams befitting a budding entrepreneur: He wants a business of his own, easy money, and the freedom wealth brings to put up his feet and retire by the time he is 55 with an income of $150,000 a year after tax.

Back down on earth, George is 23, recently graduated from university and has just landed his first real job earning $35,000 a year plus bonus and other benefits. He lives with his mother in a townhouse in the Guelph area that they plan to flip for a $60,000 profit. He wonders how best to use his share of the anticipated gain.

Georges big dream is to open his own wine bar. He aims to save $70,000 over the next 10 years as a down payment and wonders whether that will be enough to enable him to get the financing he will need. To get a leg up given his modest income, he is looking to speculate in real estate.

Since I want to open a wine bar one day, I figured house-flipping was one way to jump-start a savings plan at the beginning of my career, when the money is still tight, he writes in an e-mail. Mind you, that $60,000 profit he and his mother expect has yet to be realized, and theyd need at least half of it as a down payment to buy a bigger, better home.

George also wonders how best to save for retirement a concern that seems premature given the number of events that could come along and turn his plans upside down, marriage being just one. In a few years, when his income is higher, he hopes to buy a house of his own, which will increase his expenses dramatically.

We asked Kurt Rosentreter, a senior financial adviser at Manulife Securities Inc. in Toronto and author of Wealthbuilding, to look at Georges situation.

What the expert says

First, the house. Dont sell it, Mr. Rosentreter says. The land-transfer tax and legal fees erode value. Stay and renovate. As for house-flipping as a way of making money, Be careful. A real estate correction in the future could leave this ending badly for a young guy with not a lot of wiggle room.

George is carrying a credit card balance, a student loan and a car loan. He should make paying these debts off a priority, the planner says.

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