Voyageur 131
The Big Three Are Keeping the New Phone Fees, and Retiring Near Home May Be Worth $700,000.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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The Big Three Are Keeping the New Phone Fees
Canada's big three wireless carriers are staring down the CRTC and keeping the new fees. Bell and Rogers have added $40 device charges. Telus has started charging $15 for new physical SIM cards and eSIM activations.
New federal rules took effect on June 12 banning telecom fees tied to activation, plan changes or cancellation when they discourage customers from switching providers. The carriers say their charges are for optional products. The CRTC has already said the charges do not appear to fit that exemption.
That matters if your Canadian number is the boring little lifeline holding together bank codes, CRA logins, airline alerts and family calls from abroad. A fee fight in Ottawa can still show up on the bill for that phone you keep in a drawer overseas.
Now the ball is back with the regulator.
Read more: The Globe and Mail / MobileSyrup
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A photo from the old country:
Retiring Near Home May Be Worth $700,000
A Canadian early-retirement writer put a rough price on the health-care safety net. His math says a couple retiring in Canada instead of Florida could need nearly $700,000 less in savings to cover worst-case medical costs.
The comparison starts with a healthy 40-year-old couple in Florida buying insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges. Even with insurance, the 2026 family out-of-pocket limit can reach US$21,200 a year. Using the FIRE crowd's rule of 25, that recurring risk turns into a US$530,000 portfolio need, or about C$745,000.
Canada is not free of costs. Prescription drugs are patchy, and Quebec caps annual drug costs at $1,232 per person. But that puts the same couple's 25-year Quebec exposure at $61,600.
For a Canadian abroad choosing where old age happens, geography can move the retirement target by a house-sized number.
Read more: The Globe and Mail