Kathy Glazer-Chow in her home gym in Toronto on Oct. 13.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Content from The Globe’s weekly Retirement newsletter. To subscribe click here.
Kathy Glazer-Chow likes her workouts to be challenging. So, the 71-year-old often ends her three-times-a-week training sessions with several sets of bicep curls using 20-pound weights or some 35-pound kettlebell lifts. “I always tell my trainer I want to be the senior GI Jane,” says Ms. Glazer-Chow with a chuckle, referring to the iconic movie starring Demi Moore as an astoundingly ripped female U.S. Navy Seal recruit.
The Toronto retiree was a mid-life convert to the benefits of physical fitness, getting active as a 48-year-old mother with a six- and eight-year-old. She’s since completed the 200-kilometre Ride to Conquer Cancer eight times and walks daily, but it is in recent years that she’s started to appreciate the real impact of her choices. “It makes me feel better. It makes me feel strong. It gives [me] self-confidence,” Ms. Glazer-Chow says.
When her husband was diagnosed with diabetes, he was reluctant to go to a gym. “He didn’t like the way he looked. Now he is so cut and muscled at 69, it’s frightening,” she says. “He had to get over that mindset, you know, that I’m embarrassed to go because I don’t want people to look at me because I’m older.”
That was 20 years ago. They’ve converted a room in their house to a gym and she does workouts there several times a week with her trainer. “The payoff is you feel strong; you are strong,” she says. “I mean, I’m 71; people tell me I look 60 and I feel 40.”
Studies are unequivocal: fitness activity has immeasurable physical and mental benefits for aging well and the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend adults 65 years or older get at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every week, like brisk walking, cycling, swimming or any activity that makes you breathe harder and increases the heart rate. Dene Moore reports
The impact of donating land on an estate
Jill, who is age 88 and a widow, has 80 acres of pine woods in northern Alberta that she and her husband bought years ago for $5,000. She estimates it’s worth about $100,000 today but she doesn’t want to sell it outright. “I wish to donate the property to a conservation organization,” Jill writes in an e-mail to the Globe. “I want to know how this will affect my estate because I am not in a position to be too generous.” The acreage has been ravaged by wildfires and would not be attractive to buyers looking for recreational property, Jill writes. “My family agrees with my making the donation.”
Jill has three children and four grandchildren. She gets more than $90,000 a year of private and government pension income on which she pays about $18,000 a year in income tax. If Jill makes an outright donation, there would be no capital gains tax to be paid, she says.
“Depending on the appraised value of the property and any other charitable donations I might make, my income tax could be reduced to zero in year one, and I could carry forward the balance for up to 10 years,” she writes. Alternatively, she could leave the property to her estate, in which case capital gains tax would have to be paid.
If Jill donates the land, “the savings I make by not paying income tax would go to my estate,” she adds. “What I want to know is how many years it would take for this amount to be the same as if the property were sold on my death – bearing in mind I am healthy, but 88.” In the Globe’s latest Financial Facelift column, Warren MacKenzie, head of financial planning at Optimize Wealth Management in Toronto, looks at Jill’s situation.
In case you missed it
Why more retirees are looking to green their retirement portfolios
Many greying Canadians are adding a green hue to their investment portfolios to make money, manage risk and leave a better world for their children and grandchildren.
Responsible investing – which considers both financial returns and social/environmental good – has long been on the radar of baby boomers and aging Gen Xers, with ethical mutual funds being widely available since the 1990s. Still, it was often seen as a niche strategy that potentially added risk to an investment portfolio.
Consequently, considering only companies with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) track records may seem ill-fitted for today’s retirees who seek steady, low-risk investment returns. But responsible investing has moved mainstream in recent years. ESG performance has become a critical metric used by large money managers such as BlackRock Inc. and institutional investment managers like the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
“Many mainstream institutional investment managers began to integrate ESG metrics and research into their investment processes in the 2000s,” says Simon MacMahon, head of ESG research at Sustainalytics in Toronto. Joel Schlesinger reports
Should you move to a retirement community?
There comes a time when many older Canadians realize that their home is too much of a burden and it makes sense to downsize into something more manageable. For some retired people, that means looking into retirement living communities – also known as an active adult or adult lifestyle communities – with amenities and services and a chance to be among other seniors who share their outlook and interests.
