Where to start investing money for my 17 year old ??

[super807]

If I've got it right, her TFSA room builds up regardless of her usage. $36500 as of now is available for anyone to deposit, but I've been told I can't put anything in her name until she is 18.

The current TFSA room for people who have not yet contributed is 31K, not 36.5K. However, your daughter won't start to accumulate room until she turns 18, so when she does, she will have 5.5K room.

As others have said, RRSP not a good choice for her right now as she will see no tax benefit from it as she has no tax to defer. The only exception to this would be if she defers claiming the RRSP contribution until much further down the road when she has a higher income. But probably best to let her RRSP room grow so that she can use the tax break when she needs it.

The first question that I would ask in your situation (or any situation when someone is looking to invest) is "What is your goal?" Is your goal short to medium term savings? Saving for post-secondary education? Learning about investing? Retirement savings? Savings towards eventually buying a house? etc. That will drive what you do with this.

[FLA]

Probably just save the money in a GIC account and wait for next year's TFSA.