Gremmie

He's the wifes nephew family rate

iaink

Houshold income was what I had in mind. Im lucky, we got by on my salary while the kids were little, childcare for tots is expensive!. My wife started her new job yesterday as it happens...

delsol79

Yea I agree - forget comparing the exchange rate - drives you mad. Look at it as a percentage of your income. So take your Canadian salary and work out how much everything costs and what percentage of your income that is.

I get about 50% more than in UK doing a direct sterling to dollar translation at current rates and I think less disposable money here. I find we spend more on rent (much bigger house) and food prices here in Alberta really do seem ridiculous.

dbd33

So someone earning 30,000 pounds needs to get 45,000 * the exchange rate to break even, say 70,000 dollars. It's not going to happen, is it?

iaink

It depends. Some fields make out OK, some do worse. Thats why doing the homework is important.

delsol79

No I meant I earned X sterling in UK and now earn X + 50% in dollars.

So if you earned 50k sterling then that would be 75k CDN.

scribe123

I spoke to some people in Okotoks when I was there earlier in the year, and the consensus seemed to be that $70,000 was the figure to aim at for a comfortable living in that town.

dbd33

I don't think it's complicated. Houses are cheaper in Canada (like for like, Toronto vs. Manchester, Halifax vs. Aberdeen, rural Canada vs. the Outer Hebrides), the rest is about the same, so you've only to look at how you spend on a house, and how important a house is to you, to see if you'd be better off.

dbd33

Oh, I'd expect to be worse off on less than double, i.e. $60,000 isn't as good as GBP30,000 but, in our business, computer consulting, people are paid much more in the UK so you have to be commited to buying a McMansion to be winning here. (A McMansion or land, if keeping livestock is your thing then Canada's likely better).

iaink

I never took you for the McMansion type Or are you saying you would be better off in the UK, in which case why stay here?

I used to think £x1.5 was a decent rule of thumb, but (without any recent UK living experience to back it up) it feels to me like the cost of living in Canada has pushed ahead of wages here, and really something like £x1.75 would be a safer bet now for a family looking to find a "better life", whatever that is.

delsol79

As I say I got 50% and yes I have less but not so much to require 100% increase to match it. Maybe we should settle at 75%

oh and yes - I wish they had consulting rates like the UK!

christmasoompa

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Cost_of_Living_in_Canada

dbd33

I would be better off in the UK had I stayed and done the same things there as here but that's not the same as being better off for moving there now. My biggest financial consideration is that my alimony payments are in Canadian dollars and are tax deductible in Canada. That rather rules out moving anywhere unless my ex predeceases me.

Something that's been of interest over the past few years has been to visit the homes of people who have roughly the same job and started out in roughly the same circumstances as myself, one in the UK, never moved, one in Australia, emigrated from Canada. The bloke in the UK is financially way ahead due to thirty year's worth of equity growth in a London house and not having had to pay school fees. The one in Australia has the most stuff, the large house in town, the beach house, the boat but has to endure brutal trips to the US and to Europe multiple times per year, other than that, and the cultural vacuum that is Australia (even compared to Canada) he has the best lifestyle. I have nothing but more interesting scars.

marcwales

Thanks everyone. Glad I'm not alone on this one. It is difficult to see if you will be better off, but I understand everybody has their own individual circumstances. Very interesting to hear that cost of living seems more expensive than hear. thats all we hear here, how much we are ripped off. I personally think things have changed here so much in last few years. Things were cheaper but now really picked up.
Like one of you guys said, same issues different country (or words to that effect!!).
OK, lets get some figures to "compare".
Say I earn £35k here, and I got a chance of a job paying $75k CAD. At todays rate of approx $1.6 CAD to the pound, that gives about £46k. So initially that looks like £11k increase before tax. But if cost of living is higher, then I won't see all of this will I? And income tax differences?
On this subject, does anyone know the income tax rates in Canada? What I found looked complicated.
In the UK its :
Starting rate for savings: 10% £0-£2,560
Basic rate: 20% £0-£35,000
Higher rate: 40% £35,001-£150,000
Additional rate: 50% Over £150,000

Thanks....

delsol79

You are still doing that conversion - forget the conversion

As discussed above we are probably talking about 1.75 for comparable - or lets say 1.8 like the wiki for an APPROX comparison. So if you earn 35k in UK then you want 63k CDN.

The below is a quick and reasonable accurate tax calculator though does not take into account tax breaks etc.

http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax