* The top 20% of households (quintile 5, all age groups) are earning $197,667 per year in after-tax income, and have positive cash flow of $60,652 per year * The bottom 20% of households (quintile 1, all age groups) are earning $31,604 per year in after-tax income, and have **negative** cash flow of $30,364 per year * ~60% of Canadian households had negative cash flow in 2023 (i.e., their total spending exceeded their total income in the year) * The wealthiest 20% of Canadian households had an average net worth of ~$3.3 million in 2023, an increase of nearly $1 million versus 2010 * The poorest 20% of Canadian households had an average net worth of **negative $1,141** in 2023, an increase of $15,009 versus 2010
The top 20% of households have a net worth of $3.3M, which generates $165k of interest income per year if you earn 5%.
Meanwhile, the lowest 20% net worth is negative.
Nice visual, but sad data!
I’m not convinced it’s valid to just subtract quintile values to get the cash flow rate. Within each quintile there will be a variety of factors affecting cash flow that are missed by that – each graph should have the quintiles calculated separately based on actual data rather than a sum/difference of quintiles from other stats
So the top quintile is saving $60k per year, while the bottom 3 quintiles are losing money.
It’s rough up north!
Is it Canadian or US dollar?
There’s something odd in the analysis for the spending stuff.
If you have a household income of ~$79k, and consistently spend $91k, you will be bankrupt in short order… really short order. Yeah, you could pull it off for a couple of years, but you can’t make it last. And if you’re constantly spending $12k more than you bring in, you’re not amassing half a million dollars of net worth – even if you started with that much net worth, you’d be drawing down on it to break even with the overspending.
Since 60% of Canadians are not bankrupt and homeless, it seems that these numbers are misleading. Not necessarily *wrong* but misleading. I don’t think they can quite be interpreted the way these charts suggest.
Net worth definitely boomed if you had a house. 2010 a house that was 300k is now 1.7mil just outside Toronto.
People who didn’t buy back then are the have not generation.
There’s no way the average household net worth is $ 1 million and the middle quintile is $ 450k
Edit: okay maybe it is true since $ 1 million CAD is only like € 650k EUR or $ 700k USD and Canada has the most inflated real estate market on earth
The graphs don’t correlate. How can Quintile 1 be spending twice their after tax income of $30,000 yet their networth is only -$1000? This means their savings rate is NOT almost -100% because people *aren’t* going into debt. I’m not Canadian, but I assume that that negative cash flow are government transfers and charity assistance that’s not being captured in after tax income.
The savings rate graph needs to be removed because you are missing the necessary data to accurately display it.
In effect, people’s after-tax income in those lower quntiles is actually much higher than displayed here. It’s just not earned or investment income that normally subject to income tax.
My net worth is negative but my salary is over 50k, I’m in Q1 for worth but probably Q2-Q3 in salary.
For info, it’s my second year as a middle class after 14 years of shitty jobs, studies and mental health issues
10 comments
[**Interactive charts and commentary**](https://themeasureofaplan.com/canadian-savings/)
* The top 20% of households (quintile 5, all age groups) are earning $197,667 per year in after-tax income, and have positive cash flow of $60,652 per year
* The bottom 20% of households (quintile 1, all age groups) are earning $31,604 per year in after-tax income, and have **negative** cash flow of $30,364 per year
* ~60% of Canadian households had negative cash flow in 2023 (i.e., their total spending exceeded their total income in the year)
* The wealthiest 20% of Canadian households had an average net worth of ~$3.3 million in 2023, an increase of nearly $1 million versus 2010
* The poorest 20% of Canadian households had an average net worth of **negative $1,141** in 2023, an increase of $15,009 versus 2010
Tools used: d3.js, excel
Sources:
* [Distributions of household economic accounts, income, consumption and saving, by characteristic, annual](https://doi.org/10.25318/3610058701-eng)
* [Distributions of household economic accounts, wealth, by characteristic, Canada, quarterly](https://doi.org/10.25318/3610066001-eng)
* [Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted](https://doi.org/10.25318/1810000501-eng)
Slide 2 is pretty bleak.
The top 20% of households have a net worth of $3.3M, which generates $165k of interest income per year if you earn 5%.
Meanwhile, the lowest 20% net worth is negative.
Nice visual, but sad data!
I’m not convinced it’s valid to just subtract quintile values to get the cash flow rate. Within each quintile there will be a variety of factors affecting cash flow that are missed by that – each graph should have the quintiles calculated separately based on actual data rather than a sum/difference of quintiles from other stats
So the top quintile is saving $60k per year, while the bottom 3 quintiles are losing money.
It’s rough up north!
Is it Canadian or US dollar?
There’s something odd in the analysis for the spending stuff.
If you have a household income of ~$79k, and consistently spend $91k, you will be bankrupt in short order… really short order. Yeah, you could pull it off for a couple of years, but you can’t make it last. And if you’re constantly spending $12k more than you bring in, you’re not amassing half a million dollars of net worth – even if you started with that much net worth, you’d be drawing down on it to break even with the overspending.
Since 60% of Canadians are not bankrupt and homeless, it seems that these numbers are misleading. Not necessarily *wrong* but misleading. I don’t think they can quite be interpreted the way these charts suggest.
Net worth definitely boomed if you had a house. 2010 a house that was 300k is now 1.7mil just outside Toronto.
People who didn’t buy back then are the have not generation.
There’s no way the average household net worth is $ 1 million and the middle quintile is $ 450k
Edit: okay maybe it is true since $ 1 million CAD is only like € 650k EUR or $ 700k USD and Canada has the most inflated real estate market on earth
The graphs don’t correlate. How can Quintile 1 be spending twice their after tax income of $30,000 yet their networth is only -$1000? This means their savings rate is NOT almost -100% because people *aren’t* going into debt. I’m not Canadian, but I assume that that negative cash flow are government transfers and charity assistance that’s not being captured in after tax income.
The savings rate graph needs to be removed because you are missing the necessary data to accurately display it.
In effect, people’s after-tax income in those lower quntiles is actually much higher than displayed here. It’s just not earned or investment income that normally subject to income tax.
My net worth is negative but my salary is over 50k, I’m in Q1 for worth but probably Q2-Q3 in salary.
For info, it’s my second year as a middle class after 14 years of shitty jobs, studies and mental health issues