Selecting the right retirement residence can be one of the most difficult decisions for seniors to make, with many of the same questions first-time home buyers have such as: ‘What can I afford?’ ‘What are the amenities and services available?’ And ‘What are the neighbours like?’
Writer Paul Brent talks to some seniors who have moved to independent-living facilities and are loving it: “I didn’t want to be in a big high-rise or interact with neighbours that were younger than I was or rowdier than I was,” says Donna Weddell, 74, who lives in an adult lifestyle community building in Burnaby, B.C. “This seemed like a very good fit: I would get the socialization. I meet new people in like circumstances, and everything is provided for me.”
What else we’re reading
This retired NHLer is now helping other players get financially fit
Former professional hockey player Kent Manderville has understood the importance of financial planning since he was a child when his father died at the too-young age of 42 in a car accident. His parents had previously purchased mortgage life insurance on their home in Redwater, Alta., 60 kilometres north of Edmonton – a wise decision that Mr. Manderville says gave his mother the financial backing to cope with suddenly being a single parent to three young children.
“It gave her the financial flexibility to move us all to Victoria, where her parents were. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” says Mr. Manderville, who was eight years old at the time. “[Having that insurance money] also allowed me to play competitive hockey which, especially back then, wasn’t cheap. … Their decision had a huge impact on my life.”
While playing for 12 years in the National Hockey League (NHL) for teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Mr. Manderville also witnessed players die unexpectedly without a will or lose hundreds of thousands of dollars to bad investments.
“I’m now 50 [years old] and I see the cumulative effects of bad advice – and I’m not even talking about the huge things that end up on TV. Everybody has a story,” says Mr. Manderville, who retired from professional hockey in 2007. His story, specifically, is about a former agent who talked him into buying universal life insurance early in his career, which would have left him with no liquidity if his career had been cut short.
Today, Mr. Manderville is a private wealth adviser and director of the Hockey Family Office, the hockey wealth management division of IP Private Wealth in Ottawa. Hockey Family Office was established in January to provide hockey professionals and their families with wealth management services ranging from investing to tax and estate planning and philanthropy. He sees his role as helping players grow and protect their wealth for the long run. “What I want to do is make sure the guys get a fair shake.” Brenda Bouw reports
Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield adds ‘hit novelist’ to his resume
Fighter pilot. Engineer. Astronaut. Musician. Professor. Entrepreneur. Kidlit author. Now you can add “hit novelist” to Chris Hadfield’s long list of accomplishments.
His new thriller, The Apollo Murders – set in the spring of 1973, during a fictionalized Apollo 18 lunar mission – has been getting solid reviews.
The Globe’s Dawn Calleja talked to Mr. Hadfield while he hung out with his 13-week-old puppy, Henry, at his house near Toronto’s High Park.
Ask Sixty Five
Question: What are the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage?
We asked Jason Heath, a fee-only certified financial planner at Objective Financial Partners Inc. in Markham, Ont. to answer this one:
A reverse mortgage is available from a few Canadian lenders. It’s for homeowners aged 55 and older and – depending upon their age, location, the type of home, and other factors – a reverse mortgage may allow a borrower to receive up to 55 per cent of their home’s appraised value. The funds can be paid to them in a lump sum, paid to them over time, or a combination. No repayments are required until the homeowner sells their home or dies.
Like many financial decisions, reverse mortgages have pros and cons. One benefit is that they allow a senior to access their home equity and spend it without selling their home. Even though downsizing is an option, the transaction costs, as well as the stress of moving may be deterrents.
Another benefit is that a reverse mortgage may be available to seniors who can’t borrow elsewhere. Banks may be hesitant to lend money to a retired senior with no income.
Reverse mortgages are, however, expensive. Interest rates may be 2 to 3 percentage points higher than a conventional mortgage or home equity line of credit from a bank. As a result, they should be considered after exploring traditional lending.
The common criticism that a reverse mortgage reduces a senior’s estate value is lacking perspective. If you downsize your home or you sell it and rent, and spend the proceeds, those also reduce an estate’s value.
A reverse mortgage may be an option for the right senior homeowner in the right circumstances. Before applying for a reverse mortgage, a senior should consider using their savings or investments for their expenses or should apply for a regular mortgage or secured line of credit.
Have a question about money or lifestyle topics for seniors, or want to suggest a story idea for the Sixty Five series? Please email us at sixtyfive@globeandmail.com and we will find experts and answer your questions in future newsletters.