Curious how much families with young kids are realistically saving every month.

We’re a family of 5 (2 kids and one dependent parent) with a combined gross income of around $250k, but our actual take-home is only about $12k/month.
Sounds like a lot on paper, right? But between a $5k mortgage (GTA), $500 daycare cost, $1500-$2k groceries, $600 property taxes, $500 insurance, $200-300 utility bills, and never-ending kids’ and other home related expenses, the money disappears pretty quickly. And we’re not living a luxurious lifestyle!
It makes me wonder how families are managing to save, invest, travel, and still enjoy life.

For those with young kids:

-What’s your household income and monthly take-home?
-How much do you actually save after ALL expenses?
-Are you managing to contribute to RRSPs, TFSAs, and RESPs?

Genuinely curious if others feel the same way. $250k sounds like a great household income, but the reality feels surprisingly different!

Hey all,

I am in my early 30's, F. Started working at 28. I have about $100,000 that I have been saving with an intention to buy a house by my mid 30's. I have a budget of $300K-$350K for my house. Being a SINK (may marry, but will be child free), my purpose of buying a home was having my own place, a sense of security and an investment.

I was holding off looking at buying a home as I was focused on career progression. My current role isn't ideal to buy a house (Customer Service, burned out and not a steady paycheck). Nevertheless I would reconsider buying a house in 3 years from now. Can't afford it as of today.

I have been researching on the gap I need to fill - Down payment, emergency funds, moving, furnishing etc and some buffer. I have also been looking at market for the kind of houses that fit my budget. Realistically it will appreciate when I am ready in 3 years from now. Feels like a daunting task.

Anyways in 2026, prairie province, one can buy a condo with $300K-$350K. ($350K is a stretch for me). I am not inclined to buy a townhouse/ house given the maintenance etc it will require. On researching and talking to a mortgage advisor I learnt, condos have the least and slowest appreciation average 2% maybe. I am curious to know if that is the case, why do people in general buy condos? Especially other provinces.

I am not buy small, and upgrade later multiple times, kind of person. It will be my only home. Given the age I am at, and only growing old, my mortgage will be stretched to 25 years, even with 20% down. Have crunched numbers here to check my affordability. Also, I got to know the concept of FIRE, a couple of years ago. The idea is extremely appealing though not sure if I can pull it off with my income and inflation currently.

I am trying to decide if I should keep my hope of buying a home burning and invest my savings in registered accounts in ETF's, conservative through RBC and buy a condo when I am ready in at least 3 years or more OR just invest my savings in XEQT with WealthSimple or index funds (obviously maxing out the registered accounts first) and forget about it until 50-55 year old me.

I had clarity until recently about buying a home(read condo) but the reality of unaffordability month to month, never ending gap of having savings/buffer, anxiety with house repairs has really made me question my path forward. If I suffer through this and the outcome is 2% appreciation, I am not sure if it's worth it. Also coming from a non western culture, have been conditioned to buy a home. It will be an acceptance journey and grieving a dream I had.

On the contrary, the savings may compound to become something to live at a cheaper place/ country as a 55-60 year old me. I will not hit insane numbers but close to $800K ish. Given my inexperience, I am not sure how much is enough to live a stress free life. Financial advisors have said there are too many variables to calculate and work on a number for retirement. And I don't want to grind and work towards arbitrary 2-3M in my 30's-40's.

Thoughts please? Especially from folks who have seen a little more life than me.

TL; DR - Positives of buying a condo as your only home with long term appreciation of an average 2%.

Do you know anyone or are yourself who pulled off retirement earlier than 65 and moved to a country where you can stretch the dollar? Is this a reddit thing, or people actually do this in real life.

How do you handle home repairs anxiety? Beyond emergency funds, and learning to do it by yourself. I'll build the fund, though majority of my savings will just go there. Learning to do projects is not my interest, expertise and something I grew up learning. No time or energy either. Living in a rental where my landlord handles everything, yet I feel crippled when something breaks down. Especially, plumbing and electrical.

TIA!

