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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 03:08 PM   #21
 
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Re: ER for Canadians

Hey TH, according to my son-in-law (Lutheran
minister), you are going to hell. Just thought you'd want to know.

John Galt
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 03:18 PM   #22
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Re: ER for Canadians

Man thats no freakin' surprise.

Satan should be advised that I'll be kicking down the door to get in and the place aint gonna be the same...
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 03:41 PM   #23
 
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Re: ER for Canadians

Well, TH, if there is a Hell, I may see you there

John Galt
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 06:54 PM   #24
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Re: ER for Canadians

Superdave, welcome. I am a Calgarian currently working as an ex-pat in Houston in the oil industry. I am 55 and can take discounted DB pension now but the current assignment is satisfactory so far and my wife loves the warmer weather for now. I'll work until the assignment ends in a year or two or until somebody pisses me off excessively at work. I feel good that we have our financial house in order so that I can be FIREd when I want to be.

We have 2 out of the nest in Calgary but still partially on the payroll. We will hopefully get out from under that next year. Spouse and I haven't yet decided where to retire - so I guess I better not retire on 30 days notice until we do! Thinking either Victoria area on year round basis, or Calgary in summer and the Gulf Coast in winter.

As another Canadian poster said, ER and retirement for Candians isn't really much different than for Americans. We have our RRSP's similar to tax defered US plans and OAS versus Social Security. And we have to worry about a safe withdrawal rate. The one thing that we don't have to worry about much is our health plans although there's always a question if the quality of health care will be there for the big wave of boomers 10 years from now.

I am slowly converting my mostly equity portfolio with about 50/50 value/growth into a more value based portfolio. I do not want to commit to bonds now at the low end of the interest curve. Best to stay short term of 30 days - 2 years max until the interest rate surge of up to 2 points happens. I currently have a lot of cash sitting in ING for that reason. :-/

As many threads in here have said, read Bernstein in particular for investment direction. I am aiming for about a 2% withdrawal rate from investments once I retire as the golden years of the 90's are behind us and I don't think we can count on more than a 4-5% return on a balanced portfolio over a 10-15 year period.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 07:02 PM   #25
 
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Re: ER for Canadians

Quote:
Hey TH, according to my son-in-law (Lutheran
minister), you are going to hell. *Just thought you'd want to know.

John Galt
Yup, I think you're right John, I heard Jimmy Swaggert say the same thing on TV once
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 08:01 PM   #26
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Re: ER for Canadians

Quote:
Hey TH, according to my son-in-law (Lutheran
minister), you are going to hell. *Just thought you'd want to know.

John Galt
TH,

Send me a post card when you get there. I like to collect postmarks from exotic places.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 08:58 PM   #27
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Re: ER for Canadians

John - I'll have the cold drinks on ice waiting for you, unless you get there first, in which case the first round is on you.

SG...somehow I think you're going to be the next guy buying the drinks. But I'll have the local post office run you off a postmark or two.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 09:22 PM   #28
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Re: ER for Canadians

Quote:
. . . SG...somehow I think you're going to be the next guy buying the drinks. *But I'll have the local post office run you off a postmark or two.
Thanks for the vote of confidence.

John, TH, What are you guys having?
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-19-2004, 09:25 PM   #29
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Re: ER for Canadians

Anything upstream of turpentine is good. We'll save the turpentine for later.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-20-2004, 03:18 AM   #30
 
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Re: ER for Canadians

Turpentine cocktails would lead to a fine finish, he
opined................

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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-20-2004, 03:40 AM   #31
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Re: ER for Canadians

"turpentine coctails" ? That was the judgement of on some of my 'least than stellar' homemade wine and beer batches over years past.

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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 11:19 AM   #32
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Re: ER for Canadians

Good to hear from fellow Canadians. I think the two main incentives Canadians have to ER earlier than you would in America is:

1) Health care costs lower ( obviously )
2) higher tax rates pretty much eliminate reason to work any longer than you must/have to anyway.

