hi All

I have been going through this forum for days and reading eveybodys views on Canada. The good ones and the bad ones. Im not going to ask if i should move to Canada because i know everystory is different and its something i have to decide on my own. I will just say that moving abroad and trying a new life has always appealed to me and if i dont do it now i never will.

My dilema is about money, wages to cost of living. I have been offered a job in Calgary with a starting wage of 27cdn per hr with at least a 40 hr week. I am 32yr old male and will be coming over alone. I have looked in rental sites for accomodation, but hard to tell what i will want till im there.

So in brief, what sort of life style will this give me? I know these questions are probably on here all the time, but any reply would be gratefully read.


thanks morgan

Off the top of my head that's about 60k(ish) - that would give you roughly the same life style as 30-35k in the UK.

hi thanks for reply. What i am wondering is that enough to earn in Calgary though?

Enough to do what?
What sort of life do you lead in the UK?

Closer to 50k isnt it? By the time you take holiday pay etc into account its likely only 50 x 40 x 27=54k

A single no kids renter would have an OK lifestlye in the short term I guess, nothing too lavish though. I would count out owning property on that though from what little I know of Calgary.

If you want to enjoy the mountains Im guessing you need to own a car, even if you can use the transit to get to and from work?

hi, I have a comfortable life style. No real money worries. A house, car, holiday and reasonable social life and thats all im looking for. I know am not going to be living in the fast lane or anything like that.

I was just guessing - It's still higher than the average wage in Vancouver. Not that I'd want to try and live on that here.

Using the Canadian tax calculator roughly here http://www.taxtips.ca/calculators/taxcalculator.htm take home pay would be around 800 per week so do the maths on what accomodation / transport / bills etc will cost and see what you have left

Then it depends on how much capital you can bring with you.

Then (and I don't live in Calgary so can't say for certain) I suspect you might have less disposable income and a 'lifestyle' on that amount in Cowtown. But without knowing your circumstances (and not wanting to pry) how can we tell? You might, for example, have the means to buy a house outright which would make month to month living cheaper. Only you can answer the question of 'is this enough'?

Depends how badly you want to live in Canada. After I moved, for a while I took a massive pay cut, a drop in seniority and a really fun job. After a while reality kicked in, had to pay the bills, got married had kids, the wife hankered to try the lifestyle she wanted to become accustomed to. So it was enough fun and back to 'bus driving for me.

If your wage puts food on the table and a roof over your head, is that enough until you get established? Many have and do get by on less.

Before anything else I would question your motivation to immigrate.That should answer you question.

Hi there. We live in Cochrane. Don't know if you're familiar with it but it's a town just outside Calgary. Our household income is more than what has been estimated you may be able to earn although not excessively more. We are a married couple (one wage) with two children. We live in a good size house (6 bedrooms) in a nice part of town and have a nice lifestyle; 2 vehicles, social life etc.

Compared to the UK, we find housing, vehicles, petrol and activities are cheaper here; we lived in a small 3 bed semi in the UK. However, household utilities and grocery shopping are about the same, maybe slightly higher.

I agree, that a lot will depend on how much capital you are able to bring with you too. If you have a reasonable amount of equity in your property then this will certainly help if you're looking to buy somewhere out here.

If I can help with anything else, please get in touch.

All the best.

It would be far from a hard life when you consider the minimum wages here, sure you are going to stuggle if you want to go cruising once a month, but on that sort of wage, you should be at least comfortable.

hi

Thankyou all for your help. I understand bringing equity would help. Problem there being my equity is all tied up in property and where i currently live the housing market is not good at the moment. i am planning to rent them out and hopefully over the next year or so it will improve. so i wont be bringing a great deal with me. plus side is i am going straight into employment and they are giving free housing for 3 months. so that will help me find a place. All i want is a nice 1 bed in good location. i know that all depends on what i want to pay.

I suppose it comes down to if i want it bad enough it will work.


Thanks again folks im deep in thought and have 5 weeks too decide.

One other thing to bear in mind is that when you get over here, you don't have a credit history so buying things on credit is hard, especially if you're on a WP and you have a 915 SIN no.