In 2011, 248,748 people became permanent residents of Canada1, arriving from all corners of the world. They are managers, professionals, skilled and technical workers, clerical staff, and labourers. The vast majority plan on joining our workforce, contributing to our economic growth, paying taxes and sustaining programs such as the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS) and medicare.
In this case study, we meet one immigrant couple, Reza and Shadan, who left Iran in 1992 with their two children. “You pretty much start from scratch when you come here,” says Tina Tehranchian, CFP, branch manager and senior financial planner with Assante Capital Management Ltd., and herself an immigrant from Iran. Many immigrants, she adds, experience “years of very low income, low RRSP contribution room because of the low income and probably no saving power either.”
Yet all immigrants have an opportunity to work with financial advisors to improve their retirement income potential. Read on to learn more.
1. Meet Shadan and Reza
• Arrived in Canada in 1992 and settled in Toronto
• Shadan, age 46, earned a bachelor´s degree in psychology in Iran but switched paths and worked her way up through the clerical ranks at a Canadian hedge fund
• Reza, age 48, trained as a physician in Iran but drove a cab in Canada for 16 years before his medical degrees were recognized and accredited in 2008
