Living the dream or not????
May 29th 2008 | 2:11 am
#46
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Joined: Sep 2003
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From: Upstate South Carolina
May 29th 2008 | 2:21 am
#48
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,656
Re: Living the dream or not????
I went from Canada to England and back again on my own. Lots of people migrate solo. There is no reason not to. The flipside of having no support from an OH is that you don't have an OH pestering you and you can do it all YOUR OWN WAY! 
Go for it, it'll put hair on your chest.
Go for it, it'll put hair on your chest.
May 29th 2008 | 2:45 am
#49
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,715
Re: Living the dream or not????
I didn't go to England with staying in mind. I went 'for a year' on a whim and it turned into five. No major regrets.... on balance it was a very positive experience.
May 29th 2008 | 2:51 am
#52
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From: Cochrane, Alberta
May 29th 2008 | 3:59 am
#53
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From: NI (back from Toronto)
Re: Living the dream or not????
May 31st 2008 | 10:29 am
#54
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From: Sutton Coldfield UK until I return to Toronto 2009 or earlier!!
Re: Living the dream or not????
On the other hand, if you come to canada as a family and dont factor in things like the future cost of higher education and the income you are going to need to fund that and retirement, then you are at least partly just kidding yourself.
Im not saying you cant get by on a minimal income, lord knows many people do, but I dont see why you would choose too either.
I shudder slightly to read people say "come to canada, you can raise a family on $22k income." That may be true if you own a house outright, can buy cars outright when you arrive and already have retirement income sorted and have very minimal outgoings. But what happens when your car rusts away, or your property taxes increase, or gas and heating oil hits $2 a litre? Lord knows what happens when the kids need braces or the furnace expires mid winter, or the oil company wont deliver until you spend a grand on a new oil tank.
I earn $70k a year, have a wife and two small kids, with a third on the way to support. My mortgage and property tax on an older 1200sq ft house is $800 a month , car payment on a Civic is $300. I dont have any hopes of a UK retirement income, so I have to save for that eventuality, and we are saving for future college requirements for the kids as best we can. We have little left at the end of every month, and seldom if ever do anything extravagent. The kids certainly are not doing expensive activites. I simply cannot imagine making it on $22k a year. After tax I have more than twice that, and we just get by.
Im not saying you cant get by on a minimal income, lord knows many people do, but I dont see why you would choose too either.
I shudder slightly to read people say "come to canada, you can raise a family on $22k income." That may be true if you own a house outright, can buy cars outright when you arrive and already have retirement income sorted and have very minimal outgoings. But what happens when your car rusts away, or your property taxes increase, or gas and heating oil hits $2 a litre? Lord knows what happens when the kids need braces or the furnace expires mid winter, or the oil company wont deliver until you spend a grand on a new oil tank.
I earn $70k a year, have a wife and two small kids, with a third on the way to support. My mortgage and property tax on an older 1200sq ft house is $800 a month , car payment on a Civic is $300. I dont have any hopes of a UK retirement income, so I have to save for that eventuality, and we are saving for future college requirements for the kids as best we can. We have little left at the end of every month, and seldom if ever do anything extravagent. The kids certainly are not doing expensive activites. I simply cannot imagine making it on $22k a year. After tax I have more than twice that, and we just get by.
May 31st 2008 | 10:33 am
#55
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From: NI (back from Toronto)
May 31st 2008 | 10:39 am
#56
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From: Sutton Coldfield UK until I return to Toronto 2009 or earlier!!
Jun 3rd 2008 | 5:02 pm
#57
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From: Vancouver, BC
Re: Living the dream or not????
I would have made the move with or without Mr L2S in tow. In some ways it was easier. In other ways it is a lot harder.
Jun 3rd 2008 | 10:16 pm
#58
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 188
From: Nova Scotia
Re: Living the dream or not????
I agree in general. I can't say either way about '"most people" though. Certainly some are too young to have been lucky enough to have got onto the housing ladder. But there are plenty on these forums who did have the good fortune to make it and many are older.
Many of them are posting about selling homes at more than twice mine. Granted I don't know how much equity they'll have, but I'd guess quite a few will have far more than I had.
