Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
How many people who earn $150k spend close to their full income? They’re typically putting a big chunk of income into their mortgage, into RRSPs, into TFSAs, probably into RESPs. They’re not going to have those expenses at 65. Nor the expenses that go with working, like a second car, gas to fuel it, nice clothes, frequent restaurant lunches.
I know you’re a financial planner. But let’s be honest and recognize that most people who use your industry’s services are in the top quartile in income, and that you have an interest in promoting an aspirational, high-end retirement plan to them. The more the wealthy set aside for retirement, the more money flows through the hands of the people who manage that money.
30 per cent of Canadians currently have no retirement savings. A further 20 per cent have less than $50k. The average sum saved at retirement is $184k, and I’d wager the median is considerably lower than that.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/32-of-ca...-poll-1.991680
All of this talk of $1 mil vs $1.5 mil is completely out of touch with reality. Shouldn’t Canadians be talking about what our average experiences of retirement are going to be like rather than presenting scenarios that are out of reach for the majority of people? |
Sure, my client-base skews my view on this and I can admit that. But it's also a bit of a chicken and egg scenario because people that work with planners might be higher income to begin with, but they're also savers. They're more prepared for retirement in part because of the work that they do with their advisors and in part because they save money in the first place.
And yes, some expenses do disappear on retirement. Some don't though. People want to do things for the first years of retirement, and like I say, whatever those things are, they're generally not free. It doesn't mean that everyone needs $2m to retire comfortably, and it doesn't mean that you can't do it with much less. I've go retired clients with millions and they fret about whether they will be able to live comfortably, and clients with small fractions of that who haven't got a care in the world on that front. It depends on how you live, but it also depends on your personal psychological relationship with money to a significant extent.