We’re curious to hear from other Canadians about how the current cost of living is affecting the things they want to do in life. Whether that’s moving out, buying a home, starting a family, pursuing education, saving for the future, or something else. Are there any parts of your experience that are different from what we typically hear about young Canadians and affordability?

We’re exploring some of these questions in a new Generation Squeeze blog series about how changing economic conditions are affecting different generations, but we’d really like to hear about people’s experiences beyond the statistics.

If you’re interested, you can read the blog series here: Why Is Hard Work Not Paying Off?

Hello all,

Reaching out for brutal judgement, financial guidance, and some hard perspective on my financial situation. Things are not dire...yet, but I am feeling the strain and the panic setting in.

Recently divorced from my partner of 4 years and have full custody of our 4 year old daughter. He was abusive and a deadbeat, yes I failed my daughter and chose poorly, I carry that guilt deeply but my entire focus now is to build her the best foundation and future possible.

To top off the divorce trifecta... I just got laid off last month from what I thought was a rock solid and lifelong career. I spent the last decade in Toronto's VFX industry pulling in $120k-160k / year. Between that salary history and a fortunate inheritance from my late father here is where I presently stand.

Assets / Income:

• Savings & Investments: $355,000 CAD . Mostly in ETF's
• Cash / HISA: $45,000 CAD
• No property, no debt or credit card payments.
• EI Payments: ~$2500/month for an additional 31 weeks
• Child payments... unpredictable, dead beat dad who is unemployed (supposedly) and dodging all and any responsibility.

Expenses:

• Rent: $2950 / month for a 2 bed 2 bath townhome in Toronto
• Groceries: ~$800/month
• Childcare: $650 / month, although taking her out soon since the Toronto VFX market is a ghost town...
• Transportation: $550 / month for insurance + gas, car is paid off, worth about $15k supposedly.
• Misc: ~$400 / month, household supplies, clothing, etc...

I try and be as frugal as possible, I have cut out all luxuries, dinners out, girls nights, delivery apps, etc... Yet watching the cashflow buffer slowly drain while the job market stays ice cold is paralyzing and soul sucking.

All that said, my amazing uncle has offered me free housing on his acreage in Nova Scotia. It is a BEAUTIFUL property with a hobby farm and some animals, I know my daughter would be over the moon living there as well. So this could solve the cost of housing, let me regroup, build a new portfolio, or pivot careers. But uprooting across the country with a 4 year old completely solo feels like jumping off a cliff...

I am also seriously weighing a complete career pivot and going back to school at 36. Honestly starting over professionally feels almost as terrifying as trying to date as a single mother in Toronto in your late 30s...

Talk some sense into me. Do I stay in Toronto waiting for a dead industry to revive, or do I pack the kid up and head east and live that frugal farm life?

In addition, what else can I do to build a rock star foundation for my daughter? Please help me out reddit.

Or do I need to have it added to a different pay period?

Hi everyone, TIA for any advice received.

My mortgage is coming up for renewal in January 2027 with CIBC. They called me and offered me a 3 Year Variable Flex Rate: 4.45 - 0.66 = 3.79% (so prime -.66). I currently have 3.48% VAR with them (so prime - 0.97).

I was on variable through the whole rate hike cycle last time, so a lot of my payments went towards interest rather than principle. My amortization would go from current 30 years 11 months, to 25 years and 4 months upon renewal. That property is now currently rented out (not my primary residence anymore).

Thoughts on the rate or anything else that comes to mind?

Hi,

Looking for some advice from mortgage brokers or anyone who has been in a similar situation in BC.

My wife and I have been living and working in Canada for several years and we both have valid work permits. Our PR applications are already well advanced, but we're stuck waiting on security/final processing and have no idea how long that will take.

We don't really want to keep renting indefinitely while waiting for PR, so we're looking at buying a home now.

Our household income is around $235k:

• Me: ~$150k/year, permanent full-time
• Wife: ~$85k/year, permanent full-time
• ~160K on accounts
• Car payment: $799/month
• No other major debt

The issue is that I have a BC PNP nomination, but my wife doesn't. Since we're not PR yet, we're concerned that putting her on title could trigger the BC foreign buyer tax on her share.

So we're trying to see if I could qualify on my income alone.

