Canadian moving to Espoo/Helsinki

[Canadian_moose]

Hello everyone,

I am a Canadian who has been offered a job in Espoo, not very far from Helsinki (about 20 minutes bus). The salary will be 40000 euros a year and I am married with no children. I wanted to know the following :

What is the income tax for a married couple for the salary I would be making ?

Can we live decently with my salary alone, i.e. we are not crazy spenders but we enjoy good quality (organic, fresh) food and a night in a restaurant once in a while (every week or two).

My wife is an English as a second language teacher and will be actively looking for work in the Helsinki region. Does anyone here has ideas on where she could start to search for such a job ?

Is there any other Canadians around ? If yes, what was your experience when you moved to Helsinki, any recommendation ?

That's it for now, thank you for your help and answer to any of these questions.

[Rip]

Tax calculator:
http://prosentti.vero.fi/VPL2013/Sivut/ ... iedot.aspx
Taxation is made on individual level, not as families. With the information given, the answer seems to be about 28%, mandatory pension and other fees included.
I take you should be able to manage, but you will not likely be able to save much for the future.
Somebody else can perhaps confirm, but your wife can perhaps count on getting the labour market subsidy level basic unemployment benefit (if she is willing to play the games the unemployment office asks her to do).
My understanding is that there is lot more people wanting to teach English language than there suitable job openings. Considering you come from Canada your wife probably has actual professional qualifications for the job?

[Pursuivant]

Taxes - theres a calculator on vero.fi, you'll be paying something line 28% so what, 32000 in hand? Married? taxation? mmm, no I don't think you can deduct the garlic wreaths and silver bullets used to ward off the mother-in-law, thats only in Romania.

So lets say you bring in 2,500 and pay rent, well, you won't be living in a mansion so a ghetto flat in Espoon Keskus runs for 750. Its a bit too late to go to the forest to pick berries, so you need to get your fres stuff from the Lidl freezer the first year, but you can always go ice fishing on the sea. And there should be enough cheap kebab shops to afford to go out on that money too. So no worries.

What comes to teaching its a bit of a regulated profession as what comes to qualifications and "qualified" tenures. (They love to pay less salary for a missing paper) but the first step is to get the equivalence accreditation done, so http://www.oph.fi/english/mobility/reco ... ifications

[Canadian_moose]

Thank you for the reply and a hint at Finnish humor. : )

Yes my wife has professional qualifications. She is actually British and she possesses University level certifications from Cambridge and Bath University as well as several years of experience teaching in community centers, high schools and University. She is also thinking of offering free-lancing teaching workshop and courses.

Believe it or now, but one reason we are attracted to Finland is also the high taxation that allows quality public services (education, health, environmental protection etc..). We don't mind paying high taxes if it means lower poverty levels and better quality of life for most.

Here's an additional question. Can one find the equivalent of farmer's markets in Espoo ? Espoo looks more like a suburb from the outside. I don't mind going through 30 minute of bus to get to Helsinki and buy local products but I'd rather have these available nearby.

Thank you again for the help and replies.

[kharnynb]

40k per year is a very livable salary, but be prepared to not live like a king here, especially compared to canada's main cities.
You didn't say where you are from, so it's hard to compare.

Espoo is a bit cheaper than central helsinki, but more expensive than eastern helsinki/vantaa.
Actual teaching jobs are few and far between in greater helsinki, especially since you would need a finnish "teachers diploma" for most of them.

Farmers markets are practically unknown, best is hakaniemi halli(individual sellers, reasonable food at hefty prices) in Helsinki.
Finland is a "good enough" country for most foodsupplies, which means 90% of the people shop and eat in chain-stores/restaurants.
Helsinki does have a reasonable selection of restaurants, but is expensive compared to central europe/northern america.

Espoo is basically a suburb of Helsinki, it has all the basic shops, but no real centre or specialty stores to speak of.

[Canadian_moose]

I am from Montreal where the cost of rent is fairly low compared to other big European cities but the cost of good quality food can be a little pricey. For example, a poor tiny piece (few hundred grams) of Jalsberg can be as high 5 dollars. For cheese lovers that hurts real bad.

[kharnynb]

Rent here is pretty insane compared to any but the biggest eu cities.
This comes mostly from the fact that heating is usually included in the rent prices.
(anyone who owns their own place can tell you how nice the bills get in winter )

Anything fresh or foreign will be expensive compared to most places as finland is the end of the supply chain for import, combined with a near deathgrip of the 2 main grocery chains on the suppliers.
As a dutch person i am no longer allowed to comment on finnish cheese, i think everyone got tired of my complaining about that

[Flossy1978]

I have found cheese to be more expensive than meat. But then I guess the same amount of meat is eaten much quicker than the cheese.....

And goodluck finding somewhere where fruit and vegies are actually fresh. In summer, yes.... Lidl is a great store for the freshest fruit and vegies. At least where I live. The other stores where I live are so sh*t with their fresh fruit and vegies. Some of the stuff looks half rotten. Nothing is worse than peeling a manadrin, which if fresh, the skin shouldn't just fall off, but they often do here. And then sinking your teeth into something which tastes like nothing LOL.

But if you have the money, you could got to Stockmann's in the centre of Helsinki. Costly, but I've heard very good quality. Not that I could ever afford to shop there LOL.

[Oombongo]

Are you ready to get ripped off by overpriced cost of mediocre products? Then welcome
But be prepared to sacrifice a lot for the sake of Greeks

[kharnynb]

Are you ready to get ripped off by overpriced cost of mediocre products? Then welcome
But be prepared to sacrifice a lot for the sake of The banks

[jahasjahas]

Mobile internet connections (both mobile and broadband) are cheap and have no data caps! That should be good news for a Canadian. (I thought your cheese selection was kinda expensive and weird too... I've never ended buying a cheese package with five slices here in Finland. Though that was in Toronto. Maybe the Québécois food culture is more cheese friendly.)

Eh, what else. Check the journey planner for public transport. Public transport works well when you're traveling to and within downtown Helsinki. Moving from place A to place B in Espoo is mostly very slow.

[Pursuivant]

Theres no farmers markets as theres no farmers any more. The few that are left sell to those people to whom the 2500 is the weeks grocery bill.

[cors187]

3500/month gross.You will basically come out with 1000 in costs(pension,tax,employment etc)
2500/month in your pocket can dwindle if your not tight.

[biscayne]

Yes, all so true. Not really relevant, but I'm always trying to explain to people the difference between salary and quality of life. Finland is a great country , no doubt, but costs for simple things are so high that it can really screw up your budget. For example the recent slovene poster who really couldn't wait to move to Oulu.......what he failed to realize was that no longer would he have a fantastic market in every village selling amazing fresh fruit&veg cheap - like last saturday i bought fresh courgettes, aubergines, new potatoes, 2 big heads of salad (real deep green&red varieties, not the synthetic lidl stuff), apples, late peaches, goats milk&cheese and my bill was less than 9€. I then toddled up to the local 'vinoteka'' where you bring your own bottles&get 1l of excellent wine straight from the barrel for 1.50€. While you wait, the old geezer selling it will pour you a glass for 30 cents..... And there is excellent health care (i know, i work in it) here too, as well as practically free childcare. Salaries are lower (average 1500€ net) per month, bills for utilities getting high, but 2500€ here makes u a king! And im off to Finland again????????????

Ah. finland, finland......

[cors187]

the Euro is slippery,ive never had more local cash slip through my hands than the Euro.