Why everyone feels like they’re in the middle class + MORE Jun 22nd

Austen Finlay
AGE: 28
PLACE: Thunder Bay, Ont.
TFSA TOTAL: $64,482
STRATEGY: A mix of value stocks and dividend payers

Me and my TFSA
Austen Finlay is a 28-year-old pharmacist in North Bay, Ont. and has been investing in his TFSA since 2010. He was a young university student at the University of Waterloo and says he was attracted to the fact he could tax shelter his capital gains. “At first I used it just as a savings account,” says Austin. “But then in my third year, I started to learn more about exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investments.”
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In the beginning, Austen’s investments mirrored the Couch Potato portfolio. But the more he read, the more he became attracted to stock picking and value-based investing. “I still look for value stock opportunities today,” says Austen, who faithfully reads MoneySense’s Top 200 stocks.
He also likes a good dividend-paying stock. “I’ve read books by Derek Foster and I like his premise that you can buy dividend-paying stocks that give off a decent dividend and simply hold them forever…

Most Canadians think of themselves as middle class. In fact, the term is so elastic that politicians know they have just about everybody’s ear when they talk about “middle class” goals and aspirations. We think they are talking to us, whether it’s about wage increases, debt, taxes, or savings vehicles to help us save for our kids’ post-secondary education.
How do we define the middle class? Depends on who you talk to. Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz last year said the term applies to those people who hold most of their wealth in the equity of their homes. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the typical middle-class Canadian family as one with $90,000 in household income.
According to Nora Spinks, chief executive officer of The Vanier Institute of the Family in Ottawa, it’s misleading to simply look at the middle class as an income bracket. “Whether you think you’re middle class really depends on where you come from and what you aspire to be.”
So who are these middle-class Canadians and what defines them, besides income level? Is it the fact that they have children? A good education? A good job? Or something else?  For many it is all about total wealth, not just income…