{"id":302367,"date":"2025-11-23T20:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302367\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T20:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T20:19:10","slug":"ray-a-saver-with-a-70000-salary-bought-a-b-c-condo-at-age-22-and-a-corvette-in-cash-a-few-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302367\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray, a \u2018saver\u2019 with a $70,000 salary, bought a B.C. condo at age 22 and a Corvette in cash a few years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Ray, 29<\/p>\n

Annual income: About $70,000 from work, depending on commission and bonus, $18,600 from renting out basement apartment<\/p>\n

Debt: $420,000 on mortgage<\/p>\n

Savings: $11,500 in savings account, $5,000 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $41,000 in registered disability savings plan (RDSP), $58,000 in other investments<\/p>\n

What he does: Route sales representative in food and beverage industry<\/p>\n

Where he lives: Penticton, B.C.<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cInflation. It\u2019s why I try to have as much as possible invested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray, 29, started saving when he was 15, putting away cash he made working part-time at a grocery store. He was promoted to assistant manager after high school and worked full-time while going to university, which he paid for himself.<\/p>\n

He was still living with his parents for the first two years of his degree, which allowed him to continue to save. He then moved into a house with four friends, paying $500 a month in rent. <\/p>\n

\u201cI ate spaghetti and tomato sauce with no meat five nights a week,\u201d said Ray, who bought a condo in Richmond, B.C., with his own money at the young age of 22. \u201cIt was 600 square feet and pretty simple, but it was my own place.\u201d <\/p>\n

He has since sold the condo and bought a house in Penticton, where he lives with his fianc\u00e9e and dog.<\/p>\n

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

Vancouver man, 28, says working from home contributed to his sizable savings<\/a><\/p>\n

Ray works in the food and beverage industry as a sales rep. He appreciates the fact his job has benefits, because he has type 1 diabetes. He pays $60 a month for enhanced benefits that cover prescriptions at 95 per cent instead of 80 per cent, making it more than worth the extra cost, given the insulin and medical supplies he needs, he says.<\/p>\n

Having diabetes has also allowed him to open an RDSP, a registered account that provides access to government grants and bonds. Ray says he\u2019s had the account open for about four years and contributes $3,000 a year. He has received $25,000 to $30,000 in contributions from the government in that time. <\/p>\n

His main financial drain is his love for sports cars, but he\u2019s even managed to find ways to make that an income driver. He bought a new Corvette in 2021 for roughly $112,000 in cash but was able to make $40,000 renting it out through Turo, \u201clike Airbnb but for cars.\u201d He sold it last year for $76,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was planning to do a lump-sum payment into my condo mortgage, but when I saw that car I knew I had to have it,\u201d he said. \u201cI went into hard-core savings mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now owns a 2004 Chrysler Crossfire that he only takes out on the road in the warmer months, as well as a Buick SUV he drives day-to-day. It\u2019s fairly new and still under warranty, so he doesn\u2019t have to spend much on it. \u201cThere\u2019s two free oil changes remaining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Investment and savings: $250<\/p>\n

$250 to RDSP. \u201cI am type-1 diabetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $2,390<\/p>\n

$2,390 to mortgage. \u201cI bought the house last November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $1,316<\/p>\n

$163 on home insurance<\/p>\n

$213 on property tax<\/p>\n

$400 on utilities<\/p>\n

$100 on gasoline<\/p>\n

$308 on car insurance. \u201cThree cars, [including] a 2004 Chrysler Crossfire sports car that I only insure in the warmer weather for some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

$42 on car maintenance. \u201cMy dad was a mechanic, so he taught me everything about basic to intermediate vehicle maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n

$28 on cellphone<\/p>\n

$62 on internet<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $525<\/p>\n

$400 on groceries<\/p>\n

$100 at restaurants<\/p>\n

$25 on alcohol<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $2,378<\/p>\n

$1,194 on income tax<\/p>\n

$322 to Canada Pension Plan<\/p>\n

$87 to Employment Insurance<\/p>\n

$50 on entertainment<\/p>\n

$12 on streaming services. \u201cYouTube premium mainly for no ads as my fianc\u00e9e likes to put on some background noise to fall asleep to.\u201d<\/p>\n

$17 on electronics. \u201c$200 annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

$25 on clothing<\/p>\n

$75 on pet. \u201cNeither of us are that interested in kids. We got a dog last year and we\u2019re very happy with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

$13 on fishing gear<\/p>\n

$12 on massage. \u201cI get 95-per-cent coverage with my work plan so I usually go once a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

$30 on prescriptions<\/p>\n

$250 on vacations<\/p>\n

$33 on boat. \u201cI got a speedboat when I moved to the Okanagan because of the proximity to the lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

$8 on donations<\/p>\n

$83 on gifts<\/p>\n

$167 on life insurance. \u201cAfter 20 years, it pays dividends every year.\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: iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Ray, 29 Annual income: About $70,000 from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,133,10526,131,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-302367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-paychequeproject","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302367","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=302367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}