Marion Leyland at an Ottawa condo she has rented for the summer before returning to Mexico for the winter come November.Ashley Fraser/The Globe and Mail
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“I retired in 2002 at the age of 68 from a full-time corporate and entrepreneurial career in the cosmetics industry,” says Marion Leyland, 88, of Ottawa, in this Tales from the Golden Age. “I continued as a part-time consultant until 2012. By then, I was a professional artist, a self-taught painter, and am still getting commissions for portraits today.”
Leyland’s retirement in 2002 was driven by a desire to spend winters in Mexico, she adds. Her contract was up for renewal for another five years and she decided not to continue. Instead, she carried on as a part-time consultant and worked remotely from Mexico for about six months of the year.
“My husband died in 2019, which put an immediate strain on my finances. Neither my husband – a real estate agent who retired in 1987 – nor I had a company pension. We had registered retirement savings plans, guaranteed investment certificates and some disastrous stock investments.”
The couple sold their house in 2002, the year Leyland retired, to buy a cheaper home in a retirement community with very low maintenance costs. “We then turned to a financial advisor to handle our investments. In November of last year, to further reduce my expenses, I sold our house on my own [to avoid real estate commissions] for a nice profit and moved into a seniors’ rental apartment in Collingwood, Ont.”
“While I was in Mexico earlier this year, I realized I couldn’t go back this winter because I couldn’t afford to pay for both my apartment in Collingwood and accommodation in Mexico year-round.
“Then, I had an epiphany – sell everything I own, except my clothes, and become a nomad.”
Read the full article here.
When did you start taking CPP? Was it too early or too late?
The Globe is interested in talking to Canadians about when they started taking their CPP/QPP benefits, and why they started then. Was it the right decision in hindsight? Would waiting longer have been beneficial? Should they have started sooner? Share your thoughts with The Globe by taking our CPP/QPP survey.
Are Melissa, 36, and Michael, 38, endangering their retirement by taking time off to raise kids?
Melissa is 36 and Michael is 38. They have two young children and a house with a mortgage in Alberta. “I work while my husband stays home with the kids, a setup he enjoys and that we’d like to make work for at least another year or two,” Melissa writes in an e-mail. Michael is a teacher and Melissa works in communications. She’s working four days a week while the children are small, earning $80,000 a year plus another $10,000 or more freelancing. “Even though we can just break even or save a little, we value this time together.”
They have about $100,000 in savings and a mortgage with about $150,000 remaining. “Neither of us has a pension,” Melissa writes. “We consider these years – with young children at home – to be our lean-earning years and are okay with that,” she adds. “This phase won’t last forever and we will soon have more disposable income.”
Their questions: Can they avoid dipping into their savings while their family income is low? How should they begin investing for retirement? Are they jeopardizing their ability to retire by taking time off now?
In this Financial Facelift, Janet Gray, an advice-only certified financial planner with Money Coaches Canada, looks at Michael and Melissa’s situation.
Want a free financial facelift? E-mail finfacelift@gmail.com.
Are Canadians saving less for retirement?
In the latest Charting Retirement article, Frederick Vettese, former chief actuary at Morneau Shepell and author of Retirement Income for Life, looks beyond the Household Savings Rate as the leading barometer for retirement savings here.
In case you missed it
Retirees should consider these tax-saving ideas before year-end
“My dad has a great sense of humour,” writes Tim Cestnick in this Tax Matters column. “He’s getting older but can laugh about it. ‘Tim, I’ve been having some issues with incontinence recently. So, I called my doctor to talk about it, and the receptionist asked me if I could hold for a minute.’”
Cetnick’s father’s friends are getting older too, and their memories aren’t as good as they once were, he notes. “Dad told me that he went to a pub with a couple of them last weekend, and one friend went to the bar and started a conversation with a pretty woman. ‘So,’ he said, ‘do I come here often?’”
If you can relate to being forgetful because of your age, Cestnick would like to remind you of some clever year-end tax planning ideas for retirees.
Read Cestnick’s top seven tips, from maximizing OAS benefits to starting home renovations, here.
The science behind why laughter can help you live life to the fullest
Laughter has positive, quantifiable physiological and psychological effects, writes Thomas R. Verny in his column for The Age of Breakthroughs. It can be used with preventive intent or as a complementary or alternative therapeutic option in the treatment of emotional as well as physical disorders. Whether used in a clinical setting, a laughing yoga group or in one’s home, laughter’s benefits are many and can contribute greatly to living life optimally.
Studies have shown that laughter can reduce stress hormones, increase endorphin production, boost the immune system and improve pain tolerance. Laughter can have a profound impact on a person’s physical and emotional health, leading to improved quality of life and, in some cases, even aiding in recovery from serious illness.
Mack Dryden is a two-time cancer survivor, professional comedian, actor and motivational speaker. He was first diagnosed with cancer around the time journalist Norman Cousins made headlines with his groundbreaking research into the healing power of laughter in the 1970s. Mr. Dryden took Mr. Cousins’s writings to heart and joked through his treatment because it was the smart, practical and definitely most fun thing to do.
As he once wrote, “I can’t think of a single situation where having a negative attitude and no sense of humour is the smart thing to do.
His advice, “If your life is touched by cancer, laughter should be part of your regular therapy.”
Read the full article here.
Part of The Globe’s new The Age of Breakthroughs, where we label material that will offer relief amid the torrent of negativity, is a new monthly column by Thomas R. Verny, an author and former Harvard and University of Toronto professor, in which he writes about cutting-edge research that promises to benefit our health and improve our lives. Verny is also a psychiatrist, academic, writer, poet and podcaster.
Retirement Q&A
Q: I am the primary caregiver for my elderly parents and also a working mother of two. I’m worried about my retirement when I’m being pulled in so many directions. Any advice on how to ensure I support my family while also planning for my own retirement?
We asked Sandra Macenko Merkley, senior wealth advisor, ScotiaMcLeod, to answer this one. Sandra has also received training as part of The Scotiabank Women Initiative to help women clients manage their wealth.
We appreciate well the challenges of the “sandwich generation” – people who are raising their children and caring for aging parents at the same time and we know that women are often the primary caregivers in a family and face unique financial considerations.
There are many benefits to caregiving, and it can also be stressful to juggle many urgent responsibilities at once. This makes it even more important to take a moment to consider if we can ask other family members to help or if, depending on financial circumstances, paid assistance is an option such as a meal kit service that could help with dinners.
Building and sticking to a financial plan now can help you to be sure that you meet your financial goals now and also in retirement. I recommend meeting with a financial advisor to create a roadmap to understand what you need now to achieve your goals and how much you will need to afford your retirement. With life expectancy predicted to continue to increase, your financial plan will also take into account your caregiving expenses, as well as your own longevity considerations.
Building a financial plan may feel daunting given your current caregiving responsibilities but small steps taken now will help you plan ahead and feel confident that your present and future is centred on what you value most.
The Globe and Mail
Have a question about money or lifestyle topics for seniors? E-mail us at sixtyfive@globeandmail.com and we will find experts and answer your questions in future newsletters. Interested in more stories about retirement? Sixty Five aims to inspire Canadians to live their best lives, confidently and securely. Sign up for our weekly Retirement Newsletter.