Whether renting or buying, Canadians are exposed to risk
Buying a home can help you build household wealth, but renting has fewer overall costs, which allows you to save more of the money you earn. While the conventional wisdom has been that buying is the better financial decision for most people, sky-high real estate costs change the equation. Stock markets have also performed well in recent decades, and investing the surplus left over from renting can pad your personal finances in a big way鈥攊f you actually do it. 鈥淎 lot of Canadians don鈥檛 have the discipline to save as much as they should,鈥� says, an Associate Professor of Finance at 黑料社 Desautels. In Canada, both home owners and renters are exposing themselves to significant risks, Betermier argues. Rents tend to make up at least a third of household expenditures, while real estate makesup 70% to 80% of home owners鈥� wealth portfolios, on average.
