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What is the Cost of a Middle Class Lifestyle in Toronto? (Updated Feb 2023)
Photo credit: Zia Syed on Unsplash TL;DR A traditional middle class lifestyle assumes: (1) two spouses and a child and the ability to finance that child’s education; (2) home and vehicle ownership; (3) the ability to save for retirement. In Toronto, the aforementioned lifestyle would require an after-tax income of $145,804 per year. INTRODUCTION What are the hallmarks of a middle class lifestyle? And how much does a household residing in Toronto have to earn to be considered middle class? First, let’s define “Toronto”. “Toronto” means the City of Toronto. I’m not including the satellite cities in the Greater Toronto Area such as Mississauga, Oakville, Brampton, etc. This is…
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Here are your options to deal with debt
Debt Management Plan (DMP) Consumer Proposal Bankruptcy What’s the difference? A DMP is a voluntary agreement with some or all of your creditors that often includes interest relief and the payment of your debts over time. A consumer proposal is a legal process designed to relieve honest but unfortunate debtors of their debts. A proposal is an offer to your creditors to pay all or some of what you owe them over a specific period of time. If the proposal is accepted, and once all the terms of the proposal are met, you are legally released from the debts included in the proposal. Bankruptcy is a legal process designed…
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CERB Overpayments – Discharge with bankruptcy or consumer proposal
The following is a Guidance to Licensed Insolvency Trustees dated March 25th 2022 from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy’s website: The Government of Canada is beginning to recover Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) where it has been determined that it was paid erroneously or was an overpayment. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) is confirming to Licensed Insolvency Trustees (LIT) that erroneous or overpayment of CERB are provable claims in bankruptcy. Erroneous or overpayment of CERB is a releasable debt in the event of an insolvency given that it is to be treated as a debt owed to the Crown pursuant to subsection 12(2) of the…
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Urgent Info: How Bankruptcy Affects Your COVID-19 Government Benefits
We have been receiving inquiries from people: who are either contemplating bankruptcy or have already filed bankruptcy and haven’t yet been discharged; and are concerned about the impact bankruptcy will have on the various benefit programs that were introduced under the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act. What follows is an e-mail issued to all Licensed Insolvency Trustees earlier today from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. This should give you some guidance on how your bankruptcy will affect your benefits under the various programs. Note: “OSB” is an acronym for the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy ——————————————————————————————————————– Guidance re: COVID-19 Emergency Response Act The Government of Canada has introduced the COVID-19 Emergency…
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Preparing for the Next Recession in Canada
As a CPA and Licensed Insolvency Trustee, I had a front row seat during the Great Recession of 2009 – 2011. I saw the devastating impact it had on the lives of ordinary Canadians. These were everyday people who were for the most part honest, hard working, and played by the rules. Yet they found themselves on the short end of the stick when the Great Recession started 10 years ago: some lost their jobs, some had their financial portfolios decimated, some lost their homes and quite a few experienced losing all three. It’s been over 10 years since the onset of the Great Recession and Canadians are more indebted…
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Credit Scores and Rebuilding Credit in Canada
Introduction In theory, a credit score should be quite simple – through an algorithm, you’re assigned a numerical score that determines your credit worthiness. The score is a weighted average of many factors, including but not limited to: Your payment history Your credit utilization rate, which is how much of your credit limit you have uses versus how much you have available to you Balance owing on your debts The length of your credit history Public records (such as bankruptcy) Number of inquiries into your credit file Different Credit Scores But the reality isn’t that simple. Here are the complicating factors: Each of the two major credit rating agencies, Trans…
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Filing bankruptcy with gambling and substance abuse problems
A readers asks First and foremost I’m a gambling addict and also have problems with substance abuse. I have accumulated so much debt that I have fallen into a deep depression and I just beat myself up daily because I did it to myself. My debts: $3,000 of credit card debt, $11,000 line of credit, $11,000 in payday loans (the worst I know). I pay around $380 a month just on interest charges; pretty much my debts are not going away. I have personal loans from friends of $6.500 and a student loan of $5,000 – I haven’t made a payment since around 2008. I also have a payday loan…
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Meeting of Creditors Requested for Consumer Proposal
A reader asks: I filed a consumer proposal back in August and a meeting was just called with my creditors. I only have BMO (majority holder) and RBC to deal with. They rejected my first offer and we are counter-proposing with another amount. I feel like we should just accept the amount that they want at this point. But I know that I am being helped so I pay the least in the end. I don’t want the proposal to be rejected. It sounds like it’s only a difference of $50 from what I could gather. How likely is it to be rejected? Or does this meeting just serve as…
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I’m Behind in My Consumer Proposal Payments!
A reader asks I filed a Consumer Proposal back in April where I’ve been paying $175 biweekly. However, I ended up losing my job back in July and the payments after that were coming out of my savings. I am now down to the last $100 to my name, literally. The next $175 payment is scheduled to be paid in a week’s time, and needless to say, that ain’t going to happen thanks to my broke ass. I filed for Employment Insurance yesterday (I’m stupid and don’t know why I didn’t think of doing it sooner), so there is a possibility it may be approved and I’d get some funds…
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Transferring a Home Before Bankruptcy
A reader asks: My father fell critically ill earlier this year. As a result, he is unable to pay his credit cards as he is not working. The bills are very large. He has no financial assets other than his a commercial property (owned outright). What options does he have? In relation, can the property be sold to my brother and/or proceeds transferred to him (inheritance), then my father proceed to file bankruptcy without repercussions? Here is a breakdown of his finances: $1.2m – commercial property – owned outright Approx 60-80k in credit card debt only Zero income stream from any source, sadly. My father is not a future planner.…
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The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Financial Success
During my 20 years as a financial professional and business owner in Toronto, I’ve gotten to know some very successful people and not so successful people. Here are my observations about the former and the latter within the framework of the Big Five Personality Traits, namely (1) Agreeableness; (2) Conscientiousness; (3) Extraversion; (4) Neuroticism; and (5) Openness to Experience. Agreeableness: “Nice guys finish last” – in my experience, this saying is very true. The “difficult person” is usually going to come out ahead financially because he can negotiate more aggressively in his own best interest, be it a real estate deal, salary negotiation or business deal. He won’t be overly concerned…
