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Name, age: Penny, 31
Annual income: $37,000 from work, $7,200 in child support
Debt: $9,000 student debt, $1,000 credit-card debt, $327,000 mortgage
Savings: $8,000 in registered retirement savings plan
What she does: Office manager at a brewery
Where she lives: Sunshine Coast, B.C.
Top financial concern: “Buying my parents out of my house because they co-signed my mortgage.”
Penny, 31, is a single mom to a nine-year-old living on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. She loves where she lives: “It’s beautiful,” she said of the mountainous mainland region only accessible by plane or boat. But the cost of living there has jumped a lot since the COVID-19 pandemic and the droves of new residents it brought to the area, she added.
“The vibe has completely changed,” said Penny, who works as an office manager for a brewery. “There’s a lot of younger residents and younger families now.”
She likes the energy that has come with the new people but said “it completely wrecked our real estate market.”
Before COVID-19, she would have expected to pay between $200,000 and $300,000 for a house. That number had nearly doubled by 2022, when she started looking in earnest, but rent had also risen significantly.
“We compared what the mortgage would be with rent in town,” she said. “Any place that was pet-friendly with two bedrooms was almost $1,000 more than the mortgage would be.”
Fortunately, she had parental help. Her parents paid the $225,000 down payment on her two-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot home, which cost $552,000. They also co-signed the mortgage and contribute $400 to it every month. She said she wants to plan out how she’ll pay them back, but for now she’s still getting used to budgeting for her monthly payment.
“I make sure that’s my main focus and I just budget around what’s left,” said Penny. “I want to sit down and chat with them to see how they want it to go.
“Hopefully I can release them of the burden sooner than later.”
Penny keeps her own expenses low: she cuts her own hair, buys the occasional book and mostly likes to relax at home. “I don’t do anything for fun,” she said wryly. To save on groceries, she co-ordinates with her mom to shop for each other when stores have things on sale.
Much of her disposable income – and her free time – goes to her daughter’s activities, including dance and gymnastics expenses that add up to about $4,000 per year.
The family hasn’t done much travelling, but Penny is trying to find a way to put aside some money so they can go to Salem, Mass., later in the year. Her daughter is “very into witchcraft. I’m hoping to sock away $4- or $5,000, over probably the next eight months.”
Her typical monthly expenses:
Investment and savings: $100
$100 to RRSP. “Our employer matches what we put in.”
Servicing debt: $1,600
$0 to student debt. “You have the option of applying for repayment assistance if you are lower income. The debt sits there without gaining interest.”
$200 to credit card. “I usually only use it to pay bills online or if I am buying something online. Credit-card debt scares the crap out of me.”
$1,400 to mortgage. “My mortgage is $1,800 but I thankfully have assistance from my parents.”
Household and transportation: $1,081
$333 to property tax. “We’re facing another 17-per-cent increase this year. I’m a little nervous looking at that.”
$150 to heat and hydro
$125 on housewares and projects. “Some cosmetic work to update my house a bit.”
$200 on gas. “My child does nine hours of extracurriculars a week. I also commute to work.”
$33 on car repairs. “A part was broken in my fuel line. I’m hoping that’s it for the year.”
$130 on cellphone
$110 on internet. “When I redid my contract, that was one of the cheapest options.”
Food and drink: $685
$500 on groceries. “For two grocery bags, it’s $120. Before COVID, I would come home with five bags for the same amount.”
$25 at coffee shops
$100 eating out
$10 on entertainment. “I take my kid to the movies about every four months, but that’s pretty much it.”
$50 on alcohol
Miscellaneous: $985
$40 on streaming apps. “Prime, Disney and Crave.”
$25 on clothes.
$250 on kids’ sports.
$83 on kids’ dance classes.
$200 on pets. “Dog, cat, rabbit.”
$8 on books.
$4 on the dentist. “It’s mostly covered by benefits.”
$375 on vacations. “My kid wants to go to Salem, Mass., to see where the witch trials were.”
Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story.
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