Retirement

Most people who reach out to me aren’t necessarily trying to retire early or do anything particularly clever with their money. They’ve worked for a long time, saved steadily, and are starting to wonder if this is the point where work becomes optional. Dan and Elizabeth are a good example of this. They live in…

A lot of RRSP advice follows a similar script. Contribute while you’re working, convert to a RRIF at 71, withdraw the minimum, and hope for the best. But retirement planning is where the interesting stuff actually happens. With a bit of flexibility and good timing, RRSPs can be used in ways that smooth taxes, improve…

Every financial planner has been there. You’re sitting across from a perfectly healthy 64-year-old who has more than enough saved, no debt, a paid-off home, a reasonable spending plan, and a strong likelihood of living well into their 80s or 90s. They have zero financial need to turn on CPP today. And yet, as predictably…

Annuities have a strange reputation in Canada. Ask economists, actuaries, or retirement researchers and they’ll tell you that converting a portion of your savings into guaranteed lifetime income is one of the smartest and most efficient ways to reduce retirement risk. Finance professor Moshe Milevsky has been writing about this for two decades. And Fred…

Every few months, social media decides the RRSP is a terrible idea. The latest version? “Don’t grow your RRSP too much or you’ll get crushed by taxes in retirement.” The reality is less dramatic. A large RRSP isn’t a tax trap – it’s a planning opportunity, if you know when and how to draw it…

Want to learn how to manage your finances in retirement? Go through a financial planning engagement with your parents. I’ve had several prospective clients reach out lately, not about their own situation, but because they’re worried about their parents’ finances. Sometimes it’s a son or daughter who’s been reading about high investment fees and wants…

I spend a lot of time telling people to automate their savings, keep costs low, invest in index funds, and stay the course. But do you know what might be even harder than saving? Spending. I see this all the time with retirees. The math says they can safely spend $120,000 a year, yet their…

A recent Financial Post Family Finance column profiled a 71-year-old woman who found herself in a financial mess. She owned two rental properties, was forced into mandatory RRIF withdrawals, and was receiving CPP and OAS. The result? A giant tax bill and a lot of frustration. Her mistake was waiting until her 70s to get…

Mary was 62 when her husband passed away suddenly. He had always been the “CFO” of the household, the one who dealt with their investments, pensions, and taxes. Mary was left with a folder of account statements she didn’t understand and an advisor she barely knew. When Mary asked that advisor about withdrawing money to…