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Name, age: Frances, 46
Annual income: $0, was $80,000 until March
Debt: $200,000 mortgage
Savings: $118,000 in tax-free savings account (TFSA), $122,000 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $1,224,000 in nonregistered investments
What she does: Unemployed
Where she lives: Rural British Columbia
Top financial concern: “I don’t want to do the wrong thing with this money.”
In February, Frances – a 46-year-old social services worker in British Columbia – received an unexpected e-mail that completely rocked her world.
A much-older friend in the United States told her he was not long for this world and wanted to give her his money before he died. Soon after, she received a cashier’s cheque for US$1-million.
“I just felt so much shock and disbelief,” Frances said. “It’s been a life-changing event.”
In his e-mail, and their subsequent conversations, her friend directed her to use it for her “health, education and welfare, along with the expectation I will use any balance to help mankind in some way or another,” she said.
Despite his assurances, and her research that showed financial gifts are allowed and would not be taxed, Frances took months to truly believe the money was hers. When she finally found the courage to take the cheque to the bank, she got a friend to accompany her because she expected to be treated with suspicion.
Instead, “the teller treated it like it was a $100 cheque,” Frances said. “They kept trying to get me to exchange it.”
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She eventually used Norbert’s gambit, a strategy using stocks listed in both the U.S. and Canada, to exchange the currency without the foreign exchange fees charged by banks. She says the friend who gave her the money wanted her to exchange it to Canadian dollars “as quickly as possible” because he thought the U.S. was in a downward spiral.
“I still feel quite beside myself when I talk about it,” said Frances, whose benefactor died a few months after the gift. A sculptor, she believes he was looking for a way for his story to live on. “I think about him pretty regularly and I think about how my life is being sculpted in response to this gift.”
The opportunity for a life change couldn’t have come at a better time. She was facing an “unmanageable amount of stress” in her job, had already taken two stress leaves and was trying to figure out a new path.
So she quit, bought a truck and a camper, and has been travelling since, visiting friends and family. She continues to pay the mortgage on her house in B.C. but has not been there for months.
Frances has already given away about $75,000 – to family, friends, and public-service organizations she has connections with. Now she’s reflecting on what she’ll do with the rest.
“I want to purchase land,” she said, adding she imagines herself somewhere rural. “The issue is, I don’t know where. I would like to have modest accommodation for myself and find some way to live sustainably that promotes community.”
Her typical monthly expenses:
Servicing debt: $1,500
$1,500 to mortgage
Household and transportation: $1,893
$167 to property insurance
$167 to property tax
$300 to utilities
$750 on gasoline. “Recently took a 11,000 kilometre trip with a truck camper.”
$250 for car insurance
$150 to car maintenance. “Brakes and oil changes, two vehicles.”
$31 to cellphone
$78 to internet. “Starlink for the trip, since paused.”
Food and drink: $992
$333 to groceries
$442 to restaurants
$217 to alcohol
Miscellaneous: $8,884
$10 to entertainment
$9 to Spotify
$250 to new laptop
$28 to clothing
$125 to dog. “Food and monthly grooming at self-service pet bath.”
$7 to haircuts. “Two a year at $40.”
$33 to dentist. “No employee health benefits.”
$5 to glasses
$1,000 to vacations. “Flights, hotels, campgrounds.”
$1,167 to recreational vehicle. “Purchased a truck camper this year.”
$6,250 to gifts and donations.
One-time gifts: $75,000
“$75,000 in one-time gifts this year so far.”
Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial or Gen Z who would like to participate in a Paycheque Project? Send us an e-mail.