Hi all

I was born in the UK to Canadian parents so I don't think I will have problems with citizenship by descent. Here are my circumstances and I am wondering if you could give an opinion on whether financially we would be able to survive on our income over there.

We will have in the region of CAD 600 000 savings and if my husband takes early retirement approx CAD 40 000 a year. If neither of us work that will be our only available funds for around 12 & 15 years until we receive our UK state pension which in today's terms will be around CAD 233 each per week.

We don't lead a particularly extravagant lifestyle and would want to live away from city life so do you think this is doable? I'm not ruling out working but would like to know if you think it is possible to survive on our bare minimum if we had to.

Sorry to be so blunt about our finances as I appreciate we are lucky that we have some funds behind us but it is hard to know whether that's enough if it is all we have to rely on.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Whereabouts are you planning on living?

...and would you want to buy or rent?

Forgetting the savings which will cover most housing needs and more, if we had $40k income we'd be living like royalty.

Well luckily in Canada we don't have any royalty to test that hypothesis.

Do you think that on $40K, you'd be less predictable?

Hi JonboyE

No firm plans at the moment but we quite like the idea of somewhere like St Andrews NB. That's partly because it is by the coast but also because property seems quite a lot cheaper there so it may make it possible to move.

Novocastrian - We would hope to buy.

BristolUK - we currently live in the South Coast of England where our money is tied up in property. If G took early retirement here his pension would cover our costs but wouldn't go much further. Good to know that we can potentially live like royalty on $40 0000

Sorry I feel embarrassed by asking as I know in many respects we are in a good position but it's difficult to compare cost of living when you haven't actually lived there.

Seems doable if you choose the Maritimes.

... Which you do!

Have you spent much time in Canada?

Okay, famous ice hockey players then.

No need to be embarrassed. Without details, the advice you'd receive on this very helpful forum (for the most part) would be less useful.

I'll leave tax issues to JonboyE, but if you buy a house outright in NB for say $150K (shouldn't be hard to find), there's just the 2 of you and as you said you prefer anyway to live simply, then I'd guess you'd be fine.

Assuming you got your citizenship confirmed first, you'd be eligible for provincial health insurance but this doesn't include meds and dentistry, so you might factor that into your calculations. Also think perhaps about fuel costs...it gets rather chilly in Canada.

Do we have those? Who knew?

Hi Shard

No I've not spent much time in Canada but we plan to spend several months travelling before we commit. My parents were from Toronto and I have many relatives there but my research suggests that area is too expensive for us.

NB is just an idea at the moment and that may change when we've explored more.

If you haven't started the ball rolling already, I'd advise to get your citizenship sorted as soon as possible - mine took nearly a year to come through, and that was with me living in Canada.

Thanks Novocastrian

Must admit the healthcare worries me when we have been so used to the nhs and that's the sort of thing we need to be aware of.

I'm thinking fuel generally is cheaper over there which will hopefully help the additional expense of the cold winters.

Petrol here is around $2.22 a litre at the moment so I am assuming that may be cheaper too?

Milimilo - thanks for your input. I haven't started it yet as our circumstances haven't been right up until recently but now we haven't got any commitments it feels like a good time for a new challenge.

There are a few nice areas between Toronto and NB though that are affordable if you are happy to live rural. Although the seaside is nice and I miss it dearly. Fuel is cheaper here but distances are further. We spend more money on fuel here a month than we did back in the UK. Also the bigger/older the house the more heating costs. Not sure how it is in NB but we pay an electricity delivery charge which is considerably higher in the country side. Over all it sounds doable if you don't live too extravagant.

These things are very difficult because people have different expectations and one person's simple life is another person's luxury.

I would say without a mortgage $40k will fund what I consider a simple lifestyle. If you had $400k left to invest after buying a house this should earn around $20k a year relatively safely if you can find a good investment advisor. $60k a year funds a rather nice modest lifestyle (IMO). No his 'n hers BMWs but you should be able to run a small car.

If you are under 55 when you move you will probably qualify for a small Canadian state pension if you decide to retire here.