The survey suggests that 42% of Canadians would be in financial difficulty if their pay was delayed by even a week. And, while that's a grim statistic, it's actually the goods news. Last year, 47% said they were just making ends meet. 

Either way thiough, that's an alarming number of people who could be one car repair or dental bill away from financial disaster. The survey says 40% of employed Canadians are spending all of – or, in many cases, more than – their net pay.

Despite shouldering record-levels of debt, Canadians are actually richer than ever with household net worth eclipsing the $400,000 mark for the first time in history.

The average household's net worth grew by 5.8 per cent at the end of last year from $378,093 at the end of 2011, largely, due to roughly a 5 per cent increases in real estate values and savings, according to a recent report from Environics. 

This keeps Canadian households ahead of their U.S. counterparts for the sixth straight year although, on a currency-adjusted basis, the gap isn't that dramatic.

In fact, that gap has actually narrowed a bit recently, largely because Canadians continue to borrow where most Americans seem to be saving a bit more. And U.S. housing prices are on the increase.

But will this gap continue?