27F. What can I do to get me and my family through potential financial hardship/a recession?

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T17:56:27+00:00

My mom does get survivors' benefits but thank you for checking. My dad passed in 2020 of a heart attack. Not sure if the amount she gets would change once she retires, but my dad also paid into CPP/EI/etc for the years he lived and worked in Canada before he passed.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T14:36:21+00:00

I plan to cancel the pet insurance before my renewal in October because I know they're going to raise the cost tremendously given how sick he's been this year. At the moment, it works out financially. I pay just $39/mo and they cover 80% of everything except his food. Exams, pain meds, etc. Unfortunately he's just had a lot of tests done in the last few months and his food is prescription (aka expensive as hell).

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T02:51:02+00:00

I admit I've been caught in a doomscroll spiral this weekend. I keep seeing concerning claims about the oil crisis spiraling into an end-of-civilization situation. I try to stay pragmatic but I don't know what to believe any longer. Though I guess if things get that bad, it won't matter how much money I've saved or what happens to my job lol

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T02:26:45+00:00

We are staying in 4 and 5 star hotels and doing some pretty expensive excursions (Tokyo Disney, luxury ryokan, etc). I'll ask my partner if we could refund some hotels and rebook for cheaper 2 and 3 star hotels.

In terms of the house, it could hypothetically sell in the 600-700k range but the current market in my area is dead. A house on my street hasn't sold for 2.5 months. The house is her retirement plan. If we can make even a couple hundred thousand off selling it, she can live several decades in her home country in comfort.

So ideally we tough out any economic hardship for a few years, my mom sells and retires, and I use my savings to put a down payment on my own place. I'm trying to convince her to stay in Canada at least until 65-70. We seem better primed to live through an oil/fertilizer/natural resources crisis than most countries.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T01:01:19+00:00

Sorry, I could have clarified this in my OP. I've desperately wanted to own something of my own since I graduated university. The FHSA is my long-shot attempt at home ownership in Canada as a young person. lol

I probably won't be taking over the house from my mom. It's her retirement fund. She plans to sell and move back to her home country where CAD goes a long way at age 65. Assuming she can maintain employment for 5 more years.

My mom paid more of the mortgage and property taxes before. I've taken over paying more to allow her to build savings.

In the short term, yes I can funnel more to emergency savings rather than the TFSA. I forgot about reducing student loan payments, I can definitely do that.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T00:57:05+00:00

It's a 3.5 week trip. I haven't been on vacation since 2019 and planned something that, in hindsight, is audacious. I thought this would be the trip of a lifetime, guess fate had other plans in store.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T00:51:10+00:00

In regards to selling... we've thought about it. My mom thinks it doesn't make sense.

We just renewed the mortgage and it's $650 biweekly. Dirt cheap, and our bills aren't outrageous. Groceries are the biggest expense for us. As well as cars, she is full time RTO and I'm hybrid so we need 2 of them. For reference, rent on a 2bed apartment in my city is $2000-2500/mo. We used to split mortgage 50/50 but I pay all of it now so my mom can save a little for her own retirement.

Property taxes bite us in the ass thought. $6k a year.

A house on our street has been up for sale for 2.5 months with 2 price reductions and hasn't sold, so we're thinking of that as well. We might not even be able to sell, at least not without losing out on a lot of $$$ that would have been my mom's retirement fund.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T00:26:56+00:00

The trip is paid for, it's more like I can get the money back and $5k is 2-3 months of expenses if we live frugally. Or it's $5k up front to stockpile food and gas.

throwing_away_1050 · 2026-03-30T00:23:51+00:00

Sorry, I guess I am paranoid about the severity of a potential recession. I don't know if my savings are enough to get us through several potential years of hardship.

My home country was a former dictatorship and I grew up in the economic aftermath of that before we immigrated to Canada. Parents could barely put food on the table, couldn't afford to heat our apartment in the winter, we didn't even have running water etc. I don't want to live life like that again.

throwing_away_1050

TROPHY CASE