I was watching the news the other day and was surprised to see that the average Canadian is over $30k in debt outside of their mortgage. That seems like a pretty high number and since I live debt free, the notion of this seems pretty scary.
How many of you carry debt and what for?
What happened to buying things with money you actually have?
Money is pretty much free right now, pretty tough not to use line of credits when you want to get something done over and above.
My wife just wanted the house painted. So I'd float that for a month or two until it's paid off. Total cost is less than $100 in interest…
Zero zip nada.
The only time I used debt, was buying my truck.
A mortgage in Vancouver on the other hand….. ugh it hurts!
"X is for x-ray. If you've been bikin' and you haven't had an x-ray, you ain't goin' hard enough." - Bob Roll
I'm carrying a pretty significant amount right now, and it sucks. I don't recommend it - but it kept me alive when I was laid off during the recession. I'm actually considering selling my house and starting fresh with no debt at all, I've got close to 50 grand tied into this thing in equity.
just my student loan
Ha Ha! Made you look.
I owe money on the Truck I drive for work,then again they pay me by the KM to drive it,so after factoring for payments,gasoline,insurance,depreciation and maintenance it clears me about $600.00 a month.
times are tough - just wrapped debt into my mortgage to get payments down. one cheque, four mouths to feed, there is only a limited amount of dough to go around. house repairs, taxes, car repairs, kids needs, it really adds up vs single and living debt free.
zero debt except for the mortgage which is only [HTML_REMOVED] half the house value/amortizated long but the tennant is paying all the bills and getting a good deal to boot which allows me to be a man of leisure …more important than being mortgage free at this point
Use debt wisely and its ok the problem with debt is when it gets away from you, I can spend a bunch of money but I will have a 6th sense about how much I spent without adding it up, I never have problems on my own its been when a woman starts spending my $
I never have problems on my own its been when a woman starts spending my $
Or when they take half of what you've earned along with your house..
I was watching the news the other day and was surprised to see that the average Canadian is over $30k in debt outside of their mortgage. That seems like a pretty high number and since I live debt free, the notion of this seems pretty scary.
How many of you carry debt and what for?
What happened to buying things with money you actually have?
Kids + stay at home wife
zero debt, never been in debt for more than 50 bucks or so. That being said my bikes are the only thing that i own that is worth more than 3 figures.
Bike parts and bikes being ridiculously overpriced does not help the debt situation. Let's say you crash and break your seat, well now you have to spend a minimum of $40 on a seat so you can ride your bike that you spent $3000 on versus not spending the $40 and having a $3000 bike sit in your garage which is now a waste of $3000.
Or when they take half of what you've earned along with your house..
yup that has happened twice but the present GF is a bookeeper who has complete fiscal responsibility, all her own shit, is very frugal and she can hot key around several different bookeeping programs to tell you how much was spent …smart women are smarter even when I am not
I get a kick out of those "what to buy for my bike?" threads where buddy has money burning a hole in his pocket, he must know deep inside that something always breaks, he should realize a big bike could average out to a couple of hundred a month to run but he has to spend that money NOW on something he doesn't really need
He pulls the trigger and a week latter something else big breaks … buddy is out for the season
yup that has happened twice but the present GF is a bookeeper who has complete fiscal responsibility, all her own shit, is very frugal and she can hot key around several different bookeeping programs to tell you how much was spent and what anything cost?
So she is better equipped to clean you out..
I believe a more suitable statistic was one compiled by census at the start of the year which stated an income:debt ratio (unsecured) for Canadians as 1.62
What this translates into is that the average Canadian holds (1.62 x yearly income) worth of unsecured debt - credit cards, LOCs, department stores cards, etc. Exclusive of mortgages. So, if you make $100,000, it's proposed that the average person making such owes $162,000 in unsecured debt. Of course, statistics are just mathematical generalizations, but it's not pretty. Having said that, the banks and lending institutions have made it very very easy for many Canadians to get in over their heads in the last decade. It was a bit of a death spiral with zero floor/bottom control for risk management. They're attempting to curtail this white elephant with newly imposed restrictions on home mortgages and the like, but they're barking up the wrong tree. Mortgages aren't the problem - it's the unsecured, "low introductory rate cum high interest" credit card debts that people have that are spoiling the goods. Because these financial institutions work independently from those who sign off mortgages, it's a different field. A different vehicle of money management. It's cut-throat business 100% of the way, and they're getting nastier and nastier with the small print every 2 quarters (predatory clauses which fold in partners, hard assets, and the like in the event of default…pretty crazy as it's very invasive, yet very silent in its rollout).
I use NO credit. And fortunately, my mortgage is paid off. We're looking at buying into a bigger home but in order to do so, I want no less than 70% down, financing 30% max. It's just the way I want it.
"I'm addicted to surfing."
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