If you want a sense of how young people feel about their financial security, check out this list of episodes from the 10 seasons of the Globe and Mail’s Stress Test personal finance podcast for Gen Z and millennials:
– Can you afford to live the downtown lifestyle?
– Should you move back in with your parents?
– Why are young Canadians leaving the cities they love?
– Are your parents giving you money?
– Parents are bankrolling their kids’ house down payments – but can they afford it?
– Is the middle class dead for millennials and Gen Z?
– Why more Canadians are choosing to be childfree or delay parenthood
– Why more Canadians are giving up on home ownership
– Adulting with roommates: solo living is a luxury in today’s rental market
– Home ownership and a baby: Can you afford both?
– Feeling behind? Why your parent’s financial timeline won’t work for you
In the five years of Stress Test, we have covered a range of topics that include pet ownership, how to get a raise, personal finance on Tik Tok and the case for owning an EVs. But affordability, especially as it applies to housing, has been a constant theme.
We know young people are worried about their financial futures. But what do their parents think? Parents of kids between the ages of 20 and 40, help me understand what you’re seeing by taking this anonymous survey.
The view of boomer and Gen X parents about how well their kids are prospering is important for a couple of reasons, the first being all the parental money finding its way into home down payments and other forms of financial assistance for adult kids.
The second is that parents are in a position to compare their own situation as 20- and 30-somethings with where their adult kids are now. Do they see their kids as worse off? Let’s find out.
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Rob’s personal finance reading list
Parents, kids and moneyA warning for parents to get involved in teaching their kids about money. Otherwise, parents risk having their kids rely on social media for financial advice. Let’s not overplay this problem – there’s some helpful, grounded personal finance content on social media. But there are also hustlers and scammers.
GIC scam alertThe latest example of the maliciousness of scammers is a fake offer of a 6.5 per cent GIC. An 82-year-old lost $750,000 to this fraud. If you see a rate or offer that is miles ahead of the competition, assume it’s fake. Better to miss out than lose your money. As for actual GIC rates, they top out right now in the high 3 per cent range.
America’s egg problemEveryone feels done with inflation after several years of rising prices, particularly in the grocery store. This is the context to understand all the talk in the U.S. about soaring egg prices. Check out the chart of egg prices in this blog post. As noted, it looks like a price chart for Nvidia shares.
Don’t just buy Canadian – grow it as wellA way to cut down on your consumption of U.S. produce is to grow your own. You can start the process now by planting seeds indoors and then transferring them outdoors when the warm weather arrives.
From our readers
Ask Rob
Reader comment
You can’t be serious to say people are
buying Canadian wine instead of American. They are buying French, South African, Australian, New Zealand and Chilean wines. Ontario wines are expensive and of far less quality.
Rob says
Oh, I’m serious. Several readers say they’ve made the switch as part of their boycott of U.S. products. Firsthand, I can tell you that my wife and I have bought many bottles from wineries in eastern Ontario’s Price Edward County over the years, and we’ve enjoyed wines from B.C.’s Okanagan wine country as well. I had a glass of Quebec wine, served at wine bar in Gatineau, Que., recently and thought it was surprisingly good.
Do you have a question or comment for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can’t answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length and clarity.
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