Dear Editor,
Re: “Get with it, millennial,” Letters, Jan. 20
I felt the need to respond to Ms. MacDonald’s condescending letter.
You imply that millennials are lazy kids who don’t want to work and have everything handed to them. I believe you need to actually look at the numbers, Ms. MacDonald, and you will understand why so many young people can’t afford to buy a place to live in.
Did you know that in 2014 the average income of a two-parent, working family was $81,700/year, which would be $57,190/year after 30 per cent taxes, or $4,765/month.
Now, let’s break down the cost of living for a family of two working adults with one toddler and one school age child.
The average price of a two-bedroom apartment in the Lower Mainland is $1,812/month. Now we need to feed this four-person family, so let’s say they spend $300/month on food.
The average cost of full-time childcare for a toddler age child is $861/month and for a school age child is $497/month. So, for full-time childcare for these two children (because both parents are working full time) it’s $1,358/month.
These two parents want to give their children the best chance in life for an education so they save the basic $2,500/year for each child in an RESP so that breaks down to a cost of $420/month in the RESP.
The parents also need to pay off their own student loans which we say is $200/month (very low for two educated adults).
Since these two parents can’t work from home they need a bus pass each. So let’s put aside $248/month for two bus passes that cover two zones. The school age child would also need a bus pass which is $54/month.
Adding up all the numbers the cost for this four-person family comes to $4,392/mo. That is not including utilities, as well as cable, phone, clothing, presents etc.
So, if we take our numbers, this family of four is left with $372/month to put in savings (we didn’t put anything in RRSP, Tax Free Savings account or even emergency funds.)
What if this family wants to buy a house? The average house price in the Vancouver area is $1,400,000. Instead, lets say this family settles on a place to live that they can buy for the bargain price of $500,000. But to buy that house this family must come up with five per cent down payment, which equals to $25,000. Now since this family only has $373 leftover per month how about we put $350 aside each month to save up for that down payment. It’s only going to take that family six years to come up with a $25,000 down payment. And once they have that down payment their mortgage only costs them $2,394/month at 3.59 per cent interest (rate on a seven-year fixed mortgage).
So please, Ms. MacDonald, explain to me how the lazy millenials just need to suck it up and “get with it.” Maybe if you are having such a problem with your increased tax costs you should sell your house and downsize into the very same two-bedroom apartment in which that family of four is living.
Dan Jackson
Richmond
