How life financially changed for you this past year

[Eff-1]

I thought I'd ask everyone how things have changed for you, if anything, this past year with inflation, interest rate hikes, and various other economic happenings going on.

My wife is off work until Spring 2023 so our HHI has decreased quite a bit because of that, but generally we've been able to make it work by keeping expenses relatively low, with a few exceptions noted below.

She doesn't drive a lot, so the higher gas prices this year wasn't too bad for us. I mostly walk and I use transit to commute for the past few years.

We have a gigantic mortgage on our condo but are lucky to have avoided interest rate hikes after locking our rate back in 2020. Thank goodness. Strata fees did go up about 7% but that was pretty good that we kept the increase below 10% (I'm on the council).

We need a bigger place now, but higher rates makes moving somewhere bigger even harder, so I started renting a hot-desk at a place nearby to work from at since my wife is now at home all day with the baby. It essentially gives me back my own office that we converted to the nursery. This is one of those "wish I had a house" expenses. Like the money I pay 2x per year to store our snow tires at kaltire instead of having a garage to keep them in. I hate that.

Our grocery bill is where we have seen the biggest hit this year. Because of severe allergies and other health issues, we don't have a lot of flexibility in the specialty foods and brands we buy. So when costs go up, we literally have no choice but to spend more. We can't just easily switch brands or shop at a different store. Also we now have another member of the family to feed, although it's just baby formula for now which hasn't gone up in price, but was hard to find for a period of time.

We barely go out anymore. Our leisure/entertainment bill is next to nothing, but that's because of our new family lifestyle and not necessarily to save money (but saving money is a benefit!).

We don't go to restaurants, but we still order in 2 or 3x per week because of the time savings and convenience of not cooking/cleaning with the baby. Half the time I'll go pick it up to avoid delivery fees. But even so, every time I see the bill, I'm like wtf this is crazy expensive now for average food we eat in front of the TV.

We aren't taking any vacations and have no plans to due to the hassle of flying with a baby but also due to the flu/covid/RSV going around right now impacting kids. So I guess that saves money too.

One area I could save money (but still don't) is daily lunches. I eat out everyday and what used to cost under $10 is now $15 per lunch. This is one area I could definitely do better to help our finances and probably should start.

In spring when my wife returns to work, we are going to have daycare expenses. I know there are new subsidies in place now, but I am still expecting $1000 per month at least but hoping it might be less now. Once again, I am thankful for having locked in our mortgage rate given this new expense on the way.

In 2023, I'd love to see the cost of childcare continue to decrease for more people. Fingers and toes crossed.

[bcrdukes]

I got married and spent a shit load of money so that really hurt. All that money could have been saved for a rainy day fund or put towards paying off the principle amount on our home (or a new car hahaha)

Otherwise, strata/property management fees went up from $265 to $285. Mortgage rate is good until December 2023 so I am dreading that.

No serious plans for travel next year other than a few small trips to Vancouver and Los Angeles.

[Great68]

We've had a few financial plus/minus changes, overall they've basically cancelled each other out and stayed level and haven't really actively changed any of our financial approaches.

I received a bit of a raise in April

My Wife took a new job in March, moving from Private sector to Public. Took a ~15% salary hit, but gained full benefit package (had zero benefits from old job), pension (had zero RRSP match, or anything like that with old job), Flex Days, 35 hour work week etc... + Happier wife from leaving a toxic environment whose value far outweighs the straight salary loss.
Plus where before she was daily driving the F150 out to Central Saanich, now she busses or works from home so we're saving all the gas money there.

My son entered Kindergarten in September, so no more $900/month daycare payments. My mother in law finally bought a house within walking distance, so she takes care of morning/after care (Would have cost an extra $350/mo)

I made a few largish expenditures on the house this year, new gutters and Heat Pump.

Starting to extract funds from my dedicated "Mustang restoration and mods" savings that I've been nest egging for the last decade. Made my first $3k parts purchase, with another $4k in the cart. The big ticket items will be the new motor and transmission which be next year.

Have to renew my mortgage in April for the 3rd term. Thankfully should only be about a $250-300/m increase based on today's rates if I remain fixed. (I feel for you guys getting hit by the thousands of extra dollars)

We aren't planning any long major travels. These days we're happy to just kick around locally camping with our RV trailer or fishing trips with the boat.

