Hi EC…I appreciate your posts and your rationale for moving. I was just with some like-minded friends this weekend here on the East coast (NY) and we were talking about possibly setting up shop together for retirement/bug out in Nova Scotia since it is reasonably driveable from our current location. Do you have any opinions on the East coast of Canada? I assume all of the political benefits are the same as for you in BC. Thanks, Jim
I've always liked Canada. All other things being equal (and they aren't), if I could live anywhere in the world it would be Toronto. Two issues have caused me to cross Canada off my list to bug out to: 1) I can't bring any guns, and 2) I can't bring any precious metals without paying about 30% tax on their value. Of course, there's always smuggling, but that adds a dimension of danger and uncertainty (at an extremely vulnerable moment) that I just don't want to deal with.Tom
Most all of my coins are Canadian and stored in Canada (60%-w/40% near me). I live 20 minutes from the border, and know this part of Canada pretty well. Toronto is just beautiful but I still feel most comfortable not having so many people in and around me during crisis.
Happy Holidays
BOB
Hi Jim,A short quick answer while on my coffee break… Nova Scotia and BC are quite different in many ways. If you want to avoid winter you might want to avoid Nova Scotia… You will find each province in Canada has different leanings in politics, and each province, like your states, have differing types of economies, different taxation set ups, health care set ups and so on. We are similar, but different, if that makes any sense. So it does pay to do your homework. I'd be happy to give you more info if you are interested…
Jan
Just as a point of discussion… although seemingly arbitrary, I thought that pure Gold (.999 and greater) coins like Buffalos and Maples (but not Eagles) could be brought in to Canada tax free… Here is one reference;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieL4OM__b04
Hi Jim and everyone else who is curious about bringing PM to Canada,I was under the impression that you can bring in <$10,000 in personal financial instruments without a problem. Anything in excess of 10 grand must be declared, as it is in most of the world, to protect against money laundering. I am pretty sure of this, but not 110% so here is a link that may help you to get more info:
Http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5073-eng.html
I hope that helps a bit.
Jan
see http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/zurbuchen011506.html
i think i am a pretty good guesser. i certainly think a dismissive set of remarks is uncalled for. the qty of silver would have to be vastly greater than gold to suppoirt the price difference
Although you made the argument that there must be 20 -100 Billion ounces of Silver "out there"… the article you cited does a pretty good job of quantifying ALL Silver ever mined, and comes up with the following statement, mainly as a means to substantiate the basis for the historical Gold-to-Silver ratio, which today's price ratio is out of sync with;
44.55 billion ounces of silver/ 4.25 billion ounces of gold = a 10.5 to 1 ratioSo we don't have to guess... 44 + Billion ounces (that was 2006 data) have been mined in history. Silver has industrial uses.. much of the older Silver went into photography.. more recently it has been consumed and dispersed via electronics uses, including most lately solar panels. The statement that there are somewhere in the range of 1 Billion ounces of investable, tradeable, available Silver right now is entirely plausible, in part based on data that I referenced in the earlier post.Hmmm…This says nothing of the silver deficit and yet the ratio already reveals that at today's prices ($9/ounce vs. $540/ounce) silver trades at an 82.5% discount to gold, or conversely, it could be said that gold is overvalued by about 570% in terms of silver. Of the two ways of looking at the comparative price, I'll most certainly choose the former as I believe both silver and gold will be going up wildly in price in the coming years. Most would agree that neither gold nor silver is undervalued in terms of the dollar, so the only way to look at this situation is to say that silver is undervalued in terms of the dollar and gold. This means that I expect silver to far outperform any gains seen in the price of gold, even if gold doubles or triples in price within these next 2 years. The ratio will shrink, and silver will rise much faster, drawn up, as if by a vacuum in space, a vacuum created by the long-term market manipulation, short selling, and government dishoarding.