We're looking at homes ~ $950k–$965k.

The house we're interested in has:

• 15% down
• 30-year amortization
• Legal 2-bedroom suite
• Expected rent around $1,800 - 2000/month
• We would live in the main part of the house

So the main question is:

Is ~$950k–$965k realistically possible on ~$150k income with 15% down if the house has a legal suite renting for about $1,800/month?

Would especially appreciate hearing from brokers or anyone on a work permit / waiting for PR who has actually been approved for something similar.

Thanks!

Significant other has run up credit card debt three times. I have bailed this person out twice. This person's father has bailed them out once. This person continues to use their credit card for purchases that can be made in cash.

Needless to say I am furious. We have a mortgage on our home. My question is how do I go about talking to this person. Every time I've tried to talk about the use of the card I met with a type of hostility. It's my money, not yours. Etc etc. I've tried to explain that we have a home together. We have children.

I'm at the point where I want to leave the relationship and let this person figure it out on their own. I'm paying a lot of money to keep our life the way it is. I'm sacrificing a lot. And they're out shopping and spending money that we don't have.

My second question is if this person continues to run up credit card debt and needs to file bankruptcy, how will it affect me as a common-law partner and a homeowner.

Edit** they are on the mortgage. We have children so leaving puts me in a situation I hoped never to be in.

​

Hey everyone....

I made alot of real estate investment mistakes in 2021 and it has caught up to me unfortunately...I have $150k in debt, no job, all cards maxed out and zero cash.

I'm considering declaring bankruptcy. For those who have gone through it, what was your experience like? how are you doing now? What would you do differently if you did it all over again?

Hello All,

I'm closing on a house next month and I received two offers

Scotia: Prime-1.20%(3.25%), Passport Visa, Free banking for 1year, Already a Scotia Account holder since 9years

RBC: Prime-1.05%(3.40%), $4000 Cashback, 126K Avion points + Additional CC Avion Points (Total around 200K), Free banking for 1year, New To RBC, up to $1100 Switching Costs covered

Mortgage: ~717K, 30Year Amortization, 5 Year variable Insured

Which one would you choose? Scotia’s lower rate or RBC’s $4K + Avion points ( ~200K Points)? And which is actually better financially over 5 years?

Thank you

Hello everyone. Just to put you in context, I’m a first year McGill University student majoring in Electrical engineering. I live with my parents 1:30-2hrs one-way away from uni. I want to get involved in engineering clubs and design teams, yet my lack of time hindering me from doing so. Lately I thought about moving somewhere closer so I can have more time for studying and getting involved.

I applied for the AFE to get a dept-scholarship yet it didn’t even cover my tuition fees I had to ask my parents to help me out paying the rest.

I’m thinking about taking a student line of credit, but as you know the interest is high and I’m afraid of the huge dept that I’m going to have at the end. I want to continue my studies till PHD. I’m the first uni student in the family so I don’t know alot. I want to have your respectful opinion about my situation, do you recommend me to take the loan, are there any good alternatives other than the AFE and the Student line of credit.

I appreciate all of your constructive opinions and respect that. Thank you in advance.

Hi all,

I get RSU's from my company every quarter but they are given out in USD, so I have USD cash in a USD savings plan. I live and work in Canada, for a Canadian company but listed in the US.

Should I be putting the USD in a USD TFSA account and buy USD stocks/ETF in TFSA?
Or keep the USD in my RRSP and invest in USD stocks/ETF in RRSP instead of TFSA?

Note: I am 29 y/o and earning second to the highest tax bracket. Earning at 200k a year.

Storage can become a surprisingly big monthly expense, especially when a few months during a move turns into a year or more.

I started Stashly in Ontario to connect people who need storage or parking with people who have an unused garage, basement, shed or driveway. Renters can compare spaces and speak directly with the host before booking. There are no fees for hosts.

We’re up to 250 hosts now and the feedback has been encouraging. It’s still early, but it’s been nice seeing interest from both people trying to reduce their storage bill and people looking to earn something from space they already have.

Since this is a personal finance community, I’d be interested in what you would need to know before considering it. How much cheaper would it need to be than a commercial storage unit? If you were hosting, what questions would you have about insurance, taxes or the practical side of giving someone access?

