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BACKGROUND: I am a 42-year old Canadian male, and I have been living in Japan since 2002. I have a wife (Japanese), a 4 year old son and a 1.5 year old daughter. It's been an exceptionally good living here for the past few years. I have had loads of good paying contract jobs (in the education field) and my wife also has a very good income. We are planning to re-locate to Canada early next year. Yes, we could probably stay here for a few more years, continue to earn an excellent living, and save a lot for the future. But for numerous reasons I won't bother getting into now, we are definitely leaving next year.
FINANCIAL SITUATION: We have no debt at all and we also have no property anywhere in the world at this time. We have been renting in Japan. We have about US$400,000 in about 15 different investment instruments which include stocks, ETFS, and bonds. I have another US$50,000 in a U.S. bank account collecting very minimal interest. I have the equivalent of about another CAN$25,000 altogether in a Canadian bank account and a Japanese bank account.
In some ways I feel extremely fortunate to be in this situation (as I’m sure a large % of Canadians would feel the same!). On the other hand, I will have many decisions to make over the next couple of years and I have no idea what to do from a financial standpoint. Depending on the stock market, we could have well over US$500,000 to get started, maybe more. Depending on where and how we choose to live, it could also disappear as soon as we buy a house, 2 cars, and furnishings! Career-wise, I don’t have anything to head for at present. I certainly have nothing lucrative lined up in North America as I have here in Asia.
I want to find a way to have my money work hard for me. If I take a job / jobs with subpar pay for 2-3 years, I really don't want to draw from our savings to make ends meet. I know that you generally need a lot of $$ to generate more $$$$. What options do I have? Should I liquidate my investments as soon as possible or should I ride the wave? Real estate – to buy a property to live in or properties for investment purposes?
I am looking for ideas. I know that the cost of moving and settling will be extremely costly and I would really like to be prepared for that. I still haven’t decided where exactly we’ll re-locate to within Canada (most likely the central area or western Canada as I'm from the prairies).
Any advice, suggestions, ideas, etc. are really appreciated.
FINANCIAL SITUATION: We have no debt at all and we also have no property anywhere in the world at this time. We have been renting in Japan. We have about US$400,000 in about 15 different investment instruments which include stocks, ETFS, and bonds. I have another US$50,000 in a U.S. bank account collecting very minimal interest. I have the equivalent of about another CAN$25,000 altogether in a Canadian bank account and a Japanese bank account.
In some ways I feel extremely fortunate to be in this situation (as I’m sure a large % of Canadians would feel the same!). On the other hand, I will have many decisions to make over the next couple of years and I have no idea what to do from a financial standpoint. Depending on the stock market, we could have well over US$500,000 to get started, maybe more. Depending on where and how we choose to live, it could also disappear as soon as we buy a house, 2 cars, and furnishings! Career-wise, I don’t have anything to head for at present. I certainly have nothing lucrative lined up in North America as I have here in Asia.
I want to find a way to have my money work hard for me. If I take a job / jobs with subpar pay for 2-3 years, I really don't want to draw from our savings to make ends meet. I know that you generally need a lot of $$ to generate more $$$$. What options do I have? Should I liquidate my investments as soon as possible or should I ride the wave? Real estate – to buy a property to live in or properties for investment purposes?
I am looking for ideas. I know that the cost of moving and settling will be extremely costly and I would really like to be prepared for that. I still haven’t decided where exactly we’ll re-locate to within Canada (most likely the central area or western Canada as I'm from the prairies).
Any advice, suggestions, ideas, etc. are really appreciated.