Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Yes it seems there are less folks getting married than before, and that is including same sex marriages as well. Now the data from Stats Canada is only until 2003, but it seems we have reached a plateau for marriages.

A total of 147,391 couples tied the knot in 2003, only 653 more than in 2002 and just 773 more than in 2001, according to vital statistics data from the provinces and the territories, which for the first time include limited information on same-sex marriages.

The most recent peak in marriages occurred in 2000 when 157,395 couples took their vows, presumably choosing to marry at the start of the new millennium.

So in Canada there were 0.4% more marriages in 2003 compared to 2002, which is interesting. Ontario (the Good) had a healthy increase of 3.0%, whereas in PEI it their marriage rate dropped by almost 8%

What does this all mean? Are we running away from Marriage, and will all live on communes with communal spouses shared by all? THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! Whoops, sorry, forgot my Prozac there for a minute.

Who is getting married? Not sure, could be that the increase in Ontario could be from the Same Sex Marriages? Why do folks get married now? Religious reasons, maybe, but in terms of the law, marriage “the concept” is not needed for a union between people any more. If you live with someone for more than 2 years, you are viewed as “married” in terms of taxes, child support and dissolution of unions, so why are folks getting married? I think I am asking that in a rhetorical fashion. I am married, and I think it’s a good thing, but what do you think? –C8j

Yesterday I started out discussing my financial resume (which all of us should attempt to do at least once to see how good a job we are doing with our moneys).

Today we speak of my second and present house and the purchase of it. At the time we had outgrown our old house and thought we could afford a larger house in a different part of the same town we lived in. It was about 80% more expensive than the current house we are in, higher taxes, larger floorspace and thus higher utility bills as well. There was another bedroom so at the time it meant each of my kids could have their own bedroom and it had an unfinished basement which we could expand into.

Financially the decision wasn’t too hard, since interest rates were relatively low. We have since replaced the furnace, the roof, added gutters and have finished a large section of the basement (so that is money we have effectively put into the house, but they were also needed so I am not sure exactly how you balance that pay out). The investment itself currently is worth about 50% more than what we paid for it (if you believe the City of Ottawa’s estimators, and from what I can see of the houses around us, that is not a bad estimate).

Was this a good investment? Housing is always a funny one for a strict black and white comparison. We needed a bigger house, we are in a nice neighbourhood, I am not planning on “flipping” this house to make a large profit on selling it (since I have to live SOMEWHERE), so I think thanks to an inflationary spiral in the housing prices in Ottawa this house looks to be a good investment, but housing prices are like stock prices, the only time it really matters is when you (1) buy them and (2) sell them, any fluctuations in between are simply “potential” profits, not real ones (unless you take out loans on the basis of the value, but I am not going to do that).

I think this would be a good investment for now. We have enjoyed living in it, we have to put more money into it, to replace windows and add some other parts to it, but all in all, a good place to put my moneys.

Tomorrow what else can I look at in my financial resume?

A happy note the Bank of Canada didn’t raise interest rates yesterday, so another month of stable interest rates! Whoo Hoo!! 4.25% still and holding, good for us!