An income of $196,000 places you in the country’s top one per cent of earners. But does it make you wealthy?
The Western world has become chastened and frugal. The reasons are many: corporations crouched in fear of another, much worse recession; penniless governments a-toppling; and Europe, for the foreseeable future, mired in a debt debacle. But you wouldn’t know it from life in Toronto, where a luxury condo opens its doors every week and we queue for hunks of exotic chocolate at the new Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws. We’re bouncing along in a prosperity bubble.
Read the rest of Jonathan Kay’s essay »
Read profiles of five Toronto households and how they spend their money »
The exact meaning of prosperous, of course, depends entirely on one’s perspective. Last fall’s Occupy protesters were keen to demonize the so-called One Per Cent—the monocled, yacht-owning multi-millionaires who are now greed personified. However, the threshold for the top one per cent of income earners is much lower than you’d expect: $196,000, in the latest Statistics Canada numbers. That’s no small amount of money, but hardly the means for a life of leisure. In an increasingly pricy city like Toronto, where we pay a premium for everything from milk to car insurance, $196,000 can seem positively middle-class.
Break it down, and it translates to roughly $10,400 a month, after taxes. For many Torontonians, that $10,400 disappears fast. Thousands go to the mortgage. For those with young kids, daycare can cost upwards of $1,500 a month. There are the car and RSP payments, wardrobe refreshes, utility bills and something to set aside for when the furnace inevitably conks out. Plus the cost of the sushi, pad Thai and butter chicken that we order in three nights a week—because we’re all too tired to cook by the time we get home from work.
Then there’s the stuff that fills our houses—the calibre of which is the subject of intense, unspoken competition among my peers and neighbours. During my entire childhood, spent in a comfortable lower-upper-middle-class neighbourhood of Montreal, I am quite sure that my mother did not waste a single moment worrying about replacing her laminate kitchen counters with granite or marble. There was no such thing as a $1,000 Bugaboo stroller, or anything like it. You could host a casual weekend party without spending a fortune on artisanal cheeses. Living the good life simply wasn’t the full-time, across-the-retail-spectrum pursuit it has now become.
Read the rest of Jonathan Kay’s essay »
HOW THEY SPEND IT
Boo-hoo
February 15, 2012 at 8:29 am | by Jonathon YuleNot saying you should feel guilty for earning $196k … but this article is a poor attempt at soothing the feelings of upper middle class Liberals.
February 15, 2012 at 8:56 am | by GregOrdinarily, the “other” 99% of Canadians would laugh at this article as a failed, manufactured attempt at sympathy.
Fortunately for you though, those people probably don’t read your publication.
ps. Dammit, my Infiniti is in the shop AGAIN
February 15, 2012 at 9:09 am | by 99%I can’t believe these people put their names and faces out there but it’s always interesting to snoop in people’s business like this! I would be curious/nosy to know their net worths too though – the Damianis in particular appear to be spending a fortune ($1,000 per month in clothes!!!), way out of proportion to what I (household income $170k or so) and friends spend versus save/invest. And yeah, I’ll say it – only 1500 bucks to charity? Come on. More power to them all for their success though, despite all the sniping comments that will come none of these incomes come without hard work and talent.
February 15, 2012 at 9:22 am | by Foghorn O'KalashnikovAnyone notice the plug from Rogers telecom services? Hmmmmm….
February 15, 2012 at 9:24 am | by VBI agree, $196k is definitely not enough to live on in Toronto. Toronto is just a more expensive city and your money does not go as far. While I don’t think we need to feel sorry for any of the people profiled (including the one family who can’t manage to save a penny for their future), I think we have to own up to the reality of living in a big city.
February 15, 2012 at 9:25 am | by Top LeftThis article so accurately depicts what is happening all over the city – incurring massive amounts of consumer debt. Whether you’re earning 50k a year, or 196k, everyone spends beyond their means. Consumerism is the universal religion in north america, and it’s not just the upper class that buys into it – it’s just harder to poke fun at someone splurging beyond their means at a regular grocery store than at Pusateri’s.
February 15, 2012 at 9:44 am | by Benproof read your articles before you post. geez.
February 15, 2012 at 10:19 am | by kaA spectactularly superficial, poorly written article.
February 15, 2012 at 11:20 am | by Bruceyou people make me sick
February 15, 2012 at 11:58 am | by Jesus ChristProofread before posting. Someone needs a new web editor!!
February 15, 2012 at 12:15 pm | by English TeacherSo, how about living within your means? My partner and I have a combined income of about $105k, and still manage to own a house downtown, eat well, go out, travel… I have literally no sympathy for these people and their poor-little-rich-boy attitudes.
February 15, 2012 at 12:16 pm | by Alex“He tries to stay debt-free, but occasionally he splurges on travel or a big-ticket toy, like the $7,500 Royal Enfield motorcycle he bought last year. “People think I make a lot of money,” he says, “but I lose so much of it in tax.”
U poor thing!
SRSLY? SRSLY??? I mean this isn’t surprising for TL, but come on.
February 15, 2012 at 12:23 pm | by JMAll I can say is this makes me feel better about living within my means.
February 15, 2012 at 12:30 pm | by BeccaWow! I made a fraction of what these people make. I graduated in 2011 with a professional degree (and the attendant massive debt) and have only been working for a few months. After tax, I make less than a third of the 1% after-tax income and yet I managed to:
Keep a roof over my head
Pay all my bills/debt payment on time
Eat healthy, including meals out at least twice a week
Travel to Europe for a friend’s wedding
Tuck a couple hundred into savings every month
Buy gifts for loved ones
Is the city expensive? Sure, BUT the problem in this particular article isn’t Toronto – it’s people who don’t understand how to live. I don’t begrudge anyone with the means from buying expensive furniture – I will too when I have the cash, but if you think it’s more important than education savings for your children that’s YOUR fault, not the fault of “expensive city living”.
February 15, 2012 at 12:39 pm | by Cry Me A River