(upbeat music) Welcome to the wealthy life. I'm Sibel Verge, and today we're gonna be talking about everything you should do or consider before moving to Canada from the United States. Mistakes are very expensive. They can cost you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, but the good news is it can be prevented with good planning. Joining me today is Harp Sandu, cross-border advisor at Sandu Wealth at Raymond James, and author of Welcome Home. It's a guide for everyone moving from the United States to Canada on the things you should consider. Harp, welcome to the show. - Thanks for having me. - So why did you write the book? - I wrote the book 'cause I realized a lot of people were asking the same questions, and they all weren't necessarily financial, and a lot of them were being asked after the move when it was too late. So I wanted to write a practical and non-technical guide just to get them thinking about the right questions to ask. - Well, it's important. I mean, there's so many things in life that we think about after the fact. If I only knew then what I know now, so having a guide to read before you move is fantastic. - Exactly, and I wanted to be like easy read so you can read it on a flight or on a weekend and just start thinking about some of the big things you have to consider before you make the move. - I did, I read it on a flight actually. It was quick and easy, I quite enjoyed it. So why do people move from the United States to Canada in the first place? - There's a number of reasons. You have the normal flow of people that you graduate from university, you get a job down maybe in California working for one of the tech companies or an oil company, and then while you're down there, you meet someone, you get married, you start a family, but your plan was to always move back. So we're seeing that regular flow that's occurring, and right now, due to the political situation, you're starting to see more people leaving. And it's a lot of them are panicking and thinking, they have to get out, others just don't agree with what's going on, so they want to leave. So there's that normal flow, and then there's a little bit more going on right now. - I mean, Canada is a beautiful place. - It is absolutely. - Yeah, and I mean, I think they like our healthcare too, but we'll get into that later. - Yeah, we can read a whole book on that. - So what are some of the things people need to consider and where do they start? - So the first thing is having a plan. So I always recommend start your checklist, and one of the first things to consider is immigration status, 'cause it's usually, at least one of the couple coming back as a Canadian citizen, or they might be dual, 'cause of their time in the US. You have a lot of cases where the spouse or the kids may not be Canadian citizens, and as much as a citizen can just show up at the border and come on whenever they want to, non-citizens can't. And then you gotta start thinking about permanent residency. When do I apply my applying outbound inbound? There's all these different things you have to consider. - Now is the permanent residency status kind of the first step towards citizenship? Do you even need citizenship at the end of the day? - Right, it is the first step. Do you have to become a citizen? No, usually you have to have three years of residents of permanent residency, and then you can apply for citizenship. And we are seeing people that are applying for it. And those people will end up becoming dual citizens, 'cause they usually already have US citizenship. - So let's talk a little bit about the differences between citizenship and residency. - Right. - How does that affect people? - Well, citizenship is essentially, you know, what the country thinks of US. Are you a citizen of the country or not? Whereas residency is just kind of where you're living right now. So there's tax residency, and then there's citizenship. And tax residency, you know, in Canada is, once you've crossed the border, major intentions known, you have essentially become a tax resident of Canada. - Yeah, I think it really boils down to both governments are trying to get their hands on your money. - Exactly, exactly. And the issue with the US is one of a few jurisdictions on the planet that tax is based on citizenship, not just residency. So you can leave the US if you're a US person, but you don't leave the IRS. - Okay, so let's talk about that. So this couple, this husband and wife, they now move maybe with their kids to Canada. So now they're resident in Canada. They still have to pay taxes in the US. - Yeah, so the US person, if the spouse that had gone down there had not obtained her US citizenship. Maybe she was on a green card, or just some sort of work visa, and has given that up. She is now just a Canadian tax resident, Canadian citizen, but the husband as a US person in citizen has to file taxes in the United States essentially for the rest of his life. Or until if they were announced their citizenship, but they usually don't do that. - Right, 'cause I mean, renouncing is a big process on its own, and it's a very permanent decision. You can't, I think, change your mind after that, or it might be difficult to-- - That's exactly it. And realistically, you're seeing more of that right now. People kind of politically are saying, "I want to renounce," and I was like, "You really gotta think about what you're doing." - Yeah. - Before you, that's not a decision to make really quickly. - Okay, so if you have to file taxes in the US ongoing even though you're now in Canada, and then you're gonna file taxes in Canada as well, how do you do that? Is it a big deal? Is it do you need help? Can you do it yourself? - I recommend