OT: The OT Thread: To move or not to move, that is the question.

[Chainshot]

Working in tech for a major bank here I often tell my guys in the stress of a high profile incident "it's only money, no one is dying" to help put things in perspective.

I have so much respect for those that work in industries where it really is life or death.

I used to do the same thing when I was in IT - Nothing is on fire, no one is bleeding.

Granted, right now, things are on fire...

 

[whiplash]

I used to do the same thing when I was in IT - Nothing is on fire, no one is bleeding.

Granted, right now, things are on fire...

No worries, Fire Extinguishers as a Service are en route. The nozzles are corroded and it costs extra to PRESSURIZE the (replaced yearly) flame extinguishing liquid, but fully trustworthy investors within the Fire Extinguisher Distribution Department say they should work fine and are actually a bargain.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Damn, now that’s a double entendre

 

[brian_griffin]

My 9th grader is already researching college options and wants to go to the University of Copenhagen, and my HS senior is debating between transfer options or riding it out and then bouncing for grad school.

If I were single and childless, I'd already be in Japan, but the whole family thing complicates that.

I read that and immediately thought that's a drastic step to take, but if you want the job that badly, and feel you could pull a Keyser Soze with your family, then flee and not be tracked down by the police / authorities, well then, head for the land of the rising sun.

I zipped up my hoodie, threw on my sunglasses and saw myself in the mirror. it was then that I realized that my medical leave attire could best be classified as unibomber chic.

And then you (scarily) post that. Sounds like you truly might have the stomach for it. I pray not. But if we see a username change to TheNipponStranger, or Mr. Kobayashi, we'll know what you did. But we won't tell anybody.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I read that and immediately thought that's a drastic step to take, but if you want the job that badly, and feel you could pull a Keyser Soze with your family, then flee and not be tracked down by the police / authorities, well then, head for the land of the rising sun.

And then you (scarily) post that. Sounds like you truly might have the stomach for it. I pray not. But if we see a username change to TheNipponStranger, or Mr. Kobayashi, we'll know what you did. But we won't tell anybody.

 

[Jim Bob]

A friend was researching moving her family of four to Canada. I think this ended that idea.

 

[Dubi Doo]

View attachment 972164

A friend was researching moving her family of four to Canada. I think this ended that idea.

Kinda wild seeing some of the national anthems in Canada recently. Can't say I blame them too much. We were kindaaaa being dicks.

Theyre like our little brothers. They have our backs in the school yard fights, but only we are allowed to bully them!

 

[tsujimoto74]

View attachment 972164

A friend was researching moving her family of four to Canada. I think this ended that idea.

Am I out of touch for thinking this doesn’t look like a crazy cost *to move into an entirely new country of which you are not a citizen*? Like, shoot, now I’m tempted to look further into it lol

 

[TheMistyStranger]

View attachment 972164

A friend was researching moving her family of four to Canada. I think this ended that idea.

Yup. One of several reasons I'm now looking across oceans

 

[Jim Bob]

Am I out of touch for thinking this doesn’t look like a crazy cost *to move into an entirely new country of which you are not a citizen*? Like, shoot, now I’m tempted to look further into it lol

It all depends on how much cash you have on hand.

They would have to sell their house without knowing if they could get to Canada to check this box. And that does not seem like a gamble they want to take.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

It all depends on how much cash you have on hand.

They would have to sell their house without knowing if they could get to Canada to check this box. And that does not seem like a gamble they want to take.

From what I saw, housing prices north of the border are even more out of whack than those in the US.

 

[Jim Bob]

From what I saw, housing prices north of the border are even more out of whack than those in the US.

I follow an American that moved to Canada on social media and she talks all the time about how economically, living in Canada is an absolute mess compared to what her family that lives in the US deals with.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I follow an American that moved to Canada on social media and she talks all the time about how economically, living in Canada is an absolute mess compared to what her family that lives in the US deals with.

That's the thing - it's all going to break. We're primed for a major depression, and when it hits, it's gonna hit everywhere. I'm so hesitant to consider buying a house right now, even if I do leave the US, because it feels like the clock is ticking down to everything being underwater again, but worse than 08.

 

[Jim Bob]

That's the thing - it's all going to break. We're primed for a major depression, and when it hits, it's gonna hit everywhere. I'm so hesitant to consider buying a house right now, even if I do leave the US, because it feels like the clock is ticking down to everything being underwater again, but worse than 08.

Thankfully we bought our house 9 years ago.

We bought it for around $120k and comparable homes in the neighborhood have sold recently for 2x that. So, things would have to get so bad that the house is worth what it sold for in 1999 for us to be in trouble.

Plus, we have no real need to move right now.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Thankfully we bought our house 9 years ago.

We bought it for around $120k and comparable homes in the neighborhood have sold recently for 2x that. So, things would have to get so bad that the house is worth what it sold for in 1999 for us to be in trouble.

Plus, we have no real need to move right now.

Sounds like you hit at the perfect time.

I have a friend who owed 200k on a house in Florida when the bubble burst in 08. He was also laid off at the same time because the company he worked for lost their government contract. House was suddenly valued at 35k, and eventually sold at auction for 6k.

 

[Jim Bob]

Sounds like you hit at the perfect time.

I have a friend who owed 200k on a house in Florida when the bubble burst in 08. He was also laid off at the same time because the company he worked for lost their government contract. House was suddenly valued at 35k, and eventually sold at auction for 6k.

The worst story I heard from that timeframe was a HS classmate who bought a house with her first husband in the DC area. They wanted to get divorced, but their house was under water and that forced them to stay together longer than either wanted as they tried to figure out what to do about the house.

