another cost of living question!
 

I know you've all been asked before about cost of living, but I wondered whether anyone can answer quite a specific question.

so here's the deal. I have a firm job offer as a nurse in North Vancouver starting early summer next year ( our choice to delay it until then). We have two kids, so for the first few months at least hubby will have to take care of them, and we will be living solely on mywage. We can probably afford to buy a house mortgage free in a cheaper area like coquitlam or port moody, but in your humble opinions, would my wage of around 65,500 canadian dollars, that's roughly 5,500 per month, be enough to cover the cost of living? we've read all about the high taxes, insurances etc, we'll have to get at least one car, plus all the usual bills for amenities, food etc.

Would be really interested to here what salaries people live on, and does that leave any spare, or will we be scrimping to live?

:)

Look forward to hearing about the cost if living in Vancouver, if you have any tips or stories to tell!

thanks, Jo X

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Mortgage free you will be OK on that salary. You won't live like royalty but you won't go hungry either, particularly if it is short term (until OH finds work).

Re: another cost of living question!
 

i take it that'll be $5500 gross per month ?

i reckon we spend $3000 easily a month (mortgage aside) family of four
and i don't think we go daft
house & 2 car insurance=$420 alone

so that's us in Calgary where no PST

i personally find we spend a lot on groceries compared to UK

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Hi...we don't live in that area (we're in Ontario) so this is probably totally irrelevant BUT we have 2 kids, 1 wage, and rent of $735 a month, plus all the usual bills and expenses. My wage is WAY lower than what you are talking about- $2400 a month after taxes, plus child tax benefit, and we live fine. We are not rich, but we have more money for "fun" than we did in England and life seems better, and I earned quite a bit more in England and hubby worked in UK too. If I earned the money you talk of I would feel like royalty!! I guess it is all a matter of perspective.

Kellie

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Hi Jo, we live in the Vancouver burbs and contrary to many posts do find the general cost of living much cheaper in BC. Take out house prices which are rapidly appoaching UK levels and car insurance which is high. If you come over on UK salary and no mortgage then you are generally smiling all the way to the bank - but many people don't. With 2 incomes you can be very well off. My wife does not work and looks after our 2 young children and we manage fine but always have that option of her going out to work if so needed.

Utilities are far cheaper than UK a few comparisions that we have found.

Property Tax (same value house in BC/UK) UK $336 mth BC $190
Electricity Canada $90 equivalent UK cost for same units $400
Natural Gas UK - $126 BC $84 per mth
Water (metered) UK $94 BC $30
Garbage about $120/year
Petrol $1.09/litre UK $2.1/litre
Vehicle Road Tax UK approx $346 BC not much
Food (generalisation) about the same
Income tax/Pension about the same as UK rates
Eating out is generally much cheaper than UK but again subjective.

Hope this helps.

Re: another cost of living question!
 

With $5,500.00 gross, after deductions (tax,union dues,cpp,EI,suprannuation)will be around $4,500.00. With no mortgage,you all will do fine on 1 wage income.

Yoong

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Not sure how you're coming up with $4,500 take home? :confused:

A more realistic way to look at is that you are on average going to lose 30% in deductions so the take home is more likely to be about $3,850.

Mortgage free a person should still be OK on that salary but they're not going to have lots left at the end of the month.

Cheers
Steve

Re: another cost of living question!
 

From Coquitlam that will be a killer commute.

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Thanks for the correction Steve, I had another look at the deductions
on my bi weekly pay stubs and they are :eek:
I already stopped looking at them for years.
Yoong

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Thanks for the reply! I think there is a difference though because the rent where we are going at the cheapest would be $1300, and for a 3 bedroom house up to $2000!, so I guess the higher wage reflects that!

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Yeah I was worried about that, but those areas, port moody and port coquitlam would be the only places we seem to be able to afford to live rent free, we have an extended 3 bed semi in the UK, and whilst it would be lovely to get something big and grand, we are really only looking at the equivalent, and can't seem to find anything in the North shor that comes close. Burnaby, which is more expensive than the above, but less than central Vancouver and North Van, forgive me to those who live there, looks really croweded, but we are doing a reccie trip in Octobe hopefully, so it may be less so when we see it in the flesh so to speak!

Re: another cost of living question!
 

Thanks this is really helpful!

Re: another cost of living question!
 

This helps cos it tells me that we'll not starve, but we may not have a huge amount left over to do fun stuff. so Hubby's wages would have to pay for that if he manages to find a suitable part time job around the kids!

Re: another cost of living question!
 

You will be fine, expect lots of overtime, you can make $100,000 if you are willing to put in the hours.

Re: another cost of living question!
 

After tax income on $65k in BC would be nearer to $4,000 per month (according to salary calculator at http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf...6_Personal_Tax - which is a very useful tool by the way)