This is a story that looks a lot like taking a road trip. As you get farther along, things change.
As we travel along this inflation-fueled journey, more and more of us are facing the reality of mortgage renewals and higher payments. At least one bank suggests as many as a third of us are going to face mortgage renewals in the next 24 months and monthly debt service costs could rise 20 or 30 per cent due to higher interest rates.
So, many of us will have to change our spending patterns to deal with this new reality.
A survey by BMO conducted just before Christmas put a number to it. Their research said roughly one-third of Canadians intended to cut back their spending in 2024 over cost-of-living concerns and almost half are rewriting their New Year’s resolutions.
Part of the motivation may simply be that day-to-day expenses are rising on the wings of inflation but the increases in routine expenses will pale compared to the cost of mortgage payments for many who will be renewing in the next year or two.
