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May 07, 2021

How much does your family spend in a month?

The average Canadian makes about $45,000 a year and, judging from all the talk of bulging debt loads, spends about 15 to 20% more than that. But where does it all go?  

Last month, The Atlantic took a look at how Americans earn and spend money, noting that while housing costs have gone through the roof, the amount of money most people spend on food has dropped sharply over the years, even when you include eating out.

"Across the economy we can see that items that require fewer and fewer American workers per completion (think: socks) get cheaper, while services that can't find similar ways to replace American workers (think: health care, education, government) don't get cheaper at all. In fact, they often get more expensive."

Here's a parallel Canadian graphic using some StatsCan numbers.

Do the numbers jibe with your expenditures? What does your family spend to get by? Do you look at things on a month-to-month basis? Every week? As percentage of what you gross? Net?

When it comes to saving and spending, how have things changed for you over the last year or two?

By Gordon Powers, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...