With teachers, heads and and other highly skilled, highly qualified people coming to Canada with employment behind them back in the UK, their pensions and lump sums from pensions are going to be way in excess of mine.
I'll repeat a comment from another post I made. We are a family of four (2 teenagers) with a total income of a little under $22k. It is easily possible and we have fall-back positions involving selling the duplex to raise capital, downsizing the family home to raise less but still decent capital and p/t work if necessary.
I was earning less that £14k when the year 2000 came along. It was only a promotion that put me into the 'giddy heights' of £17k a year in 2003.
Maybe we should start a thread where people can give their UK salary levels in the UK, equity, income and housing costs in Canada.
I'm just a little bothered that people with more modest means and hopes might get put off by mention of "high maintenance" costs.
At 27, (partial) retirement is probably the last thing on one's mind, But mid 40s or older? Probably haven't considered it. But that may be because the opportunity hasn't yet presented itself. Early retirement was something I had been looking at but Canada presented that opportunity to me 5 years before I realistically expected to be doing it.
Many of them are posting about selling homes at more than twice mine. Granted I don't know how much equity they'll have, but I'd guess quite a few will have far more than I had.
With teachers, heads and and other highly skilled, highly qualified people coming to Canada with employment behind them back in the UK, their pensions and lump sums from pensions are going to be way in excess of mine.
I'll repeat a comment from another post I made. We are a family of four (2 teenagers) with a total income of a little under $22k. It is easily possible and we have fall-back positions involving selling the duplex to raise capital, downsizing the family home to raise less but still decent capital and p/t work if necessary.
I was earning less that £14k when the year 2000 came along. It was only a promotion that put me into the 'giddy heights' of £17k a year in 2003.
Maybe we should start a thread where people can give their UK salary levels in the UK, equity, income and housing costs in Canada.
I'm just a little bothered that people with more modest means and hopes might get put off by mention of "high maintenance" costs.
At 27, (partial) retirement is probably the last thing on one's mind, But mid 40s or older? Probably haven't considered it. But that may be because the opportunity hasn't yet presented itself. Early retirement was something I had been looking at but Canada presented that opportunity to me 5 years before I realistically expected to be doing it.
Jun 3rd 2008 | 10:46 pm
#59
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 82
Re: Living the dream or not????
You should put yourself on a very large pedestal as a prime example of how it can be done. If "living the dream" for some people revolves around two expensive cars, a large house, holidays twice a year, frequent eating out etc. then, of course, your annual budget is going to be affected. I do believe that a realism check should be made by a few people. I have a little house in Nova Scotia which I am hoping to move myself and my family into once we have PR. In my part of the world over there, the average income is $24,000 a year. People are not necessarily rich but they manage within their means. I do not go to Canada with rose-tinted spectacles. I fully appreciate that my income will drop but I am already preparing budgets based on those figures. If you can do as much research as possible, being aware of costs etc., then nothing should come as too much of a shock. I do not believe my life in NS will be richer financially but I firmly believe it will be richer spiritually.
Not fussed about two cars or lots of toys. Certainly not when we first go anyhow. Maybe ten years down the line. Neither of us smoke or drink, and we don't want to have kids. Ever. As long as I can sit and do my reading and writing in some peace and quiet, and we can both work to cover living expenses, we will be happy. (I sound really old in that paragraph, but I am 'only' 34).
Jun 3rd 2008 | 11:57 pm
#60
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From: Vancouver, BC
Re: Living the dream or not????
You should put yourself on a very large pedestal as a prime example of how it can be done. If "living the dream" for some people revolves around two expensive cars, a large house, holidays twice a year, frequent eating out etc. then, of course, your annual budget is going to be affected. I do believe that a realism check should be made by a few people. I have a little house in Nova Scotia which I am hoping to move myself and my family into once we have PR. In my part of the world over there, the average income is $24,000 a year. People are not necessarily rich but they manage within their means. I do not go to Canada with rose-tinted spectacles. I fully appreciate that my income will drop but I am already preparing budgets based on those figures. If you can do as much research as possible, being aware of costs etc., then nothing should come as too much of a shock. I do not believe my life in NS will be richer financially but I firmly believe it will be richer spiritually.
