Personal Finance

How tight is your paycheck in Toronto and Vancouver?

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 28th, 2013 12:00 am
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Poll: Can you live comfortably on your salary?

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Sr. Member
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Jul 10, 2013
604 posts
66 upvotes
Toronto
According to Trans Union Car Loans and mortgages are not included in this debt.
Deal Fanatic
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May 11, 2008
9545 posts
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provocateur wrote: According to Trans Union Car Loans and mortgages are not included in this debt.
This says otherwise
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/consume ... -1.2470293
That would be about $1,100 more than the $27,743 of debt consumers are expected to have at the end of this year.

TransUnion says car loans are expected to drive the increase in such debt, which also includes credit card debt, lines of credit, student loans and the like
Deal Addict
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Sep 16, 2012
3280 posts
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Mississauga
provocateur wrote: Apologies. Car loans are included
well if there offering zero percent financing on a 5 to 7 year lease, are you really surprised that people are jumping on the bandwagon of getting new cars.
Member
Oct 27, 2009
318 posts
64 upvotes
People who barely survive cannot afford expensive internet to access redflagdeals, that's why nobody chooses that option
Deal Addict
Dec 11, 2010
1700 posts
137 upvotes
madara wrote: Yes. We can buy what we want and does not have to go on a budget, specially on groceries and food.
Married with a 3-yr old son, who requires private therapies and day care.
Emigrated in April 2007. Only had $18K in our pockets. Bought a house on 2008 with 0% down and 25-yr amortization.
So glad we didn't listen to some people(read:Mark77) here. Doing double-up payments from the beginning..
Agreed, Mark77 gives such terrible advice! Anyone who has listened to him has missed out on a hundred thousand dollars in real estate gains over the past five years!
Deal Guru
Dec 31, 2005
13306 posts
750 upvotes
Lived in Toronto as a couple since 98...never "tight" but we lived within our means...and still do...just now our means are much higher...
Deal Addict
Mar 2, 2005
2033 posts
334 upvotes
choclover wrote: While I feel that I live comfortably in GVR, I do find that everything costs a lot here. I have been living here almost my whole life and I can't still get over how much everything costs. Housing, for one, is crazy but I think everyone has just accepted that. However, other things are expensive too. Gas is expensive, food--good food, like real fruit and vegetables--is expensive, parking is expensive, property tax if you own is way expensive. I think life here just costs a lot. We're too settled to move (i.e. we have ties to the city in terms of owning a place and working in the community) but when you compare other cities, it is always a reminder.
Great post, my feelings exactly.
Member
Apr 4, 2010
425 posts
152 upvotes
I will highlight that a lot of these stats can be difficult to understand. Toronto for example is broken up into a number of boards http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/b ... trict_map/ . So, is "Toronto" the city of Toronto or Toronto, Peel, York and Durham. In Vancouver, there is the Fraser Valley REB and the Greater Vancouver REB. So when you look at the statistics for each city, what is included? Most of these reports don't state that. And, if you're not including suburbs, yes you're going to have average higher prices. Calgary for example, is one city and one real estate board, so the stats you get from there are cleaner.

I lived in Vancouver and in the GTA and now Guelph. The cost of a home in Durham, York and Peel are easily affordable for an average couple. Living in Vancouver, with the wage bump you'd typically see in GVRD, North Van, New West, Surrey and the Eastern Cities are all affordable for an average dual person income home. West Van and Van West are out of reach, as is the great neighbourhoods in Toronto.

Single parents/Single incomes, people who don't work hard, people who spend too much money on car loans, bottle service, etc. excluded.
Deal Addict
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Aug 12, 2007
4685 posts
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Waterloo
ionrfd wrote: Toronto:
Average Monthly Disposable Salary (After Tax) 3,200.00 C$
Where is this coming from ?

is this for two incomes( household ) or a single income?
Deal Addict
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Dec 31, 2011
2715 posts
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Yellowknife
nickaslt wrote: People who barely survive cannot afford expensive internet to access redflagdeals, that's why nobody chooses that option
Free WiFi in many fast food restaurants.
Free internet at public libraries.
So zero out of pocket.
Sr. Member
Jul 18, 2009
679 posts
103 upvotes
I live in downtown Toronto, I can make ends meet and give myself a fairly generous "fun" allowance in my budget, but things are tight(ish) mostly due to massive student loans. My rent is about 28 percent of my base income. I will be ballin' when I get the dang loans paid off!
Deal Addict
May 30, 2012
4290 posts
2082 upvotes
BC
who says you need to pay off your debt with your income..... as long as you have positive cash flow..ball.as hard as you can... you only live once.....
Sr. Member
Feb 5, 2013
592 posts
109 upvotes
Vancouver is the easiest place to live with low income. With low income, the city will place you in a 750,000 waterfront condo, give you free food and free access to sports for your kids, you live in the most expensive area of the world, walking distance to every amenity, supposedly the poverty advocacy/charity business is over 1 billion in revenue in the city!... It is the people in the middle class who can't afford this city. Since Gregor, we have 10s of thousands more poverty ridden people (build social housing and they will come; cite the lack of social housing to get political motivation to build more social housing and more come, then we need to build more, rinse and repeat...). How do we pay for it? Get developers to pay exorbitant development fees, commit to building GLBT community centres, gift units to subsidized housing, etc. so that any condo built costs a few hundred thousand more putting even more pressure on the middle class.

