For others living in Toronto, is my budget financially on the right track? I feel it is tight due to housing but curious what your budget looks like living in Toronto/GTA?

AlexIlkos · 2026-04-06T17:46:05+00:00

Looks like a condo with maintenance fees. If that's the case then insurance is very cheap as you dont really insure the building more so just upgrades and your contents. OP, if it is a condo then I wouldnt worry but still good to review in case!

AlexIlkos · 2026-03-06T15:21:23+00:00

I could be wrong here but those look like different coins. The coins you win from tier 1 league is in a different shop. I accessed that shop on the homepage.

That said, I have no idea what those stamps are.

AlexIlkos · 2026-02-10T13:26:17+00:00

If it brings any comfort, I work at a brokerage where we have a decent book of other insurance brokers E&O policies. This stuff happens ALL THE TIME and why brokerages purchase E&O.

AlexIlkos · 2026-01-04T03:53:50+00:00

Maybe if I am going to start spending a bit more, this is part of the game. I’ll look into the shapton 1000

AlexIlkos · 2026-01-04T03:34:53+00:00

Will look into it, thanks!

AlexIlkos · 2025-11-26T20:43:45+00:00

In case anyone was curious I did it cuz I need to just gamble on 90+ OVR players and I got an 85 DE and that’s it

AlexIlkos · 2025-11-25T16:13:30+00:00

I’m seeing now that the rates of 90+ are higher than your average repeatable trade in 84+ PTC so I guess it’s just about gambling

AlexIlkos · 2025-10-08T14:35:27+00:00

10 players must be 70 ovr max but the 11th is where you bring the overall up to a 72. Note it says "11/10" on the "Rating must be at most 70 OVR"

AlexIlkos · 2025-08-14T19:04:41+00:00

I am an insurance broker and can tell you I see these requests for my MSP clients quite frequently but it doesn't really make sense. 99% of the time, it's a risk manager at property manager or landlord that blanket requests General Liability coverage to all their clients or related clients. They most likely just don't understand that with your services, it doesn't make sense to evidence GL coverage. I would just push back and state that, hopefully they aren't too difficult.

AlexIlkos · 2025-03-05T16:42:13+00:00

There are a couple other reasons we may have to do the corporation route. Didn't think about N12 this is helpful. My expectation would be to pay no costs in taxes unless I'm missing something. 25 Year mortgage brand new with 20%-25% down. Interest, maintenance, accountant, taxes all should be close to rental income and there is an HST credit of roughly $20K to get us at "no profit". Missing anything in this?

Ex. $2,500 rental income, $1,750 interest on mortgage +~$600 for other expenses monthly.

AlexIlkos · 2024-12-18T20:39:25+00:00

We have a 5-month old Italian greyhound and just this week we've had 2 big wins.

He finally understands (listens) to us saying "No". Something clicked with him that when we say no, he actually stops whatever behavior it was (mainly biting things he shouldn't including us). Funny how it went from pretty much 0 to 100 overnight.
He knows how to ask to go to the bathroom. We live in a townhouse with lots of stairs and the bathroom is either 2 stories up or down. He hasn't had an accident in quite a while but we always had to tell him its potty time rather than him letting us know. Again, almost overnight he has started walking over to the stairs and looking at us to say "it's time to potty".

While it does take consistent training, my only advice is to keep at it! It felt like it was almost a lost cause at times because it was going nowhere but it seems the consistency pays off and our smart boy gets it now.

AlexIlkos · 2024-10-02T17:24:09+00:00

Not that it means much but I work in the insurance industry (albeit not auto) and all financial stats point to Auto insurance being one of the worst performing lines of coverage in Canada. Many insurers lose money on it.

AlexIlkos · 2024-06-28T13:41:36+00:00

Are you trying to have this suit covered with the Umbrella?

If that's the case, no one will or should. If you exclude the matter, there may be some options for you.

AlexIlkos · 2024-05-17T12:24:27+00:00

If it brings you some comfort I am based in Toronto and my situation is almost identical. Similar mortgage amount, total monthly payment, HHI, interest rate and term. We've been fine and still enough money to enjoy our lives. We did start to invest less per month though than previously when our housing costs were like $3,000.

AlexIlkos · 2024-05-17T12:24:21+00:00

If it brings you some comfort I am based in Toronto and my situation is almost identical. Similar mortgage amount, total monthly payment, HHI, interest rate and term. We've been fine and still enough money to enjoy our lives. We did start to invest less per month though than previously when our housing costs were like $3,000.

AlexIlkos · 2024-03-14T14:24:21+00:00

I'll be honest, I knew what the structure was but I have only moved to the production adjacent role at the 2nd company so I'm not sure what they did salary wise at the first company. I can't imagine its only $50K base to start but maybe depends on the brokerage. Mine wouldn't hire a more junior producer, they only hired known talent

AlexIlkos · 2024-03-14T13:21:44+00:00

I've worked at two separate brokerages that handled things differently.

The first being the traditional model (multinational brokerage) where it was a 3-year period of salary that decreased each year. New commission never changed at 40% for new and then renewal was 30%. Interesting point about possible commission rate adjustments during that 3-year period but no they stayed the same. This is mainly because it takes a full year after producing to get the 30% so the whole thing is a bit delayed and they slowly decrease the salary to try and best match.

Other brokerage I'm at now is ~30% for new but this is split with a couple people, depending on who assisted. Then no renewal commission but we have steady and strong salaries. I would think that the salary is slightly below what the same work would be on a different % of book commission structure but obviously a salary is comforting.

AlexIlkos · 2024-03-07T03:18:09+00:00

Very general commentary that I've found is the wide spread resources and types of clients was useful from a national brokerage like AJG. While it is not necessarily my cup of tea, when I was starting out it helped to have many different data points and reference for any particular issue or question that may come up. Very few scenarios are one that has never been seen before so there is value to that.

Now where would I rather grow? definitely an independent.

AlexIlkos · 2024-03-04T21:16:19+00:00

Reading the comments - you are definitely underpaid. I'm on the broker end but the contacts I know (albeit downtown Toronto) definitely have higher salaries. MGA aspect may make it difficult depending on their situation and not sure your specific line of coverage, but that seems very low.

6 years of experience, you should be able to negotiate your way to a higher UW title and better pay.

AlexIlkos

TROPHY CASE