BristolUK

True about additional costs - crutches, outside of in-patient prescription drugs etc but there are very alarming reports coming out of the UK at the moment.

Having to remain in an ambulance parked outside ER and/or waiting/dying on a bed in a corridor makes the free or cheap prescriptions a tad insignificant.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ll-theresa-may

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...est-ever-level

evets

Yes I noted and understood that, but a friend is recently is trying to get some surgery done on her feet. Private healthcare with our company but will still be out of pocket as I understand as not a standard operation.

So while i understand the Canadian system is "good", compared to the NHS. Debatable. even though the NHS is now stretched beyond believe but if you have private healthcare then private does mean private. This option does not exist in Canada, as far as I aware unless I missed something.

Private healthcare compared to Australia, the concept while good on paper does not really exist in Canada as for reason it is not deemed fair.

America private health care is great, if
a. you can afford it and
b. it is covered.

If not then you are screwed.

evets

Not read the links, but a recent report from my mum. Dad had to go to emergency on xmas day, she was gobsmacked with the wait time. The amount of drunks who filled up the wards. My Dad spent most of the time shuffled around and then kicked out of a bed as he was not deemed ill enough even though he probably was according to mum, who was an ex nurse.

So completely understand and not saying Canada's system is better, from what I understand. Still quite over loaded, maybe not as much as the NHS but at least private health care does exist in the UK. If you are willing to take it out or are in a company that provides it.

evets

And going back to the OP: How realistic are our expectations and do our plans sound sensible?

Reading the post and my response. I really hope he has a few million CA$ and if wanting to live in Sauga and work in Toronto understands the reality of the commute and that Sauga may not get them the detached McMansion and the 2 investment properties.

Then again what do I know, as only been here less than a year but figured out enough to question the OP.

evets

so read the links and basically they sum up my parents experience during xmas. Really sucks, the way the NHS has gone downhill.

Hate to say this but Brexit happened for a reason. People pissed of with EU immigrants abusing the NHS.

EDIT: Not looking for comments on this statement to detract from the OP thread, just my opinion based on my parents experience over xmas with my Dad having a major crisis and my mum so disappointed with the treatment he got.

dbd33

I believe that, at one point, I had approximately the life described. Ranch bungalow, halfway between Port Credit and Clarkson GO stations, computer job (manager of database stuff) walking distance from Union. It was a mid-50s house, not a new, one and, imo, way better for that. I didn't like that way of living but I think that life's still attainable if you have a million Canadian in cash. It'll take some searching and compromises; you'll be competing with people who want the lot for a McMansion, not the house, but I think it could be done.

dbd33

By doctoring and nursing and cleaning corridors and that sort of thing? Coming over here, taking the jobs we're not qualified for or don't want to do, healing the sick, tending to the dying. Bastards!

Shakyuk

If I eye rolled any more than I did... my head would fall off.

Winterdiva

Exactly. We don't mind paying the additional costs - just want a reasonable level of care.

Winterdiva

Budget is CAD 1.5 million in cash - that's absolutely everything we have. Also, we are both under 40, so some mortgage is probably not a bad thing to have. We could take small mortgages for the investment properties if we have to.

Is the commute from Sauga really bad? 50 mins from Lisgar station to Union station + 10mins on either side. That's about 1hour 10 mins door to door - sounds reasonable by my current UK standards. Is there anything I am missing here?

dbd33

I had to google Lisgar. It's not on a line suitable for work in any sort of job without rigid hours. There are few trains. Out there is absolute subdivision hell, it may be that you want a plastic box built to last fifteen years squished against a 1000 other boxes with a view of the neighbor on the toilet and, if so, you're in the right spot. I expect the builder will throw in a grey Asian minivan. If you want a more conventionally affluent lifestyle then you really don't want to be north of the QEW.

This thread, btw, is the first time I've seen Mississauga abbreviated in that manner and I hear people cursing the place 'most every day.

DandNHill

Have you been to Mississauga? It’s the true definition of suburbia. Unless you want to put the $1.5M down as a deposit on a house and find a little bit of what’s remaining of rural Mississauga. Then you’re competing with developers as Dbd33 said

DigitalGhost

Might be a dumb question but with that kind of capital immediately available, why not just look into US investment options? You can buy a green card on a million dollars and that would let your kids study at the domestic rates at US universities.

evets

It was an off the cuff comment, the actually reality is very different but the same sentiment about people wanting change.

Since Brexit got announced how many more immigrants have flocked to the UK! By my accounts of reading the news, it certainly jumped.

Look people also voted for Trump wanting some sort of change. He did play a good game telling people what they wanted to hear.

Scotland had its own referendum, which failed.

Estonia also took things into there own hands.

dbd33

The surreal thing with this thread is that we bought the house in Lorne Park and I flogged up and down on the GO train because we had nothing and we wanted to accumulate a million dollars. That worked financially, as it did for the balloonist poster. It's a whole other thing to start with a million dollars and to turn it into a humdrum commuter lifestyle. I don't think I'd move for that, I'd stay at home and buy a Jaguar or a J24.