Brian Rendell is completing a two-year master’s degree in fine arts in fiction program in Halifax, writing historical fiction about his grandfather and his hometown of Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
“I retired last summer – a few years earlier than planned – from a career as a chartered professional accountant,” writes Brian Rendell, 56, of Halifax, in this Tales of the Golden Age article. He spent the previous 12 years working on large utility infrastructure projects. “I was happy with my career and colleagues, and the work was interesting, but the death of my best childhood friend in 2022 shook me,” he says. “He was only 54. It also made me think about my mother, who died of cancer at 58. It reminded me that life is short and nudged me to pursue a long-simmering passion for writing.”
When Rendell told his employer he was planning to retire, they asked him to stay on as a consultant to help train the next generation, which he does two days a week. “It helps pay the bills and keeps my toe in the finance waters should I want or need to return,” he says. “I doubt I will go back to a full-time finance career since I’m having too much fun using the other side of my brain. I’m also meeting many new and interesting people in the creative world.”
Rendell started thinking seriously about writing when, in the fall of 2022, he saw that the University of King’s College was beginning a master’s degree in fine arts in fiction. “I wasn’t the type of person who wrote regularly, but the person running the program suggested I focus on writing for a month or two and see how it goes.” When Rendell did that, he says he found the words just started flowing. “I couldn’t wait until the weekend when I could write. That motivated me to apply, and I was accepted at the end of 2022. I’m halfway through the program and writing historical fiction about my grandfather and my hometown in Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L.” Rendell is determined to complete the first draft of his novel by the time the program ends in spring 2025.
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.
Retirees: Is it better to invest in bonds or GICs?
Four years ago, fixed-income investments such as long-term bonds or GICs offered almost no return at all, says Frederick Vettese in this Charting Retirement article. But which should retirees or aspiring retirees choose now: bonds or GICs?
Vettese, former chief actuary of Morneau Shepell and author of the PERC retirement calculator (perc-pro.ca), takes a look at the choices and how inflation can impact them here.
Leading ghost tours has been one of my favourite jobs in retirement
When Leonard Belsher retired last year, he announced his retirement on Facebook. The post caught the eye of a manager at another firm where he had worked evenings off and on for many years as a storyteller, leading haunted walking tours, he writes in this First Person essay. “A message was dispatched to inquire whether I would be interested in returning to work there on a part-time basis. I was intrigued,” says Belsher, of the position that would have him lead groups of up to 12 on paranormal investigations attempting to communicate with spirits within a historic village museum for several months.
“But I should back up a bit first,” he adds. In the early 1990s, Belsher was employed by a theatre company in London, Ont., which believed that the ghost of theatrical tycoon Ambrose Small resided within its premises. “At the time I did not believe in such utter nonsense, however I was happy to adopt the narrative since my livelihood and paycheque depended on it,” he says.
“One day, a manager decided it would be a fine idea for me to dress up as the infamous Ambrose – who mysteriously vanished without a trace in London in December, 1919, and continues to attract attention to this day.” In costume, Blesher would make appearances at public events to promote the company. He agreed, secretly relishing the idea of getting out of the office more frequently.
The job, he adds, was an incredibly steep learning curve in coming to terms with the fact that – for at least some people – ghosts and the paranormal are a normal part of everyday life. “It certainly became that for me from the moment I first donned the outfit. The ghost I was impersonating decided to let me know he was present and aware of exactly what was going on.”
Read the full article here.
First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide.
In case you missed it
Multi-generational living is getting more common. Here’s how to share costs – and a mortgage
The soaring cost of home ownership has made single-family living an unattainable dream for some Canadians, writes Penelope Graham in this personal finance article. And while co-owning a home, such as in a multi-generational living context, helps share costs, it can also be tricky, she adds – especially if a family member wants to be released from the mortgage or passes away.
Interest rates and home prices are pushing the limits of affordability. According to a May report from economists at National Bank, in the first quarter of 2024, homeowners shelled out nearly 60 per cent of their pretax income to pay the mortgage on a median-priced home in Canada. That’s double the old personal finance rule, notes Graham – that your housing costs should be capped at around 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, Ratehub.ca’s affordability index, which tracks the income required to qualify for a mortgage, found it got tougher to purchase a home in 11 of 13 tracked cities in May. For those trying to get into the market – and especially first-time buyers – it’s tough to cobble together even the minimum 5-per-cent down payment.
