How Do You Measure Up 2024

Earnings

The average weekly year over year earnings were up 4.6% to $1,270 in the month of August 2024.

Month over month there was little chance with this number being only 0.9% higher than July.

Average weekly hours worked came in at 33.5

Converting the weekly number into a salary we are looking at an average salary of $66,040. Personally I would like to see median numbers as well to get a more complete picture but they did not have this data.

source article released 2024-10-31

Financial Security

The median net work of Canadian Families is $519,700

Net Worth

Ages 55 to 64

New results indicate that Canadians nearing retirement age (55 to 64 years) who have a principle residence and an employer sponsored pension plan have a median net worth that is about $1.4 million more than those who have neither.

• Those who rented and who did not have an employer-sponsored pension plan had a median net worth of $11,900.
• Owning family home and without employer-sponsored pension plan had a median of $914,000.
• Having an employer-sponsored pension plan but not owing their home had a median of $359,000.

Young Families (highest income earner under 35)

Including all categories had an astonishing increase of 179% since 2019, with the median net work being $159,100.

Those who owned their principle residence had a median net worth of $457,100.

While those without a principle residence has seen the median increase to $44,000.

Lowest group was the same as the older generation being those who do not have a principle residence and who also do not have a employer-sponsored pension plan. That groups median came in at $27,000.

A higher percentage of young families have opted to rent and attempt to amass wealth while renting. Among these renters, of those who also did not have a employer-sponsored pension plan, 15% had a net worth greater than $150,000

• members of this group commonly held assets in
  • non principle residence real estate
  • RRSPs (Median of $35,000)
  • TFSAs (Median of $20,000)

Stats RRSP

Age	Percentage Holding Asset	Median Value of Account
<35	64.5%	$15,000
35 - 44	64.6%	$33,000
45 - 54	69.6%	$72,600
55 - 64	70.0%	$120,000
65+	64.7%	$102,000

**note: also includes RRIF, LIRAs and any other retirement accounts

Stats TFSA

Age	Percentage Holding Asset	Median Value of Account
<35	55.6%	$10,000
35 - 44	52.8%	$12,000
45 - 54	50.2%	$15,000
55 - 64	56.2%	$39,100
65+	57.7%	$52,100

source article released 2024-10-29

Summary

Before I invite you to do the perfectly natural human nature thing of comparing yourself to your neighbours I want to point you in the direction of the percentage column. In all cases roughly half of Canadians even have a TFSA and only 2/3 have an RRSP. So if you have both of those give yourself a pat on the back. Now take a look at the median value and in my mind their are two outcomes. 1) If you are above the median keep it up and stick to your plan! 2) If you are below the median it simply means you have work to do. Maybe that involves looking to increase your income but the easier option is usually look at your spending habits and introduce a budget. (Yeah I know here Mark is talking about budgets again but hey they work)

Last thing I would like to bring up is that across the board the TFSA shows less usage. Personally I think the weighting should be flipped or at least equal. The simplest explanation for this is that we found out the average income for 2023 of $66,040 with the median is likely far lower than that. The RRSP’s advantage is in deferring tax until a later date, however, with the lowest tax bracket going all the way up to $53,359 in 2023 why defer at the lowest bracket where the majority of your income is. In my mind the best play would be to focus on TFSA first at these income levels.

If you are really set on sticking with the RRSP then I would consider contributing no more than what is in your highest bracket. To look at an example

• $55,000 salary
• 55,000 - 53,359 = $1641.00 to RRSP at most with the rest of savings invested in the TFSA

Housing Sentiment

While looking for the net worth and TFSA vs RRSP breakdowns I scrolled past many housing related surveys and found the following somewhat shocking information. The only reason I’m saying somewhat shocking is I have heard a similar story in the news recently but it hits different when you see the raw data. And without further ado:

Nearly half (45%) of Canadians report that they are very concerned about housing affordability because of the cost of rising costs of housing or rent. In 2022 more than 1 in 5 Canadians reported that they spend more than 30% of their income on shelter costs. Fast forward to surveys conducted more recently (August 2nd to September 15th 2024) it is now 45%.

Age definitely plays a factor here and over that same survey period young adults, those aged 20 to 35 years, reported 59 being very concerned about their ability to afford housing. 51% had moving plans that were impacted by rising prices.

For adults above the age of 35, 38% reported being very concerned with 25% having their moving plans impacted.

Breaking this down provincially Ontario closely followed by British Columbia had the highest percentage reporting difficulties. Unfortunately as a resident of Toronto I am not surprised one bit.

In this survey, people who reported experiencing 1+ housing challenges recorded lower results on indicators for overall well-being. Of those reporting at least one housing challenge only 36% reported high satisfaction in life, compared to 70% for those without housing challenges.

source]

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. If you would like to support me the easiest way is to subscribe over on my youtube channel or simply return here every Monday for my next blog post.

If you are looking to open a new TFSA, RRSP or other account type consider trying out WealthSimple with my my referral link or entering the code VUGTXQ and you will receive a $25 bonus for signing up!

I hope you all have a great week!