Advice on money...

[jessicaDiana 0]

hello all vjers!

this is abit of an odd question, and personal i suppose...but i was wondering how much money did you (by yourself, not including the petioner) leave canada with to go live with your fiance in the U.S?

im just trying to get an idea how much i should bring with me to the U.S once our visa is approved(i know i should be bringing as much as i can lol)..i know this question can have multiple answers because we are all in different situations in what we need to be paying for in our personal lives...i just want an idea. how much did you leave with?

[dualhammers 1]

Wouldn't a more helpful set of questions be a comparison of how much they had when they arrived in America and how much they have now correlated against a series of questions about their happiness and their own opinion about their quality of life? Of course you will need to do a series of follow-up questions of what they consider a "good" quality of life so you can compare that against your own answers to that question to get an even remotely accurate answer.

[Inky 1,111]

I brought 3k USD with me and it was gone before I could blink my eyes.

Paying for AOS and wedding things and then also food and new cellphone, drivers license, car insurance and car registration. New vet stuff for my dog I brought with me.

All kinds of life things ate that money up so fast my head spun. I honestly wish I had more money when I came over so I could of had some left overs to do some nice things for my husband and myself before it was all gone on " important " things lol.

[jessicaDiana 0]

just want an idea what people think would be an okay amount to leave or or end up with in the U.S when they arrived. nothing too too specific. just a very rough idea is all i am loooking for

[dualhammers 1]

How is the answer going to be any different than "all of your money?" If you are living there than the standard rules on what is a good amount of money to have with you applies. If you have it six months of salary saved up is ideal. More is better, less is not.

[jessicaDiana 0]

guess i worded my own question wrong? lol

[SapphireDreams 71]

Honestly, save as much as you possibly can. I can't stress that enough. Like Inky said, by the time you get here, get a new cell phone, payments for AOS, driver's license, just day to day living etc. is not cheap. I had around $15k give or take when I moved here, but I also knew I would have some bills to pay (student loans) and knew that we had a large wedding to pay for and also needed to get an apartment in NYC (not cheap) and had to buy all new furniture (also not cheap). I burned through that much quicker than I thought I would and once settled, used the leftovers to pay for our large church wedding deposits.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

It's a really good question. Depending on what stage in life you're at you may need more or less $$$. I've noticed that younger couples on here who may or not be finished school and may or may not be out of their parent's houses can get by with a lot less. They haven't established a certain lifestyle that they're used too (and thus don't want to lose when moving).

My husband and I were 42 and 37 respectively when I moved and we married - we're used to our creature comforts and both established in our careers, between us we have 3 kids, all of whom have needs. He had a house already, so my daughter and I moved in. We combined our savings, received some lovely cash wedding gifts as well and I received EI from Canada. I expected to be off 4-6 months (it was 4.5 in the end) and we planned accordingly.

We made some modifications to how we spent money, but nothing really too binding. I knew I'd find a job relatively quickly once I got my EAD and indeed I did - my current job was probably one of my first queries .

We had planned well in advance to have the AOS fee (x2 with my daughter) ready. God knows Montreal gave us enough time to save

6 months of whatever your living expenses will be, immigration fees, sounds about right

[Stuart and Thea 95]

ugh, need more money...

I plan to bring very little with me, but my fiance can support me for the time being. I have a home still in Canada, and will need to keep my bank account active here to pay mortgage payments on until it sells. Of course, if I make any money on it, then I will have money to bring, but really? I'm looking more at bringing debt with me at this point! lol!!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Honestly, I moved with $0 in my pocket. I moved the day after I graduated from college, so there wasn't much money available.

My husband on the other hand saved in anticipation for my arrival. We also lived with my in-laws for the first few months, and Bill was working full-time so money wasn't really an issue. Like Udella said, it all depends on the lifestyle you plan on living after you arrive. We lived fairly humbly for the first 8-10 months, and although it wasn't ideal, it wasn't the worst thing either. Life is much better now!