P.S - First time adulting. Solo superwoman. :)

I finished nursing school (RN) months ago and I’m in a really bad spot now. I have $300 to my name, credit score is trash, lots of debt and all my credit is maxed out. I don’t have any stable employment either so that 300 needs to last me until my birthday in late November. I have applied all over the gta to positions and at this point I’m pretty sure I’ve applied to every hospital in Ontario as far as thunder bay, Ottawa, Hamilton, Sudbury and the same for long term care homes. I’ve been trying corrections as well but it’s the same story no call backs and I don’t hear anything back after hundreds of applications. 

A while ago I applied to positions in bc but they needed me to relocate before reimbursement and I didn’t have any money plus signing bonuses would take some time. So I turned it down but it’s months later and I’m basically on the brink of financial collapse. I keep selling my stuff to keep a float but it can’t last forever. I’m literally on the verge of either selling possession or my body every month atp and even minimum wage jobs outside of nursing or entry level stuff won’t take me. 

My current situation has me considering just driving to Vancouver with the last of my money, take a job and live out my car until I get funds to in a month or 2. I probably won’t be able to get the relocation reimbursement cause I won’t actually be relocating but I can get a signing bonus for about 10k which I’d get in roughly a month on my first pay. Only issue is I’d have to live out my car so im worried about being in a new place I don’t know living in car. But really I just need to know if there is any holes in my plan or something I’m missing that would get in the way of this?

I was looking at teachers salaries recently. Someone mentioned that in 2009, top of grid was 90k. Now it's 120. A quick Google search tells me that 90k in 2009 dollars should be 130k, so obviously salaries have NOT kept up with inflation. But beyond that, 90k after taxes in 2009 would have been 67k net. 130k today is 90k net. But 67k net is equal to almost 100k today! So not only are teachers making less money now than back in 2009, due to the progressive tax system, after taxes they are earning less as well (because the dollar values getting taxed at a higher amount, even though it doesn't buy more).

On top of that observation, id MUCH rather be making 90k in 2009 than 130k in 2026 (quality of life in terms of affordability was much better than today - especially housing).

This isn't a conversation about if teachers are paid fairly. Just an observation about how taxes interact with higher salaries.

Am I correct in this observation? Or am I missing something?

Hi everyone, I live in Alberta. And I am currently in my fourth year out of five in engineering co-op. I am a full-time student and have limited earnings except for my co-op income. I have about $16k in credit card debt that I am drowning in. Besides that I have about $70k in Student Loan Debt (federal and provincial). I am contemplating applying for consumer proposal because I just do not see how I have any reasonable way to pay off my credit card debts. I contacted a Licensed Insolvency Trustee and they told me that I will basically pay around $250 to $300 every month for 60 months, thus I basically start paying my student loans earlier than I was supposed to. It does not make sense because my credit card is $16k. I am not graduating till 2028 and student loans are not supposed to be paid till 6 months after graduation (2 years from now). I do not understand why the student loans are being counted in my consumer proposal when it is not even dischargeable. Is there a possibility that my consumer proposal can focus solely on my credit card debt?

The LIT offered another route which is bankruptcy but this basically means I will not be able to apply for defense jobs in the future and any security sensitive jobs. Also, I basically cannot do anything financially for the next seven years.

Can someone offer me advice. I would really appreciate it.

I registered as self employed from working with US based company (need to register but dont need to file gst because of type of work) while having a fulltime job here in Canada.

Help me where to invest and help me how to reduce my tax. My money rn is just invested in my savings account.

I dont have a tax accountant yet. Where do you recommend?

Thank you

I'm considering buying a first home (condo in Montreal). My wife and I have about 300k saved that we could use for a downpayment, though the minimum downpayment would only be something like 30k. Currently, the 300k is in unregistered investment accounts which seem to make about 7-9% interest.

I'm new to all this, but it seems like we could:

a) make the minimum downpayment, get a large mortgage (at 3-5%), and keep 270k in the investment accounts making 7-9%

b) make our maximum downpayment (300k) and get a smaller mortgage

Does anyone have opinions on which option makes the most sense? What should we be considering?

Why would people just not buy some index fund ETFs? Do wealth advisors actually make better returns?

I am 24, and my current portfolio is 70% equity (XEQT) and 30% fixed income across my registered accounts on Wealthsimple. I will make over 100k annually in the next 3yrs and I do believe I have the potential to reach a 200k - 300k salary in the next 30 yrs. For now, my plan is just XEQT and DIY investing, and I am wondering at what point I should hire a wealth advisor.

