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Old 10-07-2016, 12:27 AM
 
567 posts, read 1,463,090 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyyc View Post
[...]
Also interest on your mortgage is tax deductible. Sales tax, as TX has no income tax, is tax deductible off of your Federal taxes. All those health care costs, they're tax deductible too.
The mortgage interest (if not sales tax and healthcare costs too) is not always deductible - only if you select the "itemize" option on your tax return. This is not in all the cases the best option, comparing to standard deduction, depends on income levels and overall costs incurred in a given tax year.
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Old 10-07-2016, 07:44 AM
 
Location: Woodfield
2,086 posts, read 4,107,474 times
Reputation: 2319
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyyc View Post
It's fall. Produce is in and it's still overpriced. Go back in February and take a look.

https://www.safeway.ca/flyer

https://www.heb.com/category/weekly-ad-deals/110

We can do this all day, but in a nutshell, it is significantly cheaper day to day to live in the US.
Yes, Canada is generally more expensive but the point I was trying to make is its not always that simple, the variance really depends on where in the states you are, what your needs are (and wants!), and then the more intangible "quality of life" issues.

Just sayin, the money is not always greener on the other side of the fence.
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Old 10-07-2016, 10:00 AM
 
Location: Cambridge, MA/London, UK
3,849 posts, read 5,251,657 times
Reputation: 3333
As mentioned, your experience will vary greatly depending on the region of the US that you settle in. After leaving Canada (Toronto) I have lived in Florida, New York and Massachusetts. Moving from Florida to Mass was similar to moving to an entirely different country, so that shows you how drastic the differences may be.

With that said my experience living in the US was a good one overall and if I had to do it over again I would without regrets. We recently left the US for The UK and would return in the future without hesitation.

I am an accountant by trade as well. Your Job prospects are very strong as the unemployment rate for accountants and auditors is something ridiculous like 1%. So you would have to be a terrible accountant to not find work in a large US city. Of course this is dependent on whether a company is willing to stick with you throughout the immigration process. As mentioned it is an expensive and arduous process, so you will need to display some skill that an employer views this as a good investment.

As far as vacation time and compensation is concerned my experience along with my wife was positive. I ended off with over 6 weeks vacation, 12 stat holidays, 10 sick days and 3 personal days. It is not like I worked for some one off company either, I worked for the largest employer in Massachusetts, So 60,000 others had similar benefits. My wife also had a very generous benefit package, one that is almost unheard of in the legal field that is notorious for overworking associates in both the US and Canada. As far as compensation is concerned, I work in healthcare and life sciences finance. My position would most likely not exist in Toronto and if it did, the compensation would be significantly lower. For my wife her first year associate package when she started was around 75k more in Boston than it would have been in Toronto if she returned there after law school.

Healthcare costs also vary. We paid around 175 a month for a family of 3 and that gave us access to any Harvard Medical School affiliated physician or hospital. That was not limiting at all considering we could go to some of the best hospitals in the world. I use the example of how it was cheaper for us to have our daughter in Boston vs Toronto. My wife paid $15 for her co pay on her first OB visit and the rest was covered 100%. This included a fully private room with 2 night stay at BWH, all her check ups, pre natal vitamins and even a breast pump to take home from the hospital. Her friends in Canada had to pay for their room upgrade, something we didn't have to worry about since all our hospitals have converted to 100% private rooms.

The negatives are that you need to be strategic as to where you live and who you work for. The consistency of benefits across the board in a Canadian city is more apparent than in a US city. So it takes a lot of planning to choose the right city, employer, school system, etc...

The fact still remains that the vast majority of Canadians moving to the US are educated middle to upper middle class professionals. So the stark social issues that plague many US communities are far and away from their reality that they will never have to experience it first hand.

Good luck on your move.
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Old 10-07-2016, 11:02 AM
 
3,884 posts, read 3,243,605 times
Reputation: 1646
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyyc View Post


We can do this all day, but in a nutshell, it is significantly cheaper day to day to live in the US.

Yep, there is no way around it, even for groceries, especially for high quality/imported items (not to mention the variety of items)...the difference can get pretty significant.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ToyYot View Post
Yes, Canada is generally more expensive but the point I was trying to make is its not always that simple, the variance really depends on where in the states you are, what your needs are (and wants!), and then the more intangible "quality of life" issues.

Just sayin, the money is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Sure money is not everything, in my case if I would look for what is important to me and I would consider better quality of life I would go back to Europe and not returning to Canada.

Last edited by saturno_v; 10-07-2016 at 11:14 AM..
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Old 10-07-2016, 11:09 AM
 
3,884 posts, read 3,243,605 times
Reputation: 1646
Quote:
Originally Posted by edwardsyzzurphands View Post
As mentioned, your experience will vary greatly depending on the region of the US that you settle in. After leaving Canada (Toronto) I have lived in Florida, New York and Massachusetts. Moving from Florida to Mass was similar to moving to an entirely different country, so that shows you how drastic the differences may be.

