Should I stay or should I go?

[florch]

Do you not understand how marginal tax rates work? You're not paying 53% of your income in taxes; if you make over $202800, then anything you make over $202800 will be taxed at that rate. Everything you earn below that will be taxed at the lower amounts. If you made exactly $202800 your average rate, i.e. what you actually pay, would be 36.8%, and the tipping point at which you would actually pay over 50% is literally at $1000000.

You left out property tax, HST, carbon taxes, high cost of living...it's not what you make, it's what you keep.

[co-joe]

My first three choices would be.

One of the cay's off Belize.

Panama.

Ecuador.

In that order.

The difference between a cay and an island is that islands have fresh water. A cay you'd have to pay to have it brought in. Otherwise I'm right there man.

[rolly117]

well this has been a good discussion on stay or go!
i made the the go choice and have never been happier
Aviation in canada has gone down the toilet since the millennium
I have not seen a raise in pay in 20 years
I found a nice south american country that has bullshit beyond believe
and it it is still better than Canada because my employer is Canadian and pays Canadian wages
I am basically a millionaire here and in one year the money devaluation gave me a 25 percent raise in pay
I am talking buying power whoooee!
Señor finance minister who ever you are, make our dollar stronger than the trump buck
this would make this Xpat Canuk muy Felis
I bought a bmw f700gs last month and i am living the dream
I am not a pilot i solve problems in pretty rough conditions and make the company millions
engineer ROLLY 117 CG-GKG R4D-8 best aircraft ever built Verdad!

[confusedalot]

To the OP, sounds like that you are on top of the food chain here in Canada. And as you have indicated, waiting for the payoff down the road appears to be frustrating.

I've said this before on this forum, going expat involves a hell of alot more than just changing jobs. You are changing your life wholesale from A to Z. So sit back and think what is best for you, as in, living in the sandbox or Asia for an extended decades long period, or forever, or, a bit less money in your pocket for the current lifestyle. The grass is not as green on the other side as you may think.

I need to laugh at those who invoked Jetster Vietnem as a better place to be. They pay a total of about 11000 or 14000 US per month for a captain, something like that (I got an email from a headhunter) and that includes everything including your per diems. You will also not have the same living conditions as you would have in North America, I know becasue I did in fact do a Vietnam Airlines contract for 4 years. You might want to look at airline pilot central.com to see where an air canada driver in the same plane makes, and factoring in taxes, you are much better off in Canada, once you get that slot which I hear is not all that difficult to get anymore. You are not as well off as the US, they pay much more. So go US if you can, right to work and all.

Think before you jump; typically people of my generation went expat because we had zero choice after all of the bankruptcies, downsizings, and mass layoffs. It's not like that anymore, things are booming, and, it is only a matter of time, and a short couple of years, if that, that you will be into the big bucks and on easy street, without all of the upheaval.

[BE20 Driver]

Honestly, I'm still weighing my options. Stay or go depends on the day.

The JetStar brands, all of them aren't known for their high pay. It's ok, just not out of this park. What it does is maybe give you some PIC on type which in turn opens up a lot more doors.

American Airlines in general are much better than anything we have here. Not everyone can get into one though by virtue of birthright. Air Canada has a better long term compensation package than WS and much shorter upgrade times. Again, not everyone gets into AC.

I don't know what the future holds but I'll keep looking until I find something that works.

[Panama Jack]

I think Avianca would be really hard to get into as a foreigner. Having worked in Colombia in a previous life, I recall it being very difficult and bureaucratic to get all the proper paperwork. I suspect it would be almost impossible to get a work permit etc. I loved Colombia and the people there were amazing so I would go back in a heartbeat.

I know my response is a little late, but Avianca was having a labor dispute around this time so it wouldn't surprise me if they are looking for some scab pilots. Gérman Eframovich seems to have been using some Lorenzo tactics down there.

[BE20 Driver]

I know my response is a little late, but Avianca was having a labor dispute around this time so it wouldn't surprise me if they are looking for some scab pilots. Gérman Eframovich seems to have been using some Lorenzo tactics down there.

I've been all over South America in the past. Loved it. Colombia is my favourite of all the places I've been to down there. I don't support breaking anyone's labour dispute with scab pilots though.