If you research it further, you will find that there was in fact a large strategic stockpile of Silver held in the US prior to the 1980's, but it was dishoarded and eventually the US abandoned the idea of stockpiling at all.
reference: All About the United States Strategic Silver Stockpile
Metal prices are based on supply vs demand. Gold has primarily investment demand… Silver primarily industrial… for now. There is no basis to say that Silver's current low price means there must be craploads of it sitting around somewhere. If though, you were to cite the fact that the level of short Silver Comex contracts is higher relative to yearly production than any other commodity, then you might be getting warm as to the real reason that Silver is underpriced.
Here is another reference that suggests < 1 Billion ounces available;
source: http://www.monex.com/prods/silver.htmlIt is estimated that more than 95% of all the silver ever mined throughout history has already been consumed by industrial use. That silver is gone forever, unrecoverable at any price. In 1900, there were approximately 12 billion ounces of silver in the world. Today, that figure has fallen to about 300 million ounces of above-ground, refined silver. This means that at current prices, it would only take about four billion dollars to purchase all of the above-ground silver in the world today.
[quote=dave blau]see The World's Cumulative Gold and Silver Production | Gold Eagle
i think i am a pretty good guesser. i certainly think a dismissive set of remarks is uncalled for. the qty of silver would have to be vastly greater than gold to suppoirt the price difference
[/quote]
dave,
I was curious as to the basis for your suggestion, so I followed the link you provided and read Part I of Mr. Zurbuchen's essays. He uses several sources of data to conclude that since the beginning of time through 2004, man has mined 44.542 billion ounces of silver and 4.25 billion ounces of gold. I was curious enough to click on the link to his website - silverinscripture.com … The site doesn't exist. So, I put the name "David Zurbuchen" into a Google search and found a link to http://www.safehaven.com/article/4688/the-silver-deficit-1942-2004. (This is Part II of the series.) He admits that a silver deficit exists and attempted to quantify it. I agree with his logic, but can't say how close to reality his numbers are. At the end of this essay, he has a preview to Part III of the series. Here is the preview:
He is updating the mined amount from 1992-2004, but not the consumed amount. If patterns that existed since 1942 (silver in deficit) continued through 2004, the total available would be less than 19 billion ounces, not more. Even less is available in 2012. Also, the majority of the silver above ground (16.48 million ounces in 1991) are tied up in silverware and artwork. Although technically available, it will take a much higher price to bring much of it to market and more work (energy) for refiners to separate the silver from silverware, making it less attractive than bullion or coins. It isn't an apples to apples comparison. To be fair, any gold that has been used in art or plating would be in the same category. I don't know what those ratios are.
Finally, tuck your feelings away. You need to support your arguments much better around here if you don't want to be casually accused of erroneous thinking. I don't know why silver is trading at around 50:1 with gold. Could it be that people have been trained to think that is the appropriate ratio? Could it be that the silver users are manipulating the price using paper ounces? I don't know. You can keep a beach ball under water, but it squirts out quite violently eventually. I'm overweight in silver because I believe that the ratio is about an order of magnitude out of kilter.
As far as I'm concerned, silver is on sale.
Grover
PS - I started writing this, read the articles and got caught in search mode and posted this before reading Jim's reply.
Jim,
Canada wants immigrants to help support its aging population, more specifically people with certain skills or businesses to offer. The critical age is 50. Above that, they are not interested. I think there are still ways in, opening a business for example, but I am not sure. Many of the immigration rules have changed since I was accepted, so much of my knowledge is dated, but I do know that the best way in is with a skilled worker visa.
I became a resident with a skilled worker visa, which allows us to be like every other Canadian, except we cannot vote or run for office. We even get to apply for jobs as a Canadian. The visa last 5 years and we are allowed to renew it if we reside in Canada for 2 of those years. If we live in Canada 3 out of 4 years we qualify for Canadian citizenship and get a Canadian passport.
US citizens are allowed duel citizenship with Canada. I will even be allowed to vote in both countries, doubling my little bit say-so in the future fate of humanity. What is that worth? Can you even put a monetary value on that?
