Residential real estate’s a commodity now. And nobody seems happy about it. The serious lack of listings, principally responsible for ridiculous prices in most major cities – as well as bidding wars and financial suicide in the GTA – seems destined to squeeze home values higher this Spring, even if sales plunge.
The winners are those with houses and windfall equity. But they’re not capitalizing because they’re not selling – afraid of where to move. The losers are those priced out of the hot markets and unable to reconcile waiting. The wretched are the ones staggering from auction to blind auction, making rash offers on crap houses, only to be bested by a greater fool.
Bankers know we have a debt crisis looming and are battening the hatches. Politicians understand the economic danger, but can’t find the courage to act. Now households owe $2 trillion, an amount bigger than the whole economy. Ninety per cent of houses in Vancouver are assessed for more than seven figures. The average detached in 905 is a million. And yet nobody’s at peace. This is an indication of significant social upheaval ahead.
Today I present two letters received Monday. One ‘s from a young medical professional and 1%er. The other was penned by a dude I banned from this blog last week. First the doc:
“Dear Garth: Should we get out? Is this the peak of the bubble? We purchased our Toronto home in 2009 for $540,000. We have spent approximately $100,000 in renos over the years. The house is now worth $1 million and paid off.
“I am an anesthesiologist earning approximately $600,000 per year but I took 5 months off in 2016 for a maternity leave. I’ll be taking another maternity leave for 6 months beginning in April of this year as our second child is due.
“My husband has given up his full time job to take care of our children. He previously earned about $100,000 per year. He has been working part time from home at his own small business earning $35,000 per year net profit. We have saved and invested since I started working in 2013. I have a medical corporation where I invest my retained earnings (in a balanced, diversified, low cost portfolio as per your guidance). It has a current value of $1.3 million. We have another $200,000 invested similarly across our RRSPs and TFSAs.
“I am 34 years old and my husband is 36. Does it make sense for us to sell our primary residence and rent until the market cools off? We could rent a comparable home in a better neighborhood for less than $4000 per month. But I can feel the looks of disgust from our parents about being renters.
“We do love our current home, it’s big enough for our family and renovated to our taste. There is also the hassle factor of moving with 2 small children. We would hope to purchase our dream home in the future. Currently knockdowns in our target area are on the market for $2 million. Re-builds are going for $3.5 million. This seems unobtainable now and we are worried about never being able to afford our dream home.”
Seriously? You’re 34 with a net worth of $2.5 million, a $600,000 income, living in a house you fancy, with no debt and a four-year work history. Plus another infant coming. Have you been bringing home the Diazepam and Amytal for recreational use? You’re losing it, girl.
Selling your million-dollar to buy one that costs three-and-a-half times as much at a time when the market is insane, interest rates are starting a long-term ascent, political real estate action is certain and prices have apexed is nuts. You will pour that precious liquid wealth into a single asset at the worst time possible, tossing out balance and diversification. And if you sell and rent, your mom will never talk to you, since obviously you’ll be a social failure and family disappointment. Stay where you are, doc. And keep your head down.
Now for Ron, the banned and banished reprobate:
“Below is a solution to one of Canada’s biggest problems, Garth. You probably won’t like it.
“Given that the national average house price is so extreme if one applies the 3 years pay rule one would need a minimum wage of around $80 per hour and full employment. Workers would be fired en masse in a heartbeat. Employers cannot afford the luxury of paying their employees to live in Canada.
“The solution is to regulate home prices by capping residential properties to 3 years pay or less at minimum wage everywhere in Canada.
“The dissenters and the disobedient could be charged with genocide under article 2 sections c&d of the genocide convention. Those who co-operate with home price abatement could receive mercy and have their debt expunged by fiat. Real estate must go from being an investment to being a place to live for anyone with a job.
“Don’t worry about the rich and the elite employees who pose as the average Canadian, Garth. They will always be able to look after number one. The common good needs to be protected from the genocidal greed of those who speculate in the necessities of life and that is a job for government. If people are no longer being financially bled white by real estate they may have funds for other things that are socially and economically beneficial.”
A lunatic position, of course. But somewhere between the craving, needy doctor and the raving, seedy blogger, sits the vast sea of public opinion. Like I said, nobody’s happy about this real estate market, which has turned houses into futures contracts, burdened families with debt that will crush without constant market advances, legitimized greed and envy, widened the wealth chasm and fueled a war between moister and Boomer, native and newcomer.
These are dangerous days. Stay liquid. Tackle debt. Expect surprises.
Yes, Ron. You’re still banned. Avoid surgery.
153 comments ↓
Sold a house today, listed 20 k higher than last sold held back offer for 6 days. Three offers registered one withdrew, first offer 10k less then list and the next greater fool 40k over no conditions.
My seller felt like he won the lottery.
Trends:
– For those ‘pay your fair share’ lefties:
What border security? They are turning us into Europe. ‘Refugees’ from the BPOE (USA) coming in via Praries.
– Expect healthcare system to be overwhelmed. Hope you boomers weren’t counting on fast access to healthcare.
Decide now: Burn your passport or your flag. I still have a decade, for my decision.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-sanctuary-city-1.3990835
“The City of Montreal unanimously approved a motion on Monday declaring itself a “sanctuary city” for unauthorized immigrants. ”
…
– I’ve stated here many times we have a de facto One Child policy here in Komunist Kanada. Population control of the West. By bankers.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/many-canadians-too-cash-strapped-to-raise-children/article34031452/
“Bankers know we have a debt crisis looming and are battening the hatches.”
——————————————————————
If bankers are not lending, then who is doing the lending ?
Hi Garth, so Kelly leitch says that all immigrants wanting to come to Canada should be interviewed first what’s wrong with that?
Thanks
OhCanada
Gloat much, Paul?
For the record my father was an escapee (refugee?) of a brutal Communist country. He arrived here legally.
(My grandfather wouldn’t join the Party you see.)
Yes this colours my view, yes I fully expect to die under communism. So close now. Human behavior never changes.
Hi garth, i have a question….why has the part time drama teacher and 2016 Canadian Immigration Minister John McCallum gone into partnership with that murdering nut job george Soros??? Soros funds terrorists/anarchists/anti government groups around the worl behind the doors which he funnels money through his BS foundations. He’s a professional at destabilizing countries including the middle east. So now we get to take them all? so Soros wins on both ends isn’t that nice…..how stupid is our country…….I suggest Canadians go take a walk down a street in Frankfurt or brussels and then see if they still want to have open arms for all these people that will never integrate
“Ron. You’re still banned. Avoid surgery.”
********************************************
Well Ron.
There’s only one solution to yer delusion.
A frontal lobotomy or a bottle in front of me
What makes me laugh is how people still believe that they will somehow find the discipline to ‘take care of themselves’ when they manifestly haven’t managed to do so for what? 10, 20, 30 years? More? There is a reason why CPP works – it is mandatory. Sadly for most of our society (I’m talking 80% plus here) the ONLY thing that ‘works’ is mandatory deductions such as CPP. If left to their own devices, the good intention will no doubt be there but the action will not. If our society ever does have the option to self fund a pension plan in addition to CPP, then the only way all those people will ever have something to retire to is if 1) it is mandatory & 2) they can’t touch it until X age, X age being age 60 or older.
The remaining 20% of less of society who DO put aside money for their future are of course to be despised & envied by the 80%, since ‘they’ obviously have some advantage the rest do not.
Yes I know too much time on my hands, apologize for the length of this one.
Quote from Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (Richard Thaler)
Regarding the recent US housing boom bust
“Had both homeowners and Lenders been econs they would have noticed these warning signals and realized that a fall in home prices was becoming increasingly likely. Instead, surveys by Robert Schiller showed that these regions in which expectations about the future appreciation of house prices were the most optimistic. Instead of expecting mean reversion, people were acting as if what goes up must go up even more”
Moreover, rational lenders would have made the requirements for getting such a mortgage stricter under such circumstances, but just the opposite happened. Mortgages were offered with little or no down payment required, and scant attention was paid to the creditworthiness of the borrowers. These “liar loans” fueled the booms and policy makers took no action to intervene”
“Once we grant that bubbles are possible and the private sector appears to be feeding the frenzy , it can make sense for the policy makers to lean against the wind in some way”
Sound remotely familiar?
Why is it that whenever the ‘complainer class’ feels they’re not getting something that they feel they’re owed, their solution is to demand ‘the government’ take action that would otherwise be considered outrageous.
Have the government cap house prices. What? Which level of government, exactly? Federal? Provincial? All real estate is local, as the saying goes, so maybe cities should dole out housing, like the Soviets did?
Any thoughts on how that would that co-ordinate with Federal policies on immigration, or Provincial policies related to infrastructure and labour standards?
I didn’t think so.
It’s a big, complex, interconnected world out there, and contrary to what you may think, or how you may feel, it’s impossible to rig the system to benefit any one person, or group of people. Successful people study the system and then make the choices they feel will benefit them best. This blog has only ever been about illuminating those choices for people, providing perspectives we might not otherwise see, and for this, it has been invaluable.
