I Make Over a 250,000$ a Year But Want to Leave Canada

Woman who makes over quarter million dollars a year is planning to leave it all behind due to Canadian economic woes

I spoke extensively with a woman who wished to remain anonymous as she is still employed. For the purposes of this story, we’ll call her “Becky.”

Becky started her career modestly enough. She got a job right after high school, with no major aspirations for university. She worked in retail, eventually moving up into lower management at various companies in Nova Scotia. Around 10 years ago, her career began to advance rapidly.

Becky acknowledges that company initiatives promoting diversity and women contributed to her rapid ascent. However, she also credits her management style of leading by example and her willingness to work long hours to ensure tasks are completed properly. In an industry where many take shortcuts, she chooses to do things the right way.

Becky and her family began moving frequently as her career progressed. Due to these moves and her long hours, her husband gave up his career in software development to support her and care for their small children.

Things were looking up for their family; Becky and her husband started thinking about building wealth and investments. Then, during a move to southern Ontario, something happened.

Becky shared financial information with me from that time, which I was able to confirm.

The biggest factor was that their housing costs tripled with this move. Becky was also just coming off maternity leave with their second child when they relocated. They faced additional housing issues: they sold their old home but couldn’t find and close on a new one for several months, leading to months of paying for AirBNBs. This, combined with a massive increase in the cost of living, created a perfect storm of financial challenges for Becky and her family.

I remember looking at the price of apple juice not long after we moved. I distinctly remembered the cheapest apple juice price being 10 cents/100ml. That same apple juice was now 17 cents / 100ml. This had only been a few months, I wondered how this was possible.

Becky admits they should have planned better. They knew expenses in southern Ontario would far exceed the raise she received for the move. The family fell heavily into debt, but Becky earns a salary plus a yearly performance bonus, which is usually substantial because she excels at her job. They struggled after maxing out their credit during her maternity leave and the move, but her bonus allowed them to start paying off their debt.

At various points, they discussed her husband returning to work. He applied for remote jobs—since they lived almost two hours from the nearest place that might hire software developers—but couldn’t find anything in the industry. They considered rearranging their children’s lives (with before/after-school programs and daycare for the youngest) so he could take a minimum-wage job, but they decided to tough it out instead.

Fast forward to today, and Becky’s most recent tax return shows over $250,000. They’ve moved out of southern Ontario and are now debt-free. They rent for about the same amount they paid for a mortgage in southern Ontario. However, Becky remains concerned.

We are very lucky to be in the position we are in. However, I can’t help shaking the feeling that things aren’t right. The money that I make in salary alone should be enough to easily support my family and I don’t feel that way. I feel like it’s enough to get by on but we still budget carefully, we save money where we can, etc. We made the decision for my husband to stay home to give our kids a better home life, that’s the main motivation I’ve always had for working so hard, it’s always been about them.

Becky’s current salary is $145,000 annually, more than what two adults earning average salaries might make combined. She takes home roughly $7,000 per month. Their budget includes:

• $3,000 on rent

• $1,000 on car payments

• $750 on insurance

• $800 on groceries

• $250 on gas

• $100 for internet

• $200 on cell phone plans and phones

• $50 for various subscriptions

• $225 for a storage unit (since their rental is much smaller than their previous homes)

This leaves them with about $750 per month for extras like eating out, kids’ activities such as swimming lessons, and clothing. When asked if they could cut costs further, Becky explained:

We moved here thinking that rent would be cheaper here, we saw lots of places listed at 2000, or even less per month. What we found out was that the rental market is extremely competitive with people offering landlords literal cash to accept them. So we ended up taking what we could get, and I actually think we got lucky. It’s in a very nice part of the city. I think people can judge our expenses if they want, yes we have two newer vehicles and two payments. But we researched and bought the literal cheapest vehicles that would suit our needs and unfortunately we live outside the bussing area for our oldest’s school so we kind of need two vehicles right now. Other then those two things I’m sure there’s much where we could save, we shopped around for insurance to get the cheapest rate, we look for deals on groceries. We really learned to live frugally back in southern Ontario and still do. Although we do buy the occasional pizza or McDonalds now. But we don’t even usually pay to go home to Nova Scotia so our children can see their grandparents because flights are just too expensive.

Becky says they’ll be fine, even if they take on some debt or dig into savings each month. Her yearly bonus—while not guaranteed—easily covers it. Her last bonus paid off their remaining debts and left money in the bank for their next move or a house. Becky, who has dual Canadian/UK citizenship, is now planning to relocate to the UK.

I think what we’ve gone through with our family really illustrates how far Canada has fallen. I know our family will be fine if we stay. We can start investing the majority of my bonuses. However, I found myself thinking about people who make less money than me and how they are making things work. That makes me think of my children as they grow up. I’ve looked at the job listings recently for both here and the UK and there are just so many good options in the UK. Here in Canada, not so much. I worry about my children as they grow older here and get ready to move out on their own. While the UK has a lot of the same issues Canada has, they seem to be less extreme. We did a budget up and converted the dollar amounts and at the end of the day living anywhere but London seemed to be much cheaper in the UK. Maybe due to the denseness a bit, I’m not sure.

And it’s not just that. Even at work, the economic issues here in Canada are obvious. There’s more pressure right now than ever before because the economy seems to be slipping into a recession. Profit margins are so slim and the company is doing everything they can to get every last dollar. It’s stressful. That’s part of what started this whole thing. I began wondering if it was time to move to a different company. That led me to see the huge difference in the job markets here versus the UK.

Becky plans to monitor the job market and move her family to the UK when the right opportunity arises. Her family is fortunate to have that option, unlike many Canadians.

Some basic cost of living analysis shows that the cost of living in the UK may be slightly higher as an average overall ($3200 vs 3000$ per month). However this of course varies greatly from region to region. The average monthly salarly in the UK covers 1.5 months of the average costs versus Canada’s 1.4 months.