I will pay the higher Canadian rate for taxes, but it will be split between the US and Canada. For my particular situation, the extra money I pay in taxes is about equal to my savings in health care cost. In the US, I was paying about $1k/month plus deductibles, plus copays, plus hours spent disputing denial letters. In British Columbia I am paying $32/month per person with no deductibles and no denial letters to dispute. There are still copays in the form of medications, dentists, and other extended services that are not covered by the basic system.
Treat the propaganda you hear about the horrors of the Canadian health care system with the sort of skepticism that should have been shown to those who told us that the Iraq war would pay for itself. I injured my shoulder in one of the very nice and affordable recreation centers here. (Wave pool, 4-story slide, lazy river, and high diving boards for $3.50 a person.) The next day, after a five-minute wait, I was talking to a doctor and had an ultrasound ordered. Three days later, and another 20-minute wait, the ultrasound was done. If I had needed surgery, it would have taken some time, but it would not have cost me extra. It is better than being a member of the 60% of US citizens that are forced into bankruptcy for medical reasons. Consuming 19% of GDP, the US certainly has more advanced medical treatments, but the Canadian system is certainly more affordable at only 10% of GDP.
Each province is different on healthcare. Due to its oil wealth, Alberta residents pay nothing for health care. I have no idea what residents in Nova Scotia pay.
When I did my research several years ago the breakeven point on income was $70K per year. As far as taxes go, the average person making less than $70k is better off in Canada and better off in the US if income is above $70k. That is before you figure in college tuition, which is typically a third the cost in Canada. National and provincial taxes are combined in British Columbia and the top tax rate of 43% kicks in around $70k. Corporate and capital gain tax rates are less.
Estate taxes are also much less in Canada. About 900,000 people moved to Canada following the Iraq War, one of the country’s largest immigration periods. Surprisingly, the rate of immigration increased with the election of Obama. Why? Apparently, the affluent see the US coming after their wealth to pay off its debt. To protect their wealth from estate taxes, they are establishing Canadian residency, divesting their US assets, reinvesting in Canadian assets, and denouncing US citizenship. In Canada, there is more like a 1.5% probate fee. Note: Denouncing US citizenship is not my plan. My goal is duel citizenship so that we can live in either place. Despite its predicament, the US is too important to the fate of humanity. I consider my vote there too valuable to sacrifice.
I don’t know much about Nova Scotia; all of my research was directed toward British Columbia. One place to start your research is www.migrationexpert.com. Just click on Canada and take one of their surveys. I filled out one in 2003 and found out I qualified in 15 minutes. It is just one of many companies that offer assistance through the process. You can apply to Canada directly, but don’t expect much help. I found their services to be very helpful and worth the cost. I suggest you just take the survey and then shop around for yourself because my experience with them was nearly a decade ago.
Good luck on your search. I am curious to learn what you find out.
EC
You are required to report anything worth over $10k when crossing the border. It is better to cross with gold coins instead of bullion because sometimes gold coins are valued at the value printed on the coin. I bet there is site somewhere that will better describe how the coins are valued at border crossings.
Surprisingly, Canadians have as many firearms per capita as the US, but they are all for hunting. Personally, living in Canada makes me feel much safer. I lived in the southern US where I regularly hear people advise me get a gun and stock up on ammunition to prepare for the upcoming race war. Or complaining that crime rate is going to go up because the town will not allow people to carry handguns on the greenway. These people are angry and misled. (The violent crime rate in both the US and Canada are at 40 year lows.) Considering the number of angry, irrational, and well-armed people in the south, I feel much safer in a country that offers a more rational approach to things and where the people are not so angry.