[yray]

I went from leasing cars to buying old land rovers.

I guess its better throwing my money at gas than a no asset debt.

jokes aside... cooking more at home, less play money, rented out basement suite and the tenants ran the heat to 28C

[CivicBlues]

Might come across as a bit of a humble brag but we're living life pretty much as we did in 2019. But in order to do that, had to job hop two times to get a 60% raise. However I'm now in a somewhat more precarious position with this job than the original cushy one in 2019. Also we're early 40s mid-career DINKS but still living like entry level new grads in many ways so generally we live way below our means.

Bad:
Mortgage payments went up 40%
Strata payments went up 40% as well (FU Insurance companies!)
Property Tax surprisingly went down this year by about 5% - big whoop
I'm now responsible for funding my own RRSP 100%
Groceries/Eating out - who the fuck knows exactly, probably a 50% bump up at least.

Good:
-Aforementioned raises
-Work from home is now entrenched so commuting costs are nil
-Eat at home more often but still enjoy a lunch out 4/7 days and a fancy dinner every 3 weeks
-Cooking skillz much better now


MEh?
-Seeing friends has pretty much been halved due to everyone I know moving further away or not wanting to spend money entertaining. No going out for drinks with colleagues because WFH
-Went on two Int'l trips this year and spent a shit ton but that was partially due to COVID credits from 2020 and well, FOMO. Probably won't do as much travelling this year except for work although I won't pass it up if I find a deal.
-Delayed looking for a bigger place (i.e. a more "middle age-appropriate" space) till god knows when. Just trying to be happy and grateful for what we have and live in the moment as much as possible.

[donk.]

This thread should get juicy in 12-24 months

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Just trying to be happy and grateful for what we have and live in the moment as much as possible.

^ Same here.

It's hard out there for a lot of people right now.

For people who aren't being forced to cut back on expenses, and who are still generally able to afford their current lifestyle, that's a good place to be.

[inv4zn]

Got a raise of about 15%, everything went up in price by about 20%, still poor. lol.

[quasi]

I got a significant raise this year, my wife also got a pretty decent raise either end of last year or beginning of this year (time blends) taking a new position.

Our mortgage is locked in so haven't seen anything from the new rates on that yet, we have another 2 years at this rate I'm sure we'll be paying more in 2025.

My investments have taken a shit kicking but that's not shocking.

We haven't really done any vacations since covid other than I took a trip to Vegas this summer so we've saved some money that way however we plan to take a few in 2023.

I have a kid that is going to University in 2024 so that's on been on my mind.

Overall we've been doing ok I guess, probably have more disposable income than I've ever had in my life but at the age I'm at it's not that shocking.

I'm trying to save as much money as I can for anything unforeseen but we need a new fence, new hot water tank and wife needs a new vehicle so money will be spent.

Edit: One big change for me this year, I dropped about 50 pounds since spring, also dropped about 25 pounds right before pandemic. I went from 245 pounds down to 172, mostly from walking and being a little more conscious with my diet. I still eat all the things I like I just eat less of it. I walk just under 6 km's every day, I missed one day when it snowed but other than that I make it a point to get out and walk. It's been one of the biggest changes in my life. I plan to get back to the gym with my son, first time really lifting weights in almost 25 years, working at a desk the last 12 years my muscles have atrophied to the max and it's bad when you're wife say's jesus you need to hit the weights. I'm going to use the competitive nature between us to out do that little fucker but I'm pretty certain he can out lift me already at 16.

[EvoFire]

Wow it's been a long year.

Win - January we refinanced the mortgage and went to 1.1% variable, saved a few hundo a month
Win - April I started a new job with a 30% pay bump
Minor win - Found out that the bump up in cut off for property tax meant we now qualified, just barely, and saved $300
Lose - Interest rates have gone up by 4%, and we've had to bump up our payments by almost 50%. We are under paying right now, to match the new 5.1% rate we'd probably have to bump it up another $1000
Win - Sept we moved our son to a new daycare closer to home, the daycare fee was $200 cheaper, and the commute went from 45mins at dropoff/pickup to now 15mins, and gas savings.
Lose - Nov I got laid off and I haven't found a job yet. I bring home 66% of the income. The market is weird right now and it's Christmas.
Win - Dec the new daycare subsidy means our daycare costs go down again from $950 to $500 a month.

