The job is spot on, just what I like doing, the company seems good and sound and the people I would be working with were great at the interviews, real 'house on fire' stuff. The fly in the ointment is the salary. I didn’t expect to get the same as I’m on working for a Bank in Canary Wharf London, but this offer is lower than I hoped for. The job comes with share options and share savings schemes which can add up to a potential extra income in a few years time, but that’s not money in the bank. I worked out what salary I would need in Canada to have the same disposable income as the UK. Cost of living (energy costs, shopping, rates etc) all seems to be similar. Canada is cheaper on house prices (therefore mortgage), gas (petrol) so I don’t need as high a salary to get comparable disposable income. But what I’m looking at is being about $20,000 down before tax. At the end of the year I don’t have that kind of money lying around, so we would need to economise.

That begs the question, “Why are we moving to Canada?” We both believe it would be a better environment for our children to grow up in and you can’t put a price on that. We would be getting a much larger house for our money which is also a plus. On the down side there is the stress, and expense of a move, visa applications, we are trying to sell out house at the worst time for 20 years, so renting it out maybe the only alternative with all the hassle that involves. We rented our flat in Reading out while we were in New Zealand. Financially it worked out well as its value increased, but dealing with agents from the other side of the world was a nightmare. My wife has said now the kids are both at school she might be able to go back to work part time which could make up some of the difference and this could also help her to settle in.

So we’ll be sitting down very soon to make the BIG decision.

SM