Are you saving enough for retirement?

[chedder]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

The thing is to find "a guy" (so to speak) that can consistently do a good job... which IMO is to at least match market returns (or maybe more) and magically avoid most of market drops, whilst most importantly not miss market increases.

Anyone that tells you they can match or beat 'market' (whatever that means) returns and avoid most of the drops is at best a liar. Especially after fees.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by chedder

Anyone that tells you they can match or beat 'market' (whatever that means) returns and avoid most of the drops is at best a liar. Especially after fees.

Especially buying the index…you know, because there’s zero percent chance of doing this. The thing is, there’s no such thing as passive investing. Once you accept that, you move to what kind of active investing you want to do and how you want to implement that.

And let me be clear about the “beating the market” part. It’s entirely irrelevant. People are trying to reach specific goals and with risks they can tolerate.

[Red Ice Player]

I neglected retirement planning almost to the last minute. I have some RSP savings but certainly not enough. My TFSA gets maxed every year and is doing reasonably well. Due to the previously mentioned neglect and disinterest I have a lot of accumulated RSP room. My plan is to leave my job at mid year, having turned 65 the previous year. At tax time, I will make an RSP contribution large enough to bring my total income for the year of my retirement to zero. This would qualify me for a monthly max GIS payment tacked on to my OAS, a strategy I can continue until I use up all my RSP room. My question is, would I also qualify for retroactive GIS for my entire retirement year? Technically, I'll be a destitute senior for that year so I would think so.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

I neglected retirement planning almost to the last minute. I have some RSP savings but certainly not enough. My TFSA gets maxed every year and is doing reasonably well. Due to the previously mentioned neglect and disinterest I have a lot of accumulated RSP room. My plan is to leave my job at mid year, having turned 65 the previous year. At tax time, I will make an RSP contribution large enough to bring my total income for the year of my retirement to zero. This would qualify me for a monthly max GIS payment tacked on to my OAS, a strategy I can continue until I use up all my RSP room. My question is, would I also qualify for retroactive GIS for my entire retirement year? Technically, I'll be a destitute senior for that year so I would think so.

I don’t want to give advice online, because it’s obvious that I don’t know the full situation here. But a couple things in general:

A) you could get retroactive payments from Service Canada because they do this when they pay things like CPP/OAS depending on the exact situation. I’m not completely sure about GIS though.

B) I’d really think about the plan of taking your income to zero for a few reasons. First, it sounds like you’re about to make a bunch of non-taxable or already taxed money, taxable. While that might get you some GIS, you want to make sure that makes sense (assuming you can get the GIS this way).

B1/2) ETA: you might not need to take your income right down to zero in this plan. You get the basic personal amount and things like that, so those RRSP contributions are almost a moot point. You could be best to set those funds aside and stagger the contributions through the next few years. I’m not saying that’s what you should do for sure, but you’d need to do the math and see what comes out the most favourable.


I know some people here are going to get irritated with my saying this for the second time in a few days…but there are professionals who do this kind of thing for a living, and we can handle these kinds of scenarios. You should probably consider some professional advice.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don’t want to give advice online, because it’s obvious that I don’t know the full situation here. But a couple things in general:

A) you could get retroactive payments from Service Canada because they do this when they pay things like CPP/OAS depending on the exact situation. I’m not completely sure about GIS though.

B) I’d really think about the plan of taking your income to zero for a few reasons. First, it sounds like you’re about to make a bunch of non-taxable or already taxed money, taxable. While that might get you some GIS, you want to make sure that makes sense (assuming you can get the GIS this way).

B1/2) ETA: you might not need to take your income right down to zero in this plan. You get the basic personal amount and things like that, so those RRSP contributions are almost a moot point. You could be best to set those funds aside and stagger the contributions through the next few years. I’m not saying that’s what you should do for sure, but you’d need to do the math and see what comes out the most favourable.


I know some people here are going to get irritated with my saying this for the second time in a few days…but there are professionals who do this kind of thing for a living, and we can handle these kinds of scenarios. You should probably consider some professional advice.

FWIW, I completely agree. I don't know where I'd be without my financial advisor. I definitely sleep better at night having that expertise in my corner. This poster absolutely, positively needs some professional guidance before retiring. It's a borderline emergency for him.

[Geraldsh]

I second that advice. I tried gaming the system myself for a few years before I found a good financial advisor. With his help, after 10 years of retirement my nest egg is still the same size as when I started - much better than the path I was on by myself.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don’t want to give advice online, because it’s obvious that I don’t know the full situation here. But a couple things in general:

A) you could get retroactive payments from Service Canada because they do this when they pay things like CPP/OAS depending on the exact situation. I’m not completely sure about GIS though.

B) I’d really think about the plan of taking your income to zero for a few reasons. First, it sounds like you’re about to make a bunch of non-taxable or already taxed money, taxable. While that might get you some GIS, you want to make sure that makes sense (assuming you can get the GIS this way).

