
48% of Canadians on brink of insolvency, online survey says - radiorental
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/maxed-out-48-of-canadians-within-200-of-insolvency-survey-says-1.1247336
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winslett
This post was causing my spidy-senses to tingle. It was reading like something
I’d find on Zerohedge. Then, I got to this:

> Ipsos, which conducts the quarterly poll for MNP, surveyed 2,070 Canadians
> online from March 13-24.

I don’t trust this data as far as I can throw it.

Corrected headline “48% of 2,070 responses to online surveys stated that the
respondee does not have $200.”

~~~
nickelcitymario
Why? Is 2,070 not a significant sample size?

~~~
msbarnett
That would depend entirely on the sampling methodology.

Since “online surveys” are as a general rule very poorly constructed
(frequently self-sampling) I believe it’s that, rather than the sample pool
size, that the parent is responding to.

Additionally Ipsos Reed was hired to run this poll on behalf of MNP, whose
press release this information is coming from.

MNP, among other things, offers debt consolidation services. There’s incentive
here for Ipsos Reed to construct this sample pool to get a result that gets
people worried about their debt load.

~~~
nickelcitymario
Ah I gotcha, that's a fair point.

~~~
jacquesm
So, how is Sudbury doing ;) ?

~~~
nickelcitymario
No clue. Wish I had that kind of data.

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urlwolf
This is surprising to me. Can this be related to the low salaries compared to
equivalent jobs in the US? Is the culture in Canada about taking on debt?

From my limited experience, Canada is somewhat a middle point culturally
between US and EU. This aspect (debt) seems to be far closer to the US, at
least when compared to northern EU where average debt per family is virtually
zero.

~~~
nickelcitymario
Anecdotally, as a Canadian, I've long wondered how so many people seem to be
able to afford home ownership, multiple vehicles, often a skidoo or ATV or
two, a camp or trailer, a boat, annual vacations overseas... Statistically
speaking I earn significantly more than the average, yet looking around it
seems like most people are living way beyond my means.

So is the culture about debt? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if
that's the case.

My partner and I, when we see people with all these expensive things, have
stopped looking at them with envy. Instead, we just think: that's a whole lot
of debt right there.

I mean, who in their right mind spends $80k on a truck? Yet we see them
EVERYWHERE, at least in our neck of the woods.

~~~
msbarnett
> I mean, who in their right mind spends $80k on a truck? Yet we see them
> EVERYWHERE, at least in our neck of the woods

No small part of that will be because they’re written off as a business
expense for mining contractors, assuming Nickel City means you’re near
Thompson

Same reason Northern Alberta is crawling with F350s

~~~
nickelcitymario
Sudbury, but same point. You're probably right about a lot of them being
written off for work.

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hvass
Are there any surveys or statistics to back this up besides Ipsos' survey?
It's frankly hard to believe half the country is on the brink of insolvency.

~~~
christocracy
I linked [http://greaterfool.ca](http://greaterfool.ca) higher up, but I think
it's the best source for Canadian financial info. Garth Turner does a really
great service cutting through the bull with a blog article every day of the
week!.

Search his site on google for "canada debt" for plenty of articles with links
to real data / surveys.

~~~
moltar
I really like his blog and it’s in my RSS feed.

I wish his writing style was a bit more serious. I personally like it, but
when I share articles with friends and family - nobody can take him seriously.

~~~
christocracy
Yea, he writes so much, you have to be willing to read him for a while and get
to know him and his lingo.

For me back in 2011, I was “house horny” at the time, and looking for an
opposing viewpoint.

Now he’s my financial advisor and I’m a millionaire renter :)