help. There's a lot of cross-border tax accountants across Canada that are licensed as tax accountants in the US and in Canada, and we have a tax treaty. So there's sort of integrated filing available. And so that person that's filing in both countries, usually the taxes that you pay in the United States, you get a foreign tax credit on your Canadian return and vice versa. - Right, so you're not gonna double pay taxes. - Exactly. - If you're doing it right. - True, there are times if you don't properly apply the credits, and where we've seen issues is people that did want to do it themselves, and then they didn't properly match the credits. There's two different filing deadlines. So the US is the middle of April, Canada's the end. That's where we recommend using a professional talent. - Yeah, so aside from filing taxes both sides of the border, what else should people know before they move? - Where do you want to live? I think that's a big part of it. Is you get, we've seen a lot of people that are going back to their childhood towns. I grew up in Nova Scotia, I wanna end up back there. - I've never been there. That sounds like a beautiful place. - It's amazing. I actually had a chance to go last year, and I joke that it's almost exactly like Victoria, but the water's on the other side. - It's a little bit. - It's a little bit. - A little bit. Yeah, it's an interesting town. It's very friendly. - Yes. - Good, so that's where you'd wanna go. So how do people decide where they're gonna live? - So I guess part of it is, are they moving back to hang out where they grew up? Some people move back to take care of aging parents, and it might be that their parents had left their childhood town, they're living somewhere else, so now they gotta go to that town. Some people move for work. It's not, not everybody's retiring when they're making a move, so it might be that their US company wants them to relocate to Canada. So a lot of people are going to towns and they've ever been to before, and that adds a whole other layer of issues and problems to the move as well. - And they're probably realizing we don't all live in igloos. - Yeah, and we don't drive around in snow slits either, so. Although a good part of Canada does get a larger melt a snow-encold weather. - Very true, yeah. - I just don't like giving out the secret that here in Victoria, we get like one-third of rain everywhere else, and it's actually nice, so. - No, no, I know. I can put up with the gray in the winter for the mild climate on the wet coast. It's pretty good. - It is. - But we gotta slow down people from coming, 'cause it's getting a little bit better. - A little too crowded. - Yeah. - So what happens to their investment? So you talked about taxes, they've got investment accounts that they've set up in the US, what can move and what can't move to Canada? - And that's a big one that we talk about is, we see it all the time, and it's the first thing that people tend to worry about because it's their money. - Yeah. - I always think the first thing they should worry about is the planning, but the accounts can be taken care of if you have the proper professionals in place. And so a lot of accounts in the US and Canada are equivalent. We have our RSPs, they have IRAs, individual retirement accounts. We have group ours, please. They have 401ks, or 403b's or 457's. They're just various employers, monsters. - A lot of acronyms in this business. - There is. - I think the easiest way for people to remember it is, just do you have a retirement account in Canada or the US? - That's exactly it. - And it'll go by a lot of different names. - Yeah, they do. And we, you know, like our tax-free savings account, they kind of have an equivalent called a Roth IRA. So most accounts are equivalent and most are recognized. There's a tax treaty between Canada and the US. It's what helps avoid the double taxation. So Canada recognizes most US retirement accounts for what they are and the US does as well. But what's somewhat comical at times is we'll have other accounts that are similar and they won't recognize ours and we won't recognize theirs. So education, for instance. The US has a 529 college savings plan. We have an RESP. We don't recognize each other's accounts. And you kind of, I always joke about, you know, you're sitting at that table where they were sort of putting the treaty together. And the one person said, hey, we've got this account where parents can put money away for kids' education and then the kids can take it out later at a tax advantage rate. And the other side went, now we don't believe in those. But by the way, we have this account. And it's, you know, so it gets a little frustrating at times.
But the issue is just because these accounts aren't recognized, it doesn't mean you can't have them. It's where you have to hold them that becomes an issue. Right, and it still may make sense even if, you know, it's not recognized in one country, so you still have to pay tax in that country, but it still may be at a lower rate. We're talking about with your accountant. Exactly, yeah. So for our ESPs, for instance, Education, Stamens, and Canada, they're not recognized by the IRS. So what happens if you're a US person and you have an RESP, you have to pay tax on the annual earnings of the account. You have to report it to the IRS. But tax rates tend to be lower down there. So if you were going to just leave the money invested in a regular investment account, you're going to be paying taxes to Canada. The other thing is you get the 20% grant. So usually it will make sense to still have one, but we always recommend talk to your accountant, because some are open to it. You will get some that are against it, and you want