Those who cling to their biases, dismiss self-evident observations as ‘fake news’, and then complain when they watch others pass them by, I have no sympathy.
Me thinks Ron has never visited Cuba let alone been out of Wainfleet…
Enjoy reading your column everyday Garth, would like
tp have you share your thoughts about Life Insurance
The types available and investing in life insurance as
opposed to an rrsp.
To gone for an opinion
I love and hate everything figure thar out.
make anesthesiologists $600,000 or EUR 430,000 p.a.
maybe at specialty clinics in the US.
Canada is up shit creek w/o a paddle
#113 conan on 02.20.17 at 3:28 pm
RE: #109 Wall or first nations deja-vu experience? on 02.20.17 at 2:01 pm
LOL on the link to Leitch : )
Immigration is a mathematical/economic necessity for nations that do not have an internal birth rate above a certain minimum.
In an old-style economy, based extensively on human labor. Not so much in a highly automated, less labor intensive economy, hopefully that’t what Canada aims for.
In the macro world every asset value is ultimately based on an expected population growth. People fuel the demand of everything.
With 7+ billion people we could fuel incredible demand for everything for the next hundred years – the limitation for demand in recent centuries has never been the low population, but the low discretionary income of the large percentage of the population. Increasing the population does not create automatically more demand, efficient, automated economy that creates high value added products does.
They are also the creative spirit behind every invention.
Innovation can come from anywhere.
Sure, and based on your argument China, India, etc. would have by far the most inventions – which is probably not the case, though. Innovation is way more complex issue than the size of the population.
I don’t think it’s a good time to go “alt right” and assume people are evil.
You must be more familiar with the “at right”, I have not seen anywhere that they “assume people are evil”.
My experience is that “people are people”, and any political ideology that points fingers ends up getting shot down in the flames of history.
“people are people” is also my experience, on the other hand, I have yet to find any political ideology that does not point fingers. It seems to me that the core purpose of all political ideologies is to point fingers. What differentiates them is where the finger points to.
#1 Paul – what market are you in? Was this detached, attached or condo?
Thx
The world is at a pivotal point – I truly fear that a large scale war is in the cards sometime in the next 5 years.
Maybe this is the time to sell the house.
RATM
@ #4 OhCanada
You obviously don’t have a clue how immigration works in our country if you need to ask such an idiotic question. Try getting to know an actual immigrant before you make assumptions as to how our immigration system works.
And while your at it, visit another country and get to know the world. We’re all human.
RE: anesthesiologist:
You’re f*’n nuts. Keep your house, enjoy your family, stop being a moron. Seriously. Your “dream home”? Did you read about this in a magazine article? Clear your head. Life is not about building idiotic houses that you can never use, to show off to people you don’t care about. Travel, experience things. Stop trying to be the cover of better homes and gardens. Sheesh…..
if there is a GST/HST on a house trailer how come there’s no sales tax on a house ? 5% * 2 trillion = balanced budget ( for now ) and there will never be a house lust.
If I was the doc, I’d sell and rent… maybe she finds out her dream hood isnt what she expected and doesnt blow her wad on a tear down. People who think renting is wasting money forget that you HAVE TO live somewhere… they also ignore interest, taxes, utilities, repairs, etc.
In Germany the starting salary for anesthesiologists is around 5000 EUR, approx $6,700 gross. Max income is between 10000 EUR and 22,000 for specialists, heads of clinics and so on.
http://www.karista.de/berufe/facharzt-fuer-anaesthesie/gehalt/
There are little to no waiting lists. The equipment is always the latest and best.
Canadians are traveling to Germany for elective surgeries and paying out of pocket to get the service.
Why exactly are medical professionals paid so highly in Canada?
My wife and I don’t get it. Please enlighten us.
Spot on advice to the doctor lady. Just because you pull down $600k doesn’t mean you need a $1.8 mil palace. My neighbor is a good example. He’s a retired oil tycoon, not sure his net worth but it’s substantial. But his house is only worth a couple hundred (thousand) more than mine, even though I estimate his net worth to be at least 10 times mine. Mind you he also has a 50 foot sailboat he spends a lot of time on, so he has a sort of “diversification” that isn’t all real-estate. I guess my point is “how much house do you need?” He definitely isn’t following the “rule of 90”, more like the “rule of 5%”. And I think that’s admirable, it’s a nice house and how much house do you need? Even when there is money in the bank, there is no need to convert it to more house.
(He has a lot of nice toys in the garage too by the way. I would be jealous, but I’ve got some toys too. Less house also means more toys which is something the boys out there should consider. You can’t go for a ride with your faux biker gang on your…. house.)
As for poor banned Ron, I don’t know what he posted that got him banned but the email he sent you there proves he is a woo-woo thinker. Capping house prices? When you cap the price of something supply goes way down. Just look at what rent controls did to New York.
There is only one price control that works, and that is the price of money. Raise interest rates and other prices fall, lower interest rates and other prices go up. Nothing else works as intended.
My dad had a friend back in the day who was a dairy farmer. The most valuable asset he had other than the land itself was his “quota”. This was a system which I think still exists that worked like a taxi medallion. In order to sell milk in Canada you have to buy “quota”, and that’s how much you can sell. He wasted a lot of milk, because he couldn’t sell it. But what he could sell he got a nice price for. And what about the rest of us? We pay a lot more for milk and cheese than they do in the US where there is no quota system. But no Canadian dairy farmer ever goes broke. So that’s artificially high prices.
Venezuela is where you look to see what artificially low prices do and there is no milk. In fact, all the cows have been stolen and slaughtered by the starving masses.
The good doctor sure does go into a lot of detail regarding her finances. I’m guessing she wanted to brag about her financial acumen, maybe get a little pat on the head from Garth, and the question she asked was just the excuse she needed to send the email.
A cynic would call me jealous. I may be. But sometimes even jealous people can see things for what they are.
#38 Smoking Man on 02.19.17 at 9:49 pm
Wondering what the ghosts of Hunter S Thompson and Ernest Hemingway are thinking about the current state of politics.
Would they be for Trump or Against.
Would they favore Kevin Oleary or T2
Dogs? What do you think.
—————–
Hemingway leaned far to the left.
http://hollowverse.com/ernest-hemingway/
Hunter S Thompson supported Karl Marx.
” In another letter to Semonin, Thompson wrote that he agreed with Karl Marx, and compared him to Thomas Jefferson. In a letter to William Kennedy, Thompson confided that he was “coming to view the free enterprise system as the single greatest evil in the history of human savagery.””
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Political_beliefs
Both people smoking man looks up too.
#5 Veritatis on 02.20.17 at 6:44 pm
Gloat much, Paul?
————————————————————- You missed the point, not gloating just another example of the idiocy called the market.
A delusional real estate agent’s take on the market.
http://torontorealtyblog.com/archives/16635
Blind leading the deaf…
So a 34-year-old doctor making 600k/year and we are worried about house prices…..
I hate this Canadian “communism”.
Umm 4 years of work and $2.5MM net worth….
I think Doctors deserve to be paid a lot for their life saving work, but, it’s gone a tad far if you ask me. Isn’t $300k a good enough wage to attract talent? I don’t know the space well so maybe it isn’t. From cops, teachers, firefighters, doctors I think the whole public sector could use a belt tightening along with the rest of private sector Canada.
Wait, I thought JT (which actually stands for Just Tax, not Justin or Joe Trudeau) was going to have us hand over what is left of our paychecks in the form of a tax that would pay for all of our houses.
I am ok with filling out forms to declare my principal residence….but still disagree with not getting full principal residence exemption if one rents out their basement. I mean, they already claimed their rental income…doesn’t sound fair being double taxed. (I don’t rent out a basement)
And has there ever been a study that evaluates how much of an effect different capital gains tax levels (same for dividend tax credit) actually has on the markets/financing for companies?
Wow 25,000 jobs lost in Alberta in January
http://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/alberta-shed-almost-25000-jobs-in-january
@#7 OCANADA
i think , in your paranoid delusional state, you mistook this blog for an outhouse at xenophoblic, hate filled, KKK rally…..and deposited your “wisdumb”
Better luck next time
AK on 02.20.17 at 6:33 pm
“Bankers know we have a debt crisis looming and are battening the hatches.”
——————————————————————
If bankers are not lending, then who is doing the lending ?
———————————————————-
Of course it’s the Banks, but it is all backed by the Government of Canada i.e You and Me.
No one would lend based on the prices and ability to pay we have now. If the mortgages are not covered by C.M.H.C. nothing sells.
The photo looks like my back yard….
And those govt salaries….600K per year. Wow. Too bad there is a govt hiring freeze. I would love to be part of the 1%. And yes, doctors work for the govt unless they are paid 100% with private money.
Yes, ” significant social upheaval,” now you’re getting the big picture. Whining about 600k a year docs not getting their fair share must sound pretty inconsequential in comparison.
Remember how you ridiculed the 99%? Not so funny now that they turned into brexit and trump voters is it?