I work a government job, so my tax planning options for now really are just an RRSP.

Hey everyone!

Fairly new to Reddit and this is actually one of my first posts, so figured I'd throw something out here that I've been thinking about for a while 😅😅

I'm in my mid 20s, single, living in Toronto and have a stable full-time job. Sometime in the coming months, I'm expecting to receive roughly **$60K CAD from a one-time employer equity payout**.

I don't need the money for day-to-day expenses, and my biggest medium-term goal is potentially buying a condo within the next **18–24 months**.

That's where I'm a little torn about what to actually do with the money.

A few options I've been thinking about:

* Keep most/all of it somewhere relatively safe and liquid for a future down payment

* Use available TFSA/FHSA room and invest at least a portion

* Split it: keep whatever I realistically expect to need for the condo safe and invest the rest for the long term

* Or maybe there's another obvious option I'm not considering

I'm **not really looking for specific stock/ETF picks**. I'm more interested in how people here would think about the decision itself.

My biggest hesitation is the time horizon. If I might need this money in 18 or 24 months, putting a large part of it into equities feels like taking unnecessary risk with money earmarked for a home.

At the same time, keeping the entire \~$60K in cash/GICs/cash-like investments feels a little overly conservative if the condo purchase gets pushed out or doesn't happen.

So I'm curious; **if you were in this position, how would you approach the $60K?**

And more importantly, **how would you decide what portion should remain safe for a down payment vs. what portion can actually be treated as long-term investment money?**

I'm intentionally keeping some of the numbers/details broad for privacy, but happy to provide any information that's actually relevant.

Would love to hear how others would think about this!

Tips on saving? What should I invest in? How does TFSA work and RRSP

Hi everyone! After nearly a decade of school, I’m finally at a decent salary and wanted to break down my financial planning to ensure I set up the next decade well.

Monthly Post-Tax Income: $7400

Monthly Expenses:

• Rent = $1300
• Federal Student Loan = $330
• Line of Credit Loan = $850 for next 10 years
• Groceries = $400
• Eating/Going Out = $250
• Utilities, Phone, Insurance and Internet = $220
• Misc (gym, prescriptions, toilet paper, etc) = $350

Discretionary Income: $3700

Plan:

1. Emergency fund of $7000 in Cash.to
2. No liabilities beyond incurred student debt, no assets. Focus on first maximizing TFSA contribution — split between 70% ZEQT, 20% AVXC and 10% XEXP
3. Focus on minimum debt payments;; despite LOC being pegged to prime, staying leveraged and maintaining investments is something I am comfortable with rather than aggressively paying debt down
4. RRSP then on. I don’t intend purchasing a home, unsure where FHSA would be squared in

Considering my higher tax bracket, I am unsure if I ought to first maximize my RRSP to reduce exposure each year before building out TFSA. I believe by contributing ~$20k to my RRSP, I could then invest the refund later into my TFSA — no employer match.

Looking forward to any advice!

Wondering if its just an impression but I am seeing more and more expensive EV cars on the road and wondering what the heck do people do for a living to be able to afford that. Are these rented or financed for many years?

Can a single income of $5k monthly support a wife and kids?

Is a monthly after-tax income of $5200 (Net) realistic for supporting a family in Southern Ontario? With housing costs of around $2,000 for mortgage or rent? combined personal bills of roughly $1,000 for the primary earner, and an additional $500 for a partner's insurance, phone, and subscriptions, the remaining budget must cover groceries, utilities, childcare, transportation, and savings. When considering the long-term financial picture, does having roughly $200,000 in savings for the earner and $100,000 for the partner change the feasibility of this budget?

The biggest fear here is the wife not being able to find work. She has a college degree and works in construction management but wants to find something remote. She currently works in the GTA, but i live in southern Ontario and this is where she would move. I just think the job market is terrible right now and this is risky. Supporting her on $5200, lets say I get bumped up to $6000, but by that time we will have to support a kid.

Hi all,

I work at a class action law firm currently handling a case against Bell and Telus regarding their billing practices, especially in relation to their use of "per minute" in their contracts. The lack of disclosure or information about the rounding-up practices (ex. 2 seconds was rounded up to 1 minutes' worth) is alleged to have caused customers to lose value in their prepaid phone plans and used up their minutes faster than expected.