to get the advice from the accountant. So let's talk a little bit about the logistics of the accounts, because we do hear often people moving into Canada, their IRA, their retirement accounts, they can't move it to a Canadian firm. They need to have it housed by on a US platform. Exactly. It needs to be custodyed in the United States as a US account. It's kind of like when you first went down to the US, you didn't take your RSP with you, you left it with a Canadian custody agency. There is a sort of, they call it a 60J transfer, where you can take all the money out of your IRA and cash it out and end up with tax credits in Canada. It never really works out properly. And so if you're dealing with an advisor that's cross-border license, they can manage the account from here, and you can leave it there. But those US retirement accounts have to stay in the United States. They're not allowed to move to Canada. Yeah, because I think what we hear often is as people are moving to Canada, and they hand in their change of address to their existing advisor in the US, what does the US advisor usually say? I can't help you. Right. Because they're not licensed and registered to deal with a Canadian resident. Exactly. We've got, you know, the regulators, I always tell people, are quite territorial, federally and state and provincially. So, you know, basically they take the approach, if you're going to manage money or give advice in our territory, you have to be licensed and registered with us. Yeah. And, you know, we're not aware of any US-based advisors that are licensed in Canada. So that's the first thing usually a full service advisor will say is, "I like you, but I can't deal with you anymore. I'm not allowed to give you advice." Right. And so they have to move. Exactly. So what are some of those options and how are you able to deal with that? Why don't you walk us through the process? So, some of the options, there are the online discount firms that may allow you to leave your account. So, a Vanguard Fidelity might say, "Yep, you can live it with us." But once you move, don't ask us questions, don't ask for advice, we're just going to hold it for you. Right. For people that aren't do it yourself, or so that's not really a viable option, because they don't know what they're doing. So then they can work with a cross-border advisor. There are firms in Canada that are registered on both sides of the border. The advisors are licensed in the US. So if you find a good cross-border advisor that you're comfortable with, they can manage the account for you. They can buy and sell investments for you. There's a few little nuances like once you've moved to Canada, you can't buy American mutual funds because even though your money lives in the US, you don't. And you have to live in the country to buy one. So I don't think that really causes many issues, because you can still use exchange-traded funds and individual stocks and whatnot. Right. But it's just being aware of that. Yes. So I think about the impact of that on a non-registered account, just a regular brokerage investment account, when people move, if they have mutual funds, and now they're a resident in Canada, what do they need to do? Sell them. Yes. If they're going to move the account to Canada, and it's normally what you recommend is that the non-registered account kind of lives where you live, you have to liquidate the funds. And because mutual funds, again, they are a country-specific sold by perspective. So you can't own an American fund in Canada. Right. Take a look, for instance, if you have a Fidelity American Growth Fund, it might be that managed by the same manager in the same investments. But the American pool is different than the Canadian pool. And you can't do a swap. So then you have to sell it. And the issue is if you've held it for a long time, you might have a large amount of capital gains that you have to deal with. Hence the planning in advance, because if you can trigger some of those gains each year over multi-year time period before moving, it may keep your taxes lower. But not everybody has that luxury. No, some of the most successful moves we've seen have been where, you know, we talked to people four or five years before their move. And you can really plan it out properly. And if you need to sell, you're giving yourself four or five or six tax years to liquidate those funds over. But you do run into situations where people have maybe already moved. And now you have no choice but to take that big capital gain. I mean, the good news is once you've taken the capital gain and you sort of start reinvesting in Canada, you are starting at that higher cost basis. Right. And you have to pay taxes at some point. It's generally better to defer it later, because then you get to keep the earnings on that money. Exactly. Before your bill is due. But sometimes you just can't avoid it. Sometimes you don't have a choice. And other times if you get towards the latter part of your like now, you can at least look at selling half now and selling half in January to sort of split the taxes up as much as you can. But yeah, a lot of times you have no choice. Let's jump in a little bit deeper on the timing of the sell. Because so they have to sell these US mutual funds. But should they do it? Will they're still in the US or once they're in Canada? So that depends. If you are a US person, it's not really going to matter because you have to report those gains to the IRS whenever. And there's a bit of a difference in capital gains in the US then in Canada. We have that inclusion rate where it's 50%. So half the gain is taxable, half isn't. The US has short and long term gains. So they tax accordingly and they have a few