When did I mercilessly ridicule anyone who didn’t deserve it? So unfair. — Garth
” This is an indication of significant social upheaval ahead…”
Yep. I believe we will see more disengagement from society when people in the coming years don’t feel like they have something to work toward. Birth rates and marriage rates are already beginning to plummet among millennials.
#17 when the whip comes down on 02.20.17 at 7:28 pm
#1 Paul – what market are you in? Was this detached, attached or condo?
———————————————————-
It was a dated Semi in not the greatest area in the G.T.A. Even with 30% down I would not have given the mortgage.
#23
Couldn’t agree with you more. Medical professionals are bankrupting our healthcare system. Yes, they should receive a generous stipend for the dedication and schooling. But what they make is ludicrous.
#19-Jessica –
Yes Jessica we’re all human to a certain extend, would u take ur kids to the Edmonton water park? I hope not but not all humans are the same, I’ve been to Frankfurt , seen firsthand the mess they have over there. Why not interview all immigrants wanting to come to Canada? What’s the big deal? I’m a 1%er tired of seeing my tax dollars wasted. Let’s help out our fellow Canadian first, canada is broke we can’t afford to pay for all immigrants. Look at what it will cost? Quite obvious you have no clue young lady, I assume u live at home with mommy and daddy
Thanks
OhCanada
” Politicians understand the economic danger, but can’t find the courage to act.”
What a sad, sad commentary on those who we have elected, in good faith, to do what is best for Canada and all Canadians.
. . . promoting food banks with own grown food. Socialist revolution at it’s best.
Let’s all just face it….systems, government, capitalism is broke and no one really has a clue how to fix it. Everyone will get a shot to try something different -Donald, JT, EU but really no matter who is in charge, no matter where, what worked in the past few hundred years is at the end of it’s life cycle……I can’t see this world so badly fragmented, making the necessary changes and sacrifices so needed….solution?
Eat, drink and be merry…
Gta,Vancouver ,lower mainland and Victoria have very high house prices but for good reasons.These cities have a strong robust economy with very high wage plentiful jobs.If you didn’t have this then house prices would be like say Montreal or Ottawa.We are the envy of world when people look and see how are people can afford these high real estate values.Another thing Canadians can be proud of.
Hmmm.
Nothing like a “sudden death” to get the conspiracy theorists into a lather……eh Smokey?
http://www.google.ca/url?url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-un-churkin-idUSKBN15Z1UU&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi3gIvtg6DSAhVV-GMKHf8SAycQqQIILDAH&usg=AFQjCNHSHN4j-8dTjGkrrdIJWsteJzxoDg
One wonders whether the North Korean fembots were on a seat sale from Malaysia
#31 X
…but still disagree with not getting full principal residence exemption if one rents out their basement. I mean, they already claimed their rental income…doesn’t sound fair being double taxed.
—————————————
I’m pretty sure T2 would figure it this way: The moment you rent out a portion of your principal residence, that portion becomes a money making venture.
That portion (the specific fraction of which the CRA will ultimately decide) no longer enjoys a principle residence capital gain exemption because it no longer forms part your principal residence.
Good luck sorting out the mess if you’ve only been renting for a portion of the time you’ve owned the residence. But, I’m sure the CRA will help you out with that stuff.
I think this has always been the rule. It’s just that now the homeowner is required to give the information necessary to track such goings-on.
The honour system is finished. I think it’ll be revealed there was never much honour involved.
@#36 Pepsico
Did you catch it?
Garth did a Trump funny at your expense!
Back to your room my little Pepsico .
No pop for you.
Yes $600k is a lot of coin. Is it fair? I dunno. But for all the whiners out there how about this…stop watching hockey. Stop attending games. The average NHL player makes 3 times that and for what? I know people get what the market says they are worth and that’s totally fair. It just seems hypocritical to me to whine about Dr salaries during the intermission of a hockey game. Who provides a more worthy service to mankind? And while you are at it get off my lawn.
Ah yes. The “dirty little secret” about Canadian doctors. Very highly paid by world standards! Even the rates in the USA for a few highly paid specialists turn out to be not so good once liability insurance and bad debt clients are factored in.
But our doctors will complain about the ten years+ of post-secondary education they must get through. Ignoring the huge waiting list of very qualified people who didn’t quite make the cut – for a highly subsidized education. The laws of supply and demand completely reversed.
Does anyone really think medical schools would have trouble filling classrooms with great students if their incomes after graduation were cut in half to say $200K annual? We might even get better doctors, in it for the patients and helping people rather than just the money.
Actually, I expect pretty much all of the current cadre of doctors would still be in the medicine business because it’s what they love.
They’d just be paid less.
Ron’d be happy living in North Korea.
Off you go, buddy.
600k a year to knock people out? Boy am I ever in the wrong profession.
Whether you like Manning or not, he makes some interesting points.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/how-canada-can-steer-away-from-a-trump-like-fate/article34074027/
#48 Sideshow
I so agree…Get off my lawn too….
$600,000 for a medical professional, 3 million – NHL…
Preschool teachers to assist kids in crucial learning years?
$30,000 maybe for our future???
Doctors are essential, Teachers for kids under 7 essential.Let’s see how the nation does without them…Entertainers??????
Yea, we all have our priorities right. Yet a lot of talk and about 2% action from my viewpoint.
I thought Canada was relatively immune to the financial turmoil going on around the world for years now but human nature, close-to-nought interest rates, and lax lending are bringing a reckoning to our own country.
Canada survived very unscathed by the last international banking crisis but these housing bubbles are going to end badly. Still, there are only a few major banks in Canada and they should be able to weather the crises.
Don’t worry about all the people defaulting on their mortgages when interest rates rise. All these mortgages were dreamed-up-debt created out of nothing through the medium of fractional reserve banking.
A lot of people are going to take years to repair their credit ratings, though.
In retrospect, I think Zero-Interest-Rate-Policy (ZIRP) was a serious mistake. The government should have kept the interest rate at inflation level (4%) and cut taxes through cutting government expenses. This would have given people more money to spend and it would have kick-started the economy.
Every day on the news I see one person or group after another whining about why the government doesn’t do something about (place your whining request here).
Why don’t you get off of your butts and do something about it yourself instead of childishly whining. You’ll quickly find out that actually trying to solve problems is very difficult.
Medical practitioners making ridiculous amounts of money and there is an extreme shortage of doctors.
How can that be? Wouldn’t $600k salaries lead to a huge number of people wanting to become doctors? There wouldn’t be any government backed policies to stop them would there?
Unpossible! We all know cartels only exist in free market capitalism, not in government regulated economies.
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the medical profession getting government to protect them from ‘unfair’ competition (meaning, anyone who didn’t go to med school in Canada) would it?
Why are we not letting in 200,000 qualified doctors a year from all over the world who would love to be here?
Nooo, their education might not be up to par, or some such nonsense.
Better to let people have no access to a doctor then access to one who might not be a McGill grad.
Much smarter to bring in the elderly parents of recent immigrants so we can take care of them in their old age.
Our doctors need more patients, not the other way around!
What a ‘nice’ country we are.
The alt leftist liberal millennial can’t live in the house of his dreams unless “the government” legislates a price he can afford? There are several countries that have tried that…Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela to name a few. I wonder why those people are desperatly escaping to the west. I suggest, working longer hours, get three jobs, work smarter, marry into money….cause if you are a millennial and voted Liberal….you are reaping what you’ve sewn….no job, no money, no home, no life and egregious taxation that only a lifestyle with no money.
In a way I’m reminded of the tragedy of Hong Kong….when the Chinese said they were taking over the lives of 7 mil in people no one said boo. Britain gave the lives of 7 million souls to China and sailed away on his yacht…crickets. A generation later the young are standing up and protesting….but it seems like a backbone skipped a generation. That’s what the millennial snowflakes remind me of….having no backbone they voted liberal for the promises of fairies and unicorns offered by a Peter Pan front man.
There’s no jobs, no economy, no prospects….a generation lost to political pandering and obfuscation. Maybe the children of these unemployed wastrels will cry out from grandmas basement suite and demand something better. Either way, this generation of millennial has screwed itself.
Future expat says:
“The biggest fallacy on planet earth is that people who make money are somehow more intelligent than other people. It takes no intelligence whatsoever to quickly figure out where the money is, especially in America. What determines monetary success is how much of Satan’s spew a human will swallow and how low they wlll go. And how quickly and how thoroughly they will Orwellingly convince themselves that Satan is somehow Christ and that evil is somehow good and vice versa. “For the kids”. Always for the kids. Like a wolf or lion pack.”
hahahaha I didn’t even need to hear this drivel to know that he was broke, living of the government teat no doubt (anything else would be evil, right?)
Meanwhile the people who work hard every day to support him are ‘swallowing Satan’s spew’.
I do love it when the left shows their true colours, ugly as it is.
RE: #4 OhCanada on 02.20.17 at 6:35 pm
“Kelly leitch says that all immigrants wanting to come to Canada should be interviewed first what’s wrong with that?”
Because we already do that already. The UN has an immigrant “who are they” service ,and then Canada does their own checking.
