Moving to Canada: Planning for Your Family’s Future

Canada is the best place to move to with your family because life in Canada is incredible. It offers many opportunities, not only to its citizens but to foreign nationals worldwide.

In the past few years, with the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been difficult to plan for the future, especially for anyone living in third-world countries. Due to economies falling worldwide and political tensions continue to rise, it is not easy to feel safe in most places or to have a clear vision of a bright future.

Canada ranked number one in 2021, followed by Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia. It is a country that offers stability, safety, security, and quality of life, which is why it is simply the best place to plan for your family’s future.

4 Easy Steps to Plan Your Family’s Financial Future in Canada

Family taking a selfie

Financial planning is extremely important if you want to start a life in Canada. Apart from the Canadian government taking control of two major expenses, including healthcare and subsidized education, there are still some costs involved, especially if you want to give your children the opportunity of higher education.

With Canada being the number one country ranked for the quality of life in the world, you can imagine that it also comes at a price. While Canadian employers can provide you with a proper salary if you get a job in Canada to support your new life and all your dependents, it is still crucial to plan.

Although financial planning may seem daunting for some at first, it is easier than you think. Just follow these four simple steps:

Step 1: Create a household budget

While having children is an incredible thing, it costs a lot of money. Whether you have one or four children, if you do not have a proper household budget to stick to, you may be in trouble.

The more dependents you bring with you to Canada, the more expensive your cost of living will be.

To raise a child in Canada costs between CA$10,000 and CA$15,000 per year until they turn 18. This figure only considers the child’s basic needs and excludes any additional activities, lessons, or sports your child may want to participate in. Given how high your expenses will be per child, it is best to establish a household budget even before your baby is born. If you already have children, you can work with this figure per child per year, just to be safe.

To plan your household budget, you must consider all of your most basic expenses, including:

  • Food
  • Rent
  • Utilities
  • Clothing
  • Healthcare
  • Education
  • Transportation

Once you have covered your basic expenses, you can focus on the amount of money you want to save. To reduce the cost of living, it is best to avoid any unnecessary expenses or overspending in Canada.

Step 2: Create an emergency fund

While saving money for that holiday in Canada with your family is important, so is saving enough money in an emergency fund. If you have a family, this is very important, as unexpected expenses can pop up at any given time, including a job loss or a family member getting ill.

Your goal with an emergency fund is to increase it so that you have three to six months of money in the cost of expenses saved at any time when an emergency occurs.

The best way to secure your emergency fund is to transfer it to a specific savings account.

Step 3: Save for educational expenses

Although public school is paid for by the Canadian government, if you want to send your children to universities, you have to save for it. Since Canada has some of the best universities in the world, this does not come cheap, which is why it is best to start saving as soon as possible.

According to some of the top universities in Canada, you can expect to pay anywhere from CA$6,463 annually for an undergraduate degree and CA$7,056 annually for a graduate degree.

Apart from tuition fees, you must also consider additional expenses, including travel expenses and student accommodation.

To start saving early, you can start a registered education savings plan, known as RESP, which is a tax-preferred savings plan that is designed to help you save for your children’s higher education. You can also apply for a family RESP if you have more than one child.

The RESP plan is very helpful because the Canadian government matches 20 percent of your annual contributions.

Step 4: Get life insurance

It is a common thing that many families do not have life insurance. However, if you have children and live in Canada, it is recommended, especially because of the difficult and unprecedented times we live in with the Covid-19 pandemic.

When you get life insurance, it may add an expense to your monthly budget, yet it is necessary if you want to guarantee protection, security, and a good future for your family.

Life insurance can help you protect the people that you care most about if something bad happens to either you or your spouse/ common-law partner.

You can find an affordable monthly premium to pay over 10, 20, or 30 years that will suit your budget and help you plan for the future.

Why Choose Canada?

1. World-Class Education

As a parent, moving to Canada can be stressful, especially because you have to consider where your children have to go to school.

Luckily, Canada makes this decision easy for you. It is among the top 10 best countries for education, with 97 universities, of which 26 rank among the top in the world. Canada is also number one on the list of countries with the highest percentage of people with degrees.

While private schools are expensive, public kindergarten, primary, and high schools are free. Pre-school, childcare, and daycare are, however, not free.

2. Free Healthcare

All residents in Canada have access to free healthcare, which is a privilege that not many countries can afford. The Canadian government has created a universal healthcare system that offers free healthcare in most departments, excluding prescription medication, dental care, vision care, podiatry, and chiropractors.

Although some medical expenses are not covered, all other procedures and doctor’s visits are, which means that both you and your family are receiving the best healthcare possible, free of charge.

3. Unlimited job opportunities

Companies worldwide have been retrenching their staff during the global pandemic, yet Canada has been creating more job opportunities for immigrants in 2021 than ever before.

With job security at your fingertips, you and your family can benefit from a continuously growing economy that offers some of the highest-paying average salaries in the world.

Learn more about how to get a job in Canada here.

4. Quality of Life

Canada is a diverse, culturally-rich, socially-accepting, liberal and politically stable country under the hand of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. The country enjoys celebrating freedom and equality, which is proven with over 250 ethnic cultures and more than 200 languages that get spoken daily.

The country is one of the safest and most secure globally. It is the best place to raise a family and provide a prosperous future for all members.

The best quality of life checklist:

  • Safety and security
  • Free healthcare
  • Top education
  • Unlimited work opportunities
  • Top cities globally
  • Beautiful landscapes and scenery
  • Balanced life
  • Family destination of your dreams


Make Your Canadian Move in 2021

The biggest reason Canada does so well with delivering the best quality of life to its residents is that the government truly cares about the country and its people. Just as they want Canada to thrive as a top-class country, they want people from all across the globe to have equal opportunities to those living in a first-world country.

Moving to Canada offers you and your family opportunities and a stable future, which is something that not many places can give you.

When you start a life in Canada, you create a safe space for your family to grow and prosper.

The Covid-19 pandemic made life difficult and placed many dreams on hold, yet this one does not have to wait for it to pass.

If you feel it is impossible to move to Canada in 2021, you can get advice from ICCRC-registered immigration experts.

Our affiliated Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) can answer all of your questions and give you advice on how to get a Canadian visa for all your family members based on your eligibility status.