While Rick Angus, a retired teacher, spends a lot of his time travelling, he recently bought a condo in Calgary – 'a place to hang my hat.'Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
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“I retired in 2020 at age 56 after a 30-year career in education, including as a teacher, consultant and administrator,” says Rick Angus, 60, of Calgary, in this Tales from the Golden Age. Just after the pandemic hit, Angus’s school district offered a generous voluntary retirement package. He was also eligible for a full pension, so he decided it was time to go. “I retired a few years earlier than I expected, but I had a great career and didn’t want to be like some of my colleagues who maybe stayed on longer than they should’ve. I wanted to retire when I felt at the top of my game.”
Retirement was euphoric at first, says Angus; no more alarm clocks or 10-minute lunch breaks. “I’m also divorced and, as a lifelong traveller, wanted to travel more. I started by spending a lot of time in Hawaii and Mexico (during the pandemic).” Then, after about six months, the reality set in that every day in retirement wouldn’t be an exciting, fun-filled adventure. Angus needed some roots, so he bought a condo in Calgary – a place to hang his hat – after living and working in Edmonton for most of his life.
Retirement can get a bit lonely, especially when you’re travelling regularly, he adds. “The lifestyle isn’t for everyone, and I miss my two daughters a lot, but they have busy lives. I’ve taken up pet sitting when travelling; dogs and cats can be great company.” He has been a pet sitter in Puerto Rico; the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Norway, and one of his favourites was in Switzerland, says Angus, where he assisted a breeder in tending to 14 Bengal cats.
“I don’t get too stressed about money, even though I didn’t have a lot of savings when I retired. I had about $100,000 and put 40 per cent of it toward a down payment on my condo.” Angus rents out his place when he’s travelling for longer stints, which helps bring in some extra cash. The value of his condo has appreciated, he adds, so he’s better off financially than when he retired four years ago.
“I also have my work pension and just started taking my Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits when I turned 60. I know some people recommend waiting longer to take CPP benefits, but my dad passed away at 50, so I didn’t want to wait. I’m healthy and want to spend the money in my prime retirement years. You never know what’s around the corner.”
Read the full article here.
Are you a Canadian retiree interested in discussing what life is like now that you’ve stopped working? The Globe is looking for people to participate in its Tales from the Golden Age feature, which examines the personal and financial realities of retirement. If you’re interested in being interviewed for this feature and agree to use your full name and have a photo taken, please e-mail us at: goldenageglobe@gmail.com. Please include a few details about how you saved and invested for retirement and what your life is like now.
For more from Globe Advisor, visit our homepage.
How much can Morris, 81, and Penny, 80, afford to gift to their grandchildren?
Morris and Penny started their company in the depths of the 1972 recession, “with no cash, six years into our marriage and with two small children,” Penny writes in an e-mail. “With a lot of hours invested, we earned a decent living,” Penny adds, but they’ve been frugal. “We did not spend what we didn’t have and have been out of debt since we were 40 years old.”
Penny is 80 now and Morris is 81. Their two children, in their mid-50s, have taken over the business. Morris and Penny are planning to help their four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren with their higher education and other expenses.
“We are interested in receiving some advice mainly in regard to our budget,” Penny writes. “We would really like to know how much we can spend [and gift] each year without eventually having to rely on family.” They also ask about ways to keep taxes to a minimum.
They have a home in southern Ontario valued at $1.5-million.
Penny has some health problems and has been managing by having someone come in one or two days a week. “Seniors’ homes are expensive for a decent one,” Penny writes.
In this Financial Facelift, Warren MacKenzie, an independent Toronto-based financial planner, takes a look at Morris and Penny’s situation. Mr. MacKenzie holds the chartered professional accountant (CPA) designation.
Money worries edge out loneliness as the top reason for feeling bad
We know Canadians are stressed about money because endless polls keep telling us so, says personal finance columnist Rob Carrick, in this Carrick on Money article.
