[pierremoncton]

We definitely don't want to turn off competent medical professionals and end up with the bottom of the barrel, but I'm confused about the numbers you guys posted. Would appreciate some clarification.

I understand and respect that there's a long and expensive investment in education and that "starting life" is pushed back into the 30s, but that's true in every jurisdiction. I also understand that there's no public pension plan backing you guys up (which is true today for the vast majority of people, including myself).

I understand that you may make more in certain provinces, but that's again true for most professions; however, the difference in real estate pricing makes up for most of the difference (if not more; there's no way I can afford a house in the big cities even if add 50% to my salary).

Rad, you stated that the average gross income is $264k. I don't know how much you make personally, but let's use this average again to compare directly to your numbers. After 40% in expenses, you're left with $160k in taxable income. You're not at the highest tax bracket yet; and only $10k of that is taxable in the second-highest bracket (21% @ >$150k). You're paying $56,300 in taxes. Only AB ($48k), BC ($49k), NL ($52k) and ON ($53k) offer significant savings. Taxes are comparable everywhere else, and actually slightly higher in MB ($57k), NS & PE ($58k) & QC ($60k).

Public pension plans pay upon retirement an average of roughly 75% of past income. If you're like majority of people (even with your high income), you'll never save up enough in personal RRSPs to cover even 50% of your current income for a retirement period of 15-20 years, but let's say your investments are fruitful and do allow you 75% of your current income for as long as you live.

At that point, your retirement income is $120k. On $120k, the difference becomes smaller: yearly savings of $5,500 if you move to the cheapest province, Alberta.

In reality, your retirement income is likely closer to $80k (50%). The difference with Alberta then becomes $2,700.

Over 20 years, that can add up to a big difference, but an $80k retirement is still very comfortable when taking into account that your mortgage has been paid off for some time. A lot of people would feel like millionaires off that income, especially with no mortgage and no dependants.

Then you also have to consider that there's no way to foresee whether tax rates in Alberta will hold steady given the glut in oil prices.

I'm not trying to convince you to retire here, but it seems that if you've already made the choice to accept a lower income here, there's no financial advantage to retiring elsewhere. However, I'm not arguing that there's no long-term financial advantage to starting one's career elsewhere if income is the main goal.

To me, the biggest reasons I can see for high-income earners to leave are the perpetual winters and the lack of any culture and entertainment. There's nothing here for sports fans and there never will be; the closest pro teams are 1,000 km away in Montreal and Boston... there's even barely anything of family value left now that Crystal Palace is gone... no direct or cheap flights unless you're in Halifax... not even something as basic as an IMAX... and the list goes on.