Just my opinion but Leitch wants to put a “Blue Meanie” wrap on everything, point fingers, and wave her angry hands in the air.
But wait! There is more. We can also expect very strong opinions on hair shirts and Medieval religious mantra. Pretty soon we will all be wearing black Victorian fashions and building concrete monuments to Mother Canada and victims of whatever ideology we do not like.
She is Harper revisited, extra salty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2uCNd1AVJo
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#51 Looney Baloney on 02.20.17 at 8:49 pm
600k a year to knock people out? Boy am I ever in the wrong profession.
..
They key part is you wake up at the end! They also usually have good jokes.
best thing we can do is get a dictator to straighten this mess of of country!
For the doc, Sell your house and rent. You worked really hard to be where you are financinally so do what’s right.
Sell your home and rent until market cools.
600k a year? That’s a lot more than what most real doctor would make. Unless she steal from people wallet or purses after she put them out.
#19 Jessica on 02.20.17 at 7:33 pm
We’re all human.
—
And that is a fact.
Stating the obvious is not a moral value on it’s own.
Arguably it may be an explanation, but not always an excuse for the wide range of behaviors humans exhibit towards each other, either as individuals or as groups.
Saying to any particular behavior that we are all human, without actually examining objectively the specific act and the impact of it on other individuals – is entirely meaningless.
We are humans as in moral value – in our specific acts as individuals or as a group of individuals, not because “we are all human”.
‘The winners are those with houses and windfall equity. But they’re not capitalizing because they’re not selling – afraid of where to move.’
we like our house, neighborhood. Peace of mind with ownership. Very grateful the house has appreciated- even a 30% won’t give us heartache. No fear with this home owner
#58 con head
So u want to wear a burka in the near future?
‘Medical practitioners making ridiculous amounts of money and there is an extreme shortage of doctors.’
ridiculous? what adjective would you use for MLB baseball players
Canada just resents folks that make ‘too much money’….i guess
Bankers know we have a debt crisis looming and are battening the hatches. Politicians understand the economic danger, but can’t find the courage to act.
“bankers are battening the hatches” Ross Kay says they are writing mortgages where the sold price is way over the assessed value. This blog showed where 244 Bain, Toronto sold for $1.8 million. 325 Perth sold for $848,000. On the other hand, the banks may be quietly saying no.
“politicians can’t find the courage to act”. Addressing politicians: if you don’t act the housing crisis is going to hunt you down.
Why is an anesthesiologist paid so much? I can understand doctors getting paid 200K +, especially considering the hours they work.
This I don’t quite understand
Kilt.
Let’s be clear – most doctors are paid fee for service meaning they get paid for how much they work. $600k represents a lot of hours, nights, weekends and holidays while the rest of you are lining up to buy Canada goose jackets, cruising around in your leased Audi or begging your mom for a down payment for a 300 sq ft condo.
#58 conan
Woah… that was quote a sour finger pointing exercise.
IHCTD9:
Garth:
Apologies for an off topic comment, but that should not matter tonight as this fake blog is all over the place anyway.
I. Harvester, I do not know if you saw my comment aimed at you on yesterday’s blog. My father’s crawler tractor was an IHTD6.
If I may, a new handle: IHTD6WULM61AB.
I do not know if you
I’m surprised they haven’t shut the comment section down yet lol! It been raging for hours and probably the most lopsided I’ve ever seen on CBC.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-sanctuary-city-1.3990835
We’ll get our Trump yet!
Late post.
Anybody want to critique my comment, #54?
I want to know if I have flaws in my argument.
LL
#54 Long-Timer Lurker on 02.20.17 at 9:11 pm
In retrospect, I think Zero-Interest-Rate-Policy (ZIRP) was a serious mistake. The government should have kept the interest rate at inflation level (4%) and cut taxes through cutting government expenses. This would have given people more money to spend and it would have kick-started the economy.
———————
Or better yet, going to a gold backed currency as Greenspan is now advocating:
Alan Greenspan: Ron Paul Was Right About The Gold Standard
“When I was Chair of the Federal Reserve I used to testify before US Congressman Ron Paul… we had some interesting discussions… We would never have reached this position of extreme indebtedness were we on the gold standard, because the gold standard is a way of ensuring that fiscal policy never gets out of line.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-20/alan-greenspan-ron-paul-was-right-about-gold-standard
caution in coming to Canada– if you make ‘too much money’ Canadians get angry……feel you’re ‘stealing’ and what not
can’t make this stuff up
What is that old saying something like “more money than brains” applies here. Some people appreciate what they have and some dream of a “catalogue lifestyle.”
Calm down #10 Jessica…instead of attacking OhCanada maybe explain what you know. Actually I am a little concerned about people crossing to our country without papers. Not a comfortable feeling.
As for Al Core and the CO2…right or wrong but that is just part of the equation as many of us were taught before Core came out. It is well know that mankind is the most destructive creature on this planet and lack of respect of earth/nature.
On the news today it said that we have no worries about the big bitumen tankers. They showed pictures of a couple of tugs escorting the tanker, oh get this, on calm waters. Same when T2 came to the coast to tell us we have world class response, T2 on a boat surrounded by dead calm seas. Our waters are usually rough and the first rule of rescue is “if too rough safety of the responders come first.”
i’m tired of being told by the SJW’s in vancouver how they can take the things i worked like a bastard for while they sit on their lazy ass’s. and if i disagree they will take it by force.
yes i have been told this by more than a couple of very entitled university units.
they have told me this is their right.
they are establishing social equity… yah it’s funny if it wasn’t so scary
i have my home and property because i’m a white privileged Nazi apparently.
and if i question them i’m a racist Nazi.
where do you take a real conversation from there…
but… if i to call them that there would be hell to pay.
they would have me assaulted under the
… special position human rights legislation that they have manipulated in a manner dealing more special human rights for only their very select groups.
this is not “Equal rights”
the word “Incudes”
… in law indicates special privilege others don’t have… a racist position to me.
how come they can use violence against me…
oh… and they all worked in government jobs
tired of being threatened with violence by this group.
of so called peaceful “social justice warrior thugs”.
pissed off
Silver
What doctors earn in bc
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/medical-services-plan/bluebook2016.pdf
Was it this one this one by any chance?
For all you folks complaining about this doctors salary. It is really too bad there wasn’t a discount service available. Sorta the Wal Mart of medicine. Wonder how many would use it.
Re: Physicians’ Salaries:
It is remarkable. In 1984 my sis (radiology/nuclear medicine) launched her career in a partnership in Toronto. I could not believe she was earning $100K p/a, 10 weeks of holidays per year, a rental in Wychwood Park and a membership at that private gals’ club 21 McGill. Inflation adjusted = $209,000. Something is wrong. Oh well, like Dalton Camp, I might be able to queue jump when the cardiac infarction hits. Name dropping and bragging. Sorry.
I chuckle when folks complain about athletes’ salaries and say “He makes 21 times what the Prime Minister does!!” 700 men in the world can play hockey in the Bigs. 2000 women or men within a ten block radius of Garth’s office could capably serve as PM. Supply / Demand.
Avoid surgery? Why? What exactly are you implying Garth? That the doc will kill him on purpose because of the guy’s opinions? I don’t know who else you’re banning and censoring on the blog, but I doubt any of them are as dark as the stuff you say. You’ve officially jumped the shark, dude.
Ron’s points are salient. Houses need to be affordable. Affordable housing allows for a robust economy, and healthy bottom lines for businesses.
I know of people that will not look for employment in Vancouver or Toronto, simply because of the cost of housing. People just starting out in these cities are screwed.
#70 Josie on 02.20.17 at 9:55 pm
Nope. Tons of people who are underemployed, underutilized and underpaid.
Many are working less hours than they want on contract with no security at all. Doctor’s with “too much work” don’t really have an angle at all, sorry.
MF
Rexx Rock – “These cities have a strong robust economy with very high wage plentiful jobs”.
Really? Wages here in Canada are certainly not the equal of our neighbors to the south. I can’t speak for other developed nations. Wages / Salaries here in Canada (unless you’re an anesthesiologist or a dentist!) plateaued 15 to 20 years ago and haven’t moved since.
Physician salaries are highway robbery. Medical school is only 4 years university and then they start getting paid $50,000 plus per year.
If we ever lose public healthcare, it will be because of outrageous doctor ‘businesses’.
Put GP’s on a salary $250,000. Specialists $400,000. No deductions. Let them combine practices to lower overhead.
And lift the limits on doctor numbers.
Doctor: $600K x 30 year career = $18 Million
NHL Player: $2 Million x 9 years = $18 Million
NHL player had to work their butt off. The doctor had to get great grades (like many non-doctors) and then pass an “Interview” to get into medical school.
Its in the interview where shady stuff happens. Apparently at UBC, 75% of the entering class had at least one parent who was a doctor.
Hmmmm..
It’s almost at the point of sickening reading about people buying real estate in the GTA or Vancouver. What is wrong with these people and their irrational thinking? If they only knew communities actually exist with affordable prices and short commutes – elsewhere in Canada. I assume the 6 mil or so in the GTA are too busy commuting, inhaling exhaust and waiting for the Leafs to win the Cup to notice.
