"Because Canadians have easier access to credit and spend more on discretional goods and services, consumption rather than asset accumulation has taken over as the leading cause of rising debt — confirming some worrisome trends," said CGA-Canada CEO Anthony Ariganello in a release.
...
Total household debt in Canada reached $1 trillion in 2006, the CGAs say — an all-time high.
The survey also found 20 per cent were raiding their RRSPs before retirement — mainly to pay for daily living expenses.
"Canadians’ increasing indebtedness may leave Canada’s aging society sandwiched between having already committed yet unearned income to debt service and the need to speed up the accumulation of pension funds for rapidly approaching retirement," said CGA-Canada vice-president Rock Lefebvre said.
The report said the poorest fifth of Canadians are more vulnerable to an economic setback "because they have almost no housing equity to back up their mortgage debt and no other assets to support their rising debt load."
The accountants recommend that people base their debt level on their individual circumstances, rather than by how much credit a store or financial institution is willing to provide — suggesting that single parents, the self-employed and those working in manufacturing be more cautious.
CGA-Canada also recommends that employers be given incentives to offer pension plans to their workers, and calls on the federal government to bring in tax prepaid savings plans (TPSPs) to benefit lower-income workers.
TPSPs are similar to RRSPs, except that contributions are not deductible, and payouts once the plan is wound up would be tax free.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/10/18/accountants.html
LOL the report said household debt has been steadily increasing since 1984. What happened in 1984? Lots of interesting facts & figures in the report (not allowed to copy/paste though):
http://www.cga.org/canada/debt/ca_rep_2007-10_debt-consumption.pdf
Stumble It!
At the personal level, the limits on our VISA etc. cards are increasing every year and we're being pestered by incessant and repetitious phone calls, offering more and more credit on more more cards. The best example are the repeated, obnoxious calls by some outfit called Capital One, whoever the hell they might be ?
Where is all this money coming from and why is the government just standing by, not only tolerating, but supporting this irresponsible crime wave of money creation from the thin air ?
What they don't talk about is that personal debt is also national debt and should be accounted as such.
The USA admits $ 7.6 trillion national debt, but the estimates of their real debt go somewhere between $50 to 70 trillion.
And these are the ideologues, including our satellite governments and miseducated economists, who have no idea of simple accounting practices, just stand by, smilingly encouraging this madness, calling it a "boom" until the inevitable crash.
Ed Deak.
People like Susie Ormond, Larry Burkett and others have for many years warned against personal debt.
Maybe more people should see the wonderful "Veggie Tales" children's movie about Miss Blueberry......
<br />
The Ecoconomicon (PDF):<br />
<a href="http://www.savoir-sans-frontieres.com/JPP/telechargeables/English/The_Economicon.pdf">http://www.savoir-sans-frontieres.com/JPP/telechargeables/English/The_Economicon.pdf</a><p>---<br>The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.<br />