We have a new baby coming in a few weeks so it's not a great time for me. Hoping things look up in the new year.

Overall I would have called it a win if not for the layoff in Nov.

[twitchyzero]

with supply chain issues sorting itself this year for many things out i've had to catch on big ticket items that ive been putting off

when work used to be slow i shrugged it off, now im definitely more keen to see my hours sustainable enough to can keep lights on at home (figuratively)

workplace of going on 5 years gave severance as they couldn't get close to the raises i usually ask..onto a different position within a few weeks to even out inflation

respect to all the hustling out there. heart goes out to students and single parents

[Tapioca]

I switched industries for a 20% increase plus full time WFH last year. My wife switched companies and got a 20% increase this year. Our daycare costs finally went away this year, so you'd think we'd be doing well...

Not really as we're on a variable mortgage, which has basically wiped out our cash flow increases.

Food costs definitely are felt these days. We eat a lot less red meat than a couple of years ago. We also have switched brands to lower cost alternatives where it makes sense. We have cut down on sushi take out considerably due to the rising cost of fish. I'm also finding myself using loyalty programs a lot more (PC Optimum, Triangle, etc) to make the dollars stretch.

[underscore]

A year ago I was freshly unemployed and bleeding cash because my EI + the last of my wifes mat leave = peanuts. I got lucky and renewed my mortgage right after the first uptick in rates so that's not too bad. I also got a new job with a sizeable increase in base salary which was also nice. I get RRSP matching now so more is going into there while at the same time less is coming from my income which is nice. I'm full time WFH now so my insurance and gas costs went way down.

I feel for anyone getting hammered by their mortgage rates going up. Hopefully house prices drop at least a little like they seem to be already. With how much they went up, even with my past raises and now this large one, I wouldn't be able to qualify to buy my same house if I was buying it now instead of back in 2013. That's wack.

I'm in the same boat with food, young kids being picky + each kid having 3 different severe food allergies really limits flexibility with the grocery bill. It also saves us on takeout because there's only 1 place we can order from so that cancels out a little I guess lol.

2 weddings this summer cost a small fortune but that's done now at least. We barely went out before and don't now so nowhere to save there. My wife needs gas once a month and I'm once every two months. She's a SAHM so no direct childcare costs but it's good to see that coming down for other people. Part of why she's a SAHM is when we did the math she'd be working for basically nothing with the cost of putting 2 kids into daycare.

One thing I did notice jumping a lot is utilities. We went to all new high efficiency stuff within the past few years and the bills are still nuts so I shudder to think what it would've been like with the old units in place.

In the end even with income going up, the mortgage staying the same and some stuff going down my savings are still not moving very much. I guess that's life these days with 3 dependents, 5 if you count cats.

And speaking of cats even those fuckers need special food which has also had shortages so that's been fun. I was so happy when my toddler was done with formula because having cats that can only eat 1 food and a kid that could only drink 2 kinds of formula was a fucking nightmare when the supply shortages were at their worst.

Kinda backwards with rates going up but I hit the point in life where I'm willing to be a little riskier with finances to enjoy life while myself and my kids are young. They're still a bit too little to do anything too big with but once the youngest hits 5ish there's only at most 10 years before the oldest is busy with school and then their own adult life so I want to make the most of it. I have too many friends who lost a parent in their 30's/40's/50's/etc and know too many people who have had medical issues trash part of their retirement plan to be willing to wait patiently to do some things. Heck I was on a flight for work back from Toronto and this businessy guy that looked to be in his 50's had issues with his hip or something and couldn't sit for more than like 20 mins at a time. That'd make something like flying to Europe or Asia to travel pretty unpleasant. So I don't really care as much about retiring younger, I'd rather be able to enjoy things more now and have to keep working later on when my kids are too busy to want to spend time with me anyways

[supafamous]

- Portfolio down 20%. Not sure retirement at 55 (8 years away) is possible anymore.
- Got laid off in Aug but found a new job in a month and secured a late start date so I lived off my severance for 3 months and spent more time with my kid and did some projects.
- We bought our forever home in Nov 2021 which took our out of pocket mortgage costs (after rental income) from ~$1600/mo to $5400/mo which has now become $7k/mo ($2k rental income) in a span of 12 months. We love the house, it's great and both sets of parents can move in with us as they get older.
- Definitely noticed the impact of inflation starting around Aug/Sept. Kinda shocked sometimes to see how expensive some things have gotten.