Whoa…
I was checking out My Account in CRA and found a new entry:
2016 TFSA record(s) from your financial institution(s)
Calendar year end fair market value
WTH????
So the year end values of all my TFSA at various places are reported to CRA. So now, they can track everybody’s FMV.
OMG!
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Doc, just live in your paid off house and enjoy your life and your lavish, lavish salary. Stop reading housing blogs – why do you care? You will always have a paid off house and more money than you can reasonably spend. Doesn’t matter if interest rates go to 10% and johnny foreigner is banned from buying houses. You’ll still have a nice house and gazzillions invested.
$600K/yr.
Medical corporation.
A quick search on Google shows the average Anesthesiologist salary in Canada is:
$192K/yr.
and it takes 12 years to become one; thus, she is 30 years old minimum.
If she is that age and at $600K/yr, then she is probably working in a familial corporation to have advanced that fast in salary (i.e., at 30 years old she will have just completed her Residency).
So our lady Anesthesiologist is either the Owner, Co-Owner or a Partner in a Medical Corporation and probably well older than 30 years of age unless in a familial corporation (i.e., nepotism).
Most likely, we have here an Entrepreneur and Private Healthcare.
And not some Anesthesiologist toiling away in the bowels of a Cdn. Universal Healthcare hospital for those of you thinking that they all get that salary at a young age.
I do not begrudge an Entrepreneur when the Cdn. success rate first time out is 15% and the rest fail.
#80 The Wet Coast on 02.20.17 at 11:15 pm
For all you folks complaining about this doctors salary. It is really too bad there wasn’t a discount service available. Sorta the Wal Mart of medicine. Wonder how many would use it
————————
This is what you getting here, exactly Walmart level Healthcare compare to Germany, France, Sweden or other European countries…and surprisingly doctors do not make that much over there. Clinical successes of Canadian doctors are nonexistent,and they still believe they are underpaid…
Good post Garth today and I cannot agree more with you:
“These are dangerous days. Stay liquid. Tackle debt. Expect surprises.”
The above statement would be anathema to any Investment Management firm. Shows how honest/altruistic you are – 2 of the many reasons I come to your Blog every day.
I know you hate Macro Econ. but Garth from 2013 to 2015 GDP dropped by 15%, that’s A LOT (and 2016 looks to be no better than 2015 – we will find out Mar. 2 about 2016 GDP). In the intervening period, population increased by about 2.3%.
A shrinking economy like this cannot accommodate many well paying, full time and permanent positions. Why we saw 189,900 part-time jobs out of a total 276,100 created in 2016 (nearly 70%) – Canada is becoming a McJobs nation, slowly, but surely.
With the economic pie shrinking, people will gamble on RE to make up for lost revenues. And as any +20 yrs experience Realtor will tell you, RE is ALL about EGO – reflecting wealth & social class. It is a sword that most, if not all, will fall upon themselves.
Because of the above, I worry about the wealth and security of Canadians.
Why I SO AGREE with your “dangerous days…” comment.
Montreal has just declared itself a Sanctaury City. Let’s welcome the world here! The trickle is soon going to turn into a flood. Grab the popcorn. Germany 2.0.
Glad I still have a motherland overseas that I pledge allegiance to. Canada is going to become a post national state…something you use but would never defend with your life.
Why Toronto (and Other Cities) Inflate Housing Bubbles to the Bitter End
http://investmentwatchblog.com/why-toronto-and-other-cities-inflate-housing-bubbles-to-the-bitter-end/
I don’t get the 600K a year either for an anesthesiologist and I am a specialist myself. I make actually more than that but I am in one of the top three paying specialities in Canada.
But my net worth is just over hers and I’ve been practicing for more than a decade and I am not a spender. NUmbers do not add up.
But who cares ?
The reality in the field is that most doctors from outside Canada who are trying to apply to be able to practice here do not have the qualifications and will simply fail the exams (except US MDs). This is done in order to protect the public.
What most people also do not get is that I could easily add 50% more to my salary by working more (6 days instead of 4 and a half). WE are simply not enough doctors to take care of everyone.
One example. Do you know that an ophthalmologist is some provinces is paid around 300$ to do a cataract surgery ? Think about it. You are a patient who has only one good eye because you lost one from an accident in the past. Now your doctor will have a lot of stress when doing your surgery because he doesn t want to mess up your only eye. But he, he will do it, for 300$.
Is it really too much ???
A few decades ago, my MD father (GP) and his partners opened a not-for-profit medical lab in small-town Ontario. Each partner took a year of management of the place. They took no salary from it; they just wanted a local lab for the community.
The Globe and Mail reported one year that a partner was one of the top-paid MDs in Ontario. Why? All billings for the medical lab that year went through that partner’s “business”.
The lab, after a few years of boot-strapping by these doctors, was able to stand by itself, and is now an institution in that community.
BTW, my dad worked 80+ hours a week; house calls, doing overnight emergency work, weekend office openings, volunteering for sports events, etc. To this day, I don’t know how he did it.
@#95 Reality
“Montreal has just declared itself a Sanctaury City….”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yep. Saw that on the news last night.
Lets see what the ramification’s of Donald Trumps fast tracking of deportation rules does.
Cant wait to see how the “pure lain” of Parizeau’s Quebec reacts when that winter “trickle” of refugee’s turns into a summer flood…..in about oh… 4 months time.
Methinks Mr Grandstanding Mayor will be hiding behind any other politician to help him out with the backlash from the public…. a la France
Canada’s GDP did not drop by 15% from 2013 to 2015.
Statistics Canada has charted the % change in real (inflation-adjusted) GDP for those years. Click the link below for the chart:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/161130/cg-a001-eng.htm
Canada’s population increased 5% from 2011 to 2016 (see below):
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=101&S=50&O=A
“Opinions don’t affect facts. But facts should affect opinions, and do, if you’re rational.” — Ricky Gervais
#67 lol
$600k is ridiculous in comparison to the medical care I have had in Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica where I paid cash and had immediate access to excellent care.
Facilities at private clinics in Argentina were light years better than those at St Mike’s in Toronto.
My health plan in Argentina cost $150 a month. Doctor’s were excellent and could not have made more than $60k a year. Maybe $100k?
I have no problem with anyone making a billion dollars a year salary, as long as they don’t do it by having government either subsidize them or restrict competition on their behalf.
#98 Another Deckchair on 02.21.17 at 7:34 am
Are we supposed to feel bad for your dad’s option of working hard and setting up a business?
The majority of Canadians work:
-Part time garbage with zero hope of moving up anywhere/limited mobility
-Contract with no security
-Part time garbage with less hours than they need, unless they work two part time jobs and try to “cobble together” some schedule
#97 Alex on 02.21.17 at 7:22 am
A sensible post. I believe doctors should be paid as our society values medicine as a whole. I also don’t believe the 600k salary though.
#87 TRT on 02.21.17 at 12:45 am
Bingo.
I knew tons of guys and girls who were more than qualified and no one got in.
We always wondered WHO got in.
MF
#9 Linda on 02.20.17 at 6:58 pm
“What makes me laugh is how people still believe that they will somehow find the discipline to ‘take care of themselves’ when they manifestly haven’t managed to do so for what? 10, 20, 30 years? More? There is a reason why CPP works – it is mandatory. Sadly for most of our society (I’m talking 80% plus here) the ONLY thing that ‘works’ is mandatory deductions such as CPP. If left to their own devices, the good intention will no doubt be there but the action will not. If our society ever does have the option to self fund a pension plan in addition to CPP, then the only way all those people will ever have something to retire to is if 1) it is mandatory & 2) they can’t touch it until X age, X age being age 60 or older.
The remaining 20% of less of society who DO put aside money for their future are of course to be despised & envied by the 80%, since ‘they’ obviously have some advantage the rest do not.”
Excellent post Linda. I guess 80% must think that decades of saving, chasing loss leaders, coupon clipping, paying off mortgages early and consistently planning for a future where life is a bit kinder than the 9 to 5 commute and grind is an advantage they don’t have.
I have zero sympathy for people who have the same advantages as everyone else, save nothing and whine about unfair advantage. The tomorrow they end up with is the today they choose to live. At any rate, the only advantage they don’t have is the realization that care and planning is not deprivation at all, it is a choice and after a very short while, living within the means of a bright future is not painful at all- especially when your nest egg grows visibly year after year.
What is it with all these Millennials having to write into blogs with their self-stated bloated incomes and investments for the others to oogle at?
If they are doing so well why all the bashing of the Boomers? Smells more than fishy and move on…..you have gotten your 15 minutes of fame, albeit too early. BBWWAAH.
Let me say this about that….
My GP retired a few years ago, leaving 3500 patients in the lurch. The clinic the community had built with donor money to replace his hundred year old store front digs a decade earlier sits abandoned. The municipality pays head hunters, to no avail. The province ( NS )has declared that village no longer doc eligible, too bad for the druggist. When the doc was there you could usually get an appointment in a few weeks to a month. Now you can go to a nearby town’s outpatients and sit there for most of a day…the days it is not closed.
