giggimickey

Just thought I would add in my twopenneth.

We moved to Canada from the London suburbs back in January and have not looked back since. I agree that money isn't everything but we have just moved into a large 5 bed house and have a relatively small mortgage. This gives us the freedom where only one of us needs to work in a job that is pretty stress free. Which gives us more time to spend with our children and afford to go places and do things with them. To achieve this sort of lifestyle where we used to live, we would need to earn about 400K per annum between us, work like dogs and be mortgaged to the hilt. In other words, it just wouldn't be possible.

Sure, we miss friends and family but we have a stream of them coming out to visit us and so we probably see more of them on average. Do we miss the UK? No, not at all. I think the place is going downhill at a rapid rate and we are just glad we left when we did. That's my opinion anyway.

Mikey B

Agree 110% life here is vastly superior in my experience than the UK. I look at the things I can afford to own and do here and the experiences Ive had here that as you say gigglemickey are just not possible in the UK.

BC Hopefuls

Much of what many of us can afford to do out here, like only one job, small/no mortgage etc., is because we bring a heap of capital from our UK house sale.

People who don't have that are going to have a much harder time of it. Yes you can get more house and land for your money, but if you are going to have the same size mortgage as in UK and try to live at the same level with regard to material possessions then $$$ wise things probably won't be much different from life in UK.

It often worries me how some folk will manage to get established when they are struggling to find £3000 to ship their belongings over.

stepnek

Spot on. There's nothing cheap about living here earning Canadian dollars but bringing over a decent profit from the sale of our house in the UK is what has made the difference.

Mikey B

I must be living in a different Canada then cus Im on pretty much same salary here as I was there but never in the UK could I afford a house this size or get a 2nd morgtgage with the OH for a cottage on the lake or have spare cash to buy a speed boat and razz around in it or eat out as much as I do here.

Just the other day my Mom told me she paid 20 quid for 2 fish and chips and a coffee at Harry Ramsdens, for about half that I can go do that at my local pub here as long as Im not having an imported beer.

BristolUK

This is true. Not only did the money from from the sale of my 100 year old, 2-bed, terraced house in one of the cheaper parts of Bristol, buy outright our 4-bed detached home and a houseload of furnishings, but it also bought (with cash to spare) a duplex that provides a rental income way in excess of the interest I would get in a high rate account.

But the fact that ONLY £120k went so far should indicate that one need not have the same size mortgage as would be needed in the UK. One needn't even have capital from a house sale, just have a decent amount of capital.

I was lucky to have bought my Bristol home when I did - in 1984 for £17.5k. I borrowed the maximum available at the time based on my salary and I had £2.5k deposit.

I sold it for just over £150k in 2005 - over 8 times what I paid.

If I was a buyer in 2005 with a deposit 8 times what I had in 1984 (£20k) I'd still need a mortgage of £130k. On my salary then, that would have been absolutely impossible.

Even if I had been able to borrow 5 times that salary, I'd still have needed a deposit of £60k and, remember, this was an old, small, terraced house.

There must be quite a number of Brits with decent capital but without a hope in hell of ever being able to buy a home. In the UK that is.

New Brunswick property is much cheaper than most of Canada, especially out of the city - and not that far out either.

Here, in the city of Moncton there are very nice detached homes for under $100k.

Look at these and especially this one.

Or even these for under $70k

A capital sum of £20k, useless in the UK for buying property, could mean a mortgage of just $30k here. Even minimum wage makes that straightforward.

£50k, almost useless in the UK is going to buy any of these good houses.


I'm just saying that you can still achieve a lot even without money from a house sale - providing one has that bit of capital to begin with.

R I C H

Lots of provisos there, though. NB isn't for everyone, whether it's from a lifestyle, location or career perspective. In my area, $300k's your starting point for a family home, so a well paid job and equity for a deposit is essential.

BristolUK

True enough, though the yachting, boating, skiing, fishing, skidooing, hunting, lifestyles are all available here as elsewhere. Plus the sea isn't far away.


Career opps are undoubtedly fewer (partly negated by reduced competition?) but may not be that important when one doesn't need that high income for the desired lifestyle.

I would say the biggest drawback is the lack of major airports for getting flights across the Atlantic.

Some provisos, yes. But I'm merely seeking to show that possibilities are not restricted to high income earners or the capitally well endowed.

Ludo

I'll come in at completely the opposite end of the scale then.

I'm on a working holiday visa and currently living in Whistler (I understand this is one of the more expensive places in Canada!). I've never had such a poor standard of life as I currently have, maybe not the best way to word it but I've never had money worries as much as now.

Because for the last few years I've been doing back to back seasons, I only came to Canada with $2000. This was adequate enough to last until I was set up in permanent accomadation and had money coming in from work.

I work 40 hours a week, after rent, bills and food it leaves me with ~$100 for the week. To give an example of how far this stretches, if I took the bus to work and back everyday that would be nearly a 1/3 of the money.

Presently it just feels like the last week of uni surviving off what remains of the loan week in week out.

I'm not work shy so am currently hunting for a 2nd job for at least another 20 hours a week, however this is the first time I've ever been in a resort where I feel I need a 2nd job.

I'm enjoying it and can't wait for the winter season, but just wanted to give another point of view. Also I'm glad I'm here for the summer to get established and not have the money worries in winter, altho money worries aren't half as bad when you can snowboard!!

Canada Dreams

i guess its cheaper living in NS then yea

Steve_P

My understanding is that Vancouver is one of the more expensive places to live in Canada.

Whistler I've heard is THE most expensive.

You most likely couldn't have picked a more expensive place to live.

nikki dreaming

From what I have seen of NS, the day to day cost of things are the same as the rest of Canada and on a par with the uk, when you take into account the $ you are earning.

I think where you become slightly better off in NS is the cost of property, particularly if you are able to bring over some money with you and therefore your monthly outgoings overall may be slightly less, however this will depend on your Canadian earnings and also NS wages which I believe are generally lower in comparison to other area's of Canada particularly the west.

Canada Dreams

thats right, the job offer i have had, is in the region of $40000 a year with the large lump sum we will hopefrully bring over from the sale of our house ( if we sell it :curse: ) we will be better off,

nikki dreaming

Good luck with house sale, same position as you on that one:curse:

Canada Dreams

we were thinking now of offering the house with all its furniture in it with the sale to temp more people, then just saying sod it we will buy when we get over there, that way we will at least get rid ot the house and buy what we want in NS