Cost of living & saving options in Canada

Moving Here
1

Hi

I was just exploring the internet regarding cost/ standard of living and I found this.

Based on your experience what do you think about the illustrated data. Can you please provide your inputs ? Also as Indian’s our emphasis is always on saving money ( of course without compromising on basic necessities) what kind of saving options or investments are available in Canada for long-term retirement plan.
Kindly

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2

Thanks for sharing that link. I think its a little too detailed to be useful. The biggest fixed expenses you will have will be housing and car (if you own one). As for housing there are many ways to optimize that live downtown in a smaller condo, live in a suburb in a bigger house. As for car if you live in the city you can just take public transport its very good or ride a bike lots of people do. When you want o travel further away rent a car or get a zip car membership. I have a bike share membership that lets me ride anywhere to anywhere at anytime.

Honestly in the days of saving for your future are gone with low interest rates and high inflation what you put away is loosing value daily. The only way I see is earning more and investing and Canada gives you both those opportunities. The ratio of salary to cost of living are much better here. Also you have great options to invest including in yourself with great universities and a fast growing tech community in Toronto.

Also in places like India a big part of your savings for the future are around medical costs and in Canada that is taken care of for you. Add to that there is a bigger social safety net with social benefits after retirement. Investing in a house seems like a good idea here as returns are tax free far as I know.

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3

What you said make sense too. Thanks. :slight_smile:

4

Can you tell me say how much it will cost to move my car from california to toronto. I have a new car and don’t want to sell it can i move it and how much would it cost to move it to toronto.

5

I can recommend an auto transport company if you need. It will cost about 1.4K USD but that depends on car size etc. And will take about 10 days to a month. It’s fine if your car is leased you will need the following.

  1. Move authorization letter from lease holder allowing you to export the car to Canada.
  2. A recall clearance letter from the car company for Canada customs
  3. Registration and Insurance proof
6

I have a question regarding this. I have a Car which was originally manufactured in Europe(Germany). And I kinda heard that, it costs a lot on taxes(and other duties) to move a car from the US to Canada if it is not manufactured in the US/Canada. Do you have any thoughts on this? @anon25417004. Also, I am not super inclined towards moving my car to Canada. Just that, I wanted to explore this option if it’d be feasible.

7

I used the below listed guys to move my car it’s a Mazda SUV. It cost me about 1.6K (approx.). My car was still owned by the bank so I needed the following.

  1. Signed authorization letter from the auto loans department at the bank.
  2. If the lean holder is the bank you cannot get the original title.
  3. A recall clearance letter from the car company.

If you own the car than you don’t need 1 as you have 2. Regardless once the car is moved over there is a little bit of paper work in Canada to certify the vehicle and then register it. A few friends have used the below transport service they are pretty good, professional and give good advice.

http://www.turboautotransport.com/

8

Thanks a lot @anon25417004. I ll deep-dive into that link.

9

Hello @anon25417004

Thanks for your inputs, I paid off my loan but do not have title in hand, and I am driving across the border and would like to know if I will be able to export the vehicle ?