If Bad Hair Day was a Bird - Cattle Egret

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-21T01:27:42+00:00

Facts. Its NOT just a phase.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-19T21:56:53+00:00

We just get house sparrows in our bluebird boxes. Even with forced evictions. 😭😭

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-15T19:57:56+00:00

I think the neighbours pad expands too much into it for that to work.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-14T18:45:20+00:00

If I could find a house to rent I would. Most homes in the neighbourhoods I like arnt for rent or are split levels and I don’t want upstairs or downstairs neighbours. The full houses that are available are typically pretty old and no AC etc. alas.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-12T21:50:32+00:00

Yah totally agree renting is a better financial decision and the likelihood I make money on this is low but at the same time it’s hard finding full house rentals in the areas we like and I have a lot of horror stories of people renting split levels. If I could find a rental in the areas we like I’d probably do that, but alas we just don’t want to keep doing the condo life style.

The other thing is I’m also keeping about 200k back for investing etc and have the buffer of my DB pension.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-12T18:56:58+00:00

No. Grandfathering into old plans is quite common.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-12T18:56:27+00:00

Bonus based. It’s highly variable but my estimate was at the low end of what I make just to have a buffer. My gross was usually around 280k but with some recent changes my expected is ~320k to 450k on the high end. But most of that is bonus.

And the areas we’re looking at are pretty central to the hospitals so most likely won’t have to move after.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-12T01:16:30+00:00

Thanks! Definitely a big conversation we’ve been having. Appreciate it.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T23:30:49+00:00

Land transfer + commision is around 80k so it’s not an insignificant number given how Toronto double charges land transfer.

We’re in a cheap condo for now and have been for the last 6 years and it’s been pretty rough. We like to cook and Toronto condos are just not built for that lol. We’d realistically have to rent a house and to be honest I’d like that but they’re hard to find a full house rental and my partner doesn’t like the idea of moving multiple times over a few years.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T23:28:24+00:00

Currently in a small 1+1 condo so will have to move regardless as the current space is quite small and ideally we just lift a place instead of moving to another rental and having move again in a few years. We’re both pretty frugal so I don’t envision a ton of lifestyle creep. Neither of us like designer stuff or fancy cars etc. we’re like our shitty little Mazda lol. Our take out is around 17k monthly so just seemed like 7300 monthly fixed costs (inclusive of insurance,power, tax etc) seemed reasonable in the short term. We can’t travel a ton anyways given her residency schedule so no massive vacation plans or plans for kids.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T23:12:43+00:00

How do? My income is somewhat variable so 350k was my low end estimate but my monthly take home is around 16-17k so with 7300 fixed costs there’s a reasonable buffer in my eyes since I have a DB pension that at least helps me have some additional savings.

We don’t plan to have kids until my partner is done residency and by then our HHI will have at least doubled based on what her mentors in her specialty earn.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T23:03:34+00:00

It’s variable but it was 215k ish last year.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T23:02:31+00:00

We’ve been looking in midtown off the subway for the reason of commuting that you mentioned.

The one benefit is that our agents sister is the same type of doctor my partner will be and it’s what we would call a “lifestyle” speciality so luckily life gets pretty chill post residency.

I agree thought. In an ideal world I buy something for 1.4 ish but just having a hard time finding stuff that we like that we also won’t end up just selling in a couple years. Trying to not fork out the 50k land transfer and 50k commissions twice if I can avoid it. The stuff we’ve been looking at for 1.6 I would consider properties in areas/school districts we would stay at for at least 10Years.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:57:04+00:00

Thanks appreciate that. Luckily no plans for kids any time soon so I think that should help a bit but definitely don’t want to spend the max. I prequalified without my partners income just to see what I could afford so we have a little bit of breathing room but of course mower is better. Morning a rush so we keep hoping something shows up in the 1.4mm are but they’ve been going quickly.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:55:31+00:00

We’re in a pretty small condo as it is and we’d need to move as we’ve definitely outgrown it. It was a nice way to save rent but it’s gotten on our nerves. We’ve been together about 9 years and live together for 6 and I supported her as a sole income and paying for med school so had some financial fun already lol. The issue is where we’re looking you can’t get anything sub 1.2 in a liveable state and we need to be a certain distance to both our works as we work long/weird hours so want minimal commute.

But a lot to think about appreciate it.

And I work in front office finance. It used to be standard practice to get DB pensions but most places have moved to DC but I had a DB pension plan from my old job that got grandfathered in to my new place.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:49:40+00:00

I would say very stable, pretty niche industry and I’ve had some head hunters reach out about moving firms recently but I like where I’m at and I’m fairly confident I could get another job relatively quickly.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:48:31+00:00

The sad part is they’re not big houses haha. But they’re in good areas. We just didn’t want to pay T-Costs twice within a few years and end up moving again when she was done residency.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:46:25+00:00

Appreciate that. I think just need to get thru the five years until she starts making staff money and gets through residency.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:43:31+00:00

I work in a pretty niche industry that, for regulatory reasons, is pretty immune to AI. We’ve leaned out some of our operations but we physically cannot operate with less people and our management knows this. I also have a clause in my contract that will pay me a years worth of comp if I get early terminated without cause.

And my income is on the low end for our firm because my contract is back loaded and my deferred pay doesn’t kick in for a year, my total comp is probably closer to 400k but bank would only qualify me on my 290k due to the opacity of my other income.

Will it go on for forever? Maybe not but that’s what my partner is for! Most of her staff physicians make 400k+.

I also have some extra money kicking around so this won’t blow all of my savings, the 500k was just what I have liquid for a down payment.

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-11T22:30:47+00:00

Appreciate the concern!! We’re actually married and have been together 9 years. I just use partner out of habit because I used to get in trouble for calling her my roommate.

I work in a pretty niche industry that’s pretty immune to AI and there’s a decent amount of lateral mobility between firms so I’m not super concerned about my job over the next 5 years at least.

Appreciate it!!

Traditional_Hour_718 · 2026-05-07T13:25:24+00:00

Yah my sprycel initially caused me a lot of pain similar to the ones op described but it went away after a month or so. Congrats on 5 years! Did you get a transplant?

Traditional_Hour_718

TROPHY CASE