“I can’t even afford a burrito after the bar” isn’t just a joke your friends tell you on a Saturday night – chances are they really mean it.
A new study has revealed Canadians are increasingly bleak about their financial futures, with almost half of those polled saying they live from paycheque to paycheque. Three-quarters of working Canadians also reported having put aside less than 25 per cent of the money they expect to need in retirement. Many are putting five per cent or less of their net pay towards retirement, which is half the minimum savings rate recommended by financial planning experts.
Part of the reason is that fewer jobs these days include automatic deductions from paycheques to a savings plan or retirement program. Another part, of course, is that many millennials haven’t developed the discipline to not spend their money on iPhones and Yeezys. Or they’re leasing luxury cars instead of settling for a bike.
It’s also damn expensive to live in our major cities – our own calculation determined you need to make at least $36,000 a year to survive in downtown Toronto. That amount covers just the essentials, among which the aforementioned burrito is a luxury. The price of rent across Canada’s urban centres is staggering, as is the price of owning your own place.
So what about you? What are you doing for your future? This might help all your problems, but it’s a good measuring stick for where you should be…
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