“We decided to try penny stocks for fun”: How a 30-something couple spend their money
Who: Chad Lizun, 35, and Miran Kim, 31
What they do: He’s an Ontario public servant; she’s a psychiatric mental
health nurse
What he makes: $72,000 a year
What she makes: $130,000 a year
Where they live: A two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in East York
What they spend in a month: Mortgage: $2,800. Property tax: $3,200 a year. Maintenance fees: $500. Home insurance: $170. Groceries: $200. “We buy canned pasta like Chef Boyardee’s Beefaroni,” says Miran. “Chad’s taste buds are like a child’s.” Gas: $150. Restaurants: $100. Miran’s cellphone: $55. Chad’s cellphone: $70. Car lease: $500, on a 2017 Hyundai Tucson. TFSA: $400 each. Miran’s RRSP: $200. Chad’s RRSP: $250. Metropass: $134, for Miran, who only drives sporadically. Netflix: $14. Golf: $100. “I go twice a month, either at Royal Woodbine or Turtle Creek,” Chad says. Cat food: $35, for their Russian blue, Sochi.
Recent splurges: Cruise: $4,000, for a spin around the eastern Caribbean in June. “We started in Miami, then headed to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Martin,” Chad says. Trip to Cuba: $1,900, for seven days in February. Penny stocks: $12,000.“We decided to try it out just for fun,” Miran says. “I sold some of my shares and made a profit of $1,470. And now I’m up $1,870 on the shares I still own.”
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