Author Topic: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD  (Read 4419 times)

Snake Armpit

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Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« on: July 10, 2017, 04:40:28 PM »
Hey,

First of all, I am not a native English speaker, so I apologize for any less-than-ideal language usage.

A short introduction: we are a couple, (37 and 34 years old, no kids and won`t have them) born and living in a developing country. We've had good education, opportunities and drive to secure stable and relatively high-paying jobs. We both also share a minimalist lifestyle, avoiding unnecessary expenses and trying to make sensible investments.

We were able to travel the world and see that things can be a lot better (and worse, in all fairness) than here. We also envision a short/medium term retirement.

Despite the very unfavourable exchange rate, We've been able to amass the equivalent to 1 million CAD in capital, not counting a paid-off apartment, with an appraised value of 315 K CAD.

We are thinking about immigrating to Canada as skilled professionals. After studying the immigration rules, we have reasons to believe we should be able to meet the requirements (professions, experience, etc).

If successful, our plan is to transfer the capital to Canada while initially keeping the apartment, which should be rented for around 1000 CAD / month.

Our country has an agreement with Canada aiming to avoid double taxation, but since I am still not certain about the details, I think a conservative estimate would be 500 CAD / month after "friction losses", regarding the net rent income. If everything goes well after some time, we would eventually sell the apartment.

So, I would like to know what are your opinions on how far this 1M CAD would get us regarding net income (after taxes), we are thinking about investing in the Vanguard U.S. Total Market Index ETF. We also accept other investment suggestions.

Our initial plan was living around Victoria, BC. We know it's an expensive city, but we like the area and I think we are frugal enough to give it a try.

Learning how much net passive income we would earn will enable us to estimate for how long we would still need to work (in Canada, here or both) to make our early retirement in Canada possible. The tax rates are the main source of doubt regarding these investments.
 
Thanks a lot for your attention and sorry for the long message! It was very nice to find this site and learn so much. Thanks for everyone involved!

dess1313

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2017, 10:02:33 PM »
Welcome as possible future canadians!  In BC it will depend.  are your professions ones that can work in smaller towns, or must you be in larger cities?  BC is beautiful, but it is an expensive place.  generally the "smaller" towns are not as expensive.  I am not from BC so i can't give a lot of suggestions as to which areas are best/worst. 

For a lot of us, we follow recommendations on here, but there is also a site called http://canadiancouchpotato.com/about/ that has a lot of great choices for Canadians wanting to invest.  as for returns, i'm afraid i'm not a lot of help

TravelJunkyQC

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2017, 12:42:01 PM »
Hello and perhaps a future welcome to Canada!

I'm sorry I can't contribute regarding taxation issues for passive income. I currently have a small amount in taxable accounts, and the larger accounts in tax-advantaged accounts.

Although I've visited the west coast, I can't really speak about the cost of living - I live on the east coast. The only thing I can say is that 1M CAD is enough for both myself and my partner to live on in a small city (Québec City). If, for example, we assume this is like a 40k CAD salary before taxes, it's enough to live comfortably for two here.

I wish I could help - but I'm glad you're considering this lovely country to come retire :-)

daverobev

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2017, 02:08:30 PM »
CANADIAN dividends are taxed very favourably. Foreign dividends are taxed as normal income. Capital gains are taxed at 50% normal income.

Bear in mind there is dual taxation; from the Federal level, and Provincial (or Territorial I guess, should you live in a Territory not a Province).

If you move to Canada for 10 years then leave, you will be taxed capital gains on the difference between your investments when you leave (total value, in CAD) vs when you arrive.

You won't have much in the way of tax shelters.

It doesn't matter "where" the capital is; you will be taxed on it in Canada if you are Canadian resident. Same with rental income, though the country where 'real property' is located gets to tax first; then you claim that as a tax credit against the tax you would pay to Canada. IE, you pay the greater of each country's tax rate on rental income, at best.

If you had $6k rental + $30k investment income, you'd be looking at maybe $5k total in tax - depending on province, as I said. If you're working of course then you'd be paying much more.

