Category Archives: Retirement

The Impact of Inflation on Savings and Investments
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Inflation is a critical factor in personal finance that can significantly affect your purchasing power over time, particularly as you plan for retirement. As prices rise, the same amount of money will buy fewer goods and services in the future. This blog post will explore how inflation impacts your savings and investments and provide strategies to mitigate its effects, including a calculation on how retirees can maintain their retirement income needs over a period of 20 years. What is Inflation? Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power. Central…

Happy New Year
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While many people are making their New Years Resolutions about health and wellness, consider committing to your financial wellbeing too! Here are a few things to think about when writing down your 2022 goals. Top up your TFSAs or consider making a regular contribution The new maximum limit for 2022 is $6,000, however if you have not maximized your contributions in previous years then you will have more than the annual limit to contribute. If you don’t have the cash available for a larger deposit, you could consider making regular bi-weekly or monthly contributions throughout the calendar year to maximize…

Leaving a Job
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Leaving a job can be an emotional and often stressful time. During your transition from one job to another, or into semi- or full-time retirement, there are many financial decisions to be made. Many of these decisions can have expensive tax consequences, so being prepared with the right advice on how to proceed is priceless. Over the last 19 months since the pandemic began, many Canadians have found themselves out of work, back at work, and then out of work again. Some of these have been temporary layoffs, and others more permanent. Many people have taken this uncertain time to…

An Investor’s Journey : A Video
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We wanted to share this short video from one of our favourite investment companies, EdgePoint. The video shares one person’s experience of being invested over the past 10 years, through the ups and down, and why it pays to think “long-term” when investing your hard-earned money. Many of our clients have had a similar road to the character in the video, and we continue to buy these funds for our clients and our own personal portfolios, as we believe in a long-term investment strategy. The take-away is to be patient; and know that both good and bad years don’t last…

Canada Pension Plan Primer
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Anyone who is an employee, and many people who are self-employed are part of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). But how much do you really know about this foundation of your retirement plan? Both you and your employer contribute to this pension. The contributions will depend on what you earn, up to a maximum that can be contributed each calendar year. If you are a lower income earner, you will not be contributing the maximum, thereby saving less. The result will be that your income from the CPP when you retire will also be less. You can check what your…

Leaving Your Current Job or Retiring?
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People change employment for any number of reasons; some are voluntary whilst others are forced. There are a lot of critical decisions that have to be made at times like these. When considering what to do with an employer sponsored pension plan, or Group RRSP there are a number of things you need to determine. Defined Benefit Pension Plan Find out how well funded it is. If it is a large viable company and has a small shortfall it may be fine to leave it in their hands. It is important to have a sense of how well managed the…

2016 TFSA Limit
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Our new government has kept their promise to reduce the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) limit back down to $5,500 per year. But don’t worry; you aren’t losing any contribution room that has already accumulated. Anyone opening a brand new account today would have a limit of $41,000, and that will rise by another $5,500 on January 1st, 2016. So, new accounts or maximums for previously opened accounts will be $46,500 in the New Year. We recommend you check with your accountant or tax preparer, or log into your CRA My Account online, to ensure you don’t over contribute if…

What Kind Of Pension Plan Do I Have? – Part Two
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In my previous blog post I discussed the oldest form of pension plan—the Defined Benefit Plan (DBP). The vast majority of employers today have moved to a Defined Contribution Pension Plan (DCP). The reason for this is that unlike a DBP, once they have made their contribution, the employer is no longer on the hook for a specific monthly retirement benefit for the employee. There is no liability to the employer to keep funding the pension plan over and above what they have agreed to contribute on your behalf. In a Defined Contribution Plan the employer agrees to contribute to…

What Kind Of Pension Plan Do I Have? – Part One
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As your advisor, it is important that I am aware of all the pieces of your financial life. If you are one of the fortunate people who have a pension or Group RRSP through your employer, we must examine just how much this plan will contribute to your retirement income—and whether you can rely on your work pension plan. First, let’s explore the Defined Benefit Plan. If you have one of the old pension plans that have been in existence for decades, it may well be a Defined Benefit Plan. These are often fully funded by the employer, and they…