different rates. But yeah, if you're a US person, the timing doesn't really matter from a tax perspective. But if you're not a US person, and you're possibly maybe giving up a green card or anything like that or you were on a visa, it actually can make sense to not sell anything until after you've moved. As much as the accounts are supposed to move with you, they're not going to literally cross the border with you. Because on the Canadian system, you can't open an account until you've become a Canadian resident. So we have situations where clients have their accounts on our US platform. They make the move. And now we have to reopen all the accounts. It's going to take us a little while to get that done. So if you're going to be giving up a green card or giving up a visa, if you sell everything after you've given up the green card, you no longer have any filing obligations to the US as of the day that they accepted your green card when you gave it up. So you can actually-- I don't like using the word avoid when we talk about taxes. But you do end up avoiding paying those taxes. Right. And how about this exit tax that everyone's talking about? How does that come into play and how can people avoid it? And what is it? What are you saying? So the exit tax, essentially, is if you've been down there for a while and you're a green card holder, and you've held your green card for more than eight of the last 15 years, and you're leaving, and you're relinquishing your green card. What the IRS says is, on your way out the door, we're going to pretend like you sold everything. Because you've lived down here, you've used our infrastructure. You've got tax credits when you put money into your accounts. And you're going to face-- it's an ex-patriation tax. They want their money back. They do. The government wants to get their piece of the pie. And so they want it. And they kind of want it now. Yes. Proper planning, especially working with a tax account, can help mitigate potentially avoid the exit tax. So the first thing they look at is, did you hold a green card for eight years or more of the last 15? If the answer is yes, then there's three tests that they look at. One of them is, what is your total asset level? And it's not a big number. It's $2 million US per person. So for a couple, it's for-- And then close real estate, like the primary residence. Exactly. And if you happen to have kept your house that was in Canada when you moved down-- Yeah, you're over that. --tack of your own. --that's not it. You're going to go over. The other one is, based on tax liability. And if your average tax liability over the last five years, and the number changes a little bit, it's quite close to $200,000 US right now. So that's not an income level. That's the amount of taxes you owed. If you owed on average over the last five years, $200,000 or more in taxes, then you also are going to face the exit tax. There's a third test that we've yet to come across anyone that failed that test. And that is, if you weren't IRS tax compliant over the previous five years, you weren't filing your taxes or you weren't filing certain parts of your taxes, then you automatically are going to face the exit tax. And again, thankfully, we haven't seen people that have fallen under that one. Which is good. Yes. And I assume if you renounce your citizenship, that also would be a trigger for an exit tax. Exactly. If you're renouncing, they're going to assume that you're essentially selling everything at the time of their announcement. And if you want to renounce, go ahead. They're not overly happy that you're leaving the classroom.
club, but at the same time they're going to tax you on everything. Yeah, and these are the things that people need to know and think about before they make those decisions. Yeah. Because you can't go back and unwind it. No, another big part actually with the exit taxes, if you have a US retirement account, they're going to tax the entire value of it, but they don't necessarily, the steps don't involve actually caching the retirement account out. So you just pay tax on the full value. Well, when you get to Canada and you start taking money out of it, Canada still treats it as a US retirement account and they tax you on the withdrawals. So if you are going to face that exit tax, you might as well actually cash out the US retirement account because you're paying tax to the US on it anyways. And then use the money as regular non-registered investments on the Canadian side. What about healthcare? What do people need to know about healthcare? Healthcare is a big one. People talk about the free healthcare in Canada and you hear the reports. Yeah, it's not really free. We pay a lot of taxes for that. We do. And you hear in the US the stories of people losing their livelihoods and going bankrupt over a health issue. So the way I like to explain it to people is in Canada, if you end up with something big, cancer, heart attack, stroke, those kinds of big health issues and they diagnose you in time, you're going to get pulled into the system, you're going to get treated, you're going to get taken care of and you're not going to get a bill. You're not going to go bankrupt over it. But if you're knee and shoulder abugging you and you can't go for play pickle ball or go hiking, it's going to take you 18 months to get in to see a specialist here and probably another 18 to have your surgery. The one thing in the US is with those coverages and the way their systems are set up, you can usually get in with a number of months to get looked at and even have your surgery. And we've had clients that were US persons that needed a hip or a shoulder and they actually just went down to the US under the covers