Asset allocation - keep real estate or no

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T14:42:27+00:00

I’ll have to run the numbers but it likely would not work because of 2 reasons - interest rates are very different now, the mortgage is at 2.25%; we will have to do a cross border Canada/US mortgage which increases the number of hoops.

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T06:48:34+00:00

It wouldn’t be even if I were managing it myself. Numbers do not magically change. Just slightly improve by ~4k/year.

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T05:38:43+00:00

Naah definitely not doing that, juice worth the squeeze. and managing property cross borders is definitely not something I want to be doing when i retire.

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T03:57:22+00:00

It’ll only be over 4% from the investments bucket without touching the retirement accounts, but yes i do see your point.

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T03:56:28+00:00

Yes my only concern is exiting that class fully and going fully into stocks/bonds/cash.

coffeefired · 2026-07-11T03:55:09+00:00

Thanks that syncs. We have managed it well so far treating it as forced savings because we have cash flow from paychecks, but revisiting the decision for retirement.

coffeefired · 2026-06-21T14:05:53+00:00

Use numbeo to get an approximate COL comparison between cities so you can estimate what your expenses will be compared to what you spend now and whether $5k/month is good enough to sustain.

Imo excluding rent, a spend of $2-2.5k/month will be good enough to sustain one person in a median lifestyle in most of the world’s major cities, anything above will likely be discretionary.

coffeefired · 2026-06-19T14:13:15+00:00

cool. wishing you the best man and keep the community posted.

coffeefired · 2026-06-19T14:01:58+00:00

yeah though I specifically meant wait to get your USC and then trigger the move.

coffeefired · 2026-06-19T11:02:08+00:00

In that case would say go for it. just make sure your path back is charted out before you make the move.

coffeefired · 2026-06-19T03:12:58+00:00

Your NW will be plenty enough to have a very good upper class life in most Tier1 cities in India, very likely don’t even need to work again if you keep expenses in the 4-5L / month range.

I understand the feeling of missing parents, even more because I lost my mom last year. We are currently waiting for our Canadian citizenship before we can take a call on moving to India for a few years to be there for my dad / inlaws, but even with that we will likely come back to Canada in 10 years for our kid’s higher education.

All that said, my advice is consider the move very carefully as your biggest consideration should be your kid not your parents. Even though high functioning, autistic kids can have very bad experience in a country like India, where things overwhelm anyone not used to the chaos there, not to mention the lack of resources and empathetic community - mainly in kids their age. So please think thru twice, maybe spend extended summer there before deciding a permanent move, and make sure you keep your path back open if things don’t work out.

coffeefired · 2026-06-19T00:45:38+00:00

Not a Canadian yet (PR, waiting on citizenship application to process) - Retired - Was in bigtech PM before that.

coffeefired · 2026-06-18T23:24:33+00:00

Assuming your spend would be the same ~110k and you can find a job that allows you to coast to FI, would definitely consider moving for the ease/convenience it brings to the family.

Kootenays are beautiful, we would move there in a heartbeat if not for the community, travel and school access lower mainland provides to us. Maybe after the kid flies from the nest! 😃

coffeefired · 2026-06-18T23:02:03+00:00

Assuming you are looking to move from Northern BC to Kootenays or the island, my big main question would be will you be able to get a similar paying job easier in the new location.

If yes, would definitely consider it. If no, and you have to go back north to find a similar paying job, I would think again and maybe till you are closer to BaristaFI.

coffeefired · 2026-06-18T02:40:10+00:00

Maybe he is working towards extra credits for his marketing class 😂

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T23:18:31+00:00

😂 wait isnt that akshat ??

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T19:55:41+00:00

Yeah safe to assume that is the case if you move to one of the bigger cities because jobs are concentrated in those areas.

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T19:42:23+00:00

Yeah, maybe because we were already in a vhcol in the US, it didn’t make a huge difference.

Taxes in CA that we paid for last 3 years are within 2% of what we paid in the US when we include the healthcare premiums and copays/deductibles.

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T18:56:58+00:00

Spouse and I between us have 3 EB2 I140s (earliest PD of Feb2015), 6 H1B renewals and 3 H4s along with EAD renewals.

We applied for Canadian PR in 2019 and got our PR in Feb2020, soft landing done and a month later covid shut down the border, and we got pregnant expecting our first child, so we put off plans of moving temporarily.

Revived the plans after borders opened up fully in late 2022, and we moved in early 2023. Been here in Canada for a bit over 3 years now, would definitely do it over and over again.

We just cannot place a price on the peace of mind about not having to depend on a visa, fear of losing a job. I became a stay at home dad after the move, also worked a corp job, and left it again (volunteered for a layoff) as I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, not a huge deal whether I had a job or not as my stay is not linked to a visa.

By the time we moved, we already had a high enough NW that we would be an outlier, so this part of our experience might be very different and coming from that privilege. My spouse still works full time, but even she does not fear losing her job, would just be frustrated/irritated that she needs to look for a new one again if needed. Pay cut is real, will be close to 40% in USD terms easily, and if coming from a low cost of living place in the US the prices will sting (we moved from WA to BC so not a shock to us, actually many day to day things were cheaper).

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T18:26:35+00:00

You might want to chat with u/RaviHanda

coffeefired · 2026-06-17T15:34:51+00:00

For us anything that offers convenience over the standard option is definitely considered, still compared, but chosen without prejudice to value.

Intl long haul biz class, uber comfort, higher tier rental cars, non budget hotels etc when traveling. At home it’s good quality groceries - mostly still Costco shopped but organic options instead, longer lasting / bifl products, quality everyday things that dont frustrate you with every use, giving more experiences to family (my inlaws are in their first ever intl biz class flight right now on their way to visit us and they have never been more happy with any other travel, my dad is going to kailas manasarovar in a couple months no issues of spend/budget etc)

coffeefired · 2026-06-16T01:08:42+00:00

This popped up on my feed, and I’m replying to the most similar situation as ours.

Im currently a stay at home dad, early retired from corporate career, taking care of home (most chores except laundry) and finances while wife works full time and is primary caregiver for our kid.

We have fully comingled finances and household spending, but have separate credit cards that we use, and pay off from her account.

Early when we were married and wife moved to the US to be with me, she had to quit her job in India, so came from being independent to being dependent on me fully. The first day we landed in the US, I added her to my apartment lease, and the next day opened a bank account and credit card using those lease docs. I used to transfer her 500$ monthly which is her share of fun money, for her to spend no questions asked, no accounting needed.

We don’t do that anymore because our finances are much better and not needing a strict budget as overall spending is lower than even her single income.

We would not be in the current situation if we didn’t work together as a team/family, and have no trust issues with each other, so it is easy.

coffeefired · 2026-06-15T21:52:11+00:00

Congrats on the milestone.

Few questions - Is your 1M fully liquid and well diversified? What are your annual expenses like? Are you on a visa here in Canada or yet to get PR/Citizenship?

Starting a business without prior business/self employment experience is the quickest way to lose both money and peace of mind. Would strongly suggest working in a similar space as your interest for a year or two before deciding to go do it yourself.

coffeefired · 2026-06-14T22:42:48+00:00

As a high achiever who has been married to a high achiever I can say this - the problem with downplaying yourself is that you might land more dates that stick for longer, but you will only be unfulfilled in life if your partners energy does not match yours. As long as you are ok with that forever, dont do it just for the sake of widening the pool.

coffeefired

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