Pets on a millennial budget: Love comes at a cost.

Written by:

Pascale Malenfant

BNN Bloomberg

September 5, 2023

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When it comes to advising younger clients who are looking to welcome a new fur baby into their family, certified financial planner and cat owner Cindy Marques has one overarching philosophy — “put yourself first.”

Though affording a pet is certainly possible for young Canadians with the right financial mindset, Marques said she too often sees clients with rocky finances inclined to adopt or purchase a pet, potentially digging them deeper into a financial hole.

“A lot of what I do, ultimately, with clients is heavily rooted in cash flow planning,” said Marques, who is also the director of education and financial planning at Open Access Limited.

“At the end of the day, you have to get practical and start to think about whether adding a dependent to your cash flow is possible to sustain.”

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Marques emphasized the importance of estimating costs for an animal's specific needs ahead of time, as owners must treat their pets like true dependants as opposed to something to tack on to an existing budget item.

“For example, I don't just bake my cat’s food into my grocery budget,” she said. “I have a separate line item for it to be very clear and remind myself that this is a financial dependent who I love and want to treat well, and she has a cost attached to her that I’m prepared for.”

Being a financially prepared pet owner, added Marques, also means preparing for the worst — by setting extra money aside or buying pet insurance for unexpected vet visits, as well as setting a mental limit for what one is willing and able to spend if things get dire.

“It's morbid, but especially as your pet starts to age or if they get really sick, you have to think seriously about what your cut off is,” she said.

“How deep in the hole are you willing to go before you bankrupt yourself for a pet whom you may love dearly, but whose surgeries or treatments may not be possible, practically and financially speaking?”

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[Your ideal] lifestyle consideration is a sentiment Marques echoed, stating that young Canadians will often have unique factors, financial and otherwise, to contemplate when deciding whether to get a pet.

“When you’re young, a lot is up in the air,” she said. “You may want to travel and take spontaneous trips, or you may have a job that doesn’t let you go home to take the dog out at lunch for an hour,” she said.

“You should be thinking about your own life, your own priorities, and your own goals before you add your lovely fur child to them.”