Buying a home is the biggest singled financial transaction many Canadians will ever undertake in their lives, but having children comes a close second.

Eight in 10 people said their kids have brought them happiness and fulfilment, but 53 per cent said their bundles of joy also jeopardized their financial security, according to Bank of Montreal’s latest Real Financial Progress Index, and that complaint has bled into younger generations.

Seven in 10 gen-Zers and 69 per cent of millennials said they want to have children, but fear starting a family will “negatively affect” their financial future.

The negative sentiments around the financial toll of parenthood don’t stop there.

For example, 84 per cent of those surveyed said the cost of raising children had become “unmanageable,” with parents citing the expense of groceries, toys and activities, daycare, housing, baby supplies, clothing and strollers as hitting their finances.

Meanwhile, 86 per cent of parents said the cost of daycare, after-school programs and school supplies “negatively affect their ability to save for long-term goals such as higher education or

homeownership .” More than three-quarters also admitted they experienced pressure as parents to keep up with other families by spending more than they should.

“For many Canadians, starting and raising a family is one of life’s most meaningful journeys, but it can also bring significant financial and emotional pressures,”

Gayle Ramsay , head of the everyday banking, segment and customer growth at BMO, said in a release.

The Bank of Canada said there’s a “growing pessimism among Canadians about their financial health” in its latest survey of consumer expectations released late last month.

Raising a child certainly puts pressure on a family’s finances, with the amount spent linked to family income and, to a lesser degree, family size,

Statistics Canada said in a 2023 report on the cost of rearing a family. The agency estimated that a two-parent family with two children and an annual income of more than $135,790 from 2014 to 2017 spent an average of $403,910 per child from birth to age 17. The same-sized family making less than $83,013 spent on average 52 per cent less, or $238,190, per child.

The costs rose by almost a third if adult offspring aged 18 to 22 continued to live at home, Statistics Canada said.

Of course, these costs have only risen since its report was based on 2017 data.

Even though parents might find the costs of rearing kids to sometimes be a heavy burden, BMO said 22 per cent of those surveyed thought that they should continue to support their children until they found a full-time job, while the same share said their children deserved their financial support regardless of stage of life.

On average, Canadians feel parents should financially support their children in some capacity for 19 years.

BMO launched its financial progress index in 2021 to measure how people are feeling about their personal finances. For this version of the index, Ipsos Canada surveyed about 2,500 Canadian adults between June 10 and July 17.

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U.S. and Canadian banks are summoning staffers back to their offices at a faster rate than European rivals, widening the divide in one of finance’s defining workplace debates.

Five years after COVID-19 pushed most staffers into temporary home working, just seven of Europe’s 15 most valuable banks have asked some or all of their staff to spend four or more days in the office a week, according to a Bloomberg analysis. That figure rises to 11 across a group of 15 of the most valuable banks in North America. — Bloomberg

  • Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson will make a funding announcement for clean electricity projects in Ontario in Markham, Ont.
  • Today’s Data: Statistics Canada releases data on manufacturing and wholesale sales for June and existing home sales for July. The U.S. releases retail sales for July, the import and export price indexes, capacity utilization and business inventories for July and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for July.
  • Earnings: Lithium Royalty Corp., Jones Soda Co., Flowers Foods Inc.
  • Ontario calls public servants back to the office full-time
  • Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign was meant to sell jeans. Instead, it sold a lesson in employment law
  • Blackstone’s purchase of Enverus a wager that data will drive new era in energy, CEO says

Read the full story here. This Moncton couple have come under some financial pressures after a cancer illness upended their financial lives. They’ve asked FP Answers to help guide them on a strategy they’ve devised to cash in registered retirement savings plans to maximize Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement payments. The pair, both currently 62, said they can survive on those government benefits. Find out more here about what they should do.

Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at

wealth@postmedia.com with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we’ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we’ll keep your name out of it, of course).

McLister on mortgages

Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister’s

Financial Post column can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won’t want to miss. Plus check his

Financial Post on YouTube

mortgage rate page for Canada’s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily. Visit the Financial Post’s YouTube channel for interviews with Canada’s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.

Today’s Posthaste was written by Gigi Suhanic with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.

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