Photo illustration by the globe and mail/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Name, age: Joseph, 38
Annual income: $32,400
Debt: $13,000 credit-card debt, $14,700 line of credit
Savings: $1,105.23 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $16,634.70 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP)
What he does: Receptionist at a gym
Where he lives: Downtown Toronto
Top financial concern: “I fear that there will come a time where I can’t work and I’ll have to rely on my meagre savings and whatever I can get from the government. I don’t come from a family with many assets, like a house, so there’s no money coming from anywhere other than from what I’ll have saved.”
Joseph, 38, knows his financial situation is precarious. He also knows he’s not alone, and says many of his friends feel a mixture of dread and anxiety when they look to the future.
“The economy can collapse, banks can collapse,” he says, adding he worries what will happen if he ever physically can’t work. “There’s a side of me that can put the anxiety aside … because I know we’re all in a [screwed]-up situation together.”
Joseph, who earns $32,400 a year, lives in a building owned by Toronto Community Housing. When it comes to housing, he got lucky: When he and his roommate applied for subsidized accommodation 10 years ago, they got into a brand-new, three-bedroom condo.
“They call it a market-rent unit, but it doesn’t seem to match the market,” Joseph says. His portion of the rent is only $772 in a city where the average rent for an apartment is above $3,000.
His parents made modest incomes while they were working and don’t own a house, so he can’t rely on any financial support from his family.
Before the pandemic, Joseph was making about $63,000 a year as a marketing manager for an arts festival. It was, he says, “the best I’d ever been paid.”
When that job ended in April, 2021, he went on employment insurance (EI) and joined the pandemic-driven wave of people reconsidering their careers.
“That was incredible because I’d never [been on EI] before,” Joseph said. “I was able to process the pandemic a little bit.”
EI paid him about half of what he was making previously, but he realized that with a lifestyle that now involved much less going out, he could make it work on less money. His new plan is to be a group fitness instructor – he’d like to teach cycling classes.
When his EI ended, Joseph got a job at the front desk of a gym. The pay is about the same as he was getting on EI, but he gets a free gym membership and got a discount on a personal-training course. Now he’s trying to figure out how to get his first job teaching classes.
Joseph was recently able to finish paying off his $32,000 student loan, which was a big relief. “During COVID, the government took interest off student loans, which allowed me to pay sooner,” he said.
The monthly payment had been $277. Now he puts $100 of that money in his RRSP, $100 in his TFSA and has $77 extra to spend each month – a meaningful amount for someone who budgets his spending down to the dollar.
“It makes me feel responsible too,” he says. “All my life, I never would really do that.”
His typical monthly expenses:
Investment and savings: $200
$100 to RRSP: “I’ve had it for a while but wasn’t contributing for two years because I didn’t have enough money.”
$100 to TFSA: “Previously, I was relying on my credit card or a [line of credit] if I needed emergency funds.”
Servicing debt: $350
$150 to line of credit: “The limit is $15,000 and it’s almost at max.”
$200 to credit card: “I’m basically just paying the interest on both in order to keep my credit score decent.”
Household and transportation: $965
$772 on rent.
$62.72 for his cellphone.
$40 for bike maintenance and parts: “I bike everywhere.”
$20 for public transit: “I will take GO on occasion to visit family or my boyfriend.”
$70 on electricity: “My roommate pays internet while I pay hydro.”
Food and drink: $525
$250 on groceries.
$100 on concerts and going out: “I don’t go out a lot. I largely just rely on hanging out with friends at each other’s places.”
$100 on eating out: “I will budget for that. It makes it feel like the date is a treat. I know I have $100 to spend at this dinner and I can spend the whole $100.”
$75 on alcohol.
$0 at coffee shops: “I make my own and drink it at home.”
Miscellaneous: $0
$0 on clothes: “I’m lucky and get any new clothing from my friend or her stepson, who is 12 and grows out of his clothes quickly.”
$0 on going to the gym.
$0 on haircuts: “I cut my own hair.”
$0 on the dentist: “I do not have health benefits and have not been to the dentist since 2019. Instead I take great care of my teeth.”
Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial or Gen Z who would like to participate in a Paycheque Project? Send us an e-mail.