By Alison Stafford, CFP®
How often have you thought—I could get out of debt and save more for retirement, if only I made more money. It appears to make sense; that more money would be the answer to your financial worries. So it may surprise you, that debt often increases with higher income levels.
Stats Canada reported that households earning at least $100,000 had an average debt of $172,400. Compare that to households earning between $50,000 and $100,000, which had an average debt of $95,400. More income, more debt.
More recent data shows that in the second quarter of 2020, household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income fell from 175.4% to 158.2%, as household disposable income increased 10.8% and the stock of credit market debt remained relatively unchanged. In other words, there was $1.58 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.
A lot has happened over the past decade since we launched Money Coaches Canada in 2010. When Sheila and I started working together our initial desire was a simple one. We wanted to offer our clients truly independent and meaningful financial advice so they could use their money to fulfill their financial needs and to live their lives to the fullest. We were part of a wave crying out for more transparency and accountability in the financial-services industry, and we are so proud to be part of the solution.
I think it’s safe to say that 2020 is a year none of us will forget. And even though we are optimistically making our way forward, the uncomfortable truth has settled in. Recovery from this 
It’s been almost six months since phrases like; shelter-in-place, work from home, physical distancing, and social bubbles, have become part of the daily conversation. Wearing a mask in public started out feeling odd, but for most of us it’s become routine. But our ability to adapt doesn’t mean that anything about the COVID-19 pandemic has been easy.
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COVID-19 has rattled us to the core. It has threatened our health and taken lives. It has damaged our economy and taken livelihoods. It has physically kept us apart, yet we have pulled together. When this is over we won’t be the same. But maybe we can be better.
We invest to secure our future, and for years that predominantly meant securing our financial future. With that end in mind, a significant criterion for choosing an investment was its financial performance. But for many investors, there has been an evolution of what securing our future actually means.
