Retire Now? I am fascinated by the number of videos that show up on YouTube extolling the virtues of early retirement. Often, they will have a catchy title like, “Why Wait? Retire Now!” or something similar. Oddly enough, despite the increasing interest in retiring early, trends...
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Meet John and Jane Jane and John are a couple in their early thirties. They own a townhouse in a suburb outside of Toronto. Although the commute is a bit of a burden, their jobs as an architect and software developer, respectively, allow them to work...
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The Canadian Retirement Dilemma As a matter of public policy, Canada has built several safety nets to help mitigate poverty for retirees. Among the most well-known are the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS). Lesser known, but available to lower-income Canadians is the...
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“Decumulation” (I don’t really like this word, but I suspect I lack sufficient influence to change things) is the spending down of assets that have been accumulated in preparation for retirement. It is the conversion of pension plans, RRSPs, TFSAs, and other financial assets into...
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Introducing Ruth and James Ruth and James, born and raised in a smaller community in southwestern Ontario, went to work directly out of high school. They plan to make 2024 their last full year of work as they will turn 65 in 2025. Married at age...
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Retirement typically marks a major life transition, but the path to retirement isn't always smooth. The challenges of downsizing, both financially and emotionally, can be overwhelming. For example, after decades of relatively stable prices, inflation has returned with a vengeance. While retirees benefit from the...
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Retirement marks a momentous transition, a time to reap the rewards of years of hard work and dedication. However, with increased life expectancy, retirees are faced with the challenge of longevity risk – the risk of outliving their financial resources. In this blog post, I...
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The Dawning Realization Siblings Jane and Mike are facing an unwelcome disruption to their routine lives in the form of their elderly parents facing health challenges and financial uncertainties. The emotional impact of this revelation was profound. The equilibrium of their daily lives was upset as they...
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A couple we’ll call David and Marie are on the verge of age 65. They managed to pay off their mortgage back in 2008, but they haven’t saved much of anything since. Neither had employers who provided pensions or group Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs)....
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For years, I was an avid subscriber to the old print version of MoneySense magazine. Like many other print periodicals, however, it went exclusively online several years ago. One of the most fascinating articles I read during the print era was The All-Canadian Wealth Test,...
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