With that said my experience living in the US was a good one overall and if I had to do it over again I would without regrets. We recently left the US for The UK and would return in the future without hesitation.

I am an accountant by trade as well. Your Job prospects are very strong as the unemployment rate for accountants and auditors is something ridiculous like 1%. So you would have to be a terrible accountant to not find work in a large US city. Of course this is dependent on whether a company is willing to stick with you throughout the immigration process. As mentioned it is an expensive and arduous process, so you will need to display some skill that an employer views this as a good investment.

As far as vacation time and compensation is concerned my experience along with my wife was positive. I ended off with over 6 weeks vacation, 12 stat holidays, 10 sick days and 3 personal days. It is not like I worked for some one off company either, I worked for the largest employer in Massachusetts, So 60,000 others had similar benefits. My wife also had a very generous benefit package, one that is almost unheard of in the legal field that is notorious for overworking associates in both the US and Canada. As far as compensation is concerned, I work in healthcare and life sciences finance. My position would most likely not exist in Toronto and if it did, the compensation would be significantly lower. For my wife her first year associate package when she started was around 75k more in Boston than it would have been in Toronto if she returned there after law school.

Healthcare costs also vary. We paid around 175 a month for a family of 3 and that gave us access to any Harvard Medical School affiliated physician or hospital. That was not limiting at all considering we could go to some of the best hospitals in the world. I use the example of how it was cheaper for us to have our daughter in Boston vs Toronto. My wife paid $15 for her co pay on her first OB visit and the rest was covered 100%. This included a fully private room with 2 night stay at BWH, all her check ups, pre natal vitamins and even a breast pump to take home from the hospital. Her friends in Canada had to pay for their room upgrade, something we didn't have to worry about since all our hospitals have converted to 100% private rooms.

The negatives are that you need to be strategic as to where you live and who you work for. The consistency of benefits across the board in a Canadian city is more apparent than in a US city. So it takes a lot of planning to choose the right city, employer, school system, etc...

The fact still remains that the vast majority of Canadians moving to the US are educated middle to upper middle class professionals. So the stark social issues that plague many US communities are far and away from their reality that they will never have to experience it first hand.

Good luck on your move.
+1

Very low wage/low skills individuals probably in many cases will have a bit better safety net in Canada (true public health care, pretty much absence of unsafe neighborhoods, public schools consistency across the board, mandatory minimum vacation, etc...), Canadians with the education and working experience required to be considered for a Green Card sponsorship should not have to worry about these issues.
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Old 10-08-2016, 11:09 PM
 
1,726 posts, read 5,843,548 times
Reputation: 1386
FYI groceries are not much cheaper in the U.S. Certain things are cheaper and certain other things are more expensive. Quality is higher in Canada and with the exchange rate the way it is, I come out ahead doing 90% of my grocery shopping in Canada. Things like produce, yogourt, bread, and rice are significantly cheaper in Canada. Milk, eggs, and chicken cost slightly more but are far superior in quality (milk cost varies greatly in the U.S. from state to state, it can be $4 a gallon in Pennsylvania and $2 a gallon a few miles away in New York, but it all tastes awful). Produce is cheaper in Canada by far, even stuff imported from the U.S. sells for less at Food Basics or No Frills than it does in the U.S. and I think its a function of volume -- more Canadians buy more produce more frequently. We also have excellent tomatoes year round thanks to the greenhouses, great cucumbers grown in Ontario, at great prices, and we get a better selection of imported produce since we don't have to worry about tropical fruit carrying fruit diseases the way the U.S. does.
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Old 10-09-2016, 01:34 PM
 
3,884 posts, read 3,243,605 times
Reputation: 1646
Quote:
Originally Posted by tarp View Post
FYI groceries are not much cheaper in the U.S. Certain things are cheaper and certain other things are more expensive. Quality is higher in Canada and with the exchange rate the way it is, I come out ahead doing 90% of my grocery shopping in Canada. Things like produce, yogourt, bread, and rice are significantly cheaper in Canada. Milk, eggs, and chicken cost slightly more but are far superior in quality (milk cost varies greatly in the U.S. from state to state, it can be $4 a gallon in Pennsylvania and $2 a gallon a few miles away in New York, but it all tastes awful). Produce is cheaper in Canada by far, even stuff imported from the U.S. sells for less at Food Basics or No Frills than it does in the U.S. and I think its a function of volume -- more Canadians buy more produce more frequently. We also have excellent tomatoes year round thanks to the greenhouses, great cucumbers grown in Ontario, at great prices, and we get a better selection of imported produce since we don't have to worry about tropical fruit carrying fruit diseases the way the U.S. does.
In my experience, quality groceries (especially imported), in general, are significantly cheaper in the US for the US resident compared to Canada for the Canadian resident not to mention the wider product range and more niche stores.
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Old 10-09-2016, 06:36 PM
 
