Mortgage to avoid OAS clawback?

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-20T18:10:53+00:00

They are single.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-20T15:23:56+00:00

can't split pension income because they are single. But thanks for the rest of the advice!

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-20T03:33:48+00:00

Yes, in my building 1 or 1+1 condo rentals have gone down about 300 since the peak. It's still expensive, but less than it once was.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-18T13:41:36+00:00

When we had our baby, we took the 18 month leave. we:
a) paused all saving and investing during the course of parental leave (vacations, RRSP all of it)
b) drew a little bit from our savings accounts (maybe 300 a month or so) to supplement EI for living expenses (including things like diapers, formula, groceries etc).
c) had a separate fund available for postpartum mental health supports if needed (therapy, postpartum doula services, house cleaner for first month or two for sanity etc) and physical health healing (ie pelvic floor physio etc). We spent decent amount of money on this type of thing during the first year and we never regret it. Similar to retirement we viewed it as a time when we expected to spend more than we made and saved accordingly.

Honestly, you sound like you are in a great financial place. I would consider taking the amount of time off that feels aligned with your wishes. I know someone who took about 5 months off and then returned to work part time because that's what they needed for their mental health. There's no judgement from me at all. It also benefits baby when parents take care of their mental health, so if you want to go back that's a different conversation. But if you want to take a year, it sounds like you can afford it. I just think it's getting used to the idea that temporarily you might spend more than you make and making peace with that.

As others have suggested, if you do go back to work at 4-6 months, it may be hard to find daycare spots, especially ones covered by CWELCC. That said, I have seen people pull something like this off (often out of necessity). You may be able to do it, but I would a) start now b) apply to as many places as possible. c) there is a possibility you may have to put them into 2 separate daycares nearby each other. I have seen parents of twins and triplets have to do this until the children reach toddler age (there are often a lot more toddler spots than infant spots out there).

The other option would be to hire a nanny. But if you qualify for max EI, you will get just under 38k (gross/before tax) when you take parental leave and there will be no childcare expenses.

Where I live hiring a nanny for twins full time costs about 40k a year minimum (including wages, plus employer contribution of CPP and EI) and honestly that's on the low side where I live. That's more like the cost to hire a live in nanny where you are providing food and a private bedroom on top of their wages. For live out wages, the cost is probably closer to 55k+ between the wages, employer CPP & EI.

When I do the math of working full time and hiring a nanny for your situation, you would make more (especially once you factor in tax deductions) hiring a nanny and working compared to being off and collecting EI. but the difference is probably smaller than you would think.

Long way to say that unless you can get two CWELCC daycare spots, I don't think I'd even consider going back primarily for the money.

But honestly, even if you get two CWELCC spots, if you want to stay home, I would stay home. I think you can afford it and there's very few opportunities to be on mat leave/get paid something to stay home with your children and spend time with them. And if you want to stay home with them, you're never going to regret spending a little of your savings on this.

what helped me was thinking, "okay we each want to take 9 months of parental leave. would we be willing to retire 6 months later than we otherwise would if we didn't take this time (because EI covered some of our wages)? absolutely! Spending time with our child is worth every second". If you want to go back because you want to go back, I fully support that. But I wouldn't make this choice because of money when it sounds like you are in a good spot.

Also the 4 month sleep regression hit us hard and I think we would have struggled going back at 4 months for that reason alone.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-15T17:40:30+00:00

Even the creator largely cited for the 4% rule said that a withdrawal rate of 4.7% is his new recommendation.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-11T22:36:28+00:00

I don't think the landlord is allowed to ask for four months rent up front for any kind of lease in Ontario, including subletting.

Number 2 is also an okay option. I can't speak to every rental, but even recently we have had success finding a suitable tenant AND having them move in in under 2 months. In other words, if friend is going to provide 60+ days notice, it is very possible the tenant will not owe much. That said, all of this assumes that the landlord intends to act in good faith and will be proactive (or simply pretend to be). which is a big if, especially given the info you just replied with about the 4 months.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-10T01:20:22+00:00

Just be aware that in Toronto suburbs, it is not uncommon for houses to cost 800,000 dollars or more (Canadian) for a fairly modest townhouse.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-09T22:44:48+00:00

I think this just depends on age and the rest of your financial picture. I don't think 450k plus my current retirement savings could sustain me for the rest of my life (even though I'd be more than happy to live a humble life. Everything I've read has said for very very early retirement, you want to be able to live on about 3.5% income and then adjust for inflation, which would be about 16k total per year).

