It's the fact that we are being taxed 42.5% and squeezed like a sponge for every penny we have left from landlords, businesses, education, medical, insurance and government, not to mention high interest lenders sucking us into debt early on, all on similar salaries we had 15 years ago. Money goes up the greed chain and every hard working Canadian has to strive to make ends meet and spend a whole life-time digging themselves out of debt while bay street, high level management and boards make millions on the average Canadian. Simple answer is: stop buying anything you don't need to survive and live yoda style. Years ago we had things more simple, a house phone, cable, a car, insurance, rent etc. and today we have multiple cell phones, multiple TV's, tablets, glorious internet packages, multiple vehicles, fee's for music, fee's for apps, etc. So unless you live like a hermit or have good discipline, your not going to end up saving and will always struggle. Cut back, it's that simple.