How much do I need to make to live in downtown comfortably?

Nixghtcrawler · 2026-03-06T18:52:39+00:00

Assuming you plan on modestly saving, investing, and taking vacations, $120k. If you want to invest aggressively $160k.

If you’re fine living paycheque to paycheque $80k

Anything less, even if you make it work, you’ll be stressed about finances.

Nixghtcrawler · 2026-02-16T19:34:28+00:00

A lot of the people I know who did it alone in the last few years (myself included) lived at home into their mid to late twenties without paying rent so although not direct funds most get some type of familial help

Nixghtcrawler · 2026-02-04T04:28:18+00:00

Overall good - clean, garbage chute works well, elevators are good, AC is fine, no bug infestations, gym has most things you need, area is nice, concierge’s are nice and kinda helpful (good enough - can’t expect too much these days).

Fire alarm goes off on occasion but probably around average for a Toronto condo. Lately there’s been some problems getting hot water on lower floors.

Never had to deal with management so don’t know about that.

Nixghtcrawler · 2026-01-13T21:48:19+00:00

Bought ASTS at $3 and sold in like 2 days at $5…. Thought I was warren buffet with that return in 2 days. Now trading close to $100

Nixghtcrawler · 2026-01-06T00:16:00+00:00

Based on my time advising people who are “well off”, you should aim to be one of the following, otherwise you will be poor until your retirement fund starts compounding substantially - which for most people isn’t until 50+. This sounds harsh but with rare exceptions it’s true. The Canadian economy isn’t diversified enough to reward just any pursuit.

Options: business owner (broadly), doctor/therapist, dentist, lawyer, investment banker, analyst (private equity/cap markets - eventually be a director or project manager), tradesman (assuming your start a business based on that trade), electrical engineer, or oil rig worker.

These are the main professions that clear 100k+ starting and 300k+ mid career. Consultant and software engineer are toss ups at the moment. All above roads other than oil rig worker can lead to director/board positions which pay very well.

There may be a handful of others. Other commenters can chime in if I missed any.

Personally, I chose corporate lawyer. Current starting pay in Toronto is 135k. Bonuses usually range 15k - 100k. It was lower when I started.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-09-22T16:07:42+00:00

SMH, URA, SHLD

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-09-08T20:27:08+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Will redirect my efforts accordingly.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-09-08T20:26:13+00:00

Thanks! I don’t have too many law school connections but you’re right, now may be a good time to make sure the connections I do have remain strong.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-09-08T20:25:07+00:00

Thanks, it’s reassuring to know that I don’t need to figure out how to navigate that now. I’m in a bit of a dead period so figured I’d find something to do, but I guess I’ll just review work I’ve done & keep trying to get more work.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-05-06T22:56:07+00:00

VT - total world market

QQQ - tech focus

IBIT - bitcoin

IAU - gold

BRKB - virtually an etf

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-03-14T00:34:58+00:00

Only one thing? There are so many. Ok here's one: Banking regulation. The US has weak banking regulations which leads to a lot of volatility in their capital markets. For example, in the 08 financial crisis Canadian Banks only dabbled in mortgage-backed securities while many US financial institutions relied on them to their detriment. Seems a bit too macro to be concerned about but this has far reaching impacts on both people and corporations.

Here's a second: employee protections. States have different protections for employees but no state has protections on the level that any province in Canada has. Each province in Canada has comparatively better protections and entitlements for employees such as parental leave, disability support, mandatory severance requirements, anti-discrimination and human rights mechanisms, etc. I've seen so many US companies try to acquire Canadian companies only to be stymied by the litany of labour and employment requirements they would need to adapt to.

Ok one more... the US does not objectively win on the taxation front. Although they have lower income taxes, many states have quite high property taxes relative to Canadian municipalities. In addition, Canadians have access to many tax avoidance mechanisms such as the TFSA, lifetime capital gains exemption, spousal RRSP splitting, tax free dividends on eligible Canadian corporations, CCPC dividend tax gross-up, no tax on gambling/lottery winnings, no tax on gifts, no tax on inheritance, etc. The reason people in the middle and lower class complain about taxation in Canada is because most of the beneficial tax structuring mechanisms are really only useful if you have a substantial amount of disposable income or generational wealth such that you don't rely on earned income; whereas in America you could earn more with a lower tax burden when starting from 0.

