When embarking on his career as a process engineer, Mark Dunham did not expect to be in his 30s with a good job and still feel stressed about money. He has modest goals – “I just want a garden and a little workshop, in a place I can maybe raise two kids” – but with prices as they are, even that feels out of reach for the 34-year-old Mississauga resident.
“In the last two years, I’ve had to re-evaluate what is possible,” Mr. Dunham says, noting he’s considered moving somewhere more rural and affordable, but even those places have become more expensive – and he might have to forgo the type of jobs he desires. “I feel more precarious.”
He is far from alone. Despite some financial indicators showing signs of improving – inflation is easing and an interest-rate cut could be on the horizon – many people are feeling financially stressed. Recent polls show people around the world struggling with debt and feelings of financial insecurity, and predicting bleaker futures for themselves as a result.
A recent CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll of 4,000 people in several countries found inflation to be the leading financial stressor among adults globally, with about half stressed about their finances and the same number stating they are falling behind on their retirement planning.
“Many adults feel financially worse off than their parents, and parents are similarly pessimistic about their children’s future financial prospects,” it says.
Saskatoon financial planner Janea Dieno says she’s seen a wave of financial pessimism pass through her clients as interest rates and inflation have risen.
“Our conversations are centred around what they can expect to pay on their mortgage payment when it comes up for renewal,” Ms. Dieno says. “The discussion is scary, as some clients are expecting [an increase of] anywhere from $500 to $2,500 a month on mortgage payments just because of the increase in interest rates. I think that is the leading cause of financial anxiety amongst homeowners.”
The MNP Consumer Debt Index, a quarterly survey conducted by Ipsos for insolvency trustees MNP, finds that even though slightly fewer people are worried about being able to repay their debts than last quarter, a majority of Canadians (58 per cent) still struggle with anxiety over money they owe.
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The most recent instalment of the survey, issued in early April, found almost half of Canadians (45 per cent) say they are $200 or less away from “failing to meet all their financial obligations, including three in 10 (31 per cent) who are technically insolvent and say they already can’t cover their bills and debt payments each month. Additionally, more than half (54 per cent) say if interest rates go up much more, they will be in financial trouble,” the company states in a release.
Those worrying about money include a swath of people with jobs or incomes that would have only recently felt quite comfortable. The previous instalment of the MNP survey, issued near the start of 2024, found people with incomes higher than $100,000 were more likely to regret the debt they’d taken on and to rate their debt situation as worse than a year ago. Those findings echo a Toronto-Dominion Bank survey that found higher household income doesn’t necessarily translate to a more positive financial outlook.
MNP president Grant Bazian says his company’s insolvency trustees are seeing increased use of payday lenders among people making more than $60,000 annually, and that the numbers of people seeking insolvency services is “back to pre-COVID levels in many regions in the country” and coming from every financial cohort.
Mr. Bazian says people with higher incomes typically have higher debt payments, but are also accustomed to spending more on non-essential items, so maintaining their lifestyle in the face of inflation and high interest can lead to stress.
“That’s what we’re seeing when I talk to the trustees across the country: People are living beyond their means to keep a lifestyle,” says Mr. Bazian, who is based in Vancouver. “Keeping up with the Joneses is a lot of stress. People see friends and family growing their lifestyle, and they might not be able to afford it, but are doing it anyway.”
Astra Taylor wrote about this phenomenon in last year’s CBC Massey Lectures, titled “The Age of Insecurity.” Calling insecurity “a defining feature of our time,” the Winnipeg-born founder of American debtors’ union the Debt Collective describes how possessing relative wealth can itself beget a form of anxiety, as people then look to the next rung up on the social or financial ladder instead of being content with where they are.
“Accumulation has many perils beyond the spiritual emptiness we associate with materialism and the mountains of trash piling up in our landfills and oceans,” Ms. Taylor writes. “Assets must be guarded and grown, after all, lest fortunes and reputations be diminished or lost.”
This is an engrained aspect of our economic system, she says, citing English philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s Theory of Legislation, published in 1802.
“When insecurity reaches a certain point, the fear of losing prevents us from enjoying what we possess already,” Bentham wrote. “The care of preserving condemns us to a thousand sad and painful precautions.”
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