Canadian personal finances bleak.

According to a recent poll by the Canadian Payroll Association, nearly half of the workers in Canada are struggling month to month to cover their living expenses.

Nearly a quarter say they probably couldn’t come up with an extra $2k if they needed it for an emergency in the next month.

More than one-third of respondents – 36 per cent – said they feel overwhelmed by their level of debt and 12 per cent indicated they doubt they will ever be completely free of debt.

Forty-eight per cent of those surveyed said it would be difficult to meet their financial obligations if their paycheque were delayed just one week, up slightly from the annual poll’s average of 47 per cent over the past three years.

The report, released Wednesday, comes in the wake of economic data indicating Canada experienced two consecutive quarters of contraction – technically speaking, a recession – although home sales in August (except in Alberta) were strong and a report last week showed 12,000 net jobs were created last month.

Clearly the answer to the debt problem is more debt in the form of a home equity loan! Read the full article here.

83 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
patriotz

How to Cheat on Taxes in China

If everybody does something – particularly in a dictatorship – it isn’t really illegal. The Chinese government doesn’t obey its own laws either. So I don’t see why Canadians banks should pay any attention to Chinese “laws” that don’t mean anything in the first place. We have our own laws, let’s focus on enforcing them. Like asset-based income assessment.

Polozi Scheme

Things are bleak that’s for sure. Let’s do something about it. Krusty is 2 more years. Let’s act now and NOT split the vote – Jokermanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XSvsFgvWr0#t=46

southseacompany

“The Federal Reserve: More red lights than green”, The Economist magazine http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21664153-case-raising-interest-rates-worryingly-hazy-more-red-lights-green?fsrc=rss “The case for raising interest rates is worryingly hazy” “…In the six years since America’s economy hit rock-bottom, it has defied this textbook model. In late 2009 unemployment reached a high of 10%. Such abundant slack should have caused inflation to disappear, but prices rose stubbornly. Today the opposite is true. The latest jobs figures, released on September 4th, showed unemployment falling to 5.1%—right in the middle of the Fed’s estimate of the labour market’s sweet spot. Yet inflation has vanished: the Fed’s preferred measure stands at just 0.3%, well below its 2% target.” “The Fed reckons it takes 18 months for changes in rates to have their full impact. As a result Janet Yellen, the Fed’s chairman, has long emphasised that rates may rise before inflation is… Read more »

Oracle

and mortgageslave:

rate rises will do nothing to detached homes in Metro Vancouver. dream on.

ALL POLITICAL PARTIES ARE GOING TO KEEP THE IMMIGRATION FLOODGATES OPEN! Hear that?

Finite detached properties and increasing population.

You are destined to be the poor of the future. Your kids will want a good story in 15 years.

Oracle

Mortgage slave:

Want to compare portfolios? and Ill be living in my own home come this time next year…Hey, maybe even your kids will rent a basement suite from my kids one day, Pretty good for a moron, no?

Oracle

garth-the-goat:

Don’t let the readers know who the greatest fools are….more competition for the rest of the people if they know the truth.

Welfare exists to keep certain proportion of the population in check b y making them lazy, etc. They still consume but no desire to compete hence better for the competitors..THINK.

Oracle

renters rule:

Realtors love Garth! He owns several properties BUT his investment company owns MANY, MANY more. He rents his primary residence. He has always maintained that any portfolio should have RE. Thats why his company owns many revenue generating properties. Oh, and you pay the rent.. hehe

Sites such as his keep morons like you in check. Oh!, go hug a tree and feel worthwhile.

Oracle

The Refugee response is sickening.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT DONT HAVE THE MEANS TO FLEE?? Like single women, elderly, poor. WHO IS HELPING THEM??

Egg Hunt

#55 criky

Cooper family and KPMG, if this happens in U.S.A., they have no way out.

I know one of the well-known tax lawyer in Vancouver, he has very successful rates fighting with CRA for wealthy Canadians for decades, but he admit he and his team are extremely cautious, many time they don’t take the case, if his clients have any exposure to U.S.

“Structure” for wealthy for tax purpose is considered one form of crime in U.S., not in Canada.

Just like Canadian banks knowingly help wire remittance from China exceeding $50,000 (illegal in China), “structuring” recipients here in Canada and help buying millions of dollars of real estate, is not crime.
(B.C. court was confused by labour dispute claim, “banks are compliant for Canadian law”. It will never ever happen in U.S. Court)

Best place on meth

@spaceturd

“And yet you refuse to learn Mandarin even in the face of this overwhelming evidence??”

Actually, I’ve decided that it would be worthwhile to learn some mandarin.

Can you tell me how to say “Go back to China” in your language?

Phonetically, please.

renters rule

you Garth haters need to get a frickin life. I know why the realtors hate him, but the rest of you — Garth is not your mommy!! If you wanted to buy before or want to now buy — THEN FRICKIN BUY. Don’t read his blog if it upsets you so much.

