Canadians can no longer rely on pensions, government benefits and bull markets.
There was a time when many Canadians retired right at age 65—whether they wanted to or not. It was a full-stop kind of retirement: you worked for the same company for most of your career, they threw you a party on your last day, and the next morning you woke up to a life of hobbies and doting on grandkids. Government benefits and traditional employer pensions kicked in immediately and they were often sufficient to take care of you, even if you had no other savings.
That traditional notion of retirement is pretty much dead. Today most Canadians are able to say goodbye to a full-time career sometime during their early 60s, but the new retirement comes in many forms. It might include golf, travel and volunteering, but it’s also likely to involve contract or part-time work, too. More and more, the goal of retirement is really about achieving financial independence—or to use the word coined by MoneySense editor Jonathan Chevreau, “findependence.” That’s the point in life where your career and lifestyle choices are no longer driven by financial necessity, and it may occur decades before traditional retirement.
The challenge, however, is that the responsibility is more on your shoulders than it was in the paternalistic past. Defined benefit pension plans are dying out, except in the public sector. And the government is starting to scale back seniors’ benefits such as Old Age Security, which will eventually start at age 67 instead of 65. Increasingly, your retirement income depends on how much you save and how you manage your own money. Unfortunately, just while this is happening, your nest egg has no doubt been afflicted by low interest rates and uncertain stock markets. All this makes the new retirement more precarious.
In what follows, we describe seven strategies that will speed you towards financial independence, preferably while you’re still young enough to enjoy it. You’ll also meet seven Canadians who are living out their lifelong dreams and reinventing the traditional notion of what it means to be retired.
- Reinvent your job
- Protect your savings
- Boost your income with dividends
- Cash in on your home
- Think differently about debt
- Wait before you buy an annuity
- Reduce your tax bill
Read the full article here: MoneySense
From David Aston
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