CBC had a good overview but I wanted to find out what the questions were in the survey.

CBC had a good overview but I wanted to find out what the questions were in the survey.

Interesting analysis from the article, segments aren't especially tied to income. I think the metrics used are reasonable. Much like happiness, how rich/poor you feel will be dependant on how you feel. Unfortunately, there is so much social pressure (cash back points, sales in your mailbox etc) to be a good consumer that you have to be really comfortable with financial self awareness. And most people aren't.

The social mobility question is always interesting, again because feelings. I was in the "struggling" segment until I got married and could pool income and expenses and the "on the edge" segment for quite a few years after as we worked to find stable jobs and do adult things like buy cars and a home. When we found out we would be child free we moved into the recently comfortable segment.

People have the perception that Boomers had it really easy and to some extent we did. Not just in terms of social services but in the amount of credit purchasing. Job availability was about the same as now and UI benefits were being revised so you didn't work once and get benefits forever by working a few extra weeks. At 20 (1980) I felt I would not be getting anything for CPP yet here I am getting CPP that will buy more than a carton of milk - because of changes to CPP. My student loan payment was $107/month for 7 years. Sounds awesome but I made a whopping $1500/month gross and in that 7 years I didn't get above $1800/mo. It's not numbers, it's percentages.
http://angusreid.org/poverty-in-canada/