But, says Graham, there’s a workaround: shack up with your parents. While hardly a new concept, multi-generational living is on the rise in Canada.
According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the number of multigenerational households grew by 21 per cent from 2011 to 2021, representing 3 per cent of all Canadian households, or 441,750 homes, in 2021. As well, more than 500,000 – nearly one in 10 – of all children between the ages of zero to 14 live in the same household with a grandparent.
Read the full article here.
Penelope Graham is the director of content at ratehub.ca.
Our kids think we’re rigging the system against them
“Previous generations are rigging the system for their benefit and making it harder for my generation.” That’s what 54 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 29 believe, according to new Leger polling, reports Paul Kershaw, in this personal finance article. Most also think “politicians are more interested in promoting and protecting the interests of older generations than people my age.”
Readers of Kershaw’s column will know he agrees. Ongoing over-extraction of shared resources from the environment, of wealth from the housing system, and of young people’s tax dollars to pay for boomers’ retirement all rig the system against millennials and Gen Z, he says.
Kershaw recently hosted a townhall in Vancouver with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss these generational tensions with an invited group of 50 students and representatives of local community groups. (Those who would like to hear the conversation should check out the latest episode of the Generation Squeeze Hard Truths podcast). “I left feeling hopeful there is opportunity to restore intergenerational solidarity,” he writes, “but only if Gen X and boomers send clear signals to all political parties that we want to be better ancestors.”
The Prime Minister’s popularity wanes among contemporary voters, he adds, even as history books will write well about some parts of his intergenerational track record. His government’s enrichment of the Canada Child Benefit, for example, reduced child poverty by about a third.
Read the full article here.
Retirement Q & A
Q: I recently met with an estate planner to figure out if I have to sell my cottage in order to retire, but they also suggested life insurance to cover estate taxes. Can you tell me a little more about that type of insurance?
We asked Jaydatt Bhatt, CFP®, financial planner, Sun Life, and president, Jay Insurance & Financial Services Ltd. to answer this one.
A: Planning for retirement and estate is an overwhelming process which involves a lot of decisions including thinking about what you want your retirement to look like and creating a plan to achieve it. When you are planning your estate, there are different types of assets that could create tax liabilities such as RRSPs, RRIFs, rental properties, vacations home or cottage. Life insurance could be looked at as an option to cover the cost of the estate tax bill. The life insurance proceeds are tax exempt, paid as lump sum and paid directly to the named beneficiary bypassing probate fees.
Regarding the types of life insurance, it can be divided into term and permanent. Term life insurance is ideal for temporary needs like paying off debt, income replacement, saving for kids’ education. Term insurances renew depending on their term length and also expires at a certain age depending on the insurance company. For example, Sun Life term insurance expires at age 85. With this in mind, it may not be the ideal option for this scenario to cover the estate taxes as one doesn’t know how long they will live.
Permanent life insurance has 2 options: whole life and universal life.
Whole life also has participating and nonparticipating options. With participating insurance, a portion of the risk is shared among the policyholders and the company. We call it “participating insurance” (or “par insurance”) because the policyholder participates in the risk along with the insurance company. As part of this risk-sharing relationship, par policyholders may also share in certain rewards when their policies perform better than originally expected. This reward may come in the form of a policyholder dividend, which is a portion of the earnings from the par account where the investments, expenses and other items related to the company’s par policies are tracked. In this type of policy there are a few options for the dividend type. For example, paid-up additional insurance and, hence, the policy fact value increases, which may be helpful as Estate tax liability may also increase over the time.
Nonparticipating policies do not have dividend options but come with guaranteed premium, cash value and death benefit.
Universal life insurance provides more flexibility in terms of cost if insurance structure, death benefit and investment account. For such policies you can have death benefit set up benefit amount plus policy fund, to have your death benefit increasing over the time for addressing potentially increasing estate tax values.
Ultimately, there are a lot of factors that go into planning for retirement and estate planning.
An advisor can help you understand which of these policies best fits your needs and provide personalized advice based on your holistic health, wealth and protection needs to help you develop a roadmap tailored to your unique situation.
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.
