What to consider before moving back to Canada to retire

The desire to live closer to family, lifestyle reasons, or worries about future health care costs have led many ex-pat professionals who have built their careers in other countries to choose to return to Canada for their retirement years.

But for returning retirees who have accumulated assets elsewhere, the move back home can come with complexities, advisors say. They can benefit from advanced, customized planning around investments, taxes and cost of living considerations.

“It’s important for everybody to plan ahead for their retirement, but this is much more so when people are moving back to Canada,” Mr. Heath says. “They need to crunch the numbers, do the math, understand the implications and be ready and prepared for a return.”

For returning retirees, a potential misstep can be miscalculating the cost of living in Canada after living elsewhere for years, he says.

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