Are you saving enough for retirement?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Depends what you mean by not a big tax advantage? If you're taking out RRSPs anyways and have no other pensions, converting a portion of the RRSP to RRIF allows for a non-refundable pension income amount tax credit, which is $2,000 and at 15% is worth $300.

Sure, at 65 in makes sense to convert to get the pension tax credit/pension income split.

My post said there's no advantage to converting BEFORE the year you turn 65, which I think is true. You can't get those benefits pre-65 and it makes the withdrawals mandatory (vs optional).

[Slava]

^ I think that is worth getting, but you can also just open a RRIF and convert some of the RRSP to get that. It's not an all-or-nothing situation. Open the RRIF, move $2000, get the tax credit, and keep the remainder in the RRSP.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Sure, at 65 in makes sense to convert to get the pension tax credit/pension income split.

My post said there's no advantage to converting BEFORE the year you turn 65, which I think is true. You can't get those benefits pre-65 and it makes the withdrawals mandatory (vs optional).

I missed the before 65 part. My bad. You're right that you can't transfer or get the credit before then.

But I've still seen RRIF occur before age 65. Allows withdrawals to be automatic plus you can request to have amounts withheld and submitted for you for tax purposes (convenient for individual). We could split hairs on whether it's considered a big advantage, but to them it seems like a big one and to us, I think we'd agree there's no tax advantage for doing it before 65 but perhaps an administrative one depending on the situation.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I missed the before 65 part. My bad. You're right that you can't transfer or get the credit before then.

But I've still seen RRIF occur before age 65. Allows withdrawals to be automatic plus you can request to have amounts withheld and submitted for you for tax purposes (convenient for individual). We could split hairs on whether it's considered a big advantage, but to them it seems like a big one and to us, I think we'd agree there's no tax advantage for doing it before 65 but perhaps an administrative one depending on the situation.

Sure. I agree there's a small administrative advantage to converting early if you're absolutely sure you're going to keep taking payments. I would never do that because I value the optionally of not taking them, but some like to keep things simple which I respect.

There might also be a psychological benefit for people thinking "every month i have $Xxxx as retirement income" from converting vs just taking money out of an rrsp as needed.

[Johnny199r]

Bump for another year.

How's everyone doing?

I'm doing well and still on track. It's been a great year in the markets.

Over the last year I got my brother-in law and sister and a buddy into low cost index investing via wealthsimple. I managed to get my hands on my brother in-law's work RRSP match program and it was horrendous (crap mutual funds with high MERS - compliments of the program administrator) I explained all the problems to him and he was able to speak to his boss and get some changes made to the program the company offered. They're all very happy with how it's going since.

I really enjoy personal finance/retirement planning and am thrilled when friends/family have an interest in improving their situation and actually want to discuss it and implement changes. I work in the legal field where lots of co-workers have high incomes but are horrendous money managers and don't think about the future, at all. I try to get them to think about 20 years from now, but they're mostly just not interested in planning.

[Fuzz]

Curious to compare different strategies and returns. I've had Questwealth accounts(actively managed by them) which are about

1 year: 18.5%
3 year: 18%
5 year: 14%

My self managed RRSP is
1 year: 22.3%
3 year: 11.8%
5 year: 13.9%

I wanted to put a few years into this to see how it went, and I've concluded a while ago it's not worth my effort other than kinda fun gambling speculative stuff to do it myself. So I'm gradually moving over to Questwealth portfolios, they seem to do fine.

But I'm curious how Wealthsimple portfolios have done(anyone have those?), and other options as stock market growth has been pretty big.
S&P 500
1 year: 13.54%
3 year: 18.85%
5 year: 13.59%

DJIA
1 year: 6.25%
3 year: 11.32%
5 year: 9.99%

S&P/TSX Composite
1 year: 22.36%
3 year: 15.34%
5 year: 12.79%

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Curious to compare different strategies and returns. I've had Questwealth accounts(actively managed by them) which are about

1 year: 18.5%
3 year: 18%
5 year: 14%

My self managed RRSP is
1 year: 22.3%
3 year: 11.8%
5 year: 13.9%

I wanted to put a few years into this to see how it went, and I've concluded a while ago it's not worth my effort other than kinda fun gambling speculative stuff to do it myself. So I'm gradually moving over to Questwealth portfolios, they seem to do fine.

But I'm curious how Wealthsimple portfolios have done(anyone have those?), and other options as stock market growth has been pretty big.
S&P 500
1 year: 13.54%
3 year: 18.85%
5 year: 13.59%

DJIA
1 year: 6.25%
3 year: 11.32%
5 year: 9.99%

S&P/TSX Composite
1 year: 22.36%
3 year: 15.34%
5 year: 12.79%

Fuzz, are you interested in being completely hands-off?

Since you have some experience 'gambling'… you know the mechanics behind buying and selling shares. You could just buy those all in one ETFs depending on your risk profile and enjoy automatic rebalancing and diversification across geographies, industries, company size, etc. all for 25-30 basis points.

