5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Questions answered, Oct 23 2005
By James Schroeder - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Border Guide: A Canadian's Guide to Living, Working, and Investing in the United States (Paperback)
This was a very informitive book that gave us great insight into our situation about our retirement in the US.
With just a quick scan thru this book at the public library we knew it had information that was very valueable to us .
We not only bought one for ourselves but bought a copy for our investment advisor and another for our accountant.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Few can afford not to read this, Aug 1 2009
By Francois Brunet - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Border Guide: A guide to living across the border (Paperback)
I thought I did it right before moving from Canada to the US: I consulted a tax expert, cut my economical and social affiliations with Canada, and crossed the border. Reading The Border Guide was an eye-opener, as there is so much more to think about.
Did you know that capital gain on your RRSP is taxable by the IRS when you become a US resident?
If you own a green card, did you know that the IRS will tax you on your world-wide income *no matter where you live in the world*?
These are just two small examples of stuff you should really, really know before moving to the US, or thinking of coming back to Canada after spending some time in the US with a green card.
The book targets mainly two types of cross-border residents: Canadian retirees spending much of their time in the Sun belt, and investors aiming to widen their portfolio by investing in both countries. As a simple engineer in my thirties, with no estate or businesses, much of this material did not apply to me, but I still found the book extremely resourceful. Even if case studies applied mostly to millionaires, virtually all possible immigration cases are described in some detail.
The book is well structured, giving you the salient information right at the beginning, in the first few chapters. The remaining is well organized for discussing the details, whether you are a small-business owner, a Canadian citizen living in the US and thinking of moving back to Canada, and so on. It is free of jargon, accessible for anybody who once filed their own taxes. I especially appreciated the questions and answers at the end of each chapter, taken from a magazine column written by the author over the years.
One downside: the author is reminding us a little too often to my taste that real border planning should be done by professionals only, that qualified professionals are very rare, expensive, and it is okay to pay a lot for this. This may all be true, but the repeated sales pitch is damaging for the overall reading experience. Also, the chapter on investments does not add much to the usual wisdom: choose your portfolio carefully according to your needs and tolerance for risk. No, really? I would have traded this for more practical information or case studies specific to cross-border planning.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best resource on the subject, Mar 22 2007
By L. Lorenson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Border Guide: A Guide to Living, Working and Investing Across the Border (Paperback)
Well written, well researched, great resource for anyone who has assets in both Canada and the US, or wants to move from one country to another with financial savvy, to minimize taxes and maximize assets.