Name, age: Angela, 42
Annual income: $118,000 from full-time job, $15,000 from side business, $1,913 from Canada Child Benefit
Debt: $606,660 mortgage
Savings: $19,881 in savings account, $57,162 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $97,710 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $16,670 in registered education savings plan (RESP), $750 in cryptocurrency
What she does: Project implementation manager in the public sector
Where she lives: Greater Toronto Area
Top financial concern: “Supporting family: helping others or having to support others in the future.”
Angela, 42, has a good public sector job and a side-business, and lives in a Toronto suburb with her husband and their three-year-old. They bought a three-bedroom stacked townhouse in a small subdivision in 2021 for $975,000, and already have their mortgage down to $606,660.
“I’m debt-averse,” says Angela, while noting she’s less averse to the mortgage debt than other varieties because it’s working toward long-term stability for the family. “When you have debt, your money is not your money. Your money belongs to someone else.”
These attitudes were formed early. Her parents ran their own business when she was growing up, and it was not always smooth sailing financially.
“It was a bit precarious for them at times,” she recalls. “You never knew if the business was going to succeed or not succeed, or if you would have money at the end of the month.”
Angela adds: “Money-wise, that made me seek more stability. I started out my career in unionized roles, and it made me also want to focus on getting out of student loans as soon as possible, and save and invest.”
She graduated with a humanities degree she funded through loans in 2008, and paid off the $40,000 she borrowed within four years. She had a job that paid fairly well shortly after she finished school, low expenses and lived with a partner, so says it wasn’t actually that onerous to save the cash.
“I still had a social life,” she says. “I was going out, I had pets at the time and did some travel, but I wasn’t a big social spender. I didn’t spend a lot of money going out drinking. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything or deprived.”
Now, she tracks all her expenses and spending, and keeps separate accounts from her husband except on areas where they both contribute, such as their home, child and a shared emergency fund. Each pays into the shared expenses proportionally, as she makes more than he does, and then manages their own retirement savings and spending money.
Angela feels fairly in control of her own financial situation, but worries about a lack of planning for the future that she sees in some of her loved ones, including a sibling. She worries about having to support that person in the future and has started contributing to an RRSP in their name to plan ahead.
“I am constantly talking about it with my family and trying to come up with action plans,” she says. “My sibling is very behind where I feel they should be. I set aside $100 a month and go deposit it for them because if I didn’t do it, they wouldn’t do it.”
“I am desperate to get them on the right track.”
Her typical monthly expenses:
Investment and savings: $1,720
$300 to savings account. “For various buckets such as vacation, fun money, home/car and half the amount of the joint emergency fund with my husband.”
$800 to TFSA. “A portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).”
$500 to RRSP. " Individual dividend stocks and ETFs.”
$120 to RESP. “Both me and my husband contribute $120 a month.”
Servicing debt: $1,546
$1,546 to mortgage. “My portion of our mortgage payment.”
Household and transportation: $1,159
$74 to property insurance
$450 to property tax
$222 on utilities
$50 on gas
$169 on car insurance
$25 on transit
$68 on cell phone
$101 on internet
Food and drink: $900
$500 on groceries. “Sometimes more, sometimes less.”
$150 at coffee shops
$250 on takeout food. “My husband also spends $300 to $500 each month on takeout and delivery services. Buying back time that would be spent cooking is something we prioritize.”
Miscellaneous: $3,734
$1,913 to income tax. “On monthly pay of $9,866.”
$75 on entertainment
$100 on clothing
$150 on expenses for side business
$598 on daycare
$200 on kids’ activities and babysitting
$50 on haircuts. “$150 every three months.”
$50 on cosmetics
$50 on manicures
$15 on prescription
$333 on vacations. “I like to travel, and that’s the thing I try to focus on.”
$50 on gifts
$100 contribution to a relative’s retirement and $50 to savings for them. “I am desperate to get them on the right track.”
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