Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

Preparing for life after work. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, annuities and meeting future financial and psychological needs.
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kcowan
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

Post by kcowan »

Nemo2 wrote:C'mon Down
I gather that the process of repossession is fraught with danger!
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Retiring in another country:
With its low cost of living, balmy climate and cheap property prices, Ecuador has been ranked the top foreign retirement destination for North Americans for the fifth consecutive year.

The South American nation bordered by Colombia and Peru scored the highest marks in InternationalLiving.com’s annual ranking of the best places to retire.

With monthly estimated living expenses ranging from US$900 to US$1,400, Ecuador surpassed Panama, Malaysia, Mexico and Costa Rica, which rounded out the top five countries.
:?: :?: Malaysia :?: :?:

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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

Post by peter »

Malaysia is an interesting country. Reasonably modern economy, very expensive shopping malls for customers from the Middle East (ridiculous number of really high-end shops/malls in Kuala Lumpur, a relatively small city), beautiful nature, low cost of living, makes money of medical tourism (presumably good enough health care), enough English heritage that getting around with English is easy, easy connections to the rest of SE Asia, reasonably easy connections to the rest of the world, very colorful/multicultural population, interesting share of cultural problems, very harsh penalties for minor offences. I had never been there until this year but spent several weeks in two trips and was quite impressed without even seeing the presumably nicest parts, including mainland cities outside KL and the tropical islands off the eastern coast.
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kcowan
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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In a prior life, I spent a week every quarter in KL. A commonwealth country with Muslem architecture, it is very comfortable as an expat. Three founding races: muslem, indian, chinese with the chinese then indian running the most businesses and the muslems running the government. At weekends I roamed alone and never found it a challenge. The islands off the west coast are also nice.

The weather is very consistent: 33 degees with 90% humidity. Right on the Equator. It lacks the extreme poverty in evidence in Thailand and The Philippines.

Like George, I wonder what caused the shift. I suspect it is people who were headed for Thailand before they tightened up the rules. Thailand was extremely popular up until then. The weather is similar as are the costs of living.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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We looked at Costa Rica as a place to buy and spend much of our time but the logistics and cost of getting to/from there are prohibitive, especially for family wanting/trying/wishing to visit. SO and I feel that visitors, e.g. children, grandchilden and siblings and close friends, are an important part of our lives and living 50% of the time in Costa Rica would reduce that contact to a trickle. Being that far away just would not work in our case, no matter how attractive it might be. I wonder if those so called 'retirement' spots really work out as well as the advertising suggests.

So instead, we have opted for the Okanagan Valley for the bulk of our time, e.g. 9-10 months, and renting as snowbirds in the sunny south for 2-3 months, as our game plan.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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AltaRed wrote:
So instead, we have opted for the Okanagan Valley for the bulk of our time, e.g. 9-10 months, and renting as snowbirds in the sunny south for 2-3 months, as our game plan.
Going to change your handle to OkieRed? :)
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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deaddog wrote:Going to change your handle to OkieRed? :)
Too much vested in what I currently have :wink: Besides, a sizeable portion of Okanagans are displaced Albertans anyway (anecdotally it seems the majority). Time to change provincial boundaries.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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AltaRed wrote:
deaddog wrote:Going to change your handle to OkieRed? :)
Too much vested in what I currently have :wink: Besides, a sizeable portion of Okanagans are displaced Albertans anyway (anecdotally it seems the majority). Time to change provincial boundaries.
We tried that years (early 70s) ago when I lived in Golden. Felt that the BC Government wasn't paying us enough attention. We were on Alta time and most did business with Calgary. I was in favor of the move at the time hoping that if we became part of Alta we would get chinooks. :D
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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US Bill would enable longer stays than 183 days
Of course, filing with the IRS and buying a $500k property for cash would severely limit its applicability to most Canadian snowbirds.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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kcowan wrote:US Bill would enable longer stays than 183 days
Of course, filing with the IRS and buying a $500k property for cash would severely limit its applicability to most Canadian snowbirds.
interesting. but paying US Income tax is the primary reason people don't stay more than 183 days in any calendar year. Afterall, it's my understanding that the 183 day VISA can be be applied for again after spending 30 days outside the US? income tax is the elephant in the room, IMHO.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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It's not so much the threat of paying US income tax as having to file with the IRS. Tax treaties normally will avoid duplicate taxation, but learning the details of the US tax code is daunting - particularly since the IRS views any foreign asset or investment as a red flag and have therefore created some excruciating forms to deal with them.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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westinvest wrote:It's not so much the threat of paying US income tax as having to file with the IRS. Tax treaties normally will avoid duplicate taxation, but learning the details of the US tax code is daunting - particularly since the IRS views any foreign asset or investment as a red flag and have therefore created some excruciating forms to deal with them.
i agree. But the tax treaties are not totally effective. There can be leakage as you generally pay the higher rate from either country. With US rates going up versus those in Alberta the leakage could increase. You would certainly need to hire US tax expertise and maybe Cdn as well. I currently can do it myself. At some point it might make sense for us to establish US residency but this is complex and would require a lot of research. Doing so inadvertantly should be avoided, I think.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Interesting and informative article in the G & M

Choosing the right place to retire overseas
For more affordable city living, we'd suggest Quito, Ecuador; Panama City, Panama; Mérida or Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Bilbao, Spain; and in Asia, Bangkok,Thailand and Penang, Malaysia.
The authors of the article (extracted from their book) apparently have settled in Quito Ecuador. Our kcowan winters in PV.
Our advice: The easiest places to retire — in our opinion — are close to home, just a few hours by plane from the United States or Canada (although we can't deny the appeal of Uruguay, despite its long distance from the States). Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama are well-developed countries where you'll find all the amenities of home, including well-organized expat communities and a good number of local English speakers.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

Post by Flaccidsteele »

CROCKD wrote:Interesting and informative article in the G & M

Choosing the right place to retire overseas
I found this article to be fantastically interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Flaccidsteele wrote:
CROCKD wrote:Interesting and informative article in the G & M
Choosing the right place to retire overseas
I found this article to be fantastically interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. I would recommend that anyone considering buying property buy the book first. It is thorough and well-written.