that they had maintained and had their surgery there. Yeah, because in some cases they have the option of continuing to pay premiums, their US healthcare provider and keep that open. So that's a really good point and something people will want to consider. And on that note, if a US person decides to stop paying some of those premiums, if they ever move back to the US, you can face some pretty hefty penalties to reenroll. The US sort of has part A, part B, part C, part D. D covers prescriptions. A, think of it as admission. A covers hospitalization and everything that goes on in the hospital. And then B is doctors and all the other professionals that, you know, whether it's an orthopedic surgeon or an acupuncturist, physiotherapist. So with part B, you can choose to keep paying your premiums and have it enrolled. If you stop paying, and eight years later you decided it's time to move back to the US, it's not only paying what you didn't pay over the eight years, there's a bit of a penalty involved. And so it can get really expensive. We recommend you got to work with your advisor to look at the budgeting of what it's going to cost. And does it make sense to keep it? And a lot of times it does. And how long does it take on average to get healthcare coverage once you've moved to Canada? Right. So it varies provincially. You take a place like Ontario right now, Oh, hip is waving the waiting period. So as long as you have your permanent residency or your citizen, the day you cross over, you're going to be covered. If you were waiting on your permanent residency and it hadn't quite gone through, you're going to wait until you get, you know, we call it PR. British Columbia still has a waiting period. And in the way it works in BC, currently is it's the remainder of the month in which you move plus two full months. Okay. So we move on the last day of a month, they don't count that month, then it becomes three months. Okay. So we usually don't want to move on the last day of a month. And so normally what you can do is places like BCAA Blue Cross, we use manual life. They have a product called Visitors to Canada. You're essentially buying a private version of BC medical. So it's going to cover big things, hospital ambulance. It's not going to cover a physiotherapy visit or massage therapy. But that's okay. You're going to have your emergencies, your priority healthcare needs covered for that transition period. Exactly. And if someone is waiting a long time for their PR, they can apply for it and keep extending it, providing they haven't made a claim. Like if you've made a claim, you then usually can't extend it. But once your regular coverage kicks in, if you have some time remaining on that private policy, manual life will refine you retroactive to the day that your provincial medical kicked in. So that's not too bad. Yeah. And I think it's overly costly to begin with. It isn't. And you can choose, you can pick your deductibles and you can pick your coverage amount. So really you want the big stuff covered. Yeah. Yep. So you're not facing any surprise nasty bills that are going to negatively impact your finance. Exactly. Absolutely. How about US social security, pension type programs versus the Canadian Canada pension, old age security? Can people collect both? You can. And in fact, they used to have something called the WinFall Elimination Program, WEP. And the way that worked was if you kind of had a little bit of both, the combined total couldn't be more than the maximum of either side. But they actually got rid of that program earlier this year. That's great. Yeah. So now, and when they had the program, you didn't lose dollar for dollar. It was sort of like for every extra dollar over that maximum, you lost 60 or 75 cents of it. But you can continue to collect both. And with social security, you have a few options. And the first couple of options, most people are aware of. You can have it paid in US dollars directly into an American bank account. And then they take care of, usually you write yourself a check into your Canadian account and when you're bringing foreign exchange into the picture. You can have US dollars deposited into a US dollar account with a Canadian bank. You just have to talk to your field office and send in the paperwork. So you can still collect it, still get paid. But again, foreign exchange becomes an issue. And for you and I, foreign exchange is, I'm going to Florida or Las Vegas and I need a little bit of US dollars. And so, we kind of let our credit card do the conversion or the bank. We get a little mad and it happens once in a while. I don't know, I have a US credit card for that reason. I don't like paying high FX rates. And let's face it, our banks charge some of the highest FX. It's why we own shares of our banks for it. I don't know what the spreads are currently, but it's 5, 6% easy, right? It's a big amount. And so, when you're collecting a regular income and it might be that you have a pension from American firm and you have your social security potential future IRA payments, it actually becomes a line item on your balance sheet, right? You're losing a lot of money to FX. So. Month after month after month. So how can you save on that? So a couple of things. One, there are a couple of very good online FX companies, OFX, transfer wise. You open an account with them and you link the two accounts on the two sides. And the conversion, you sort of pull US dollars up into them and then they push the Canadian dollars down. But the third option with at least social security, not necessarily pensions and retirement accounts is you can ask social security to deposit your payment in Canadian dollars into a Canadian bank. And when they do it, the