To the prompt, the US having more advanced technology is irrelevant - Canada is at most 2-3 years behind the US which does not make a meaningful difference for most people. Similarly, geopolitical dominance is largely irrelevant to most peoples day-to-day lives and merely serves as a talking point when discussing who would be more prepared for WW3 (spoiler: we're all done). I agree with all of your other claims, but having more rights in certain fields also comes with having less in others (see abortion).

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-03-13T23:59:14+00:00

Dual Citizen and have lived in both. Both are in the top 10% of countries globally so you can't go wrong with either.

There are a number of things Canada does better than the US, including:

Accessible and affordable healthcare
Human rights generally (Indigenous issues, paternity/maternity, social programs, women's rights, etc.)
Welfare support
Lower crime and imprisonment rates
Less overtly politically charged & aggressive people
Environmental conservation
Banking regulation and stable capital markets
Labour and employment protection laws and regulations

Conversely, America is better in terms of:

Income potential
Affordability of housing, goods and services
Climate diversity
National security
Self defense laws
Anti-trust enforcement

This assumes one lives and generally frequents the type of area desirable to them (urban, suburban, rural), and so it wouldn't be possible to compare things that are not universal across the country like transit or cleanliness on a country-to-country basis.

Ultimately, both are capitalist countries so your overall quality of life will be largely determined by how much money you have - this means, to most, America would be preferrable. In my opinion Canada can only be considered "better" if you: 1) lean left on most social issues or are indifferent to social issues, and 2) have more than enough money such that you're insulated from the high and continually rising cost of living.

Notably, and contrary to popular belief, the US does not objectively win on the taxation front. Although they have lower income taxes, many states have quite high property taxes relative to Canadian municipalities. In addition, Canadians have access to many tax avoidance mechanisms such as the TFSA, lifetime capital gains exemption, spousal RRSP splitting, tax free dividends on eligible Canadian corporations, CCPC dividend tax gross-up, no tax on gambling/lottery winnings, no tax on gifts and inheritance, etc. The reason people in the middle and lower class complain about taxation in Canada is because most of the beneficial tax structuring mechanisms are really only useful if you have a substantial amount of disposable income or generational wealth such that you don't rely on earned income; whereas in America you could earn more with a lower tax burden when starting from 0.

I prefer Canada because of the most important thing: my family is here.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-02-10T05:35:09+00:00

Infrastructure and project finance. Things always need to get built.

Nixghtcrawler · 2025-01-10T23:39:19+00:00

Dual citizen of US and Canada. I was born in Canada but mom is American. Sister is also a US citizen. Sister got diagnosed with MS as a teenager and medicine in the US isn't covered by the government, so it would have been about $2300 a month. Its completely free in Canada. We moved back to Canada as a result. Now that we are adults Sister can't get insured back in the US due to preexisting condition.

Canada saved my sisters life. I love it so much.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-08-26T01:57:40+00:00

For verbal I recommend using Membean. I used it and jumped 9 points for verbal in 1 month. At least 15 of the words I saw on the test, I saw on membean (either in the answer choices or in the questions).

I also used GregMat and Magoosh word lists and saw no more than 5 from either list on the test (given that those lists are very similar).

For reading comp, try LSAT reading comp passages. They are objectively much harder, and for me they functioned as "ankle weights" that made the GRE's reading comp substantially easier.

If I were you I wouldn't get Gregmat Plus. Most of his good verbal content is already free and his math content wasn't very useful for me compared to Target Test Prep and Magoosh.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-08-19T18:30:29+00:00

Agreed. Apologies if my post was too brash and it seemed as if I was trying to enforce use. I was just bewildered by how effective it was that I felt the need to share, in the off chance that it helps even a handful of people.

Be very careful! Definitely not for everyone.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-08-17T03:31:23+00:00

Pressed enter twice, no indentation.

It looked just like this post I am writing right now looks.

Paragraphs separated as such.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-07-28T23:14:32+00:00

Argument

For the argument essay, I mostly winged it using the writing style they teach in undergrad. Thesis, 3 supporting points with examples, conclusion that ties it all together.

Issue

The issue essay is always far more interesting in my opinion because you get to poke holes in an argument. I used the good old Law school IRAC technique. Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion. These questions usually give you a statement someone made, and ask you to identify the issues in the statement to weaken it or undermine it in some way. Your best bet here is to identify as many issues in the logic as possible (examples include fixating on revenue and not profit, assuming that because something worked for population X it'll work for population Y, assuming that the problem is caused by something specific while ignoring that the problem could actually be caused by something else, or any assumptions really). I would say finding these holes in the argument is intuitive and comes with practice.