Now, when the averages are stated, they get skewed by the low income people who bring average income down, and the property seems more expensive since it includes the 'stealth taxation' of development fees.
Member
User avatar
Aug 15, 2009
323 posts
108 upvotes
North America
Man, where do I start with this post.
bankonit wrote: Vancouver is the easiest place to live with low income. With low income, the city will place you in a 750,000 waterfront condo, give you free food and free access to sports for your kids
What a load. Time for you to get out there and volunteer and find out the reality to living in GVR.
How do we pay for it? Get developers to pay exorbitant development fees, commit to building GLBT community centres, gift units to subsidized housing, etc. so that any condo built costs a few hundred thousand more putting even more pressure on the middle class.
Let me help you out with your hidden bigotry, LGBT buddy. So developers should get a free ride? Trust me, the developers like Concord Pacific are getting land and more for next to nothing.
Now, when the averages are stated, they get skewed by the low income people who bring average income down, and the property seems more expensive since it includes the 'stealth taxation' of development fees.
Yeah, I forgot that the masses working in the service industry are making bank. Wow, you are fairly delusional.

As far as this thread goes, people that don't have a pot to p*ss in aren't hanging in a financial forum. With GVR so close to the border, middle class folks in Metro Vancouver have the means to travel roughly 30 minutes to Washington State to buy lower priced groceries, gas, and pick up their Amazon USA orders.
Sr. Member
Feb 5, 2013
592 posts
109 upvotes
bbbc wrote: Man, where do I start with this post.

What a load. Time for you to get out there and volunteer and find out the reality to living in GVR. I agree I was ranting...

Let me help you out with your hidden bigotry, LGBT buddy. So developers should get a free ride? Trust me, the developers like Concord Pacific are getting land and more for next to nothing.

I don't know how making a typo and opposing funding for a community centre for a specific group makes me a bigot.

I support LGBT having full access to all the amenities offered by the city...

As for charging extra fees on developers??? They don't pay, it comes back in the price of the condo that you and I pay BUDDY


Yeah, I forgot that the masses working in the service industry are making bank. Wow, you are fairly delusional. Where did I argue this?

As far as this thread goes, people that don't have a pot to p*ss in aren't hanging in a financial forum. With GVR so close to the border, middle class folks in Metro Vancouver have the means to travel roughly 30 minutes to Washington State to buy lower priced groceries, gas, and pick up their Amazon USA orders. I agree with this
Logically, if you are tracking an income/price of ownership ratio, and you add thousands of zero/low income people to the numerator, and nothing to the denominator, what does that do to the ratio? That is my point. And I am happy to house all the homeless of the world here in GVRD (it's a good gig for the multitude of professionals that it employs at good income), I just want it paid for by Feds, not the city! That is the real fight IMO.
Member
User avatar
Aug 15, 2009
323 posts
108 upvotes
North America
bankonit wrote:I support LGBT having full access to all the amenities offered by the city.
I just find it funny you bring up this group of folks. The Chinese community also has local government funded projects in their neighborhoods too, but you didn't bring them up.
so that any condo built costs a few hundred thousand...As for charging extra fees on developers??? They don't pay, it comes back in the price of the condo that you and I pay BUDDY
So a $400K condo has a few hundred thousand rolled into the cost, come on. If you're a condo dweller, sorry Charlie (or buddy), but you have to pay for infrastructure too.
Yeah, I forgot that the masses working in the service industry are making bank. Wow, you are fairly delusional. Where did I argue this?
I think there are two extremes in GVR, the working poor and rich, period. These working poor can't afford squat. So with more Starbucks barista positions (from the supposed job creators), they need affordable housing close to their jobs. I know, they can live out in Abbotsford or Langley and figure out some means of public transit (better not be SkyTrain) to get to Downtown Vancouver.
As far as this thread goes, people that don't have a pot to p*ss in aren't hanging in a financial forum. With GVR so close to the border, middle class folks in Metro Vancouver have the means to travel roughly 30 minutes to Washington State to buy lower priced groceries, gas, and pick up their Amazon USA orders. I agree with this
Now we agree on something. Some people won't cross because they want to support Canada. The challenge with this line of thought is the products are all from multinationals and a lot of the retailers in both countries are owned by a North American entity (whether in Canada or the States).
Deal Addict
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Dec 8, 2010
2564 posts
992 upvotes
I'd be interested - those in Vancouver saying prices are high - like, what?

For us here, near Ottawa:

Milk 4l = $4
Bagels 6 = $2
Cheese 500g = $6

I see petrol is ~10c/litre more expensive, but still hardly bad - and that's in the city.

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