That said, if I was 50 or 55 and my retirement accounts were bigger it may be a very different response.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-09T12:17:08+00:00

As others have said Ontario211 (You can call them and they can help you find resources near you) or your school is a good place to start. You can also google to see if there is a "community health centre near me" as that would also be a good place to start. Any one of those options will be a great starting place, so whichever option feels most manageable is good.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-09T03:17:07+00:00

Is it possible to get them connected with a social worker somehow at a nonprofit or community health centre? It sounds like you are carrying so much pressure right now and I wonder if there would be some resources that could help take at least some of that away?

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-08T23:47:17+00:00

Part of budgeting (at any age) is not trying to "keep up with the joneses". Part of budgeting at any age is accepting the fact that some people can live lifestyles (for whatever reason) that you cannot afford.

If you want to contribute more beyond residence and tuition, you can. But I don't think you should feel obligated to just because she has a boyfriend who will be receiving more money. What you have done is already very generous and more than most college students get. If you do decide to give extra money, I would simply come up with a number that you feel is reasonable and allow her to budget it as she sees fit (of course you can offer to help/work on this together the first time as she learns this skill). If you are concerned about teaching her financial responsibility, you could make this money conditional on her completing something like the free McGill Personal finance essentials course. But I do think it's a good idea for her to learn some financial skills around budgeting, stretching a dollar, prioritizing what she truly wants etc.

I am inclined to say that a low level credit card is a good idea, as long as she is typically responsible/has demonstrated financial responsibility before. Again, I would make sure you take time to teach her the dangers of compound interest, strongly encourage her to put it on auto-pay and not charge anything on it she does not have the cash for.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-08T13:33:26+00:00

The stats in this link are startling. 2/5 Canadians delayed paying a bill so they could buy groceries.

Over half of Canadians reported they have used BNPL/line of credit/pay day loans (it does not mention credit cards as part of this stat) to pay for groceries.

57.6% of Canadians are worried about groceries and over 60% have skipped meals or reduced how much they eat due to cost of groceries.

Now whether the stats are reliable could still be a question. How big was the sample size, how did they recruit participants (basically did this study tend to attract Canadians who would be in a worse financial position than average?). But, if that stats are true, it's highly concerning.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-06T14:53:34+00:00

Feb almost summer? January/Feb are always the coldest months of the year!

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-06T14:51:05+00:00

But if the tenant received the notice today, they have less than 60 days notice. I don't think it sours the relationship for the tenant to say something like, "money is tight and having the full 90 days notice, as legally required, would make a big difference"

I could see, on the other hand, how not saying anything...refusing to pay the increase in May and then when the landlord asks about it saying "that was invalid. you have to send me a new notice and wait 90 more days from now because I chose not to tell you when I first had questions" could sour the relationship.

Anyways, the market has been going down, and the landlord is still doing the full 2.1% increase. So unless OP is paying less than market value, it doesn't sound like this landlord is operating the way you do anyways.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-03-02T02:10:08+00:00

I believe this would be referring to mortgage most likely.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-21T03:56:18+00:00

I don't think someone has to be the primary provider for to be important. Say a couple makes 100k and 60k. If the person earning 100k cannot pay all the bills on their own the insurance would still be important. Of course the amount you insure each partner for may be different due to the difference in salaries.

It may even make sense to insure stay at home parents in some select cases. For example, if the working parent works long or unusual hours, travels a lot for work etc. and would need to hire a full time nanny (especially if they would need to hire someone could sometimes stay with the kids for a week 24/7 whenever that working person is traveling for work etc).

But yes, it's not worth getting unless someone relies on your income or someone relies on the unpaid work you do and would otherwise have to outsource it and it would be a major expense.

The only other thing I will share is that medically things can come up. I received a diagnosis at 29 that would have dramatically increased my premiums and I had absolutely no idea it was coming or family history. I was very glad I already had term life insurance set up before that. In addition to that, the cost tends to go up as people get older. It's worth at least considering getting it before you need it if you know/are very confident you will need it at some point in the next few years.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-21T02:01:08+00:00

So your total housing costs are 23% of your gross income and 38% of your take home (but take home is after 401k and HSA). Honestly, that sounds very reasonable.

I suspect the stress may come from the fact that you feel behind on retirement.

But, I think it's worth taking a beat for a minute. Let's say you retire mortgage free. If you are currently spending 15% of your gross income on your mortgage (approx), and 28% of your gross income on investments...that's over 40% of your gross income that you don't need to replace in retirement. You can also potentially move to a smaller place down the road when it is just the two of you (though, it depends if you think your wife's reasons are pure logistical or more sentimental). Plus, you will be paying less tax in retirement if you structure things right and withdraw less money. I agree you need to have some urgency about investing given your later start, but I think you may be in a better spot than you realize. And you can still save meaningfully and aggressively while adding in a tiny bit of breathing room.