“Money stress isn’t just a recent phenomenon – I wrote a story in March, 2019, about why people were feeling so anxious about their finances despite reasonably good economic conditions,” he notes. But high inflation and expensive borrowing costs have certainly made people feel worse about their finances.
This can be seen clearly in some recent data provided by the Financial Resilience Institute, a non-profit group that specializes in measuring financial well-being. For the first time since it began surveying people in 2017, says Carrick, the FRI found more anxiety about money than loneliness.
FRI surveys look at six aspects of well-being – financial, emotional/mental health, physical, work satisfaction, relationships with family and feelings of connection with neighbours and community, which is a way of measuring loneliness.
With inflation easing and interest rates coming down, says Carrick, the financial burden on Canadian households will ease at least a little in the year ahead. Money stress will persist, though. We need to think about coping with it, not waiting for it to disappear.
Read Carrick’s take on the survey results here.
Subscribe to Carrick on Money here.
In case you missed it
Commons approves Bloc motion on seniors benefits over Liberal government’s objections
The House of Commons voted in favour of a Bloc Québécois motion on seniors benefits Wednesday over the objections of the Liberal government, report deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry and Parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup in this politics article.
Federal cabinet ministers said the Bloc’s plan would set a terrible precedent if the government were to approve a private member’s bill that would authorize more than $16-billion in new spending.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet announced last week that unless a Bloc bill on seniors benefits and another bill related to supply management that is currently before the Senate are passed into law by Oct. 29, his party will be prepared to vote in favour of any non-confidence motion and trigger a federal election before the end of the year.
In a 181 to 143 vote, the House of Commons approved a motion from Mr. Blanchet that calls on the government “to take the necessary steps” to ensure that a royal recommendation is granted as soon as possible to Bill C-319, a Bloc bill that would boost benefits by 10 per cent for seniors aged 65 to 74.
Read the full article here.
Here are the most common mistakes lawyers see in wills – and how to avoid them
With will kits available on Amazon for the meagre price of $35, writing down your dying wishes might seem like a rainy day, do-it-yourself project. But, writes reporter Pippa Norman in this personal finance article, experts say the less time and money spent on a will by the deceased, the more the living will end up paying for it.
As the document that outlines what happens to your possessions and property, and who cares for your children, a will is a markedly important piece of paper. Without one, a person’s money and assets are distributed in accordance with provincial or territorial inheritance laws.
However, a 2023 poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that about half of 1,600 Canadian adults surveyed do not have a will. Another 13 per cent said they have a will, but it’s out of date. While the proportion of adults with up-to-date wills increases in older age groups, Angus Reid found half of Canadians aged 55 to 64 still don’t have a document ready to go.
This shortfall is particularly poignant amidst the great wealth transfer. According to the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, it’s expected to be the largest generational wealth transfer in Canadian history, moving $1-trillion from baby boomers to their Gen X and Millennial heirs between now and 2026.
Without a properly prepared will, there’s no guarantee a person’s wealth will end up where they intended – and many mistakes could be prevented by seeking help from a professional.
Read the full article here.
Retirement Q & A
Q: I had recently read about being able to move funds into a younger spouse’s RRIF for cash flow longevity and tax reasons. Can an older spouse open a new RRIF and transfer funds back into the new plan if both are over 84 years in case where the older spouse is more likely to survive. If not, any other strategies?
We asked Howard Kabot, vice-president, financial planning, family office services, RBC Wealth Management Canada to answer this one.
A: Under normal circumstances (marriage breakdown would be one exception), you can’t move funds from your RRIF to your spouse’s RRIF while you’re alive. Upon your death, your spouse can assume the proceeds from your RRIF without any tax consequences.
A RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) is usually set up at age 71 (but can be done earlier) to receive the funds from your RRSP so that annual/monthly amounts can be withdrawn (Federal law mandates that an RRSP must be converted to a RRIF in the year the annuitant turns 71).
Federal law prescribes the amount that must be withdrawn each year based on the age of the annuitant. If the annuitant has a younger spouse/common law partner, the amount withdrawn can be based on the younger spouse’s partner’s age.
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.
