Paying off debt the financial focus for many Canadians in 2024

Paying down debt and building up savings are the top financial priorities for Canadians in 2024, according to CIBC’s annual Financial Priorities poll. The pair are tied for the top priority at 13 per cent, while keeping up with bills falls just behind on the list at 12 per cent.

Residents in Saint John, N.B., are proof of the survey’s findings.

“To get out of debt and to get to saving,” says resident John Page when asked what his goals are.

Others, like Moe Arsenault, have their goals more narrowed.

“We’d like to get back into a house,” says Arsenault, but he also has goals for his multiple businesses in the city. “We’d like to continue to pay down the debt and continue to progress to having more financial stability with the unknowns coming.”

They are goals residents have had for a number of years, but inflation and rising interest rates make it difficult. Sixty one per cent of Canadians say inflation is their biggest financial concern for 2024, with rising interest rates accounting for 28 per cent.

“Everything from food to mortgage to all the daily things we need to live are so much higher and our wages aren’t keeping up,” says Murray Wright. “We are trying to make sure our kids can hopefully grow up in a world that’s better than what we’re growing up in.”

But residents are hoping things will start to level out in the new year, and they have plans on how to tackle their financial goals. For Page, his plans are simple.

“Honestly, just better financial management in the new year,” he says.

“I think the next couple of months couple be quite challenging,” Arsenault fears. “So we really want to be aware of that and maybe just play on the cautious side for the next couple of months until things work themselves out.”

Murray Wright says both he and his wife have looked into picking up second jobs, something he doesn’t feel should be necessary given their careers.

“I’m a teacher, plus my wife is a nurse,” he says. “I mean that should be two strong and stable jobs, so the fact that we have to look at other jobs is just unfair.”

“When you go the grocery store or the gas station or get home heating oil or electricity in the province of New Brunswick, (it’s) going up 10 per cent, that’s changing, but what’s going into the account is not,” says John Maisey, a chartered financial planner with Maisey Financial Services in Moncton, N.B.

“Inflation has played havoc on a lot of people’s disposable income,” he continues. “Their wages haven’t gone up that much, but the expenses have, so that’s the underlying message we are hearing from a lot of folks.”

Maisey says upwards of 90 per cent of Canadians don’t know where all of their money goes each paycheck, and he recommends people track their spending in the weeks ahead to see where each dollar is going.

“Then you can start to figure out what goal is next,” Maisey says. “Get rid of high-interest debt, pay down the mortgage, save some money for retirement, those types of things.”

The poll also found 67 per cent of Canadians agree the country is heading into a recession or is already in one, with 64 per cent saying they feeling financially prepared for the unexpected.