Retirement

I often recommend deferring CPP until age 70 to secure more lifetime income in retirement. It’s also possible to defer OAS to age 70 for a smaller, but still meaningful, increase in guaranteed income. While the goal is to design a more secure retirement, there can be a psychological hurdle for retirees to overcome. That…

*Sponsored by RBC Insurance* The reason why retirement planning can be so difficult is because the one variable we need to know – how long we have to live – is impossible to predict. Sure, we have mortality tables and family history to help guide us, but statistically speaking, half the population will outlive their…

A good portion of my financial planning clients are in what I’d call the retirement readiness zone, meaning they are 1-5 years away from retirement. They want a check-up on their financial situation and answers to big burning questions like, when can I retire, how much money can I spend, how long will my money…

When you retire you want to be intentional with your time and focus on doing the things that will give you purpose and meaning, what makes you truly happy. In this final article, I’m going to bring everything together by telling you one of my favourite retirement lifestyle design stories.   Part one: It all…

In our first article we discussed the importance of finding a good sense of purpose and how many retirees are finding it through paid or volunteer work.   I’m a big fan of working part time as there is mounting evidence that working at something helps people live a longer, healthier and happier life. I’ve…

Transitioning to a successful retirement is much more than a math problem, it’s a design problem. Every retiree needs to design a retirement lifestyle that will work for them based on their own unique values, needs and wants and then ensure they have sufficient cash flow to finance it. The challenge is that most retirees…

A good majority of my clients reach out to me looking for retirement planning advice. They want to know if they have enough assets to retire comfortably, how much longer they should work, what type of investment strategy makes sense in retirement, when to take CPP and OAS, and how to set up tax efficient…

A mortgage-free home is the cornerstone of any solid retirement plan. Indeed, decades ago it would have been considered a major financial sin to carry a mortgage into retirement. But times are changing. The proportion of seniors with mortgage debt has almost doubled from 8% to 14% (from 1999 – 2016). Seniors also have the…