567 posts, read 1,463,090 times
Reputation: 522
Quote:
Originally Posted by tarp View Post
FYI groceries are not much cheaper in the U.S. Certain things are cheaper and certain other things are more expensive. Quality is higher in Canada and with the exchange rate the way it is, I come out ahead doing 90% of my grocery shopping in Canada. Things like produce, yogourt, bread, and rice are significantly cheaper in Canada. Milk, eggs, and chicken cost slightly more but are far superior in quality (milk cost varies greatly in the U.S. from state to state, it can be $4 a gallon in Pennsylvania and $2 a gallon a few miles away in New York, but it all tastes awful). Produce is cheaper in Canada by far, even stuff imported from the U.S. sells for less at Food Basics or No Frills than it does in the U.S. and I think its a function of volume -- more Canadians buy more produce more frequently. We also have excellent tomatoes year round thanks to the greenhouses, great cucumbers grown in Ontario, at great prices, and we get a better selection of imported produce since we don't have to worry about tropical fruit carrying fruit diseases the way the U.S. does.
Hogwash, keep dreaming!
I was paying more than $800 CAD in groceries back in Waterloo, ON, for a family of 4.
Paying roughly 400 US$ now. And quality? On par, if not better.

You know what was cheaper in Ontario? Red and green peppers, that's all (Colorado has them expensive like 2 for the dollar is the best offer you can get - due to water scarcity).
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Old 10-10-2016, 10:07 PM
 
6 posts, read 7,395 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by edwardsyzzurphands View Post
As mentioned, your experience will vary greatly depending on the region of the US that you settle in. After leaving Canada (Toronto) I have lived in Florida, New York and Massachusetts. Moving from Florida to Mass was similar to moving to an entirely different country, so that shows you how drastic the differences may be.

With that said my experience living in the US was a good one overall and if I had to do it over again I would without regrets. We recently left the US for The UK and would return in the future without hesitation.

I am an accountant by trade as well. Your Job prospects are very strong as the unemployment rate for accountants and auditors is something ridiculous like 1%. So you would have to be a terrible accountant to not find work in a large US city. Of course this is dependent on whether a company is willing to stick with you throughout the immigration process. As mentioned it is an expensive and arduous process, so you will need to display some skill that an employer views this as a good investment.

As far as vacation time and compensation is concerned my experience along with my wife was positive. I ended off with over 6 weeks vacation, 12 stat holidays, 10 sick days and 3 personal days. It is not like I worked for some one off company either, I worked for the largest employer in Massachusetts, So 60,000 others had similar benefits. My wife also had a very generous benefit package, one that is almost unheard of in the legal field that is notorious for overworking associates in both the US and Canada. As far as compensation is concerned, I work in healthcare and life sciences finance. My position would most likely not exist in Toronto and if it did, the compensation would be significantly lower. For my wife her first year associate package when she started was around 75k more in Boston than it would have been in Toronto if she returned there after law school.

Healthcare costs also vary. We paid around 175 a month for a family of 3 and that gave us access to any Harvard Medical School affiliated physician or hospital. That was not limiting at all considering we could go to some of the best hospitals in the world. I use the example of how it was cheaper for us to have our daughter in Boston vs Toronto. My wife paid $15 for her co pay on her first OB visit and the rest was covered 100%. This included a fully private room with 2 night stay at BWH, all her check ups, pre natal vitamins and even a breast pump to take home from the hospital. Her friends in Canada had to pay for their room upgrade, something we didn't have to worry about since all our hospitals have converted to 100% private rooms.

The negatives are that you need to be strategic as to where you live and who you work for. The consistency of benefits across the board in a Canadian city is more apparent than in a US city. So it takes a lot of planning to choose the right city, employer, school system, etc...

The fact still remains that the vast majority of Canadians moving to the US are educated middle to upper middle class professionals. So the stark social issues that plague many US communities are far and away from their reality that they will never have to experience it first hand.

Good luck on your move.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. It's great to hear that you would do it again. Should we get to the point where a move is possible then we will be sure to heed your advice and be very strategic in our choices.
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Old 10-12-2016, 07:53 PM
 
1,726 posts, read 5,843,548 times
Reputation: 1386
Smihaila, grocery prices are very regional in the U.S. I can get fresh fish cheaply in the northeast, not so much down south. I'm not dreaming, i shop on both sides of the border and find the discount grocers in Ontario are invariably cheaper than shopping in the U.S. for most things. Chicken may be twice the price but quality is far superior. Lamb is cheaper in Canada by far. Beef is about the same. Produce is cheaper in Canada unless you live in a highly competitive part of the U.S. where retailers compete on produce prices. Produce is seriously almost double the cost in North Carolina than in Ontario.
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