All in all, it was a rough year financially - net worth down, cash flow down, had to find a new job. Only upside was the new day care subsidies.

But still alive, still happy, and I have a great life. The big picture is good.

[Badhobz]

I read all your posts and my hats off to you gents who are hanging on. Economic circumstances arent easy and you Broskis are weathering the storm. Some are faring a bit better than others but I’m glad you’re all okay and safe. I’m not a religious person but I pray to all the gods and goddesses that you guys find wealth, health and happiness in this upcoming new year.

[bcrdukes]

Translation: Badhobz not impacted

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Translation: Badhobz not impacted

I mean, how bad can it be with a ratrolla and an old Camry, it's cheap.

[hud 91gt]

Wife went on maternity, lost almost half our income. No longer buy steak. Stopped looking at my investments months ago. Lol trying to keep the credit card bill within our budget. Semi successful cutting back.

Saying that. We bought out our fixed rate mortgage about 1.5 years ago for ultra cheap variable. Needed ultra low rates for a year to break even with the fees. Guess that was a bad move. Luckily we never stretched ourselves.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I mean, how bad can it be with a ratrolla and an old Camry, it's cheap.

Life's pretty good in transportation for the past 2 years. we got big bonuses but next year the gravy train is ending (volumes dropping already). This year's office party we had will probably be the last "extravagant" office party. No more endless booze, no more lobster stuffed with crab, stuffed with filet mignon.

ITS OVER!!!!!!!! next year it'll be mcdonalds 4 us.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

no more lobster stuffed with crab,

You guys hiring?

[Badhobz]

always! just be careful of the office politics. thats the only downside to these semi government gigs.

https://www.google.com/search?q=port...state=tldetail

[inv4zn]

My first post was a bit in jest - and in all seriousness, it's a good time to take things into perspective.

RS isn't a representative demographic economically, I'd dare say most of us here over the age of 30 are at least in the 25% of earners in the lower mainland. I mean don't get me wrong, the middle-class struggle is both real and hard, but there are people (and kind of worse, families) who aren't trying to decide between Kellogg's and Great Valu, but rather who gets to eat and who doesn't. We can sit here and complain our investments have taken a beating, but let's be honest, that's far better problem to have than trying to figure out how to pay for both electricity and food.

So, donate to food banks and charities, if you have older kids teach/take them volunteering, and all in all just take a minute to be kind to those in need.

If anyone here wants to do some kind of RS Drive for the foodbank or whatever, I'd be down to chip in.

[Badhobz]

Id totally be down for an RS food drive. Especially this winter.

I went to ba le on Kingsway today and this really old white lady was asking for spare change. I usually don’t give to these homeless types but she didn’t look like a drug addict or cracked out. Just a senior facing hard times. I gave her a twenty. She wept a bit. I told her to get on some government programs for seniors like bc housing or the ministry of social development and poverty reduction.

I also bought her two slices from straight outta Brooklyn pizza and She ended up walking away (I guess back home?). Broke my heart to see people like that.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

Wife went on maternity, lost almost half our income. No longer buy steak. Stopped looking at my investments months ago. Lol trying to keep the credit card bill within our budget. Semi successful cutting back.

Saying that. We bought out our fixed rate mortgage about 1.5 years ago for ultra cheap variable. Needed ultra low rates for a year to break even with the fees. Guess that was a bad move. Luckily we never stretched ourselves.

I totally forgot to mention our investments. Probably because I stopped looking a while ago. It was too painful haha. We are now looking mostly at locked in investments and high interest savings accounts for keeping money in 2023.

And yeah maternity leave is a double whammy. You lose a lot of income while also the baby brings a lot of expenses. I sympathize!

[inv4zn]

London Drugs does a program every year, where they partner with local senior care homes, and they get "wish lists" from local seniors. These items are put on little tags on trees in every store, and you can purchase these items and LD will deliver them. You don't even need to buy them at LD, you can just bring the items bought elsewhere to the store, with the tag. No hand-made stuff though.

Honestly, it's pretty heart breaking - the items asked for are basic necessities like socks, toiletries, even stuffed animals.

For the past few years the adults in our extended family have all agreed to only get gifts for kids, and for adults to just go fill those instead.

https://www.londondrugs.com/stocking...r-seniors.html