 

[CowbellConray]

I caution anyone who is looking to take on a economically stressful move to another state, let alone country in the next 18 months. Unless you plan to sell off all of your physical assets, and carry around $250,000 liquid cash that can be leveraged to support that venture, it is a very risky proposition. The global economy is at quite a turning point, economic power is becoming a larger battle now that the US is starting to fight the reality of their trillions of dollars of debts and trade standing. That isn't a political message, it's a statement that the US inequality will continue to grow. If you have retirement, investments, etc., I suggest holding them and stacking cash - the markets will continue to grow even as we hit recessions. Larger companies laid off employees last year and cut costs to become leaner, they will need to do so again, however they already are in better positions that in 2023.

If you work for a small company, government, or make less that 60K a year.... honestly I feel for you. The next few years will be very tough. Save what you can, and hope you can maintain employment through 2027.

Spending 50-60K of savings or retirement to move to Canada will not fix the economic situations people are in. Shocker, Canada is even worse than the US in a lot of facets economically.

If you have a house,I wouldn't sell it unless you are making an absolute gain on the sale ($200K+ cash return) and plan to rent for a few years.

 

[Dubi Doo]

I caution anyone who is looking to take on a economically stressful move to another state, let alone country in the next 18 months. Unless you plan to sell off all of your physical assets, and carry around $250,000 liquid cash that can be leveraged to support that venture, it is a very risky proposition. The global economy is at quite a turning point, economic power is becoming a larger battle now that the US is starting to fight the reality of their trillions of dollars of debts and trade standing. That isn't a political message, it's a statement that the US inequality will continue to grow. If you have retirement, investments, etc., I suggest holding them and stacking cash - the markets will continue to grow even as we hit recessions. Larger companies laid off employees last year and cut costs to become leaner, they will need to do so again, however they already are in better positions that in 2023.

If you work for a small company, government, or make less that 60K a year.... honestly I feel for you. The next few years will be very tough. Save what you can, and hope you can maintain employment through 2027.

Spending 50-60K of savings or retirement to move to Canada will not fix the economic situations people are in. Shocker, Canada is even worse than the US in a lot of facets economically.

If you have a house,I wouldn't sell it unless you are making an absolute gain on the sale ($200K+ cash return) and plan to rent for a few years.

I dont think people are moving solely bc of the economic impacts. Atleast Im not.

But yeah, you need to have a good amount of wealth and nothing keeping you here to move. My wife is a scientist and a nurse. She can get a job damn near anywhere, fortunately, and we do have a good amount of cash in savings. We're at the wait and see phase.

 

[CowbellConray]

I dont think people are moving solely bc of the economic impacts. Atleast Im not.

But yeah, you need to have a good amount of wealth and nothing keeping you here to move. My wife is a scientist and a nurse. She can get a job damn near anywhere, fortunately, and we do have a good amount of cash in savings. We're at the wait and see phase.

Yea, I'm simply pointing to the economic strain of a move to another country if the thought is that your economic situation will be stable or improved in 18 months compared to now. If someone is worried about a $30K cost to move to Canada against their current financial standing, I would advise against going any deeper into that move for another 2 years at least.

If you have wealth and ability to move, by all means. And to your point, your wife being a nurse gives great flexibility. My wife is a teacher, is the same situation for us.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Yea, I'm simply pointing to the economic strain of a move to another country if the thought is that your economic situation will be stable or improved in 18 months compared to now. If someone is worried about a $30K cost to move to Canada against their current financial standing, I would advise against going any deeper into that move for another 2 years at least.

If you have wealth and ability to move, by all means. And to your point, your wife being a nurse gives great flexibility. My wife is a teacher, is the same situation for us.

Yup. Lucky for us, there are always people dying! ;

 

[Chainshot]

From what I saw, housing prices north of the border are even more out of whack than those in the US.

Metro Toronto has been a wild real estate market for a while. Knowing folks both who bought and sold in the area, the price increases are kind of stunning.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Metro Toronto has been a wild real estate market for a while. Knowing folks both who bought and sold in the area, the price increases are kind of stunning.

A lot of this is the location, house size, and just simply the fact that everything has gone up due to inflation.

Like the house I grew up in, my parents bought it for $13K. Now because it’s on Lake Superior, with a sandy beach and the inlet itself is sandy, it gets a price boost for that. Because it’s 4bd, 2-bath house, it gets another price boost. Because it has a walk in pantry with built-on cold room, it gets another price boost. Add on the fact that it has two living rooms, an open kitchen, front and back deck and is on three acres of land, a garage big enough for four cars, but loses marks for being 40 minutes outside of the city, it got listed for $575K.

There was a bidding war on it and it ended up selling for $1.13M.

 

[TehDoak]

I will say this, the one thing from the new administration that is triggering me the most is the Department of Education.

Nearly all of the funding for special needs assistants and programs that allows our son to go to public is school is provided via DoE. The idea that that they can just push that program down to the states is an absolute shitshow of an idea.

This is one of the reasons we moved from Florida to PA, the mess of a public school system that we knew our son wouldn't get any support in.

Thankfully they can't abolish a department without a super majority of congress, that they won't get. But they can certainly cripple it. My wife is at the gym now, but I guarantee she is going to have a near panic attack when she gets home and sees the news.

Hoping our state doesn't go apeshit and start pushing 'school choice' or other idiocy on us.

 

[Chainshot]

Enough politics talk.

 

[CowbellConray]

Enough politics talk.

Hey Chain - legitimate question because I'd love the clarity - what constitutes politics talk vs. general economics/living discussion. I dont want to cross the line to politics talk - is there guideline around what's acceptable and whats not? Thanks!