‘Difficult moment of time’: Canadians struggling financially despite rate cut
Global News
A new study by TransUnion Canada found 46 per cent of respondents felt their household finances were worse than planned at this point in 2024.
As Canadians head into the summer season with hopes of enjoying some barbecue or going on a trip to the beach, nearly half may be on the fence about doing anything at all because their household finances are worse than they anticipated.
A new study by TransUnion Canada released Tuesday found 46 per cent of Canadians’ household finances were worse than planned at this point in 2024, and 58 per cent reported they’re not optimistic about what’s to come financially in the next 12 months.
Personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq said it’s not a surprise given the cost of living and inflation, noting that while the latter has cooled and the Bank of Canada has lowered its key interest rate, it’s not enough to actually provide relief for many.
“It hasn’t made a huge dent,” Ahmed-Haq, who hosts For What It’s Worth on the Corus Entertainment radio network, told Global News. “In many cases, it means maybe $50 or $60 in your pocket every month if you have a very big mortgage, and so that’s not really life-changing money.”
With about 57 per cent of of Canadian households saying their incomes are not keeping up with the current rate of inflation, it means many feel like, even with a cooling of those numbers, people are still paying higher prices than three or four years ago.
“This is just in our recent memory that we remember what the price of a carton of eggs was or beef is a big one,” Ahmed-Haq said. “It’s not something like, ‘Oh, back in the 1980s things used to cost this much,’ and it’s this feeling of things being cheaper.
“This is just a moment in time, and we just happen to be in a pretty difficult financial moment of time.”
Inflation is one of the top three household financial concerns for almost nine in 10 Canadians in the next six months, and it has some making decisions about what to buy and what to save.
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