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I feel this big time. I'm in the top 10% of income earners in Canada and yet me and my family are stuck in a small one bed apartment. We can't buy property as

I feel this big time. I'm in the top 10% of income earners in Canada and yet me and my family are stuck in a small one bed apartment. We can't buy property as everything in the area would leave us very house poor, if we even qualify for the mortgage.

Spivak 3y ago
I'm in the same boat and was so confused until I did the math what my lower middle class parents made adjusted for inflation and they had more real purchasing power than me.
- getmeinrn 3y ago
  "Inflation’s silver lining: higher salaries" [1] But you're making a bigger number, so it's fine! Don't mind those that own everything unofficially taxing those that own nothing with inflation. 1. https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1413132513350803460 https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1413132513350803460
- balderdash 3y ago
  Yeah I think the the number that clicked for me was the ratio of home price to entry level wage 50 years ago. E.g. an entry level job on Wall Street might have paid $15k/yr and a really nice apartment was $150k…a 10x spread - today that entry level job is say $150K but the same apartment is like $3-5m closer to a 25x spread…
tjpnz 3y ago
You're probably not in the top 10% when you account for the wealthy hiding their assets from the tax man.
- speakfreely 3y ago
  No one who is wealthy would ever refer to their annual income as a defining metric.
pydry 3y ago
Me too. My parents made significantly more in their entire lifetime from the appreciation of a house they bought in the 1980s than they ever did earning a lower middle class wage. It's quite common, but not talked about in polite conversation. If you have even a half hearted belief in meritocracy that represents a failure of epic proportions. As a top 10%-er wouldn't qualify for a mortgage to buy the house I grew up in. This wasn't an accident. The country has been on the road to serfdom and ever since Thatcher violently crushed the Labour unions.
- gruez 3y ago
  >If you have even a half hearted belief in meritocracy that represents a failure of epic proportions. I'm curious, what do you think "half hearted belief in meritocracy" consist of? From the rest of your comment, it sounds like any sort of economic system where you can earn money without the effort of yourself (ie. investment) isn't meritocratic?
  - pydry 3y ago
    Pretty much. If that type of income dominates your economic system it murders the incentive to actually create value. Doing well in your career means nothing because the benefits are a rounding error on the rewards of having wealthy parents or getting into bitcoin early or whatever. Quite apart from being grossly unfair it's grossly inefficient to structure the economy so that unearned income is privileged and dominates.
- flatline 3y ago
  I am in the top 10% and live quite comfortably in a house I own, provide for two children, and have some disposable income. I would say I live a similar quality of life that my art professor father did, who was making ~$35/yr over most of his career, which was a comfortable but lower middle class income at the time. Part of the difference may be that none of us have lived in HCOL areas.
  - pydry 3y ago
    The most desperate people ive met in the UK are those that grew up in a HCOL area to lower middle class/poor parents, went to university and did average jobs and paid 60% of their take home on renting a bedroom. They would tell me that their retirement plan was a bullet. I'm glad you're doing well though.
NhanH 3y ago
How much does one make to be top 10% of income earners in Canada?

Spivak 3y ago

I'm in the same boat and was so confused until I did the math what my lower middle class parents made adjusted for inflation and they had more real purchasing power than me.

getmeinrn 3y ago
"Inflation’s silver lining: higher salaries" [1] But you're making a bigger number, so it's fine! Don't mind those that own everything unofficially taxing those that own nothing with inflation. 1. https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1413132513350803460 https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1413132513350803460
balderdash 3y ago
Yeah I think the the number that clicked for me was the ratio of home price to entry level wage 50 years ago. E.g. an entry level job on Wall Street might have paid $15k/yr and a really nice apartment was $150k…a 10x spread - today that entry level job is say $150K but the same apartment is like $3-5m closer to a 25x spread…

tjpnz 3y ago

You're probably not in the top 10% when you account for the wealthy hiding their assets from the tax man.

speakfreely 3y ago
No one who is wealthy would ever refer to their annual income as a defining metric.

pydry 3y ago

Me too. My parents made significantly more in their entire lifetime from the appreciation of a house they bought in the 1980s than they ever did earning a lower middle class wage. It's quite common, but not talked about in polite conversation. If you have even a half hearted belief in meritocracy that represents a failure of epic proportions. As a top 10%-er wouldn't qualify for a mortgage to buy the house I grew up in. This wasn't an accident. The country has been on the road to serfdom and ever since Thatcher violently crushed the Labour unions.

gruez 3y ago
>If you have even a half hearted belief in meritocracy that represents a failure of epic proportions. I'm curious, what do you think "half hearted belief in meritocracy" consist of? From the rest of your comment, it sounds like any sort of economic system where you can earn money without the effort of yourself (ie. investment) isn't meritocratic?
- pydry 3y ago
  Pretty much. If that type of income dominates your economic system it murders the incentive to actually create value. Doing well in your career means nothing because the benefits are a rounding error on the rewards of having wealthy parents or getting into bitcoin early or whatever. Quite apart from being grossly unfair it's grossly inefficient to structure the economy so that unearned income is privileged and dominates.
flatline 3y ago
I am in the top 10% and live quite comfortably in a house I own, provide for two children, and have some disposable income. I would say I live a similar quality of life that my art professor father did, who was making ~$35/yr over most of his career, which was a comfortable but lower middle class income at the time. Part of the difference may be that none of us have lived in HCOL areas.
- pydry 3y ago
  The most desperate people ive met in the UK are those that grew up in a HCOL area to lower middle class/poor parents, went to university and did average jobs and paid 60% of their take home on renting a bedroom. They would tell me that their retirement plan was a bullet. I'm glad you're doing well though.

NhanH 3y ago

How much does one make to be top 10% of income earners in Canada?