foreigngirl

Yes, that's what I thought.

el_richo

Does your other half have a job already lined up?

My colleagues over here get half the vacation allowance as their peers in the UK.

If you'd like more clarity on potential earnings, it's no good having people on here guessing otherwise the answers you'll get will mostly be pointless.

Like i said earlier, do a dry run online of your costs. Distances to activities and how you'll get there without a car. Holidays and costs, etc.

I'm with the others who suggest $200k+. That will give you a good living with access to your activities without worry, and allow you to save enough to buy a place here (unless you already have a large chunk of cash).

foreigngirl

No, I actually didn't as I had around 180-200k in my head.

We've actually been looking at going to Hawaii for a week. Saw deals (flight+hotel) for around £1k each (this was on Expedia, so I'm sure you can get cheaper than that). decent hotel, good ranking on trip advisor. Mexico West coast is cheaper, and that's all inclusive (around $1300 - including tax).

Where in Hawaii are you going?

foreigngirl

Yes, it's a transfer through his job here.

el_richo

Four Seasons Maui

Costs soon increase when you want variation in Long Haul destinations. Accessibility is certainly much more limiting here than the UK I miss that

Anyway, figure on $200k and you'll have a nice enough life for sure.

Alan2005

$200k isn't enough if they want to save in a meaningful way (i.e. to get a house deposit in a 2 or 3 years) and live that lifestyle. I also think they'll want a car.

iaink

Not to mention any retirement savings. Many people dont seem to take that into account moving here. I suppose for a year or two if you are not staying long term its less of an issue.

el_richo

Y'know, you're probably right about that.

I agree with the car thing.

Nik G

Just check out the prevailing wage info on workingincanada.gc.ca.

For example I just put in software engineer, Vancouver and it brought me back a median of 36.97 $/hr or $76k.

I used that site to state my preferred wage when applying for a position in Vancouver. I'm now in the process of getting the LMO after signing the offer.

All the talk of $200k is now panicking me though, my wage will not be that high (although significantly higher then it is now or then I would earn in the UK).

foreigngirl

That's sorted, no worries.

el_richo

Vancouver is as expensive to live in as London, in my experience. If you're comparing to Yorkshire for example, you'll certainly need to earn a lot more than you would there.

If your $76k is accompanied by joint income you may not be too bad. If it's the sole income, that's tight in my opinion. Although as ever, it all depends on what you want out of your life, family size, where you want to live here, etc etc.

foreigngirl

This is very useful, thank you.

foreigngirl

Is that the one in Wailea? Niiiccce! No wonder you dropped 5k! Looks like it's going to be an amazing holiday.

foreigngirl

All of this is very useful.
As I mentioned earlier - I'm not worried about retirement, but health insurance is something that I need to sort out. How much is private health insurance? What does it cover? Which companies should I look at?

JonboyE

Don`t panic. We live well, including owing our home, cars and have foreign holidays each year, and I could not even imagine how I would spend $200k a year. I think I would have to buy a boat.