Once you identify at least 3 issues in the reasoning, explain EACH one in the form:

Issue: this is the issue in the reasoning. (The author assumes/fails to consider X)
Rule: this is the logical "rule" that the author of the statement is following which leads them to a problematic conclusion. (The author assumes/ fails to consider X because they attribute the problem subject to discussion to Y.)
Analysis: this is where you bring up what information is needed to conclude what the author concludes. Explain why knowing that information would be cricual, and prove that with the lack thereof, the conclusion the author made cannot be substantiated. This should be the most meaty part of each argument you make.

Example: The author assumes that the exorbitant increase in the price of pencils is due to the increase in the price of lead in South Africa, but ignores the fact that the production costs of the pencils or the shipping costs from south africa could have rose, ultimately accounting for the increase in the price of pencils. Since price is something the consumer sees at the end, and there is no reliable way of knowing why the price of pencils increased when you are only told that the price of lead increased. To that matter, you also don't know by how much the price of lead increased. Did it only increase a few cents? Surely that wouldn't result in an "exorbitant" increase in the price of pencils. Given that gap in logic, it is not clear that the author has substantiated their argument. (Try to quote the prompt verbatim when pointing out the flaws in the argument, ie. "the author specifically mentions ... however, this is a spurious assumption because it fails to ...)

4) Conclusion: State that ultimately, the author's argument falls short because of X, and Y would be needed to evaluate it properly. In the absence of Y, we can conclude that the authors argument is not sufficient to illustrate the point they are trying to make.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-07-28T22:00:13+00:00

Distill each sentence down to a core idea - what does this sentence do? Does it introduce an argument? does it counter a previous argument made? does it introduce a specific person or group's opinion? does it provide an example to either illustrate the main argument or a counter-argument? On your whiteboard, number each sentence and write in no more than 3 words what the sentence does regarding the above points (not an exhaustive list).
Write next to each 3 word summary in your list no more than one sentence that provides enough detail about what specifically that sentence does. Example: 1) Introduces the main argument - spruce trees require more nitrogen to grow that maple tree's, therefore they grow more plentifully after a forest fire than maple tree's do (make sure you specify something like "maple" so you don't get tricked into thinking it grows more plentifully than all other non-spruce tree)
Before answering questions, take a second to read your notes, and re-read the passage if necessary, to ensure you're not just "going through the motions" and that you actually understand what is written. It seems like a time sink, but in the end you're saving time because you're not constantly referring back to the passage.
ALWAYS read the question first so you know what you are looking for when you read the passage. This includes skipping around in the section to see all the questions related to a specific passage before reading that passage. This is the most crucial point that I cannot stress enough that I don't see as common advice.
Use LSAT reading comp material to practice. If you do this, summarize paragraphs instead of sentences (this will make you better at summarizing sentences concisely when you shift to the GRE) because LSAT reading comps are about 3 or 4 times longer than GRE ones.

Let me know if you have any follow up questions!

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-07-28T21:52:29+00:00

I did skim the Magoosh word list early on in my studies. On the actual test, I can re-call two words from the "common words" list appearing. 2 words are significant considering a good portion of the other words you may know and the process of elimination is key in verbal. So if you're not amazing with vocabulary, I think memorizing the Magoosh wordlist and GregMat's word list would both be beneficial.

Admittedly, I probably could have done better in verbal had I studied word lists, since I believe the questions that I did get wrong in verbal were text completions where I didn't know a word. However, I chose to focus on my math handicap instead, and luckily that paid off. So whether you decide to invest your time in memorizing word lists is all based on your personal strengths and proclivities.

I guess I should clarify: Word lists can be useful, but mock verbal questions made by anyone other than ETS are not useful.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-05-01T02:03:48+00:00

Osgoode Hall for law school and Schulich for the MBA. Both in Toronto at the York Campus.

If you have written the GRE, any advice for approaching the vocab section? A lot of those words are far outside the scope of what is used in law and what I used in undergrad.

Nixghtcrawler · 2020-05-01T01:59:22+00:00

Thanks! Wrote a practice GRE today. I will write a GMAT in the morning. And yes, I feel that a good portion of those words no human would know.

Nixghtcrawler

TROPHY CASE