The day you immigrate, you must get a valuation on the apartment. The same as with your investments, if/when you leave Canada, you would pay cap gains on any difference in the value.

With This Herring

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2017, 11:14:08 AM »
Posting to follow - purely for curiosity

mustachianism_is_aredpill

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2018, 12:23:20 AM »
@Snake Armpit How did it go?

chickinyow

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2018, 09:06:51 AM »
Victoria was my hometown (lived there until 2013). It is EXTREMELY expensive, and generally not a great place to make a living. Wages aren't great. It is a government town with little to no "industry" other than tourism (lousy pay). Unless you are a medical doctor (and you know for sure your credentials as such would transfer over to Canada) I would skip it.

Victoria (and Vancouver Island in general) has a lot of natural beauty, but you can't eat beauty. It is also quite grey, dreary and dismal for several months of the year. Do not underestimate how depressing that can be if you come from a sunnier climate (I was from there and I found the constant grey skies all winter depressing as heck).

I don't know what your profession is, but I would suggest almost anywhere else other than overpriced Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto. Ottawa has high salaries and reasonable housing costs. There is also a lot to do here, and it is set up for cyclists, and tons of parks and trails.

Alberta can be a good place for earning money and also has more reasonable housing. If you like mountains, you can't beat the beauty of the Rockies.

The maritimes is also worth considering. Taxes are high there, and I don't know what professional opportunities you would have (I don't know your profession), but it is beautiful, the people are WAY friendlier than in Victoria, and it is cheaper.

SunnyDays

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2018, 04:56:44 PM »
I can't answer your financial questions, but just a comment that I have a relative near Victoria, and she has mentioned that while it's beautiful, it is very hard to get around due to the fact that the population has grown so much, the roads are very congested.  Takes forever to get anywhere apparently.

daverobev

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2018, 04:59:14 PM »
To those responding now: This thread was started by a one-post user in July of 2017.

SunnyDays

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2018, 05:12:30 PM »
@daveorbev, thanks for noting that.  Didn't see it.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2018, 12:00:51 PM »

Victoria (and Vancouver Island in general) has a lot of natural beauty, but you can't eat beauty. It is also quite grey, dreary and dismal for several months of the year. Do not underestimate how depressing that can be if you come from a sunnier climate (I was from there and I found the constant grey skies all winter depressing as heck).

Since the OP seems to have disappeared I figure I can divert this thread a bit.  ;-)

@chickinyow, I'm outside Ottawa and I find our winters depressing and cold.  The bright sunny days are cold (-20) and the warm days are usually grey (and snowy or freezing rain). Do you really find this better than say, Duncan up to Qualicum Beach?  I'm only wondering about climate, income is not an issue.

daverobev

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2018, 01:22:38 PM »
I know I'm hankering for more sun and less wetness than where we are, west of Ottawa.

I've been looking into southwestern Alberta... 20% more sun, 1/3 the precipitation.

I'm... also starting to consider Mexico. Just not sure about school for the children.

I sit here on the last day of March and it is grey grey grey (and the garden still 1/3? covered with snow). We had an hour or maybe two of sun earlier. Just got back from a two week trip on a slow ramble down to Florida then quick dash home. Kentucky is lovely, or at least it was. I loved being able to go outside in tshirt and shorts.

Not sure. I know people in the south of the US would mock my distaste for the humidity here. Grey's OK if it isn't piercing windy even when not that cold.

And... what is to come? Rain, then humid heat. Bleh.

chickinyow

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2018, 12:19:26 PM »

Victoria (and Vancouver Island in general) has a lot of natural beauty, but you can't eat beauty. It is also quite grey, dreary and dismal for several months of the year. Do not underestimate how depressing that can be if you come from a sunnier climate (I was from there and I found the constant grey skies all winter depressing as heck).

Since the OP seems to have disappeared I figure I can divert this thread a bit.  ;-)

@chickinyow, I'm outside Ottawa and I find our winters depressing and cold.  The bright sunny days are cold (-20) and the warm days are usually grey (and snowy or freezing rain). Do you really find this better than say, Duncan up to Qualicum Beach?  I'm only wondering about climate, income is not an issue.