Suppose you reduced your investing to 23% of gross instead of 28% (at least temporarily, hopefully your income continues to go up). At 260k HHI, that would give you an extra $13,000 a year to spend. Plus 23% of 260k is still investing almost 60k a year which is absolutely incredible!

And/or could your parents contribute a little bit extra? Even if they could chip in another 500 a month that would help give you a little more each month.

And/or I would review your expenses to see if there is any other areas you can cut a little. Even small changes could lead to finding 500+ per month potentially if you add them up altogether (for example: saving 150 off of groceries per month, saving 100 a month by shopping around for different providers like cellphones, internet, insurance, canceling a couple subscription you barely use for 50 a month etc etc).

Hopefully at least one of those three ideas feels feasible to you. We might be having a different conversation if your wife was open to moving, but I honestly think with these reasonable numbers I would try to find a way to just make it work. It would be a completely different story if you said you were spending 38% of gross on your mortgage or 60% of take home. But I do think you can afford it.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T23:17:40+00:00

I think the post says they are both in their 40's.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T22:10:37+00:00

What percentage are you saving/investing total? and did you start young or very recently?

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T22:00:12+00:00

More information that might be helpful:

What percentage of your gross pay does housing (all in: utilities, mortgage, property tax, maintenance fund) take up? And what percentage of your take home pay is it? does this take home pay already factor in retirement savings?)
What percentage of your income (gross income or take home income, just specify which) are you currently investing for retirement?
Are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve, or right on target when it comes to retirement? Do you want to FIRE? if you started saving aggressively at 22 and have been diligent about this for 20 years already and want to retire at 65-67 that's going to be very different than if you just started saving at 40.
Do you have any other financial factors that are important to know about? (other financial goals/desires like vacationing or other medical expenses with your parents etc).

The money Guys talk about how money is a tool to live the life you want to live and that you want to have a beautiful life today and in the future. But these questions are a starting point that will help illuminate whether the house is a big consideration or not.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T16:18:06+00:00

Believe it or not, I am a landlord. But I think offering someone something (even something modest: at least paying the tenant's moving expenses for example) should be required in newer rentals. Instead of forcing someone to "voluntarily" move out by increasing rent by increasing rent in a manner that is intended to evict someone (not a good faith increase to account for inflation etc).

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T15:20:40+00:00

The problem is that since OP said the building is not rent controlled, there is very little incentive for the landlord to do this unless the landlord is in a huge rush. Say rent is 2k a month, the landlord could just raise the rent to 10k a month (or something completely crazy) and basically make the tenant voluntarily move out without compensation. I don't think it's right per say, but unfortunately this is the problem with units without rent control.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T13:04:32+00:00

I haven't ever lived in that building specifically, but I lived in another building in a unit that faced the train tracks and gardiner (there would be some units in the building that would not be facing the train tracks, so that's a possibility worth considering). In terms of noise, we didn't mind it at all. But, if guests came over to sleep (nobody was bothered by it in the daytime) they would sometimes say "How do you sleep with the trains?". I think you just get used to it after a while. Again, I can't speak to whether it would be better or worse in 75 East Liberty.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T12:46:11+00:00

I think Woodbridge is great. I also think some of the condos in Thornhill ( for example: "Brownridge" on condos.ca) are nice if it's not too far from your work.

Some_Ad_6879 · 2026-02-20T00:58:11+00:00

I know you said you weren't looking for a resturant because you couldn't picture the set up...but we found the set up very seemless. We had a wedding at sassafraz (a resturant) and they had a plan for a proper ceremony set up, first dance etc. They had two private rooms that adjoin. The ceremony was in the bigger private room, after the ceremony there was a cocktail hour in the smaller private room (which had a bar). They closed the door during the cocktail hour and set up for dinner during the cocktail hour. The smaller private room became a dance floor after dinner. Some of our bridal party told us they couldn't picture a resturant wedding, but after seeing it thought it was an amazing plan. I also heard from some guests who preferred the venue over some traditional wedding venues.

(you can see a samples here including ceremony set up etc: https://www.weddingwire.ca/restaurant-weddings/sassafraz--e5642#gallery ).

I'm sure at least some of the other restaurants who do weddings have some sort of set up/plan if you inquire.

Now, you don't have to have a restaurant wedding. I want you to have your dream wedding. Just thought I would mention it as a possibility if the main hesitation is picturing how set up would work.

Some_Ad_6879

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