Tag Archives: finances

Canada, data, debt, economy

Canadian personal finances bleak.

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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.

advice, Budget, Canada, data, debt, economy, opinion, prices

Are the miserable more likely to rent or own?

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There’s an article over in the Globe and Mail titled “The Rise of the Miserable Canadian Homeowner”

They talk about some of the complaints people have over the cost of ownership and the recent inability for the Canadian consumer to live within their means.

But if homeowners are dissatisfied about how they’re managing their finances, we must also consider their single largest expense on month-by-month basis. That would be the mortgage payments they’re making on their homes.

The problem with housing is that it’s expensive compared to our incomes. I will document this further in an upcoming column, but for now let’s just say that mortgages plus other basic costs of day-to-day living, such as cars and daycare, may leave us with little money left over. And so we borrow more through credit lines and credit cards. That’s our unofficial second income.

The Manulife survey shows homeowners are not happy about how things are working out, which is noteworthy. We’ve been borrowing madly as a nation for the better part of five years now, and the story has so far been cast as one of imprudent behaviour. Here, we get a sense that there’s a cost in stress and angst.

Read the full article for a run down on the numbers of people happy vs unhappy with their household finances. Basically one in three homeowners are very unhappy with how they are managing their money.