Retirement

Great ideas to help your retirement plan

Unfortunately, retirement anxiety affects many of us and it’s hard to imagine a happy and successful retirement when so many messages out there are suggesting we are all doomed to fail because we are not saving enough money.

I’ve received lots of comments and feedback over the years on the topic of retirement anxiety so I thought I would highlight some key themes that come from these comments over the years.

Retirement planning is about saving money

Jason says “saving is very essential to get a better retire life”. Part of saving for retirement is knowing what accounts to use. In Canada we debate between RRSPs, TFSAs and non-registered savings.

Although we intuitively know we need to save money, the question is how much is enough? Rob Bennett thinks retirement planning is intimidating because the numbers seem so big. “You need to save millions and millions of dollars to retire properly.” These big numbers might be counterproductive to encouraging people to plan. I like his suggestion of breaking retirement savings goals into smaller, more manageable chunks.

You may not need millions and millions of dollars to retire

I think this is one of the common misconceptions of retirement. I believe this because I know so many people that have retired happy and successful without millions of dollars in their RRSPs. If you want to live the stereotypical retirement dream where you travel 365 days of the year, staying in 4 star hotels, eating in nice restaurants, etc, then you probably need a good chunk of change to retire. I’ve often said that for most people, retirement is simply an extension of the life they are already living, which can be happy without millions.

I love Kim’s comment “After making my plan, I realized that I need much less than I had anticipated. As a result, my retirement anxiety has significantly decreased.” I’ve seen this so many times where good planning actually helps people to realize they may need less money to retire than they thought.

Retirement is about more than just money

Yvonne and Carl really make this point in their comments. Yvonne says “don’t forget to plan non-financial life goals that you wish to achieve in retirement. Do you want to work with a charity, go on that big trip, have more time to exercise, eat properly, etc.”

Carl share some practical thoughts for retirement that has nothing to do with money:

  • Volunteer in your community to lend a helping hand to those in need
  • Find peers with similar interests to bond and share leisure time
  • Consider blogging on a topic of interest or expertise
  • Get creative with a new hobby and build something unique
  • Explore your artistic side and take up painting or sculpting
  • Learn the methods for tracing genealogy and become a history detective
  • Take field trips within 50 miles of home and encounter wonders of nature
  • Write articles like this one and self-publish online to make new friends

Although money is important to retirement planning, there is more to retirement than just money.

What does a retirement plan look like?

Brad hits the nail on the head when he says “I went to a bank to get some help with a retirement plan and ended up walking out with a mutual fund. No wonder we all have retirement anxiety!” I’m sure many people can relate to this. People need to know that financial products are a very small component of a retirement plan. Unfortunately, many financial advisors will tell you they will do a retirement plan or a financial plan “for free” but are really trying to sell you and investment or manage your portfolio for you.

A little retirement anxiety can be good

One of my favorite comments was from Mr. Ham, who claims retirement anxiety can actually be a good thing especially if it motivates someone to start developing a retirement plan. The bigger problem over a case of retirement anxiety is a case of ignorance, denial or complacency.

Your two cents . . .

Please feel free to throw in your two cents down below in the comments. Your comments not only help me to write about different topics but they also help others.

Comments

  1. abinash chandra

    We have no doubt to say that time of love has gone.Today’s is time of money and usefulness.Specially if you are old then the importance of money is more .It requires retirement planning so that you can pass a part of life time that is old like as gold.We should never forget for retirement planning while you are working life.
    Thanks,
    Abi

  2. Noah

    If you know your monthly expenses, which I think you would, it should be a fairly easy calculation. Your saved $300,000 should be divided by say 25 years = $12,000 p/yr. That is without anticipated growth, so a conservative estimate. Plus your Social Security check x12, plus the pension x12 , less 20% taxes, should give you a good idea of a yearly income. Add that all up, less your monthly expenses, will give you your discretionary income. Hoping that excess allows you to take a vacation or two.

  3. Irina

    Is there anywhere we can get information on retirement planning for immigrants who won’t get access to full CPP or OAS? All the articles I read assume full OAS and CPP as a base income, and that is just not the case for quite a few of us who came here as experienced professionals. Also information tailored specifically for singles would be good too as I believe it costs me almost as much to live as a never married single as it does a couple (home, cable, phone for example costs the same for one or two).
    Thanks!

  4. Bill Silverberg

    My wife has 3000.00 to invest in a dividend paying stock
    She is 71 years of age
    What stock would you recommend ?
    Thanks
    Bill

  5. Louise

    Retirement should be planned to ensure that your needs will be met. Thanks for the ideas you shared, they will surely help me stay on the right track.

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