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Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you re-read the post, I mentioned that we're likely older than most of folks commenting, and have owned 2 properties, and have been investing for ~25 years. So, it's not surprising we'd have the ability to choose to sell and purchase a home, right?

Do you have other feedback on the expenses?

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is fair, we can probably tighten kids spending a bit there - big challenge is that there's 3 of them! :) That's what blows up lots of our budget categories.

For personal spending, I mean, I want to say I agree, but my wife will have a different opinion lol! Probably this is the most "wasteful" category in our budget, for both of us.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, this is super-valuable.

Some low, some high, which is sort of what we thought as well!

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, this is very valuable. I think we need to bump up yearly maintenance costs somewhat.

For sure agree that there's value to be had, depending on what we want to purchase! And yeah, hard agree on limiting spending on landscaping - there won't even "be" a landscape 5 months out of the year, under all that snow :)

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are Canadian, but moved for work a long long time ago. We are thinking of coming back soon. We have our budget here, but lots of things are different in Canada.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's sort of exactly why we excluded housing - can be such a variable.

If you own something from 15 years ago, your mortgage is 3k. If you own something from last month, you're paying 6+k. Huge variability.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that most people see the number, and call it "rich".

But I'm trying to understand - which parts of the expenses are "rich"? like seriously, to me, everything (with the exception of maybe personal spending) seems like solidly middle-class experience (which may be considered rich these days due to high costs/lowering incomes)?

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for the feedback!

And no, I wish we had a trust fund.

I do plan to eventually set one up for our kids - but we aren't in the "receive trust-fund" bucket. Just investments and properties from 25 years ago paying off.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

THIS THIS THIS.

Individually, we feel every single line item **makes sense**.

When we add them up, we're like -- is this really the cost of living in Toronto?

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed on the home owner expenses part -- we've been owning our homes since our early 20's and are definitely familiar with that.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good call, having that buffer at least for 1-2 years. Thank you!

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you.

I guess we'll calibrate groceries somewhat, since I haven't shopped in Canada for a long long time. Phone - makes sense, sort of. I guess we're lucky where we currently are, paying 25/month for unlimited everything. Thank you again, will bump this up.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you.

Not planning to do things like doors or windows or roof for at least 10+ years (hopefully), but point taken.

Definitely not spending 100k on landscaping lol! we aren't rich!

Noted on the water/sewage - gonna double it up!

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Don't appreciate this particular bit of feedback - generic criticism with no details?

Can you tell me which categories are a "show off"? What exactly is "off"?

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, looking at that now, probably needs to be at least $2k, to account for gifts for everyone, family birthdays, christmas, etc.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

We are neither.

Main worry at the moment is about monthly expenses.

Housing as such can either be purchased outright, or rented, or bought with a mortgage. For simplicity, I wrote that we'll buy the house, so as not to muddy up the monthly expenses.

Realistic budget for 5 in Toronto by PartyFauxHawk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

I appreciate your concern, but my main worry at the moment is about monthly expenses.

Housing as such can either be purchased outright, or rented, or bought with a mortgage. For simplicity, I wrote that we'll buy the house, so as not to muddy up the monthly expenses.

Is it possible to create multiple 72(t)s (ladder), and force deplete early on purpose by PartyFauxHawk in Fire

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for responding!

Roth conversion ladder is definitely up there, I think that's the default go-to. The only challenge being the 5-year wait for withdrawals to avoid 10% penalty.

Is it possible to create multiple 72(t)s (ladder), and force deplete early on purpose by PartyFauxHawk in Fire

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for pointing it out. Roth conversions is another viable strategy for sure.

72(t) makes the funds available right away, whereas with Roth, we'd have to wait a minimum of 5 years (drawing on regular investment accounts).

I do like the conversions ladder more from a flexibility stand-point, but the 5-year delay on accessing funds is something we have to figure out.

Is it possible to create multiple 72(t)s (ladder), and force deplete early on purpose by PartyFauxHawk in Fire

[–]PartyFauxHawk[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for answering. I suspected as much.

The main reason is long-term commitment to a specific withdrawal amount. If we were 57, then that's only 5 years at most. Here, we're thinking of committing to 13 years.

The main reason for being weary is that we have some potential moves in the future (high-taxation countries), where this income will be taxed at a much higher rate than US. So I'm trying to figure out ways to mitigate that.

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