That nearby hospital community rallied together and brought a couple of Syrian families to freshly painted by volunteers rental housing filled with with donor furniture and toys. A local restauranteur has been recognised for donating countless hours translating for these folks as they attempt to integrate.
The immigrants have been thoroughly attended to medically and have family doctors.
The first place I mentioned, no, not so much as a doctor for the vast majority of the former doc’s patients.
My point is, the T2 govt. ought to mint one specifically new doc for X # of refugees/province snowballed into.
Fact: NS has more university desks per capita than anywhere on earth. That includes Dalhousie med school. They graduate then exit, it would be inhuman to require them to practice here for a set time after their subsidised education.
a hollow country….
On further thought, I think he had 5500 patients, because the other doc had died fifteen years earlier, and a replacement was never found, even though the community had banded together to build and outfit the clinic…
#40 OhCanada on 02.20.17 at 8:16 pm
#19-Jessica –
Yes Jessica we’re all human to a certain extend, would u take ur kids to the Edmonton water park? I hope not but not all humans are the same, I’ve been to Frankfurt , seen firsthand the mess they have over there. Why not interview all immigrants wanting to come to Canada? What’s the big deal? I’m a 1%er tired of seeing my tax dollars wasted. Let’s help out our fellow Canadian first, canada is broke we can’t afford to pay for all immigrants. Look at what it will cost? Quite obvious you have no clue young lady, I assume u live at home with mommy and daddy
Thanks
OhCanada
—
OhCanada? OhPlease.
Try and gain some actual knowledge about how the process works instead of listening to gossip.
If you’re content with ridiculous generalizations, fine, but just admit you want a handout.
Several professions earn very luxurious wages because of the barriers to entry for them. Literally, there are thousands of bright, educated individuals that would love to attend med school, but can’t because of the limited enrollment available.
They end up working at such prestigious jobs as http://unemployedprofessors.com/ or doing freelancing online to meet the bills which could be just above min wage.
If we allow more people to enter into such fields, we can easily reduce the wages based on supply and demand.
It is so bad that we turn away highly skilled medical professions just because they didn’t study in Canada. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Opinion+Canada+shuts+door+Canadian+doctors+foreign+medical+schools/9714934/story.html
I know quite a few friends that studied medicine overseas that could not return to Canada because they weren’t allowed to practice what they learned, so they remain overseas.
As our population ages, the costs to sustain the older generation for both pensions and medical services will be unsustainable. This is no country for aspiring, young business professionals attempting to start businesses.
To the doctor, Good for you congratulations on your earnings and savings. I was featured on this site a few years back. I disclosed that I made $400,000 US per year at the time and Garth’s followers had a field day with me in the same way they are with you. So if you are looking for advice mine for you is that you enjoy the comforts of your own home. I recently sold my home in the US and kept the cash in the US. I am now renting in Richmond Hill – north of Toronto. I can’t see the value in owning. Renting is much less expensive. I have a beautiful large 3 bedroom home with trails and a lake nearby and a 30 minute enjoyable commute to work each day. HOWEVER – the return on investment is only one consideration. Having a landlord who is a private individual home owner is a very unpleasant experience. He is in my home often to supervise routine maintenance. He is exceptionally cheap and I have run ins with him for no apparent reason. While I like the home – there is no pride in home ownership. I am dying to spend some money on the place and make it more “homey”. So if your prospects for continuing income are good I would stay put. It seems to me that you have time on your hands. I would use it to get ready to invest in real estate once things correct.
People who think you get to be an anesthesiologist easily are out to lunch. Requires multiple years of specialized training after basic MD training. And frankly I want someone doing that job who really understands what he/she is doing.
#56 Stock Picker
In a way I’m reminded of the tragedy of Hong Kong….when the Chinese said they were taking over the lives of 7 mil in people no one said boo. Britain gave the lives of 7 million souls to China and sailed away on his yacht…crickets.
Oh, you mean when the British lease on Hong Kong ran out. What were they going to do, go to war with China over Hong Kong? That would have gone well.
My wife just returned from visiting family in Markham. One niece plans on selling her house in less than a year. That is because she bought a condo a couple years ago in a building that only existed on paper. The condo will not be ready until Jan. 2018. She agree to pay $620k and it has been recently assessed (remember it isn’t finished yet) at $900k. Barring a collapse, I strongly suspect that when she moves in, that figure will round the $1 million mark. Who knows how much she will get for her actual house which sits on actual dirt!
No wonder people in the GTA think that RE is a lottery that you are guaranteed 100% to win. Total insanity!
The maths don’t work on the Doctor’s salary even if she kept it all in her private business. She can’t have paid off the house and summed $1.2m because she must have lived off nothing – and in that I include the husband’s $100k gross $60k net. There’s family money there too – fair enough, but that’s what’s happened.
Garth,
Wouldn’t low hanging fruit for a T2 government set on raising taxes be to just impose a 15% foreign tax on home purchases across Canada? That would eliminate whatever froth they’ve create in the GTA but not hurt other provinces as much as far as foreign participation goes. Taxpayers would actually welcome it as there is growing resentment already.
#24 Nonplused on 02.20.17 at 7:40 pm
(He has a lot of nice toys in the garage too by the way. I would be jealous, but I’ve got some toys too. Less house also means more toys which is something the boys out there should consider. You can’t go for a ride with your faux biker gang on your…. house.)
———–
You’re down on dream-house ownership while advocating owning “toys”. Flip side of the same coin—materialism! Some people would rather own an impressive house, while you would rather own impressive toys. What’s the difference? You both worship at the alter of material possessions.
#20 Ace Goodheart:
Your advice is much solid. “My dream home…”, ha! This woman has to learn to turn off HGTV while been in bed with the husband. Seems to be confused about where the real pleasures of life come from. Bigger house == bigger taxes == bigger maintenance cost (even if very affordable to her income) just to keep a place where she probably doesn’t spend much time anyways.
Stop consuming “stuff” and start consuming “experiences”. Sponsor some poor kid(s) in the third world. Travel there and see how most of humanity lives. Go visit some vintages and learn about making wine. Try to retrace some ancient pilgrim route (like El camino de Santiago in Spain) and take the family with you. Camp a bit, hike some too. Read more… exercise your freedom.
Unbelivable this Starbucks generation…
So long.
#120 WUL on 02.20.17 at 4:47 pm
ICHTD9:
A note of thanks to you for your contributions here and your insights. Carry on.
I have been at the controls of two crawler tractors. About 49 years ago at the age of 12, a catskinner put my right hand on the Johnson bar of a D8 CAT to go back and forth to pack a dirt driveway after the installation of a culvert.
In the mid ’80’s my father had a small one and if we could get it started, I would muck around on it. I have emailed him (age 88) to ask for the year, make and model. Maybe a retirement project to plow snow off my suburban driveway in Calgary. If the ether sprayed into the carb fires it up, I’ll do the neighbors too. A bit rough on the concrete, I suppose.
_______
.#121 WUL on 02.20.17 at 4:49 pm
Oops. It was probably a diesel. I am not a gear head. Ether won’t work. Or might it?
______
#72 WUL on 02.20.17 at 10:04 pm
IHCTD9:
I. Harvester, I do not know if you saw my comment aimed at you on yesterday’s blog. My father’s crawler tractor was an IHTD6.
If I may, a new handle: IHTD6WULM61AB.
________________________________
Missed it, but looked back to find it :)
Thanks your input here as well, I especially took interest in your posts regarding the big fire in Ft Mac.
“Catskinner” – not a word too many would understand these days – might get in trouble with PETA saying that out loud!
I can’t imagine how bloody big a D8 would look to a 12 year old :).
If your Dad’s machine was a TD-6 of the 50’s variety the “D” in TD-6 means it was a diesel, if it was gas it would be a T-6. The diesel though was a both a gas and diesel engine. Back then there were no glow plugs, so special efforts were required to start a diesel in the cold. CAT used a “Pup” motor to spin the main engine to build heat before fuelling it.
IHC designed their diesels to start on gas, and warm up that way. After a couple minutes on gasoline, you released the decompression lever, and flipped the throttle into the diesel range and you were then running on diesel without ever having turned the engine off.
The engine had a mag, carb, spark plugs and wires on one side, and a injection pump and injectors on the other. The “newer” TD-6’s were six cylinder direct start diesels. If your Dad’s machine is a 4 cyl, it’s probably a gas start.
With an old IH crawler, you indeed could spray ether into the carb to start the diesel engine up LOL! One of the very few machines ever built that you could do that :).
If you plan on restoring or fixing it, make sure your investments are kicking off some good returns first. I like your new handle!
IHCTD9M44ON
Pink Snow falling in Vancouver.
