John&Joey wrote:
Many of our Canadian neighbors/friends who aren't on this forum bought US Dollars when the Loony was strong. That will help them out now that the exchange rate is so bad. Sooner or later those US dollars will run out.
Very interesting statement about paying health insurance premiums in Canadian dollars but benefits in US dollars that make a ton of sense how that will not work in the long run. Guessing those that did not have their premiums go up are still young enough where the insurance underwriters' don't view them as a high risk. That will change as they age I'm guessing.
I'm thinking that the long term snowbirds will start to shrink. Coming down for a couple of months is not so hard on the pocketbook as it would be for six months.
We talked about going into our line of credit for 50 grand to buy US dollars when the Can dollar was at $1.10, but we thought the interest we would have to pay would eat up the benefit. Of course i thought maybe it would drop to maybe 95 cents, not 75. Nobody ever predicted the price of oil woudl go down to $40.
I lead a Mexican RV Caravan in the Fall with my sister. My wife enjoys 2 months alone without having to clean up after me. I do not get paid, but they pay most of my expenses, including fuel, tolls & insurance from Vancouver on. Trouble is my wife, who wants to go down for 4 months in Spring, does not have the personality to lead a caravan. If she does not like someone, they know it in 5 minutes, tops. My sister, on the other hand would get along with Saddam Hussein. Too bad or I would get my entire winter covered. I still get break on some RV parks who appreciate the business I bring them, but that is minor. If it gets any more expensive, my wife is going to have to suck it up. At least I get my insurance covered for the whole year.
That brings up a point, it may be possible for Canadians to work, like in an RV park, in exchange for a free or subsidized stay with no money changing hands.
65 is when Americans & Canadians switch places. Canadians enjoy free medical care all their lives, but it won't pay enough to cover the expensive US medical system. So they have to spend a few thousand dollars on insurance. On the other hand Americans get free medicare after 65 (Isn't that the case?) which will cover the expensive US medical costs. The cost of medical care in the US is about 10 times that of Canada and our system will only pay up to what it would cost in Canada. That may cover you in Mexico, but not in the US.
The other thing is, RVing is expensive. Something always breaks on an expensive truck or RV sooner or later.
I still curse our government back in the 70's for not annexing the Turks & Caicos islands like they wanted. If we had, we would have a warm place to go in winter that was still part of Canada.
Most Canadians can no longer afford to Snowbird after 75. Both my wife & I have pensions we can live off. When our OAS & CPP kick in at 65, the intent is for that to cover our Dental and travel insurance, no matter how much we have to pay.
