hi my name is john and i am soon moving to alberta. Where i already have a job waiting. I have read a lot of threads on this site and so has my wife. We know that a lot of people think that canada is a cheaper country. 'Or should i say a better standard of life' but there are a couple of things i am concerned about. Like tuition fees for your kids, is this just for collage or is it first and secondary school. Ive seen threads with figures of $20.000 or $30.000 before tax a year is this true. Any way gatting back to the subject i just want to know if my salary will cover us over there and if my wife will need to work. Take into account that we will probaly have a morgage of about $200.000 on top of what ever we put down thanks.

Hi John

mortgage can only be a max of 32 % of gross monthly income

Just to avoid possible confusion, bb means that the monthly mortgate payments (principle, interest and taxes) shouldn't exceed 32% of gross monthly income.

Obviously, the max amount borrowed depends on interest rate, amortization term and property taxes.

I have been advised we should be able to borrow around $235,000 on my salary alone. Anything less would be even better obviously.
It is all the other bills/fees/taxes that concern me.
Does anyone know the average wage for a Carpenter in Alberta so I know I am not being taken for a ride.
Thanks for your answers in advance.
John

[QUOTE=Sarahad]I have been advised we should be able to borrow around $235,000 on my salary alone. Anything less would be even better obviously.
It is all the other bills/fees/taxes that concern me.
Does anyone know the average wage for a Carpenter in Alberta so I know I am not being taken for a ride.
Thanks for your answers in advance.
John[/QUOT

my hubby is going on $ 75,000 pa and we reckon we would be able to have monthly mortgage pof around $1700 pm

my hubby is going on $ 75,000 pa and we reckon we would be able to have monthly mortgage pof around $1700 pm[/QUOTE]

Burton, is your hubby a carpenter also??

For Uni tuition fees that sort of annual level is reserved for doctors and dentists, and perhaps lawyers. ~$7k is typical for arts, and low to mid teens for engineering at a good school., so for a normal 4 years course total that might be right for total Uni tuition for an Arts degree.

I was surprised to read about school fees for kids in Alberta too. Not the norm in the ontario public schools for sure.

Acording to Monster.ca "Carpenter level III" in Edmonton has a median income of ~$50k. Like most stats thats perhaps a bit out of date with the boom creating labour shortages for skilled tradespeople

It depends on the province but for Ontario even that $7k/annum figure is on the high side. Right now its nearer $5k for a vanilla flavoured BA / BSc. Quebec is cheapest and I believe Alberta is somewhere in the middle.

Property taxes vary hugely both by region and of course by property value. For us, about 1% of appraised value per year is a decent guide.

I have been offered just over $54k, all fuel paid, mileage expenses and health/life benefits. Im not sure how much i will actually see of my wages after tax as from the figures the company have given me it seems half your wages are taken as tax???
I think my wife will end up having to work, this is not a problem as we are willing to do what it takes to make things work, we would have just preferred for her to stay home for a year until our daughter started school.

It's not quite as bad as that! I earn (a lot) more than that and have about 33% deducted for tax (fed + provincial). On 54K it'd be a much smaller proportion. Maybe someone earning roughly that amount can give you a clearer idea. But I'd expect that you're right about needing a second income.

I'm on $55ish (Northern Allowance additional to this) and take home pay works out at just short of $3K per month; however my HOOP pension payments come off salary at source and amount to a hefty figure each pay period, so without pension disposable income would be higher.

I suppose i will have to do alot of overtime!! which i am used to over here anyway!
Hopefully we can make things work.

[QUOTE=burton bunch] Sorry, Am I reading this right? You are planning to meet a $1700 per month mortgage commitment on a $75k annual salary? Not sure of your circumstances but I would say that would be a bit of a struggle when you add property taxes, utilities, healthcare, car payments, car insurance etc etc on top of that. This assumes you want to do more than work and sit at home in your undoubtably lovely house and stare at the walls cos thats all you can afford to do!

Single income, using a married allowance, you should get to keep about 75% in very rough terms.

[QUOTE=Atlantic Xpat] Yep, thats nuts. They will have a big house they cant afford to heat.

We struggle to get ahead on $65k gross with an $800 mortgage and property tax commitment, and very little other debt to service. No car payments or anything like that.

The bank will probably lend them that much, but I wouldnt want to have to pay it back, although personal tax is a little lower in AB, so they get to take more of the 75k home.