EC
Hey Bob. What's with the Canadian coins and storage? I thought you were RED, WHITE, AND BLUE. Look like some maple leaves are growing in the cracks, lol.;-)
ao, I laughed with you. Hey, don't forget Mom, apple pie, and BASEBALL!!! Canadians are a special breed of Folks. They just chill and wear their emotions on their sleeves. My kind of Folks. I played so much hockey with them as kids because in Detroit (Windsor) I was 10 minutes by tunnel and 2O by bridge. Now I'm 20 minutes by bridge again (Quebec) only North of Detroit. Then baseball in the summer. I almost fell in LOVE with a Canadian girl in Up North Michigan one summer at 17, I was the type who just fell in Love quick but distance killed that romance plus I met my wife after that summer, fell hard again, and that was that. I drink very little but I'll take Barb (wife) and we'll spend a weekend in Niagara Falls, go to the same pub we go to year in and year out and we drink, dance, and have a great time. Usually with the same people year after year from Canada eh!, and it's great.
When I was making my plans in 2009 Chris was very happy with Canada and I did my research, and thought if things were really bad where could I go and feel comfortable, and be close to home. Up North Michigan was my first choice and Canada was my second. One is nearly 6 hours away (my Michigan spot) and Canada (farming district) was 20 minutes so I went close. Honestly, I have no real attachment to Gold except what it would mean. My plans for it are to take care of as many family members in food, clothing, and shelter for as long as it lasts. I have a huge family, and I am more worried about them than myself. I am cool, and this Gold was basically tithed in honor of my parents to the family. I don't know if anyone out there has a similar story but when you're raised with 12 other Brothers and Sisters you feel a bond that is unbelievably strong, and then you add their kids, and their kids, and you just prepare a little harder.
ao, this was nice just BS'ing.
Peace
BOB
[quote=RJE] I almost fell in LOVE with a Canadian girl in Up North Michigan one summer at 17
/quote]
And where in tarnation is "Up North" Michigan because if it's where I think it is, you better be callin' it somethin' else, lol.
…LOL…my property is about an hour South of the Mackinac Bridge, and I met her on Mackinaw Island. I have no clue if you are familiar with this area but it is truly the most beautiful place in the world. Look at the mitten of Michigan, and it's the very tip and then the bridge, and Mackinaw Island. Amazing visuals, hunting, fishing, and skiing. 1 person for every 10000 acres or some such large number.Peace
BOB
Enjoyed reading all the comments about Canada. It is our (wife, daughter, and me) backup plan as well. My wife is a dual citizen CA/US which makes my daughter as well. I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI (prior to GR, 8 years in Buffalo, NY…cold!!). Our backup plan has nothing to do with leaving the US but rather where our family lives. Have to give them credit, they are in a good position to weather a global meltdown.
Thank You
[quote=RJE]…LOL…my property is about an hour South of the Mackinac Bridge, and I met her on Mackinaw Island. I have no clue if you are familiar with this area but it is truly the most beautiful place in the world. Look at the mitten of Michigan, and it's the very tip and then the bridge, and Mackinaw Island. Amazing visuals, hunting, fishing, and skiing. 1 person for every 10000 acres or some such large number.
Peace
BOB
[/quote]
Bob,
I have some familiarity with the area. I live in that promised land above the bridge called the UP but since my posts are being censored now including my response to you on another thread, I doubt you'll get this message.
[quote=RJE]…LOL…my property is about an hour South of the Mackinac Bridge, and I met her on Mackinaw Island. I have no clue if you are familiar with this area but it is truly the most beautiful place in the world. Look at the mitten of Michigan, and it's the very tip and then the bridge, and Mackinaw Island. Amazing visuals, hunting, fishing, and skiing. 1 person for every 10000 acres or some such large number.
Peace
BOB
[/quote]
Bob,
I'm not only familiar with the area but I live there … and it's called "da YooPee". And it is beautiful. But as far as most beautiful in the world, you need to get out more my friend, lol. We do indeed have great scenery, fishing, hunting, skiing, people, etc. and a low population density but your figures are a little off. It's more like one person per 35 acres rather than 1 per 10,000 acres.
And while you may fire that shotgun from the hip at your own risk, don't be firing that .308 that way. We don't need rounds arcing up here from troll country, lol.