Rob is on holidays this week. In today’s issue, we’ll look back at some of our recent retirement content, including our newsletter course. – Roma Luciw, Personal Finance Editor
The Retire Rich Roadmap, a five-week newsletter course launched by The Globe and Mail this summer, is designed to help Canadians start thinking about their retirement. Each week, you’ll get a email packed with practical tips, calculators, explainers and tools you need to start your retirement planning process, whether that’s happening soon or is decades away. Here are the topics we cover.
Week 1: What is your retirement age, anyway? Doing the math to determine when you can retire can be a sobering exercise or a pleasant surprise. We walk you through the steps and provide a checklist for when you’re to start thinking about that last paycheque.
Week 2: How much your retirement will cost vs. how much you’re making right now. How much money will you need in retirement? We dissect your lifestyle costs and come up with an accurate picture of what it will cost to keep you clothed, fed, and sheltered in the future.
Week 3: Building your retirement nest egg, piece by piece. We’ll go through the most common ways to save for retirement, looking at some lesser-known options and long-term approaches to wealth building in general.
Week 4: Which parts of your retirement are you already paying for? Keeping track of how much you’ll receive from CPP, OAS, or employer pension plans can be challenging. We’ll explain the financial programs that are available for senior-aged Canadian retirees.
Week 5: Tying everything together with a will and insurance. Nobody wants to think about their death – or spend money to prepare for it. This instalment covers the big “what if” and what you need to do to ensure you don’t leave a big mess behind for your loved ones.
You can sign up to get the weekly newsletter here.
Are we too pessimistic about retirement?
We know Canadians are worried about their ability to stop working, but in this series of articles from this summer, Globe investing reporter Ian McGugan says the reality of retirement is far, far more positive than people think. He tackles some commonly asked questions about planning for life after work: Will I be poor and miserable in retirement? Do I really need $1.7-million? How much income do I need? How much money do I need to save for retirement? What if I’m ready for retirement – but not financially?
Yes, you can change your mind about when to start CPP and OAS
Tens of thousands of lifetime dollars potentially ride on your choice of when to start CPP retirement benefits, says Rob Carrick in this recent column. Luckily, there are do-overs if you change your mind for both CPP and Old Age Security. You can start these benefits and then decide to delay, or you can countermand a decision to wait and start receiving money now.
Charting retirement
Frederick Vettese, the former Chief Actuary of Morneau Shepell and creator of the PERC retirement calculator, has been contributing a weekly chart for Globe readers since the fall of 2022. Among the topics he’s covered: Are your retirement savings are on track? How does Canada’s retirement age compare with OECD countries? How much does it help to postpone retirement a couple of years?
Betting the house: Why your home shouldn’t be your retirement plan
We’ve all seen house prices skyrocket so who can blame Canadians for relying on home appreciation to get them through their golden years. But if you’ve got a decade-plus before you retire, much can transpire between now and then to alter the real estate supply-demand curve. In this story, Globe mortgage columnist Robert McLister lays out three such scenarios.
Subscribe to Carrick on Money
Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here.
What Rob’s been writing about
- New credit-card offers target a financially stressed customer base, not big spenders
- Why you should jump on first home savings accounts right now, and four smart ways to do it
- What happens to my high-interest ETF when rates fall?
More Rob Carrick and money coverage
Subscribe to Stress Test on Apple podcasts or Spotify. For more money stories, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group.
Even more coverage from Rob Carrick:
- 🎧 Catch up on Stress Test: Why millennials and Gen Z are Alberta-bound for a more affordable life • Rising interest rates brought pain for new homeowners – and opportunity for house hunters • Why more Canadians are choosing to be childfree or delay parenthood • Love in the time of inflation: How to manage rising costs when dating • You're not bad at money – you're suffering from money shame • Retirement might look different for Gen Z and millennials. Here's how to plan for it • Recession-beating tips for the job market, housing, investing and the cost of life • Is the middle class dead for millennials and Gen Z?
- ✔️ The housing file: A house isn’t special. Get your head straight about the reality of home ownership • The good, the sad and the unaffordable: Saving for a home downpayment in Canada’s big cities • Property taxes are popping in some cities – how worried should you be about other tax hikes? • Our other real-estate problem – people have too much wealth tied up in houses • Borrowers and savers, here’s how to time the eventual rollback of interest rates
- 📈 Investing: Canada's top digital broker is TD Direct Investing, with an assist from the TD Easy Trade app • 2023 Globe and Mail ETF buyer's guide part one: Canadian equity ETFs • For the ultimate in cheap investing, check out the Freedom .08 ETF Portfolio • Yes, there is risk in Canadian bank deposits for the unwary and complacent • CDIC covers bank deposits, but who protects your investments if your broker goes bust? • Answers to your questions about the low-risk ETF paying almost 5% • Happy fifth birthday to one of the all-time best investing products for everyday people • An investing strategy that wins cleanly over the long term by outperforming in bad years like 2022
- 💰 Your money: Mortgage holders, savers and GIC investors, it’s time to change your thinking on interest rates • How much debt is each generation of Canadians carrying, and how do you compare? • For the sake of their financial futures, young people should leave Toronto and Vancouver • This practical new spin on a savings account might just peel you away from your big bank • Rental fraud grows amid rise in fake, falsified tenant applications • Are Canadians worse off financially now than in the 1980s? • From groceries to auto loans, here’s how much more it costs to live right now • When saving for retirement, should you change your asset mix over the course of your career? • Do retirement income needs always rise alongside inflation? Not necessarily • When the bank suggests you lock in your variable rate mortgage, it has an angle