For Canadians, I would recommend it before buying in the US as well. Mainly for health care and tax implications. They do not specifically address taxes and I think that will become more important as more countries deal with the effects of FATCA. Many Canadians are ignorant of their tax liabilities while living in foreign countries, including the US.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Another issue to consider for snowbirds ... Your power of attorney may lose power across the border
There is legislation in many Canadian provinces and territories, as well as some U.S. states, that recognizes powers of attorney that have been validly created elsewhere. .... Practically, however, there may be limitations to actually using powers of attorney in a foreign jurisdiction in spite of such legislation. For example, the recognition of foreign powers of attorney under Florida and Arizona legislation applies only to instruments executed in another U.S. jurisdiction.

To date, unfortunately, there has been very little harmonization among jurisdictions in terms of what effect a power of attorney prepared in one place will have in another. This is particularly true with respect to powers of attorney for personal care and health care directives, which can vary significantly from place to place.

This lack of certainty – not to mention the possible time, expense, delays and uncertainty of success when seeking legal opinions to try to validate powers of attorney in other jurisdictions – supports the practical approach of putting local powers of attorney for property and personal care (or the equivalent document) in place in each jurisdiction where you have assets (in particular, real estate) and/or spend a significant amount of time. ...
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Arby wrote:Another issue to consider for snowbirds ... Your power of attorney may lose power across the border
WADR, if I'm a snow bird, I don't worry about Mr. Alzheimer turning me into a monkey in a 1-6 month period. If indeed that happened my POA person could probably convince me to return home. That leaves things like "catastrophic illness", maybe a heart attack. Repatriation at the earliest possible time is the most likely result (think insurance company's desire for low cost).
I don't intend to offend anyone, that part is just a bonus.

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Arby
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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The concern about the validity of the POA relates to catastrophic illness (such as stroke, traffic accident, heart attack, etc) where a person could be in a coma and may not be able to moved. In those situations, if the POA for Personal Care is not valid, who will make decisions about what treatment should be given (which may involve life and death decisions).
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Arby wrote:The concern about the validity of the POA relates to catastrophic illness (such as stroke, traffic accident, heart attack, etc) where a person could be in a coma and may not be able to moved. In those situations, if the POA for Personal Care is not valid, who will make decisions about what treatment should be given (which may involve life and death decisions).
You should have jurisdiction specific POA in your snowbird address. We do. In fact we have them in all our places. Alberta, Ont, and Arizona.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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SQRT wrote:...You should have jurisdiction specific POA in your snowbird address. We do. In fact we have them in all our places. Alberta, Ont, and Arizona.
and in Jalisco (PV), POAs are only valid for 12 months. OTOH the local authorities are very cooperative in emergencies.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

Post by Flaccidsteele »

kcowan wrote:
SQRT wrote:...You should have jurisdiction specific POA in your snowbird address. We do. In fact we have them in all our places. Alberta, Ont, and Arizona.
and in Jalisco (PV), POAs are only valid for 12 months. OTOH the local authorities are very cooperative in emergencies.
You almost make it sound like snowbirds are a big contributor to their economy ;)

Good tips on jurisdiction and duration specific POAs. Never thought about that.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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SQRT wrote:
Arby wrote:The concern about the validity of the POA relates to catastrophic illness (such as stroke, traffic accident, heart attack, etc) where a person could be in a coma and may not be able to moved. In those situations, if the POA for Personal Care is not valid, who will make decisions about what treatment should be given (which may involve life and death decisions).
You should have jurisdiction specific POA in your snowbird address. We do. In fact we have them in all our places. Alberta, Ont, and Arizona.
I agree. The article I posted upthread recommends POA's in each jurisdiction where you spend a significant amount of time.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Arby wrote:
SQRT wrote:
Arby wrote:The concern about the validity of the POA relates to catastrophic illness (such as stroke, traffic accident, heart attack, etc) where a person could be in a coma and may not be able to moved. In those situations, if the POA for Personal Care is not valid, who will make decisions about what treatment should be given (which may involve life and death decisions).
You should have jurisdiction specific POA in your snowbird address. We do. In fact we have them in all our places. Alberta, Ont, and Arizona.
I agree. The article I posted upthread recommends POA's in each jurisdiction where you spend a significant amount of time.
I would highlight the "Unintentional Revocation" bullet from that article. It's a pretty standard POA provision that the POA revokes any POA previously executed. You'll want to be very careful with that language if you are going to rely on jurisdiction specific POAs.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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ockham wrote:
I would highlight the "Unintentional Revocation" bullet from that article. It's a pretty standard POA provision that the POA revokes any POA previously executed. You'll want to be very careful with that language if you are going to rely on jurisdiction specific POAs.
Interesting. I doubt the hospital in Arizona would know about my POA for personal care in Alberta? Still better to be safe.
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Re: Snowbird, stay put, or relocate

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Does a will written in one jurisdiction have effect in another jurisdiction?
What happens if you die in another country? Wondering about wills and taxation...
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