[Fuzz]

I could buy all those etf's that they buy, but they change and re-balance all the time. I couldn't keep up with that. And if I'm just going to get the same return, why bother? Yes, there is a 0.25% MER, but I'm sure I'd do worse than that by not doing as good a job on them.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Curious to compare different strategies and returns. I've had Questwealth accounts(actively managed by them) which are about

1 year: 18.5%
3 year: 18%
5 year: 14%

My self managed RRSP is
1 year: 22.3%
3 year: 11.8%
5 year: 13.9%

I wanted to put a few years into this to see how it went, and I've concluded a while ago it's not worth my effort other than kinda fun gambling speculative stuff to do it myself. So I'm gradually moving over to Questwealth portfolios, they seem to do fine.

But I'm curious how Wealthsimple portfolios have done(anyone have those?), and other options as stock market growth has been pretty big.
S&P 500
1 year: 13.54%
3 year: 18.85%
5 year: 13.59%

DJIA
1 year: 6.25%
3 year: 11.32%
5 year: 9.99%

S&P/TSX Composite
1 year: 22.36%
3 year: 15.34%
5 year: 12.79%

I would just buy XEQT. Lower MER than actively managed, impossible to beat over time.

[Fuzz]

Looks like XEQT fee is 0.20%, so a bit lower. I'd have to do the bond management myself though. Will look into it.

[Fuzz]

Hrmm, from Reddit:


XGRO is 80% Equities / 20% Fixed Income, and XBAL is 60% Equities / 40% Fixed Income.


So you can juggle that way. Now it's starting to look like work.

[Strange Brew]

Lots of retirement accounts looking fantastic after this incredible bull market. As long as you’ve had enough money to actually be invested in equities which sadly isn’t everyone. The wealth gap just keep increasing.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Lots of retirement accounts looking fantastic after this incredible bull market. As long as you’ve had enough money to actually be invested in equities which sadly isn’t everyone. The wealth gap just keep increasing.

Wealth gap keeps increasing due to investments and value of real estate. A pay check (unless an obscene amount) really doesn't mean much anymore when it comes to who is wealthy and who isnt.

[Strange Brew]

Real estate hasn’t seen the kind of growth that equities has over the last 5 years.

And honestly the equities growth hasn’t been that broad. It’s just that the high growth companies comprise such a large part of the broader indices.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Hrmm, from Reddit:


XGRO is 80% Equities / 20% Fixed Income, and XBAL is 60% Equities / 40% Fixed Income.


So you can juggle that way. Now it's starting to look like work.

Yeah that's what I meant in choosing an all in one ETFs based on risk tolerance - veqt, vgro or vbal. But yes you're stuck with 100/0, 80/20 and 60/40 splits between equity and fixed. If you wanted to do a 75/25, then that would involve more work.

[Fuzz]

So looking at XGRO, which is similar to my QW balance, returns are


1 year: 20.36%
3 year: 18.13%
5 year: 12.81%


Reminder, QW:
1 year: 18.5%
3 year: 18%
5 year: 14%


Did better over 1 year, but QW better over 5. I think this just further convinces me while I may not always be getting the best everywhere, long term it stacks up pretty well. For people who don't want to trust an advisor(for many good reasons) or go through a bank or mutual fund where they take 2%, this is a pretty easy set and forget product.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Real estate hasn’t seen the kind of growth that equities has over the last 5 years.

And honestly the equities growth hasn’t been that broad. It’s just that the high growth companies comprise such a large part of the broader indices.

No real estate hasn't had the same growth as equities, but it's also capital gains free and an appreciating asset.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

No real estate hasn't had the same growth as equities, but it's also capital gains free and an appreciating asset.

Depends where you're talking about though. Vancouver's average detached sale price in October was the same is it was in 2015 after adjusting for inflation. Zero real growth in the last 10 years. And nationally isn't all that different, with real residential prices back to 2017 levels

Meanwhile the S&P is up 250% in real terms over the last 10 years.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

So looking at XGRO, which is similar to my QW balance, returns are


1 year: 20.36%
3 year: 18.13%
5 year: 12.81%


Reminder, QW:
1 year: 18.5%
3 year: 18%
5 year: 14%


Did better over 1 year, but QW better over 5. I think this just further convinces me while I may not always be getting the best everywhere, long term it stacks up pretty well. For people who don't want to trust an advisor(for many good reasons) or go through a bank or mutual fund where they take 2%, this is a pretty easy set and forget product.

That's 100% it. You're paying 25 basis points to get all the diversification benefits. The only 'effort' is that you need to be consistent in purchasing at regular intervals no matter what the market is doing. Ultimately, whether using Vgro or QW portfolios, which one are you going to stick with? The one you can stick with the longest is probably the one for you.

I've established that veqt best matches my risk tolerance. Every paycheque, I've got a specific amount that automatically transfers to my RRSP/TFSA. Then every Wednesday during lunch I go in and but veqt. Been doing this consistently since 2020.

[malcolmk14]

Investments have done really well this year but an 18-month mat leave + buying a new vehicle and a private golf membership have wiped out any gains.

Wife goes back to work halfway through 2026 and then we can start to rebuild!