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Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Another good indicator of class is whether the Globe and Mail would consider you for one of their retirement planning articles. You know, the ones where she's a professor and he's a former civil servant who now works as a consultant. The're both in their mid 50s and earning $130k and $150k. Both have a defined benefit pension. They have half share of a vacation property at a lake, and a million dollar home in a leafy Toronto neighbourhood that's paid off. They want to know if they can retire before 60, and the G&M columnist says maybe, but first they'll have to pay off the Audi, stop paying the rent for their 26 year old daughter, and maybe restrict themselves to one overseas vacation a year.
I've always thought it would be good for a laugh if the G&M did a retirement planning article for a more typical middle-class family. He's an electrician making $65k. She makes $48k at a license registry. They're in their mid-50s and neither have a pension. Mortgage on their $400k bungalow won't be paid off for another five years (second marriage for each). They have about $100k in RRSPs between the two of them. When can they retire and what kind of lifestyle will they have?
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They occassionally throw in, maybe once a year, a couple who is so far down that the concept of retirement is completely out of the question. I would like for them to once, do a profile on a couple that is pulling in the $100 - $200k per year, but no pension plan.
G&M, stop profiling people with pension plans!! There is literally nobody with a pension plan that pays out $50-60k per year that can't retire on that. Even if you saved nothing your entire life, a pension plan is a life raft.