These guys still can’t offload this place despite having purchased it for 1.43m in March 2016 and dropping the price to roughly 1.3m for a 130k loss plus transaction costs…
M42BC
536 E 55th ave. Vancouver
Jan 2:$1,388,000
Feb 7: $1,298,000
Change: – 90000.00
https://www.zolo.ca/index.php?sarea=536%20E%2055th%20Avenue,%20Vancouver&filter=1
https://evaluebc.bcassessment.ca/Property.aspx?_oa=QTAwMDAwMkRTTQ==
Pink Snow falling in Richmond.
These guys don’t have much wiggle room left.
They purchased this place for 1.25m in March 2016 and now are scrambling to get the bulk of their money back
Currently listed less than 3.5% higher than what they bought it for they might be alright ,but in Richmond I doubt it.
As I stated the other week ,if this correction continues, I expect Richmond to have some of the biggest losses.
At least in Shaughnessy, Point Grey and the North Shore you can claim some sort of prestige and perhaps a decent view.
Richmond has easy access to the airport and there are no hills for you to get tuckered out on when you take your dog for a walk…
M42BC
11240 Bird Road, Richmond
Jan 29:$1,349,000
Feb 20: $1,298,800
Change: – 50200.00 -4%
https://evaluebc.bcassessment.ca/Property.aspx?_oa=QTAwMDA1WDRCSw==
BC Doctors’ salaries Blue book:
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/medical-services-plan/bluebook2016.pdf
#92 $600 K…wait a minute on 02.21.17 at 2:25 am
$600K/yr
and it takes 12 years to become one; thus, she is 30 years old minimum.
——-
No.
Takes 4 years.
you’re trying to confuse people by including the first degree which you don’t need.
Undergrad – 4 years
Medical school – 4 years
Residency – They start getting paid $50,000 plus.
Compare this with teachers, (or pharmacists, etc. )
Undergrad – 4 years
Teacher school – 2 years
Undergrad – 4 years
Pharmacy school – 4 years
Do these people get paid anywhere near doctors? It’s all about supply restriction.
Pink Snow falling in Richmond.
These guys have a higher asking percentage than the last guys by reducing their asking to 7.5% more than when they purchased it for 1.85m in April 2016.
Just like the last house it is around 45 years old and its bloated 2016 assessment only came in at 1.77m ,and so it is easy to see this one getting another large reduction when they see the writing on the wall.
They can ask all they want ,after all it’s only asking.
I ask Garth Turner to stop harassing me each day ,but he is yet to desist…
M42BC
3140 Springfield Drive, Richmond
Dec 21:$2,280,000
Feb 20: $1,990,000
Change: – 290000.00 -13%
https://evaluebc.bcassessment.ca/Property.aspx?_oa=QTAwMDA1WFIxSA==
i hope that i am wrong…
why did that guy went major money in airlines, i guess he knows all those charter flight will be highly profitable, because we all working stiff cant afford vacation…
#9 Linda on 02.20.17 at 6:58 pm
” What makes me laugh is how people still believe that they will somehow find the discipline to ‘take care of themselves’ when they manifestly haven’t managed to do so for what? 10, 20, 30 years? More? There is a reason why CPP works – it is mandatory.”
Exactly… discipline, a limited resource.
Firstly, learn to use $ and not %:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp
USD Billion 2013 GDP = 1837.44
USD Billion 2015 GDP = 1550.54
Secondly, the words were in the intervening period (2013 to 2015):
2013 Population = 35,049,382
2015 Population = 35,763,860
Presumably, you & Ricky Gervais can do the math on your own.
Shannon Martin, who works with CBC Toronto, is now a couch surfer. When her lease renewal arrived late Sept. 2016, she discovered that her rent had gone up 57%.
Here’s part of what she wrote in her article (click link below):
“I called the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board and the guy who answered my call broke it down for me in two words: You’re screwed.
“Real estate lawyer Mark Weisleder confirmed the worst of it. ‘You’re at the whim of your landlord,’ he told me. ‘It can be a real painful surprise for tenants.’
“Under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, rental units built after November 1991 are exempt from the annual Rent Increase Guideline aka rent control.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/no-fixed-address-how-i-became-a-32-year-old-couch-surfer-1.3985771
#23 medical professional incomes on 02.20.17 at 7:39 pm
A medical specialist I am well acquainted with averages gross annual income of around $450,000. His overhead, before he pays himself, works out to around $100,000 annually. That goes to receptionist salary, rent, utilities, equipment maintenance etc. Which leaves him with a net corporate income of $350,000. Being a medium community doctor he is on call two to three days per week and two weekends per month. All said, he puts in 80 hours a week on average, which works out to 4160 hours per year. Now do the math: $350,000/annually divided by 4160 hours equals a “whopping” $84.13 per hour. Funny that. You know, last month I had to hire a plumber who, after two and a half hours of fiddling, left me with a $370.00 bill.
Mr. Turner, your blog is one of very few places on internet left worth visiting. And you do a great service educating your readership on financial realities of living in this country. From time to time please do cover matters that I just addressed. Setting one professional group against another or putting one segment of society at odds with another is a tool leftist governments have used around the world, and some of us here have had the dubious pleasure of living under such regimes. If we as a society proceed on the current path of discourse, soon this “socialist democracy” will turn to just plain old socialism. There are hundreds of thousand of people in this country who came here seeking refuge from exactly that.
#51 Looney Baloney_ 600k a year to knock people out? Boy am I ever in the wrong profession.
_______________________
It’s not about knocking them out, it’s about making sure they wake up – can you do that too? What we do not know is the hours worked. I doubt this is a 9-4 with no nights and week-ends.
Another round of doctor bashing. Sometimes, I think we are baited…anyhow. Enough said.
Lol, on cue the angry old guys drop in
Maybe they WANT a bigger home . They want to experience the pleasure of excess space . They can afford it. They have an income to sustain , comfortably .
It is an error (huge one) to think that anyone can become a doctor, and that med schools are responsible for the lack of doctors.
Med school programs are restricted basically because most students would fail at one point or another in their studies. Since it does cost a lot of money, you do not want to admit 1000 students and see a few years later that only 100 will make it. Huge and expensive mistake !!
The doc must be Jen with Hubby Phil. I think she has a corp. as she mentioned her income “depended on billings” on the other blog post. Also indicating it’s probably not 600K every year.
I agree that now’s a good time to stay cozy in the paid off house and forget about RE for a while. YVR was not far from rolling over at the point where no one was selling and valuations were hockey sticking. Maybe a year or two off for Toronto? That’ll go by like lightning.
Just keep an eye on this blog to get everything you need in one place including entertainment :)! It will be apparent on these pages when you can start watching HGTV again.
In Ontario the public health system has 40% less beds available than in 1980. Yet the population has increased by ~50%.
One might expect that this dramatic reduction in service would be matched by an equally dramatic reduction in taxation money going towards health care. In fact, the opposite is true, the health care system has been taking dramatically increased taxation money in real terms.
So where has all the money gone? Study after study shows, that it has mainly gone to increased pay of the public servants. Maybe a specialist doctor in 1980 made in real terms $300,000 and today they make $600,000.
#129:
No anger at all. To start not even sure the post comes from real people. They follow Garth’s advice while investing in a low-cost balance portfolio and at the same time ask the guy for advice on how to unbalance the whole thing by jumping deeper into the most-overpriced asset class nowadays in Canada? They also want Garth to time the top of the bubble for them? And what about the thing about the parents feeling sorry for them for being renters? If this is not a made-up story somebody sent to Garth to poke him a bit, I say these people are not very smart to have understood Garth’s message, never mind talking about their characters.
In comment #116 I sent an alternative idea on how to have a better life (my idea). Don’t expect them to follow. You got a laugh out of my humor. I don’t care if they get a bigger house where they can garden their lives all the way to the grave till they become the ultimate soil fertilizer. Their choices…
” I took 5 months off in 2016 for a maternity leave. I’ll be taking another maternity leave for 6 months beginning in April of this year as our second child is due.”
Nice to work half the time these two years, and get paid, eh?
Yet, feminazis and the Regressive Left will perpetuate a gender wage gap myth.
Well, well, well. Guess what happened last night (in a country that cannot be named)? Curiously, the MSM is not reporting it. #fakenews
#126 Couch Surfing on 02.21.17 at 11:59 am
___________________________________________
$2600.00 a month for a 454 sf box? That rent would support a $600,000 mortgage at 2.5%.
Is it worth it?
I guess we’re going to find out.
A more interesting story would be if Shannon was fully able to pay that new rent, but decided not to do so on principal – and moved out on those grounds.
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/communication/statements/2009/snoras.shtml
http://www.finews.com/news/english-news/26267-julius-baer-and-the-russian-client-who-brought-down-a-bank
Antonov? latvia Lithuanian bank failures accused of bank fraud
http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20160815/276665388.html
Antonov meanwhile has been said to be close to the Russian Mafia – that’s at least what several media reports and bloggers suggested.
http://rumafia.com/en/dosje/85-vladimir-antonov.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-36403733
????
STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)–The Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) Thursday said it saw no reason to deny Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov ownership in Dutch car maker Spyker Cars NV (SPYKR.AE), which owns the troubled Swedish-based car maker Saab Automobile.
