Confidence to Retire

With today’s longer life expectancies, the traditional take on retirement doesn’t necessarily apply anymore. Some Canadian workers are retiring earlier, some later, and some never. Although the average age of retirement is not 65 but about 61, many retirees just can’t see themselves sitting back with their feet up for the next 20 years. Even if you have enough savings, do you want to completely leave the working world? Employment has rewards beyond just the financial benefits.

Entering Retirement Confidently

Of course, not every retiree wants to continue working but shouldn’t you be able to choose how and when you spend this exciting chapter of your life?

Regardless of how you choose to spend your retirement, a strategic plan is critical to insure that you are in charge of that decision; not your finances. By using the appropriate financial instruments to plan for retirement, such as RRIF’s or annuities, you maximize the income available to you while minimizing taxes as much as possible.

You may be relying on your personal savings to generate the majority of your income in retirement. These might include employer-sponsored pension plans, registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), registered retirement income funds (RRIFs), and other investments such as guaranteed interest contracts (GICs), bonds, mutual and segregated funds, equities, tax-free savings accounts and annuities. While each of these investment vehicles can generate income, each is treated differently in the way income is reported for tax purposes. However, non-registered income is included at different rates depending on the investment source. This is an important consideration when planning how your retirement income will be structured.

In addition to personal savings, when you reach age 65 there are also valuable federal and/or provincial benefits such as Old Age Security (OAS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Regardless of your age now, an integral part of our 4-step planning process is to determine what income you will require to fund the standard of living you wish to maintain in retirement, and the time frame that you have in which to accumulate that income. By developing a tax-managed portfolio that diversifies your investments, we can achieve the balance and stability that will provide you peace of mind in maintaining a healthy retirement income.

And isn’t that what it’s all about? Being confident that whatever your retirement goals are, that the assets you worked hard to accumulate, continue to work for you during the most rewarding chapter of your life?