I would take Ottawa's brighter, colder weather any day over the dismal coastal BC. Also, it can FEEL very cold there at times even though the thermometer isn't as cold as here. That wet air and the wind whipping off the ocean can be brutal.
Ottawa gets far more sunshine in the winter months than Vancouver Island.
I lived 42 years in that constant grey sky.

chickinyow

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2018, 12:23:13 PM »
Grey's OK if it isn't piercing windy even when not that cold.

The wind whipping off the water could be brutal back home in BC. Wet/damp cold and grey skies. I've never really been cold here in Ottawa. Proper clothes and you're good - plus warm up the moment you are inside. Back home (BC) you get chilled to the bone in that damp and it doesn't just go away the moment you get in.

This spring here in Ottawa has been pretty grim too though lol.

daverobev

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2018, 01:53:41 PM »
Grey's OK if it isn't piercing windy even when not that cold.

The wind whipping off the water could be brutal back home in BC. Wet/damp cold and grey skies. I've never really been cold here in Ottawa. Proper clothes and you're good - plus warm up the moment you are inside. Back home (BC) you get chilled to the bone in that damp and it doesn't just go away the moment you get in.

This spring here in Ottawa has been pretty grim too though lol.

Yup. And people are saying that this is a normal Canadian winter, really.

It is just too much. December is ok. Generally. After Christmas it goes downhill and stays down.

This year.. I don't know. I'm feeling 'older' the longer the cold stays - I usually keep the thermostat fairly (?) low but the last few days I've really been nudging it up.

I'm really feeling homesick for England. We've semi-agreed that we are going somewhere in 2020. I think next winter we'll do Mexico for 1-2 months (perhaps more for me and the toddler, less for mum and the schoolgoer). I'm off to France in a month.

I was in Seattle-Vancouver-Calgary in I think it was October last year. Cooler there than here, for sure, those two weeks I was away. My wife is vehemently (for her) against Alberta, which I find somewhat hillarious considering they are putting a lot of money into renewable energy now.

skibum

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Re: Immigrating to Canada with 1M CAD
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2018, 02:49:57 PM »

Since the OP seems to have disappeared I figure I can divert this thread a bit.  ;-)

@chickinyow, I'm outside Ottawa and I find our winters depressing and cold.  The bright sunny days are cold (-20) and the warm days are usually grey (and snowy or freezing rain). Do you really find this better than say, Duncan up to Qualicum Beach?  I'm only wondering about climate, income is not an issue.

Hey, current Victoria resident chiming in here. It took me about 2 years to get used to the rain and grey. Now it doesn't bother me in the least. With a good rain jacket, no outdoor activity is unavailable unless it's really windy and stormy. I think it really depends. I have friends who moved here recently from Brazil, and they LOVE it. They were in Montreal for a winter first, and the cold was just too shocking for them. They will take grey over -20 deg any day, as will I. If I miss snow, and I do sometimes, well, I go skiing quite a bit. That rain translates into snow and sun at higher elevations. :)

We also get an early spring here. The cherry blossoms have come and gone, and there's been enough good days to get the garden in order.

I moved from southern Ontario to Vancouver Island 20 years ago, and would never go back. I don't know, the damp just doesn't bother me. And I never feel like my house is damp. I lived in Halifax for a year and thought it was the worst of both worlds - freezing cold, snowy, damp and dark. Cheaper though, so that's something.

If you want a nice place to live on the Island, I would pick the Comox Valley. I lived up there for a few years, and just adored it. Back to Victoria for work though. :( I found it a bit sunnier than Victoria, and has all the outdoor amenities you could ever ask for. Reasonable housing prices as well!

@Snake Armpit, regarding  your original question, Victoria is indeed a nice place to live. The housing is the big kicker. You can look online at house prices, but to get a decent single family home you probably need to spend $775K of your 1M. (And that still only gets you to the suburbs.) Condominiums ('Strata' properties in local terms), are cheaper (~$400K) but increasing rapidly. For renting, to get a decent 2 bedroom you are probably looking at $1500 per month.