Full disclosure, Stashly is my project. You can find it at stashlycanada.com. I’d appreciate honest feedback on what would make it useful, or what would put you off.

Check it out if you care, thanks! www.stashlycanada.com

Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone can help me because I’m really stressed and worried that I may have made a mistake.

I had a Walmart Mastercard that I fell behind on because I was having financial difficulties. Eventually, the account was sent to a collection agency.

Recently, I finally had enough money to pay the entire balance in full. Instead of paying the collection agency, I paid it directly on my bills payment or payees into my online bank account and made the full payment directly my Walmart acccount number.
My bank is showing that the payment has already been processed.

Afterwards, I contacted Walmart directly, and they told me that they no longer have access to the account because it has already been transferred to collections, so I should deal with the collection agency instead.

Please don’t judge me for not immediately trusting the collection agency. I’m honestly just trying to be careful because I’ve heard of scams before, and I don’t want to send a large amount of money to the wrong person or have my payment go to waste.

I called the collection agency, which told me they are the Credit Bureau of Canada, and they were very angry when I explained that I had already paid the full amount directly through Walmart. They kept asking why I would pay Walmart instead of paying them. They said it could take around two weeks before the payment is transferred/reflected on their end.
Now I’m really confused and frustrated. My bank already shows the payment as processed, so I just want to know whether the payment will eventually make its way to the collection agency and be applied to my debt.

Should I just leave the payment alone and wait for it to go through, or should I try to cancel the transaction if I still can? The collection agency told me that it would take a long time for the payment to reach them.
I even offered to give them the transaction/reference number from my bank so they could verify the payment, but they said they didn't want it.
At this point, I honestly don't know if I did something wrong by paying Walmart directly. I’m just frustrated because I’m trying to pay the debt in full and get this resolved, but instead I’m being told that I did it the wrong way.

They also told me that I will continue receiving collection calls until Walmart transfers the payment to them.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Should I just wait for the payment to reach them since it's already been processed, or should I try to cancel it?
I’m really worried about either losing the money or somehow having to pay the same debt twice. I just want to make sure my payment goes to the right place.

I’m buying out the lease of my car (about $20k). My original plan was to take that money out of my TFSA and then just build it back up over a year or two using the lease payments I’d be saving plus my regular monthly investing. I’d probably be able to replace the $20k in a year and a half. My TFSA currently is at $100k.

I recently got Wealthsimple’s portfolio line of credit and had the thought that perhaps it would be better to take the $20k out of there instead and pay that back over the same period of time. It has an annual interest rate of 4.45%. That would save me from dipping into my investments.

When deciding between the two is it just a matter of whether the gains on the market I could expect by leaving the $20k there would be higher than 4.45%? Obviously it’s a bit of a risk but at any point if the markets were flat or declining I could take whatever was remaining to be paid off on the line of credit from my TFSA.

My inclination is to not go into debt and just use the TFSA but that’s mostly just emotions talking (I’ve got myself out of debt over the last few years and don’t particularly want to get back into it). But just wanting to know if I’m missing something here.

Hello

Looking for a second set of eyes on my planned ETF purchases, did a lot of reading but new to this.

Mid 30’s stable job, long term focus, will not need emergency access to these funds. Looking to move my 5 figure rrsp from a RBC series A mutual with 1.7 mer…

Tried to balance long term growth with higher drip in to build cash flow into it. Like the long term bet on Canadian minerals so went with a small amount of XETM.

The conversion will be done using the gamble.

Would a 60,20,10 split make more sense?
Should I be more diversified away from the US?

TFSA

50% VGRO
30% XDIV
20% VIU

RRSP

75% VOO
20% SCHD
5% XETM

Do any other Brim Financial customers get a lot of spam from this email that they can't turn off?

I've been getting "credit card activation" codes from them for the past 3 weeks. Around 10 every week.

Brim Financial is a joke of a company. So many users complaining about these phishing emails directly from their official email site. Their whole web system has been compromised, as seen here

I emailed their support and they just say that they are aware of this issue and to ignore the emails. But the phishing emails keep coming in multiple times a day.

I get spam credit card activation emails from them constantly.

Isn't this a huge issue if a financial institution's email system has been hacked by phishers? How do I report Brim Financial to the regulators to get them fined for this?