The downside is, with the higher tax rates, it takes longer to accumulate capital. Also , as mortgage interest in not deductable, it really does not make sense to carry a mortage any longer than necessary.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 04:46 PM   #33
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Re: ER for Canadians

Mrs. Zipper's mother is 83. She, her husband and Mrs. Zipper and siblings emigrated to Canada in 1952. Canada has had medicare since the late 60's. Mother-in-law has had excellent care. She has had heart-valve replacement 30 years ago, hip and knee relacement, gall bladder out, more open heart surgery .........hell, she's the bionic woman. No charge! . We live in the London-St. Thomas area of ON and are 2 minutes from a world class hospital. Of my retirement worries out of 10, health care ranks last (10).
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 06:10 PM   #34
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Re: ER for Canadians

That's an easy one. Ask anybody. Your dollar has been overvalued since the CEO's commandeered your economy in the late 90's and went on the option binge. In the past year the US$ has fallen against the Aussie-Canadian dollars, Euro, you name it. China is pegged and holding you up. Check the MacDonald hamburger currency exchange at the Economist. Canada has had a balanced budget for the past 5 years and a whopping current account surplus. But don't get me started! I'm on your side. Canada has NOT been carrying it's defence load for decades and we are dependent on you, and I thank you very much. Maybe that's why we have better health care?
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 07:24 PM   #35
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Re: ER for Canadians

Well, let's start with Canada being your largest trading partner. You sure buy a hell of lot of oil, gas, minerals, forest products, and manufactured goods. :P Counting the Tar Sands, we've got more oil than Saudi Arabia. And how about all that Electricity Quebec sends south to New England and New York. Uranium for your Nukes comes from Saskatchewan. All your Crown Victoria cop cars are manufactured 10 minutes from me in St. Thomas. Dodge Caravans and Pacifica's from Windsor. Chrysler 300's from Brampton. Impalas, Grand-Prix's, Century's and Regals from Oshawa. Corolla's from Cambridge. Equinox's from Ingersoll and Honda in Alliston. We seem to be able to buy homes, afford higher education to those who want it, have a superior health system, much cheaper drugs, clean cities with minimal litter...........and a crime rate a fraction of yours.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 07:32 PM   #36
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Re: ER for Canadians

By the way? What's a government dependent early retiree? :Are you on welfare? Medicaid? You and your wife might not like Canadian dollars, but they sure do in FL, TX, AZ, NM, and Nevada. Vegas is "the promised land"!
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 08:04 PM   #37
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Re: ER for Canadians

So 'howcum you pay the highest healthcare rates in the world........but we are healthier, live longer, and since we already live here, we don't need to head north for cheaper drugs?? :
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 08:32 PM   #38
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Re: ER for Canadians

I'm sure anywhere in the US is great compared to....CITIES:Ranked & Rated: More than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S & Canada :Sperling & Sander 2004. Out of 400 [ Charlottesville VA (1), Santa Fe NM (2), Honolulu (5), Vancouver (20), Minneapolis (24), Montreal (30), *Ottawa (35), New York/Toronto (40), Tampa (48), Los Angeles (54) Denver/Calgary (60), Edmonton (70), San Diego (74), Winnipeg (75), Indianapolis (79), Cincinnati (92), San Francisco (107), Miami (125), New Orleans (139), Halifax (150), Chicago (155), Houston (158), London ON (165), Baltimore (179), Detroit (263)]
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 08:40 PM   #39
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Re: ER for Canadians

Tell me where you live GDER, and I'll rank you? Or you can go to the source and look it up yourself.
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Re: ER for Canadians
Old 06-24-2004, 09:18 PM   #40
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Re: ER for Canadians

Quote:
2) higher tax rates pretty much eliminate reason to work any longer than you must/have to anyway.
I wouldn't be so quick with the comparison. I haven't done any Canadian taxes for a while but I think that if you run the numbers on a few different scenarios you will find that they will come out roughly comparable. It tilts towards better on the Canadian side of things once you include the costs of US health care even if your employer is picking up some of the tab.

In a retirement scenario the taxes for a Canadian couple could be quite a bit less than that for a US couple. The capital gains rates are very low (only 50% of gains are counted as income) and if you income split (Canadian taxes individuals not couples) you can keep the rate very low.

I'm a Canuck who works down in Silicon Valley, am in my late 30's, plan to retire in about 7 years, and then leave the US and travel for 4-10 years. After that my wife and I have talked about locations to settle into with Toronto being in the top few.
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