{"id":242193,"date":"2025-10-26T22:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T22:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242193\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T22:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T22:23:10","slug":"michael-34-says-soldiers-face-unique-challenges-when-buying-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242193\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael, 34, says soldiers face unique challenges when buying homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Michael, 34<\/p>\n

Annual income: $78,000 from salary, $16,800 from location bonus<\/p>\n

Debt: $0<\/p>\n

Savings: $6,000 in savings account, $100,000 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $65,000 in registered retirement savings plan<\/p>\n

What he does: Canadian Armed Forces desk job<\/p>\n

Where he lives: Ottawa<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cHow expensive everything has gotten. Three or four years ago, my primary concern was rent. Now it\u2019s like everything else has gone up too.\u201d <\/p>\n

Michael came to Canada from Asia when he was about four years old. He spent most of his youth in the Toronto area and joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) shortly after graduating high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first joined up, I was in Petawawa, two hours north of Ottawa,\u201d he says. He moved to Nova Scotia after that, before being posted to Ottawa. \u201cIn the military, you famously go where they send you.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Michael\u2019s enjoying life in a real city. \u201cI like having amenities, like restaurants that aren\u2019t pizza restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n

After aggressively repaying a consumer proposal, Hamilton woman is excited for a fresh start<\/a><\/p>\n

His career choice has in many ways placed his financial life out of his control, he says. If he were to buy a house, for instance, he could get relocated and be forced to sell it during a market downturn. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people in the military find it hard to get into the housing market,\u201d he said, while noting the forces do pay a bonus for people in higher cost-of-living locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had co-workers who, at the beginning of their career, they went to [British Columbia] when houses were cheap, bought a house and stayed there for 10 years, and their house was worth $1.5-million,\u201d Michael says. \u201cBut if you went to [a rural place] at the beginning of your career, and then moved to B.C., you can\u2019t afford anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael is considering buying a house in Ottawa, but first has to decide where he and his partner will settle down in the long run. His partner doesn\u2019t speak French, so it may be hard for her to get a good job in Ottawa. But he notes partners of military members in smaller places often struggle to find meaningful work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the jobs that military partners can get are at Tim Hortons,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the luck of the draw how your finances end up with the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there are financial upsides as well. Michael joined shortly after high school, so was already pulling an income when he decided to attend university, which he was able to pay for without debt.<\/p>\n

Mary, 29, is thankful that her mom forced her to pay off her student loan immediately<\/a><\/p>\n

He also saved significantly on rent for the first four years of his service, when he stayed at military barracks for $100 a month. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like living in residence at university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael says that with inflation, it is harder to save on his salary, or to pay back his emergency fund after he empties it out. He says added federal support recently allocated to the CAF means he\u2019s getting a raise of more than $10,000 annually starting next month<\/a>. He is grateful, but he\u2019s still not sure he will have enough to support a family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really even enough to enjoy yourself if you\u2019re also thinking of saving for retirement,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

His typical monthly expenses:<\/p>\n

Investment and savings: $1,333<\/p>\n

$600 to pension<\/p>\n

$150 to savings. \u201cWhat I have left over at the end of the month.\u201d<\/p>\n

$583 to TFSA<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $0<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $3,600<\/p>\n

$2,200 to rent<\/p>\n

$100 on renter\u2019s insurance<\/p>\n

$250 for gasoline. \u201cUsage varies per month depending on frequency of visits back home to the GTA.\u201d<\/p>\n

$480 to car payment<\/p>\n

$300 on car insurance. \u201cTwo cars. One for daily use, the other is a weekend\/summer car.\u201d<\/p>\n

$125 to car maintenance. \u201cI do a lot of the work myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

$65 on cellphone<\/p>\n

$80 on internet<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $640<\/p>\n

$500 on groceries<\/p>\n

$60 at coffee shops <\/p>\n

$80 at restaurants <\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $2,175<\/p>\n

$866 to income tax<\/p>\n

$362 to Canada Pension Plan<\/p>\n

$104 to Employment Insurance<\/p>\n

$15 to mess dues. \u201cIt\u2019s a bar for military members, for lack of a better term.\u201d<\/p>\n

$36 on Netflix<\/p>\n

$14 on Spotify<\/p>\n

$11 for F1TV. \u201cStreaming service to watch Formula 1 races.\u201d<\/p>\n

$8 for Amazon Prime<\/p>\n

$83 on electronics. \u201cUpgrades every four to five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

$42 on clothing<\/p>\n

$21 on video games<\/p>\n

$50 on haircuts<\/p>\n

$33 on toiletries. \u201cFace wash, lotion, sunscreen.\u201d<\/p>\n

$417 on vacations<\/p>\n

$83 on gifts. \u201cConcentrated mostly around Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

$7 on life insurance. \u201cPlan through the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

$23 on long-term disability insurance. \u201cThrough the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial who would like to participate in a paycheque profile? Send us an e-mail.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Participate in the Paycheque Project<\/p>\n

\nWelcome to Paycheque Project, a regular series in The Globe and Mail that looks at how much young Canadians are earning \u2013 and where that money is going. We’d like to hear from young adults from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographic locations, and earnings ranges.<\/p>\n

If you’re a millennial or Gen Z and would like to participate, fill out the form below or send an email to Roma Luciw at rluciw@globeandmail.com. Please include your name, age, where you live, occupation, your biggest financial concern and your email. And remember, Paycheque Project is a judgement-free zone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Michael,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,10526],"class_list":{"0":"post-242193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-paychequeproject"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}