BiscottiGelato

Dual income at 63k, I think would get taxed as 31.5k income per person? This is marginal tax rate of 20.06%, and an average tax rate of 13.35%. After tax income is at $27,295 x 2 = $54590

For a single income to match this after tax pay, it'll take a gross pay of $69,220.

Despite how the OP says he/she is not looking down on the couple, that's exactly the tone I got from the post. No matter how rich/poor the working people is, they are better than the rich leaching class of Vancouver who made easy money from Asia, buy up million dollars worth of property locally, give hundreds of thousands for their kids for downpayment, and claim next to 0 income when filing their taxes...

To make matter more infuriating, they come out criticizing the hard working people of Vancouver that they are the lower class, they are useless, they'll never catch the real estate 'bubble'.

As long as it's their own dime, tax paid in full, who should be there to criticze how the couple spend their money? Some likes to dump all their money in a mortgage. Some likes to rent and spend instead of putting money into bubbles. As long as they don't spend more than they make, I don't see what's wrong with the way this couple is managing their income. Besides, whatever falling out of their spending habbit is their own mess to clean, don't see why there should be any finger pointing going on.

BiscottiGelato

BG .. easy money from Asia ..  um ..  not always easy gei ..

And mostly ..  Under table ... {:8_14 ...
Catpiano 發表於 2011-6-22 14:50

Most of the blingster from Asia just rode on the growth of their country to make their bucket of gold. Just like HK in the 70s, anyone with half a brain will be fairly well off.  Nowadays an average smart kid from university in HK will get a 12k HKD starting salary from your big 4 accounting firm. My dad always tell me that the ladies that used to work in garment factories in HK back in the early 90s makes 30k a month. Obviously there's a lot of skills involved in the garment industry also, but you can't take it away that when your country is growing left and right, it's much easier to strike it rich. And doesn't mean that the ways of the past will work for the present. However for the people who stiked it rich in the 70s @ HK and the ones that are striking it rich in China today, I will bet more than otherwise, their ways will have a much tougher time if the setting is changed to developed nation like North America today.

BiscottiGelato

加拿大，艱難大，咩收入都天一半地一半，就算好似OP講個couple咁family income ＄4000 net都係猛猛緊，儲蓄 ...
fibbi 發表於 2011-6-23 21:55

I disagree. Per Capita GDP shows that Canada and HK is not that far off. And depending on the specifics of the GDP calculation Canada have a higher per capita GDP than HK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

Then if you look at income disparity, then you'd see that HK is much inferior
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

I'd think there'd be a LOT MORE people in HK that is living like sh_t than in Canada. Both in percentage and in numbers. And what you call sh_tty here is not be able to afford a car and a downtown apartment without incurring a lil debt. In HK we are talking about people who care barely buy enough food for the family, and they can't even take out any credit if they beg in front of the bank... Talk about 艱難 and 猛猛緊.

Look at the other thread. Only 1% of the people in HK have over $1M+ USD, and that factors in your house!!! OUCH!!!

There's a lot of things that's superior in HK. However income and purchasing power of their citizen overall, especially lower class to lower class, is not one of them.

BiscottiGelato

回復 53# fibbi

Check the definition of Purchasing Power Parity. Canada is higher GDP PPP than HK in over half the measures.

You simply is VERY difficult making the same income in HK than here. You can easily make 40k a year here. Try making 320k HKD a year in HK. that's close to 30k a year. You'll have to be in a much higher position in HK to make 320k a year than the person making 40k a year here.

For example, a web designer in HK is paid 19k a month in HK. I'm sure a half good web designer would make easily 50k a year here, and much higher given experience.

Working class vs working class, I am sure that the average Canadian have much higher purchasing power and living quality than the average HKer.

BiscottiGelato

回復  BiscottiGelato


    I"m not talking about how "easy" to make certain $$ in HK vs here. I don ...
fibbi 發表於 2011-6-25 19:09

Of course, if you make the same take home pay here vs HK u'd bring more money home. But that's a moot comparison. As you'd have to have a lot more job in HK to bring in the same money home.

The fair comparison is the same job here vs same job in HK. For the average working class, same job vs same job one'd have a much more purchasing power and much higher quality of life in Canada vs HK.

Don't get the taxes wrong. People would have you believe that it's crazy high here. You only really pay ridiculous tax if you make insane lots here. For $40k CAD annual income, your average tax rate without doing RRSP is actually under 15%. That's a take home of $34k, which is $272k HKD, or about $22.5k a month. 18% more take home than the 19k HKD income. And you need quite a bit of job to make 19k HKD income.

Putting it into perspective, I think you make close to 40k a year doing big 4 accounting, entry position in HK here, that's 22.5k a month. You make about 12k a month doing big 4 accounting, entry position in HK. With housing being the biggest expense and costing roughly the same between HK and Canada. It's simple to see that the average spending power and living condition of the average worker in Canada is going to be much better than HK.

BiscottiGelato

回復 59# fibbi

What I am saying is that this is not true.

For the same job and same quality of living, you'd end up saving more money here than in HK.

If you are saying people here tend to be willing to spend more to get a higher quality of living and thus save less, then that's not even an Apple to Apple comparison.

Putting it into more extreme example to get the point across. It's like saying if you buy a Ferrari you'll save less money than buying a Civic... DUH!

BiscottiGelato

回復 62# fibbi

Of course with the same take home pay, you go a lot further in HK. With the same take home pay, you can live like a king in mainland China compare to even HK. What's the point of such comparison however? Doesn't help identify which is a better place to grow your nest egg or start a family, etc. You'll probably need to be a supervisor/manager at a bank in HK to make the same as an entry accountant here. It's like comparing apples to oranges...

The comparison will only be any useful/meaningful if it's the same job, with location being the only variable. Then we can see how location difference alone will impact quality of living and level of savings.