But for the love of gawd, STFU about it already!!!

jaysuz

Shut It Down Already

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2008/11/13/squirrel-2/

Get a grip, guys. He’s pretty clear in saying that he was not predicting a depression. And that you should diversify (which isn’t obvious to the average citizen, otherwise they’d be doing it already).

garth-the-goat

@ BPOM

Holy shit Batman – just read that Garth Turner post

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2008/11/09/squirrel-alert/

It blows your mind what he was saying. get out of town, buy a generator, get a big dog, learn to hunt, buy gold coins get ready for armageddon.

And this dichwad has been lambasting the tin can and gold crowd when he was the biggest can-hoarder of them all!

READ IT GUYS AND YOU WILL KNOW WHO THE GREATER FOOL IS- his readers!!

GreenSalad

@ Best place on meth

His advice about getting a dog is good though…..

paulb

New Listings 282
Price Changes 67
Sold Listings 199
TI:11914

http://www.paulboenisch.com

crikey

#65 said, “how many rich and powerful people are there that are actually good from their heart and work in the best interest of society and helping the poor, instead of just giving lip service and token $$ just to keep the unwashed masses at bay,” What’s the point of your comment? Is it just venting your frustration? Or, are you implying that we shouldn’t bother to do anything about it? Anyways, thankfully there are some good wealthy people. People we all know, like Bill Gates (Bill Gates Foundation), Warren Buffet, Bill Clinton (The Clinton Foundation), etc, etc, etc. And those are just a few of many. Also, the vast majority of people here don’t care if people doing this tax evasion come from South Africa, South America, or the south of China. People doing this need to be called… Read more »

emmi

westside @ 16

That’s definitely the number to watch. Inventory is the bellwether.

space889

Seriously, when has there been a time when a significant portion of the rich and wealthy play fair by the rules, instead of using their wealth or power to subvert and bribe their way to even more wealth and power.

Frankly, how many rich and powerful people are there that are actually good from their heart and work in the best interest of society and helping the poor, instead of just giving lip service and token $$ just to keep the unwashed masses at bay, while at the same time able to boost about what a great saint s/he is?

space889

@BPOM – Hmm….I didn’t know Cooper is a Chinese last name, nor that KPMG is a Chinese company. Or Chinese even has influence on what tax loopholes get written into the tax code. Wow, the power of the Chinese is just astouding!!!

And yet you refuse to learn Mandarin even in the face of this overwhelming evidence??

Mortgageslave

Tell it to Oracle, apparently he lives and dies by every blog post.

Speaking of definition of a moron…

Best place on meth

@59

“Do I need to become a criminal? If so, where can I find a course that will teach me how to be a criminal and/or how to doff my sense of ethics, or any course that will teach me how to not pay taxes and still benefit from the system?”

There are plenty of these courses available, but only if you speak mandarin.

Best place on meth

Turncoat Turner is a worthless flip-flopper and HAM denier.

This is the same idiot who in 2008 was preaching a coming depression, real estate values falling by 50-75%, selling your house (near the bottom as it turned out), getting out of the city, growing your own food, buying gold/guns/bicycles/guard dogs/generators, and brushing up on your knowledge of squirrel recipes.

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2008/11/09/squirrel-alert/

Oh, but he preaches diversification so he must be a genius even though any sensible investor would consider that a no-brainer.

Anyone who still believes anything that snake-oil salesman has to say is the classic definition of a moron.

Mortgageslave

Re: GARTH.

So he doesn’t see a crash. He sees real Estate going down slowly for many years. So buying now at an inflated price would lock you in to being a “mortgageslave” for years to come. and paying more everytime you renew.
Rates will rise, it’s not healthy for economies to run at such low rates. Also….

Business are ALL cutting back.
Wages are flat
Cost of Everything is going up
Global warming us costing $$ to fight fires, oceans are dying, Crops are being destroyed, costs will/are going through the roof.
Taxes will be raised
China growth is slowing down considerably.

But these all spell good for real estate according to our resident real estate experts.
The writing is on the wall. The world has bigger things to worry about. The Ponzi scheme will be ending soon..

squeak

#55: “And KPMG must be severely punished for in fact counseling this financial rape of low and middle income Canadians. It may be unlikely, but I hope the company is fined and penalized into bankruptcy. Canada must have zero tolerance for this.” Nice…. but I bet the owners of this company have already moved/hidden their money offshore somewhere over the rainbow .. As I belong in the saver group, not irresponsible buying with money I don’t have, tell me, how are savers going to protect themselves from this mess? Do I need to become a criminal? If so, where can I find a course that will teach me how to be a criminal and/or how to doff my sense of ethics, or any course that will teach me how to not pay taxes and still benefit from the system? (If… Read more »