Approaching Retirement: A Personal Journal

The Journey So Far

 

Seven years ago today, the day after Labour Day in 2019, I worked my last hours as an employee at a major Canadian bank’s Direct Investing division. Later that fall, I launched the Money Architect website and began to build an identity as a financial planner by writing blog posts.

 

Retirement is rapidly approaching at the end of this year, and with over 300 blog posts behind me, I thought one of the more fruitful things I might do is write about my own walk toward retirement. I am finding that the transition consists less of one major decision than of a series of smaller financial and administrative ones. The process has perhaps not been quite as systematic as a formally written financial plan might lead you to believe.

 

My First Pension

When I completed my Direct Investing (DI) employment, I formally retired from that position. I was 60 years old by then, and I had a sufficient number of years of employment there that I could retire with a modest but unreduced Defined Benefit (DB) pension.

 

DB pensions are often regarded as the “gold standard” of retirement income sources in Canada. However, they are not all the same. The plan I have is not inflation-adjusted, although an adjustment was made following the post-COVID inflation that we all experienced in 2022.

 

I decided to take the pension right at my “retirement” from the DI broker for a few reasons. One was that deferring to age 65 or later resulted in relatively little improvement in the monthly payment. Second, part of the retiree package was a subsidy for retiree health benefits like a drug plan, dental care, and emergency medical travel coverage. Third, with a history of kidney disease, including a transplant in 2016, I thought that my remaining years might not be as long as another, healthier person might expect. For that reason, I also elected to give my wife a 100% survivor benefit. Of course, that reduced the amount I received compared to a lesser survivor benefit.

 

I should also add that I wasn’t altogether confident that I would be making that much money from my financial planning practice, so I thought that some cash flow from the pension would be nice to have.

 

My First RRIF

About 15 years ago, I took a portion of my RRSP and transferred it to Steadyhand. While I wasn’t a big fan of active management back then, I was impressed by their client-centric approach. Steadyhand dubbed their investment approach “undexing,” meaning they were as far from “closet” indexers as they could be. There’s integrity in that approach.

 

Last year, in late 2025, I had decided that 2026 would be my last year to offer financial planning services, and that I would not be taking on any new clients. Anticipating that my income would fall this year, I decided it was a reasonable time to begin drawing some income from my registered savings. I converted my Steadyhand RRSP into a RRIF, with payments beginning this year. Since RRIF withdrawals are taxable income, receiving them in a year when my other income is lower also made sense from a tax perspective.

 

The amount I receive after tax is withheld is relatively modest, but it’s a helpful supplement. I plan to “tweak” it a bit for 2027. I’m also considering consolidating this RRIF with my other RRIF, which will begin providing payments in 2027, simply to reduce the number of accounts we have to manage.

 

Simplifying Our Financial Life

My wife and I have our accounts scattered around a few different places. With retirement drawing near, it seemed a practical choice to simplify things by consolidating most of our assets under a single financial institution. Managing several accounts once seemed worthwhile, but at this stage of life, simplicity has become more important to us.

 

Guaranteed Investment Certificates

Several years ago, we discovered Oaken Financial. They routinely offered GIC rates matching or exceeding those of other banks in Canada, so we built up a series of 5-year GIC “ladders” that would pay out the interest at maturity but reinvest the principal. This became our primary non-registered fixed-income asset base. However, with simplicity in mind, we’ve decided to begin winding down those GICs and move the proceeds to our main investment firm.

 

High-Interest Savings Accounts (HISAs)

We opened EQ accounts for that purpose a few years ago. They are no longer as competitive as they once were, but inertia being what it is, we hadn’t done anything about it until now. We have a few GICs there, too, so those need to mature before we can close those accounts.

 

Our first “online” joint accounts were at what is now called Simplii Financial. Aside from periodic promotions, they also do not offer significantly better interest rates anymore. However, we might retain a small amount there as a kind of emergency fund if our main bank has technical trouble.

 

The multitude of accounts made sense when I had more patience and interest in managing them, but I don’t think that is a sensible strategy for a couple who are aging, even if I think I still have my faculties.

 

My Second RRIF

Just last month, I opened a RRIF where our main investment accounts are, TD Direct Investing (two guesses as to where I used to work and the first guess doesn’t count), and transferred my main RRSP into that account. This was largely quick and painless, and done online from the comfort of my home with a bit of support from their New Accounts team. Income will be flowing from this RRIF beginning in January 2027.

 

For both RRIFs, I have named my wife as successor annuitant. That means that, assuming I die before my wife and assets remain in the RRIFs, the accounts will roll over into her name without triggering a taxable event (assuming proper documentation). My four adult children are named contingent beneficiaries if my wife predeceases me. In that case, the RRIF will be paid out to them in full, but the fair market value of the account would be included as income on my final tax return.

 

CRA Instalment Payments

As a self-employed, unincorporated financial planner, I paid my annual taxes and CPP contributions  (both the employee and employer portions) each year in the spring. The inevitable occurred, and I am now obligated to make instalment payments to the Canada Revenue Agency. This can happen for retirees, too, although with some strategic tax withholding from the RRIFs and other accounts, this may change.

 

There’s more to come, but perhaps this is a good first instalment for this series.

 

This is the 316th blog post for Russ Writes, first published on 2026-09-08.

 

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If you are a potential new client seeking an advice-only financial planner, I am preparing for retirement and am no longer accepting new clients. Please go to the Advice-Only Planners website. All members listed are also members of the Financial Planning Association of Canada.

 

Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for general information and discussion purposes only. It should not be relied upon for investment, insurance, tax, or legal decisions.