Market News | Thu Jan 13, 2011 | 6:33am EST
CORRECTED – GM to let Russian investor back into Saab-report
http://www.reuters.com/article/spyker-saab-idUSLDE70C0GL20110113
#95 Reality on 02.21.17 at 2:55 am
“Montreal has just declared itself a Sanctaury City. Let’s welcome the world here! The trickle is soon going to turn into a flood. Grab the popcorn. Germany 2.0.”
So is Toronto and Vancouver.
#128 Pre-retiree on 02.21.17 at 12:11 pm
#51 Looney Baloney_ 600k a year to knock people out? Boy am I ever in the wrong profession.
_______________________
It’s not about knocking them out, it’s about making sure they wake up – can you do that too? What we do not know is the hours worked. I doubt this is a 9-4 with no nights and week-ends.
Another round of doctor bashing. Sometimes, I think we are baited…anyhow. Enough said.
————————————————————————-
It’s not about doctor bashing. It’s about a broken health care system that has an insatiable appetite for money, with some of the longest wait times for visits to the ER, for essential surgery, access to specialists and special testing, in the civilized world. Yet they can dig up this kind of money for someone who is barely 5 years out of medical school?
Besides some US hospitals, there isn’t a place on earth that doles out these kinds of medical salaries. And that is always what Canadian physicians constantly threaten us with whenever we try to make sense of their re-numeration. “I will leave and head to the states”…BS. Many of them would find out very quickly that they were earning far more here, with far less hassles without the dump loads of cash to cover malpractice insurance. Heaven help you if you are sued just once by the way.
I’d slash many salaries in half and make the qualification of highly educated and trained international doctors who wish to work in Canada, far easier. And if you want to leave? Be my guest but make sure you repay the public for your heavily subsidized education with retroactive interest. Oh and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out too.
BTW I’m dating a cardiologist and she fully agrees.
#97 Alex on 02.21.17 at 7:22 am
Your comment is spot on. I have known a number of foreign med graduates who failed their exams repeatedly and could not be licensed here. I also know of some Canadian docs who, after many years of practicing in the States, tried to return to Canada. Their skills were outdated and they decided to go back. (True story!)
Also, perhaps someone should address the matter of the supposedly subsidized medical education. Things may have changed in recent years but when my friend worked through the the residency part of the program he was required to do up to three 32 hours shifts per week in a very busy hospital where sleep was something they got to read about… All for an annual stipend that could not feed a good size German Shepherd. I think that itself compensated the system more than fairly for any subsidies there may have been.
All said, I think that Canadians are very misinformed about the rigors of the profession. Your professional associations, supported by your dollars while describing themselves as patient advocates, have done an atrocious job of informing the public of the realities of practicing medicine in Canada.
Ontario just cut its deficit forecast in half, with help from Toronto’s housing boom
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/ontario-deficit-shrinks-to-1-9-billion-as-housing-boom-helps-province-inch-closer-to-balanced-budget
Here are the GDP figures in millions of (2007 constant) dollars, seasonally adjusted at annual rates:
— using income accounts:
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=3800063&&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=31&tabMode=dataTable&csid=
— using expenditure accounts:
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=3800064&&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=31&tabMode=dataTable&csid=
Source: Statistics Canada
The above data show a steady increase in real GDP from 2013 to 2015.
Your source of data is not clear to me, but we obviously have a data reliability issue that cannot be resolved.
Lot of sour grapes towards someone who worked many hours to get to where they are in their career. Some of the comments are distasteful and others are downright stupid.
Instead of wasting time being jealous, what’s stopping you from becoming an anaesthesiologist yourself? Or is it that the doctor is a woman that has your panties in a knot?
“#127 notImportant on 02.21.17 at 12:10 pm
#23 medical professional incomes on 02.20.17 at 7:39 pm
A medical specialist I am well acquainted with averages gross annual income of around $450,000. His overhead, before he pays himself, works out to around $100,000 annually. That goes to receptionist salary, rent, utilities, equipment maintenance etc. Which leaves him with a net corporate income of $350,000.”
Exactly my thought when I read the $600k a year claim – is it gross or net? The net number could be substantially lower. People often quote the gross numbers when talking about the earnings of medical professionals – comparisons to other professions should be on a net, not gross basis.
Lurker: Anybody want to critique my comment?
let’s consider this: Don’t worry about all the people defaulting on their mortgages when interest rates rise. All these mortgages were dreamed-up-debt created out of nothing through the medium of fractional reserve banking.
Court of Appeal for British Columbia: there is no evidence to challenge the bank’s assertion that it advanced the money pursuant to the promissory note, or to question the fact that the respondents have failed to repay the loan according to its terms. It seems to me, no matter how the banking system created the money the petitioner lent to the respondents, or whether it was transferred to them in cash or digital transfer, it was used to construct their home and, to that end, had a purpose and value.
http://mcaf.ee/aykpz8
( the original url is too long )
#93 Bobster on 02.21.17 at 2:37 am
#80 The Wet Coast on 02.20.17 at 11:15 pm
For all you folks complaining about this doctors salary. It is really too bad there wasn’t a discount service available. Sorta the Wal Mart of medicine. Wonder how many would use it
————————
This is what you getting here, exactly Walmart level Healthcare compare to Germany, France, Sweden or other European countries…and surprisingly doctors do not make that much over there. Clinical successes of Canadian doctors are nonexistent,and they still believe they are underpaid
——————————-
Absolutely, the Canadian health care system with one single prime care provider/the family doctor, combined with the waiting times is a total joke.
It is inferior to any system out there including to the US one, but hey, Canadians are happy (dying) with it,
Undergrad incl. to get rough estimate of age and to show that no way someone that age with little experience is pulling down $600K/yr.
Unless something changed, usually late 20s is when they are out of residency and during that, as you say, at $50K/yr – I’ll take your word for it.
I agree on the supply restriction, same in Engineering. Basically limit supply of professionals to have higher salaries.
But this lady has to be in a Private Healthcare Corporation as a principal and a lot older than Garth says.
Many posting they are overpaid when the average about 1/3 of her salary was my point and most likely Private, thus a successful entrepreneur which I do not begrudge; rather, applaud.
#141 Victor V on 02.21.17 at 3:06 pm
Ontario just cut its deficit forecast in half, with help from Toronto’s housing boom
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/ontario-deficit-shrinks-to-1-9-billion-as-housing-boom-helps-province-inch-closer-to-balanced-budget
———
And also lot’s of help from anyone who owns a car, and by selling off huge public assets to the private sector, and by taking a machete to hospital staff.
At least she avoided any multi-billion dollar boondoggles this round.
Well then, give me a single GDP number for 2013 and 2015 from a row in your StatsCan charts which I am well familiar with.
Show your calculations.
My numbers are from the World Bank in Current $ (presumably you know the difference between Current and Constant $).
Glad to read you do not dispute the population calculation.
I’m the anesthesiologist that contacted Garth. There are some misconceptions I’d like to clear up.
My age- I’m 34. I skipped a grade in elementary school. I got into med school after 3 years of undergrad then completed 4 years of med school, 5 years of anesthesia residency and 1 year of fellowship (subspecialty training). I paid for my schooling by working part time and receiving scholarships/bursaries. I lived at home with my parents until marrying my husband (traditional immigrant family) so I graduated without debt. My husband is from a similar background and had been working and saving while in school. He had amassed a sizable nest egg through investing before we met which we used towards our home.
My salary- I work a lot of hours. 70-80 per week. To all of those that think my salary is over-inflated and undeserved, rest easy- most of what I earn above an average specialist is through work in private clinics. I also pick up a lot of after hours shifts. I don’t earn anything if I’m not working (no income on mat leave) There is no gradual increase in salary for doctors. Everything has a set fee code that is unrelated to number of years in practice.
Most of what we have saved is in my medical corp and will be subject to more taxes before it can be used personally.
My “dream home” – some people like vacations, some people like the newest technology. I’ve always loved architecture and design so it really is my dream to live in a beautiful home. The last vacation we took was in 2014. We haven’t changed our spending habits since my earning has increased other than additional baby expenses.
Hope that fills in the missing pieces. And don’t worry, if you happen to need an emergency c-section to save your baby’s life I won’t give you a Walmart anesthetic or steal from your wallet while you’re sleeping.
GDP figures are at the very bottom of the tables (not charts), are clearly identified as “Gross domestic product at market prices,” and show that GDP did not drop 15% from 2013 to 2015.
GDP figures (expenditure-based) are stated in constant dollars to eliminate the problem of money illusion.
Here are the price indexes used:
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=3800066&&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=31&tabMode=dataTable&csid=
No more back-and-forth, please. Thanks.
T2 needs to raise the marginal tax rate to 65% for anyone making over $200,000.If they leave to another country a hefty exit tax will be implemented. Tough measures for tough times.I know were getting killed by all the taxes but the debt needs to be serviced even if theres forever zirp.
Misinformed. You could tax all the 286,000 1%ers at 80% and the debt would be untouched. — Garth