iaink

I get where you are coming from ...I can see it works once you are here, to stop you going mad and over spending, but its a bit dangerous for someone in the UK considering the move earning say £30k, to think they are going to have the same lifestyle here if they earn $30k in Canada. Thats where the 1.75 or 2.0 comes in, they would probably need $50-60k to have a similar sort of disposable spending power.

MikeUK

It think it’s also worth taking into consideration that the people that move here because the UK's gone to the dogs and its all violence and crime will if, they end up in major city, discover that it’s a disease of the western world and one that Canada suffers from just as much as anywhere else..


I also find that those that are un-happy with their current lifestyle, are generally the root cause of that unhappiness, and tend to bring all there issues along with themselves..


A positive outlook to life in general IMHO has a better chance of a successful emigration than those that move for negative reasons

Atlantic Xpat

I've been reflecting on my own experiences with the UK > CAD$ multiplier. When I moved to Nfld, I was on about 1.5. That went down to 1.0 & for that period when we were a single income household for a while, live, frankly, wasn't much fun. I'm now at 1.35 and the Mrs is now at 3 & our combined income is back to that 1.75 level and we are reasonably comfortable. Of course, I'm comparing 2004 UK earnings with 2011 Canadian earnings so we are actually worse off than I think allowing for UK wage inflation.

The straight GBP to $ comparison is meaningless IMHO. The only real way to analyse things is cost of goods and services as a % of income (after tax). Of course that's massively complex so using exchange rate or some other multiplier to compare is what we all do.

helcat12

I think it is fair to assume that the OP has already established for himself that there are job openings in his area of expertise or he wouldn't be asking the question about standard of living relative to salary.
(If he hasn't, then he ought to)

As for "equally or better paid employment", that is surely what the OP is trying to establish in his question - what exactly that means in terms of salary and standard of living in Canada.
What "equal or better" is requires more than just applying the exchange rate, which has been pointed out already, so he needs more guidance.

" And a shitty place to be poor."

So is everywhere

You are purposely choosing extremes (especially the lower figure) to support your flawed argument.

We are not highly paid and not on the breadline - my husband has a salary in line with his work in IT and it is the same as any Canadian would get for doing the same job (as required by the terms of granting LMO).
The OP can find the Canadian salary information for his job expertise on the HRSDC website and establish what the going rate would be for him.

In terms of relative cost of living and relative salary, I merely stated what works for us as an example to try to help.

So, if the OP currently earns £40K in the UK and sees his job advertised in Canada at a salary of $55K, he might consider what I have said and conclude that he would be not as affluent there doing that job, while if he sees it advertised at $70K, he might think that is more reasonable.
Perhaps if other posters also say what they find acceptable, it would help clarify this for the OP. So thanks for adding your experience, Atlantic Expat.

The OP will have to weigh up and apply everyone's comments to his own circumstances to come to a conclusion about whether salary is going to be a limiting factor for him in his emigration decision.

I do agree about using %age of earnings as a guide.
I have had success using this, although I have also found that there are so many differences that until you are actually living in Canada it is still hard to judge the overall picture.

Tangram

I agree with your last sentence.

MikeUK

But.... Being stuck in a shitty place with not enough money to go home, even if it too is a shitty place its one you know your way around...

I've met a group of people in a pub in London Ontario stuck in that trap, too poor to afford realistically to get tickets home, earning enough to pay rent, eat and pay down those debts that they thought they'd get a better job to pay off when they landed...

You won't see it on here, because by that time you've stoped your internet connection!

mardyarse

yeah you sound like hubby when he's lecturing me, my eyes blur over at the thought of any maths blah, blah, I'll leave it to the experts me thinks and carry on with my coffee morning, cheers

iaink

Going to the library and using the facilities doenst cost anything but who wants to do that after 16hrs at a McJob


With hindsite I should probably have just closed the thread after post #2...

delsol79

Sorry a little of topic but I really do not think this is true. Not why I moved to Canada but I know that Calgary does not have hoods like Manchester does Living in Stretford I regularly had balaclava kids on bikes patrolling the streets - not seen that here yet.

Same goes for city centre - Piccadilly Gardens is almost off limits on a weekend evening - can't say the same about Stephens Ave...

MikeUK

That becasue the dangrous spots in Canada arn't in the city centre, they exist and they are just as bad..

They are easier to avoid, thats the only difference I can see

helcat12

No, you made a good call, I think.
Anyone who starts a thread like this, on purely financial grounds must be enlightened by the opinions of both current and past immigrants who have trod the same path with probably all the same hopes and fears.

I know everyone needs to plough their own furrow, but I took a lot of notice of everything that people who have done this before me said on threads like this and I still do.

I don't have to agree if I find my experience affects me differently, but it does make me think harder in the first place and that is the value of this forum.

I looked at the Returning to the UK forum area and put myself in their shoes, but in the end decided that I did not think that I would feel that way.

I may still be wrong, but living in the UK for a year while my OH blazed a trail in B.C was one of the serious sacrifices we decided to make to try to reduce the odds of that happening to either of us.
Maybe we played it too safe? Who knows.

One thing I do know is that no-one is ever sure any move like this is going to work, so you just have to call it the best you can.
I wish the OP luck deciding

jimf

Looking at it the other way round if I could earn 1/1.5 ie 2/3s of my Canadian salary in pounds in the UK I would be back in the UK absolutely no doubt even if it meant working in London.

el_richo

And yet i didn't see the issues in areas such as Main and Hastings in Vancouver when i lived in York, UK.

His point is, crime is everywhere, arseholes live throughout the western world, and the "UK" isn't as bad as you think.


The OP should figure out where the work is and what it pays. Then they need to check out the area/s for property that they'd want and the cost. The grocery costs via the store website. The cost of vehicles. The price of fuel. The distances to places they think they'd travel to figure out approximate running costs. Activities in the area's and the costs. Flight prices to destinations they'd consider travelling. Cost of furniture via websites. Cost of TV's etc via websites. And so on........ then see how much money they'd have left and/or what they can afford. Would their life improve in the way they want it?'

Atlantic Xpat

That's all very sensible and neccessary. However, in a way, I'm glad the decision as to where to emigrate to in Canada was made for me by virtue of the Mrs being from here. It made life a lot simpler. And more complex.

el_richo

No shit. Same here