# Average canadian family spends over $55k a year on goods and services



## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...d_spent_55151_on_goods_services_statscan.html

Isn't the average family income close to or lower than this amount? 

Not sure what they include as the article is... ummm pretty thin...


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

jamesbe said:


> Isn't the average family income close to or lower than this amount?


I guess that's why everyone is deep in debt and has no savings.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Is this before sales tax or after?
If before, then it's more like $63K (depending on province).

Regardless, a family spending $X on consumer goods needs to make $X * 25% (or whatever average tax rate) in order to spend that $X sum.

No wonder real wages are stagnant and debt levels are 164%.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Here's the StatsCan report:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130130/dq130130b-eng.htm?HPA



> Canadian households spent an average of $55,151 on goods and services in 2011, up 2.7% from 2010. This was slightly below the rate of inflation of 2.9% as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

I think my wife and I spend around 40K....no kids.

Seems about on par.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Most of these people have been on til debt do us part and use credit to survive each month .I spend that or maybe a bit more but in last couple years I have had big expenses like $85,000 renovation on our home and about $5000 last summer to move our daughter to our new apartment.2013 I expect we will be down to about $15,000 a year excluding groceries , mortgage and the bills that come with a house.Going on cruise in April but we spent only $4500 for the entire trip for both of us.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Only $4500? I went to Jamaica all-inclusive for $1700 in December... oh yeah!


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## loggedout (Dec 30, 2009)

without any information on how these figures were derived and other data related to the stats, it can be misleading to jump to conclusions from just "average income" and "average spending" per family.

e.g. the fact, that the "average" canadian family spends 55k on goods & services doesn't really provide any information on what the canadian family with an "average" income is spending, on average.


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## Pennypincher (Dec 3, 2012)

Cal said:


> I think my wife and I spend around 40K....no kids.
> 
> Seems about on par.


yeah we have spent just 45,000 on our credit card in the past year and we have two kids. We aren't out of control spenders by any means.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

loggedout said:


> without any information on how these figures were derived and other data related to the stats, it can be misleading to jump to conclusions from just "average income" and "average spending" per family.
> 
> e.g. the fact, that the "average" canadian family spends 55k on goods & services doesn't really provide any information on what the canadian family with an "average" income is spending, on average.


The underlying StatsCan report (that CC linked to) provides a breakdown by income quintile. It is really interesting to see how the spending shifts by quintile. For example, it looks like people across income levels spend the same average amount of income (expressed as a percentage) on clothing -- but the % of income spent on income taxes, for example, shifts dramatically across the quintiles.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

After going through Mint I discovered I spent far more than the "average". These numbers include housing as well as everything. A quick snapshot is showing me $65k if I don't include my rental and $80k if I do include it.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

This is interesting. Can't wait to get home and figure this out for our household. Could be in for a big surprise....

Really, aside from goods and services, are there other things considered? Isn't this simply 1-(savings rate)?


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

James I have a wheelchair and we always upgrade our cabin so we have the extra space so the cruise is $1300 each plus airfare from Toronto to San Juan. Our friends are going with us and they are getting similar outside cabin with veranda for $900 each so we are paying about $400 each for extra 90 sq ft.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

It gets worse. The average household spent $73,457, if you include income tax, pension, employment and life insurance, gifts. 

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130130/dq130130b-eng.htm?HPA

Sampson: Aside from goods and services, the 55K year total also includes shelter and costs associated with it.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

And that spending is atrocious..

_Households spent an average of *$11,229* on transportation in 2011_ *wow, that's horrible. *_Canadian households reported spending $5,588 on food _ *Expected, most people throw food out and are poor shoppers (without knowing)*
_spending on food purchased from restaurants rose 3.6% to $2,207._ *That's a lot of resturant food..lazy?*_average household spent $809 on cell phone expenses, $481 on expenses related to landline telephones and $416 on Internet access._ *Good for my telecom stocks, I guess *


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## somecanuck (Dec 23, 2011)

If you break some of those down to monthly costs, many of them do not seem unreasonable.


Transportation, $935.75 per month. That's easily more than double we spend, but we have only have one car and it's paid for.
Food, $465.67 per month, or $15.52 per day. Even for a couple, that's not terrible.
Restaurants, $183.92 per month. That's 2-3 meals a month for a couple, or a some social drinks. It's not lazy, it's a small luxury.
Cell phone, $67.42 per month. Most smartphone plans are $50 per month plus tax. Some families have three or four phones.
Telephones, $40.08 per month. A basic phone is around $25 per month. I can only assume there's features added.
Internet, $34.67 per month. That's cheap. I pay around that for 6 Mbps, and 55 Mbps is available.

I'd like to cut our telephone, boost the Internet, and go with VOIP for $3 per month. Cell phone plans ought to be far cheaper for what they provide. One number you didn't list is the cost for television services. I bet many pay $50-100 per month. We cut that long ago.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

For home phone, could also be long distance charges bumping up the price. 

The only one to me that seems super high is transportation. But if you're a 2-car family who commutes a long distance, that can add up. Plus car payments is probably included in there.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

That's not bad for transportation. We have 2 cars owned outright and my monthly fuel costs is about $350. Add in $250 for insurance and I'm already at $600 a month. Add maintenance and if you have a payment and $900 is low even!


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## YYC (Nov 12, 2012)

We have 2 cars with payments ($900 & $400 respectively), plus ~$400 in fuel, plus maintenance (both have warranty, but there's still oil changes, etc). $900 is obviously way low in our case.


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