foreign exchange rate is not the bank's rate. Social security gives you their rate and their rate is last night's closing market price, a rate that we can't touch for anybody. That's the best rate out there. That is absolutely. So if you know you're going to be spending the money in Canadian dollars, that's sounds like it makes the most sense. Just get them to pay you in Canadian dollars right from the source and you'll get the best rate. Absolutely. Especially if you have other sources of US income, you're going to have your retirement accounts and maybe your work pension. Because if social security is your only US income, we've talked to folks about it and sometimes they'll say, well, I do like to travel back to the US. I still have family there. So I don't want all my money in Canadian right away. That's when one of these online agencies might work. So your advisor, we generally have very good foreign exchange rates. Our spreads aren't that big and most advisors don't charge fees or commissions for FX transactions. So that can be an option through there as well. But if you can take it in Canadian, you're never going to get a rate that good. Well, let's talk about the estate planning implications of the move. So you had a will and a power of attorney set up in the US. Now you're living in Canada. What needs to happen? You need to redo essentially your estate plan once you get to Canada. While jurisdictions down there may recognize a Canadian well and we may recognize US one. There's a lot of hoops and hurdles to go through. We recommend redoing your estate plan when you're in Canada. Yeah, there's some good reasons for that. I mean, think about who people have appointed as their executor or their power of attorney. What are some of the complications you see? So one of the issues we see with powers of attorney is certain places won't actually accept or recognize a foreign power attorney in Canada. And then all of a sudden, everything that you thought your son or daughter can handle for you, they can't. With executors, if you have an out of country executor, a couple of issues we've seen is that Canadian entities might insist that the executor place a bond with them before they'll allow them to act on the estate. And sometimes the bond is equal to the value of the estate. Well, if you get a $2 million estate, I don't think your executor is going to have that $2 million to place in bond with them. So that can become an issue. You also then look at. If you have an executor in the United States, where is the mind and management of your Canadian estate? It's actually in the United States. And now the US might come in and say, "Hey, that's an American trust. It's an American estate." And then you fall under potentially US estate laws. Because they want to get their hands on the tax money again. Exactly. So in the US, they have estate taxes, whereas in Canada, we don't per se. We don't. It's just probate fees for validating the will. Yeah. And we're deemed to have sold everything at the time. Yeah. And capital gains are paid. Yeah. So the one way you can, a lot of people still want a child that's living in the US to have some say in it. Yeah. So what you could do is use one of the Canadian trust companies. Say, "Solest trust can be your official executor." But what you can put in your will is that they're the executor in consultation with your daughter or son that's living in the US. So now the trust company will consult with your child. But they're not officially named. So the US doesn't come in and cause issues with it. And the estate can get settled a lot smoother, quicker. With still respecting the wishes and the input of the family. Exactly. And it's a lot cleaner and easier. And if you still have, for instance, US retirement accounts, what you generally name beneficiaries right on those accounts, so they will not form part of your estate. Right. You are maintaining, say, a retirement home or a family home in the US. You're going to want to have a separate American will to handle that piece of real estate. It just makes the best sense. And so you'll kind of redo your American will because it won't cover everything anymore. Yeah. But at least-- Just the US assets and then you'll have the Canadian side to handle everything. Exactly. There are cases where most jurisdictions in the US will, jurisdictions states, will recognize a probated Canadian will. It takes time to get probated. And then they might have restrictions and hoops and hurdles that you jump through. So having a very simple American will to handle your American property, it's the easiest way to go. Again, this is just pre-planning. Just pre-planning advance and your life gets so much easier. It does. I guess if you're dead, then your life is easy at that point. But easier for your family. Exactly. And that's a big part of it, right? So I think that's a joke when a couple has a few kids and the one kids named the executor, and they'll say, well, I was the favorite. I'm the executor. You might want to rethink that with all the work that goes into being the executor. Maybe you weren't the favorite. No, thanks. I know what's involved in that. And I do not want to do that job for anybody. No. So hire a trust company to be the executor. That's what we recommend. Yeah. It's just, you know, they do things properly. The other thing you get in a case like that is if there is any sort of variance of the will or there's spurned beneficiaries or people who thought they should have been a beneficiary, you're now dealing with the trust company's lawyers, whereas an individual executor has to go out and find lawyers and deal with it. That's not what they signed up for. No, not at all. They want easy. Exactly. So