Financial planning for new Canadians
By Melanie Chambers • Bankrate.com

Next to protecting their health, finding employment is most immigrants' main concern. A financial planner can direct immigrants to nonprofit agencies that will help them market themselves in the Canadian job market, prepare resumes and even get them on the road to getting Canadian experience and certification in their area of expertise.

Learning to budget is also something a lot of new Canadians need assistance with. "Many immigrants -- who are actually foreign professionals -- come here with a very high degree of education and end up in survival jobs, sometimes for a few months sometimes for the first few years," explains Tehranchian. "It's a big step down in their quality of life and standard of living that they were used to."

Many immigrants end up living off their savings until they do find a job. When Shahiri and his wife immigrated, he worked at a financial services job and went back to school to get his Canadian veterinarian qualification. Now a practising veterinarian, he was able to take out a mortgage in 2004, and is now paying down his line of credit, but money was tight. "We had to lead a very frugal life for a few years -- it was very tough," he says.

Building credit
You can't buy a house, lease a car or take out a loan without good credit history in Canada, which is a new concept to many new Canadians. "Building a good credit score can help newcomers to Canada save thousands of dollars in mortgage and consumer debt interest rates," says Tehranchian.

To start building their credit, Tehranchian recommends getting a credit card, which can be tricky considering immigrants don't have a financial history.

With this in mind, some immigrants will be required to put $500 or $1000 as a collateral in a Guaranteed Income Certificate, or GIC, and get a credit card with the same limit. To build good credit history, Tehranchian says it's important to make regular purchases and pay them off on time. Once they've established a good history, they can apply for a regular card without the collateral.

Using trust funds
New Canadians arrive here with a wide range of different financial situations, which is why having an expert to advise them can be a big help. Shahiri, for example, says he almost wishes he didn't bring all of his money with him from Iran because that made him unable to qualify for a student loan.

For those with substantial assets, an immigration trust fund enables them to place their funds, whether it's an investment portfolio or real estate, into a trust where the income and capital gains are not taxed.

"This is an underutilized strategy," says Tehranchian. For maximum benefit, she advises immigrants to establish the trust before they move. The trust expires five years after landing in Canada, so "the sooner they do it, the more time to use it within that five-year window," she explains.

Melanie Chambers is a freelance writer based in London, Ont.