Originally posted by Jemmy
I don't know whether this applies to you but I'd would open a TFSA and make some investments. The types of investments I would make depend on how much I'm willing to wait and how much money I need. I would make an aggressive stocks and some bonds and GICs if I wanted to take the risk and see fast growth. I would make a more stable portfolio with more bonds and GICs and fewer stocks. In your case you should probably get a more aggressive portfolio since you want the capital to start up a business. With that being said, you should probably take a small percentage of your portfolio's growth and put it in a long term, high interest investment; the long term shouldn't be an issue since you want to save money for retirement. Make sure this retirement investment is a stable one, so you don't get screwed over. Finally once you get enough to start your business, you can take a larger percent from your portfolio to put into your retirement fund. Anyways, this is just me; if the investments idea seems interesting or viable to you, talk your banking institution. They'll set you up with someone who can give you hard numbers as opposed to my qualitative statements.
Disclaimer: I'm just a little intern in an investment firm. Going to qualify a bit on what this guy said though.
What I've heard around the company is that generally, if you have a stable income, you can (and some say should) opt for riskier, high reward investments (stocks) and as you get older and more money goes into your retirement portfolio, you gradually decrease risk, and opt for something more stable at the trade off of decreased reward (bonds).