Retirement

Raise your hand if you’ve spent any time thinking about what kind of money you’re likely to get from the government when you retire. Now raise your hand if you don’t really know how much money that will be, or how to figure it out. …twenty-seven…twenty-eight…twenty-nine…almost everyone, then. How To Estimate Your CPP Benefits A…

If the company you work for doesn’t offer a pension plan or group RRSP, or you are self-employed, and you’re not interested in spending a lot of time reading and researching about investing, consider the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. Related: Lifetime Pension vs. Commuted Value You don’t have to reside in Saskatchewan to join this pension…

This post was written by long time reader Robert Britton as part of our retirement series.  Today is Robert’s last day of work – congratulations! Life feels long.  This article gives a very brief synopsis of most of mine; and then lists a few habits that helped me along the way. I’ve never understood why…

Can I tell you a story?  It’s a true one, and – unfortunately – it’s happened more than once.  Way more than once.  It may even be your story.  Here goes: Sam is leaving his job, and with it his defined benefit plan.  He gets a small sheaf of paper from his company, asking him…

Nick was in a serious car accident that left him in a coma for some time.  His wife Julia, already emotionally devastated by his condition, discovered she was not able to renegotiate their joint mortgage when it came due for renewal. Gerald’s mother, Nola, is an 87-year-old senior who still lived in their family home. …

I read an interesting article in Canadian Money Saver magazine that quoted some disturbing statistics.  The article stated that Canadian investors have had mediocre returns and suffered large losses in their retirement portfolios over the last few years and are now at a loss about what to do. Investors are questioning all the advice they’ve…

This post was written by reader Daniel A as part of our retirement series. Early retirement had always been a lifelong goal for me. Having worked for nearly forty years with only a four month break between jobs, and watching many friends in-and-out of work, I was fortunate to have a steady job that allowed…

This is a post from reader Eric as part of our retirement series. When Robb first broached the idea of submitting a write-up relating to retirement preparation and its post-implementation offshoots, my first reaction was that, if he’s looking for an example, I can probably qualify for the role of ‘bad example’. While I, (rightly…

When you start your career your financial priorities revolve around the present – paying off student loans, buying a house, your next vacation. You completed the company pension forms because they were part of your new employee documents package.  You opened an RRSP account because someone told you it was a good idea – and…

This is a guest post from reader Diane Wilson as part of our retirement series. We live in a small town in Northern Ontario.  My husband is 74 and has been retired 12 years.  I’m 70 and have been retired nine years.  When we retired we had no specific plans on what we wanted to…