walk us through then some of the practical tips and implications of making a move. What do you suggest? Well, that's some of the fun stuff is, yeah, you have to get your estate plan handled. Yeah, you've got these investments and accounts that you have to get handled, but there's all sorts of little things like what about bringing your car up? And a lot of people think they have to import their car into Canada. They do, but they also have to export it out of the US. So there's certain sort of rules you have to follow around that. And there's actually people in Canada that will help you do that. Driving record. When you get here and you go to get a BC license, you don't necessarily have a driving record in BC. You're going to get treated like that brand new end driver where your premiums might be quite high. What we found that is helped is if you bring a copy of your insurance record and you're driving abstract, a lot of times they will look at that and say, okay, you drove for 27 years in California without an accident. You're not the same risk as a 17 year old that just got their license. That's great advice. Yeah. I don't think people would think to even ask about that. Most people don't think about that because you think I'm just going to get up to BC or Ontario wherever you might be moving and I'm just going to get my license. You have to worry about how they're going to want to ensure you and if you don't. If you move your vehicle though, there's some challenges with that. There is. So one of the biggest things, even if you go through all the export import properly, you have to get an inspection in Canada on your vehicle before they'll sort of officially approve it as Canadian. And the biggest issue, believe it or not, is usually daytime running lights. The systems in Canada and the US are slightly different on what the government regulations are. It's usually a real simple fix of just having a module installed in the car. But a lot of the car dealerships will tell you, oh, it's not possible. You can't do it. They want to sell you a new car. And you know, I've had some dealings with companies where even though the messaging from the top is we're not able to do it. Thankfully, there's some generous mechanics out there that'll save. I know how to do this and I can take care of it. So there's that. Alcohol is a fun one because you and I both know we head down to the states for a week or so we come back. We're allowed to bring that one bottle without paying duty. You might have people moving that have a collection. They may have a wine cellar. Someone might have a scotch collection. So they actually have what are called the repatriation rates on that. You're not paying the same duties that you and I would. Because that would add up if you have a collection to bring across the border. I remember a gentleman who had a collection of scotch. He had about 65 bottles of scotch and he jokingly said, you're going to have to throw a big party this weekend and let all my friends drink my scotch. And we got to tag and I said, well, you know, you can bring it under the repatriation rates. And it's a spreadsheet that you fill out like in BC. It's with the BC liquor control board. You fill out a spreadsheet and it's roughly $4 a bottle. But if it's a half bottle, it's only $2. It's a little different for wine. What's interesting though is a lot of people had filled out that sheet and they've ended up with a border guard. Border guards kind of look at it and go, what's this? I've never seen this before. And really what they want to know is do you have guns or drugs? No. Welcome home. Yeah. And they let you in. So there's things like that. People think I can't bring this or I can't bring that. Even with guns. I mean, our gun laws are much stricter in Canada. You can bring your firearms up. At least the ones that aren't restricted. You just have to make sure you document it. You have the proper licensing and you let them know. Don't try to sneak one in because that's when they get really mad. Yeah, I would imagine they would. Harp, there is so much to cover. I think my key takeaways from this is people doing the move need to plan it advance. They need to work with a cross-border advisor, have a lawyer either for immigration and or estate planning, cross-border accountant. Kids don't try this at home by yourself. That's the key message. That is. It's the team. And historically what we found is it's been kind of siloed. You mentioned all these different professionals. I have an accountant. I have an advisor. I have an immigration lawyer. You want them all at the table at the same time. And that's one of the biggest things we try to work with is bring everyone to the table. Make sure everyone is working together. Use your pain individually. Get them working together. It's more efficient. It is. And it's going to avoid most of the problems you're going to run into. Harp, thank you so much for being with me today. This has been great. I understand you have kindly agreed to give away a certain number of these books. Where can people go together? Yeah, if they reach out to us on our website, it's sandewwealth.com. But they can also email us at
[email protected]. And that we're happy to get some copies out to them. Great, thank you, Harp. Thanks for having me. And what would you like us to cover next? We love hearing from you. Send us your ideas. Go to thewealthylife.com. And we'll see you next time. As always, please seek independent professional advice before taking action. We are here to provide information to help you learn and ask the right questions to make smart decisions so you can live the wealthy life. [MUSIC PLAYING]
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