If anyone has rate plan contracts, brochures or advertisements from Bell, Telus or Rogers from 2005-2010 (or around those dates) and could send photos or emails of them, that would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if you do - this would be helpful towards securing fair compensation for affected Canadian customers. You can also PM with details (this is a professional account).

Thank you!

I’m posting because I’m looking for some guidance on how to properly file my taxes from previous years, the thing is, I didn’t understand how to charge/remit GST at the time so I just didn’t and I’ve gotten myself into a bit of a bind. If I’m being entirely honest, I’ve struggled with substance abuse in the past and I’m actively trying to get my life back on track now ( the reason for why I’m finally dealing with this now) I need to submit my 2024 and 2025 taxes but I’m wondering if I should contact the CRA and be upfront first about my GST situation and then file or should I file my taxes as I have them and then address my outstanding GST balance with CRA? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I realize how stupid I’ve been acting trying to avoid figuring this out until now, I know I’m gonna have a large balance to pay and I will figure it out but I would like to minimize the amount of interest and penalties if possible. I’ve considered just going to a tax expert, but I’m so nervous about the judgement that I’ve been putting it off for too long. If more info is needed please ask, I’m an open book and just not super financially literate so I realize I’m probably missing a lot of pertinent info.

I was going to H&R Block to get my taxes done (a family member works there and helped me) and I’ve had multiple failures on their end that have put me in a shittier position that I was already on my own. One example being that my accountant switched my date and month of birth when submitting one of my previous tax years which caused a major problem for when it came to access my CRA account because it was flagged for fraud. Another example being that I gave all of my tax paperwork for 2021 & 2022 years to this family member to do at H&R Block and for some reason she put it away in her closet and forgot about it for two years, despite my repeated inquiries if they were being done (yes I have proof of this in writing) so I accrued much more interest than I should have in that time. This family member is going through a major health battle at the moment so I have sympathy but damn I wished I went somewhere else! I used to not be able to access my CRA account for that reason but now I’m behind on my taxes which is why I cannot access my CRA account until I have my 2024 filed (They ask for line 15000 on 2025 or 2024 taxes which doesn’t exist yet for me) so logically it feels like I should just file my taxes as is, but if I can lesson the penalties that would be amazing and if calling and owning up to not properly filing my GST is the best course of action I will do it. Part of me is like “can I just go to jail instead?” Is that an option? 😭

Double up payments plus bimonthly payments - starts in 2 days!

It’s incredible how much you can save in interest.

Look at these numbers. They really make a strong argument for where to place your money, in investing or on the mortgage.

I feel like houses are potentially one of the worst investments available currently, but regardless my partner and I want a house and eventually will buy a house as the lifestyle it offers is something we both want.

When staring down the barrel of a 800k house and putting down let’s say 20%

To me it would make more sense to put down 10% and continually investing the other 80k especially if there is TFSA room available. Sure you pay cmhc but the math still checks out if we assume the stock market will continue to provide some sort of annualized returns 8% ish long term.

In addition to this we would have a condo rental leveraged to the max and focus on exclusively paying down the main house’s mortgage. This could be sold in the future but for now it’s fully maintaining itself.

I understand that from a pure fiscal responsibility perspective not buying a home for 800k is likely the best choice but I still think it wouldn’t completely stunt us financially if we manage the rental and other investments properly.

Anyways curious on others thoughts where did you draw the line in leveraging yourself and just decide to pay down debt aggressively?

Long story short I (30M) been struggling the last few years to be debt free and start investing for real. Finally I managed to save some money and secured a solid 10k. I know it is not a big amount but for me it is a very good accomplishment considering all the charges that weigh on me.

I’d like to have different opinions on how to build my portfolio with that money. Was thinking to just buy XEQT but don’t wanna put all my eggs in one basket no matter how stable the ETF is. Should I risk a certain amount of my capital into Crypto ?
What would you do if you were in my situation

Economic Risk & Financial Stability Summary Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Reporting cutoff: approximately 5:15 p.m. Calgary time (MDT) Latest completed U.S. market session: Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Overall Economic Risk: WARNING · UNCHANGED...