B1/2) ETA: you might not need to take your income right down to zero in this plan. You get the basic personal amount and things like that, so those RRSP contributions are almost a moot point. You could be best to set those funds aside and stagger the contributions through the next few years. I’m not saying that’s what you should do for sure, but you’d need to do the math and see what comes out the most favourable.


I know some people here are going to get irritated with my saying this for the second time in a few days…but there are professionals who do this kind of thing for a living, and we can handle these kinds of scenarios. You should probably consider some professional advice.

Thanks for your reply. I strongly value your expertise in all things financial.
I am not about to turn my hard earned TFSA into taxable money. It will be my best income stream when I start drawing from it in three years. My RSP contribution will come out of my wages, as always. I actually won't have to make a massive contribution to achieve the zero income, as I have a good amount of unused RSP contributions that I made two years ago.
I have enough RSP room to collect max GIS for the first four years of my retirement. I only have to offset my CPP, which I already collect, and a very small company pension. I would also pay no income tax for those years. I am prepared to pay the tax on the RSP when I start withdrawing from it. To me, having that GIS money means I don't have to draw from my investments as much for those years.
Maybe "zero income" is the wrong term. What I meant was whatever amount of RSP contribution is necessary to qualify for max GIS. I should also mention that I am still eighteen months away from my retirement, so no rash decisions are being made. Thank you for your concern, Sliver.
I am trying to structure my retirement so that at least half of my income will be tax free, even when I start doing the RIF withdrawals.
I really do need to find out about retroactive GIS payments. It could amount to over twelve grand for my retirement year so I at least want to be prepared for it. GIS is not usually considered in most retirement plans but I think it should enter the conversation. I barely knew about it until a couple of years ago. Thanks to my RSP room, I can collect an extra cheque every month on top of the tax deferral.

[kcin]

Does anyone have a detailed and highly customizable retirement planning calculator for Excel that they can link to? Happy to pay a little bit if it's what I'm looking for. Looking for something that's powerful enough to run various scenarios and optimize drawdowns (by account) for taxes, OAS, and CPP. Could build a model myself but wanted to ask if there's something amazing out there first.

Thanks in advance

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by kcin

Does anyone have a detailed and highly customizable retirement planning calculator for Excel that they can link to? Happy to pay a little bit if it's what I'm looking for. Looking for something that's powerful enough to run various scenarios and optimize drawdowns (by account) for taxes, OAS, and CPP. Could build a model myself but wanted to ask if there's something amazing out there first.

Thanks in advance

That’s something I’d also be interested in.

[edslunch]

What is a typical rate of return on investments for someone of retirement age (i.e. a less aggressive investment approach). I'm unhappy with my current advisor but want to calibrate my expectations.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by edslunch

What is a typical rate of return on investments for someone of retirement age (i.e. a less aggressive investment approach). I'm unhappy with my current advisor but want to calibrate my expectations.

I think it's really hard to say with any certainty because it depends on the asset mix. It's also going to matter what kind of timeframe you're looking at, because if you were looking at a one year figure from today, it's not likely that amazing. If you're looking at longer, say the past decade or so, you should likely be high single digits for an average.

(I'll just throw my self forward as a shameless plug if you want to sit down for an unbiased look)

[you&me]

Originally Posted by edslunch

What is a typical rate of return on investments for someone of retirement age (i.e. a less aggressive investment approach). I'm unhappy with my current advisor but want to calibrate my expectations.

The obvious goal should be to outpace inflation while balancing risk and if not self-managing, having someone taking a more active management roll to keep on top of the changing market.

There are a number of blue chip stocks currently paying dividends well in excess of inflation...

[Slava]

Originally Posted by you&me

The obvious goal should be to outpace inflation while balancing risk and if not self-managing, having someone taking a more active management roll to keep on top of the changing market.

There are a number of blue chip stocks currently paying dividends well in excess of inflation...

Well to be fair, dividends are just a different way to get your return. I know people that love them (and I feel like I have this conversation regularly!), but the reality is that total return is what matters and dividends are just a piece of that.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

I neglected retirement planning almost to the last minute. I have some RSP savings but certainly not enough. My TFSA gets maxed every year and is doing reasonably well. Due to the previously mentioned neglect and disinterest I have a lot of accumulated RSP room. My plan is to leave my job at mid year, having turned 65 the previous year. At tax time, I will make an RSP contribution large enough to bring my total income for the year of my retirement to zero. This would qualify me for a monthly max GIS payment tacked on to my OAS, a strategy I can continue until I use up all my RSP room. My question is, would I also qualify for retroactive GIS for my entire retirement year? Technically, I'll be a destitute senior for that year so I would think so.

For GIS, I'm not 100% sure, but have a feeling it's based on the calculation of gross income (ie: Total box 15000 on your tax return).

RRSP contributions (as a deductions) are in the 20,XXX range to calculation net income (ie: Total box 236000). I don't think you can use RRSP contributions (ie: RRSP deductions) to have low enough taxable income (ie: Total box 26000) to qualify for GIS as a strategy.

Hire a professional to explain this stuff to you. Pay hourly for the requested questions and work (I assume you'd probably would be anywhere between 3-5 hours before you get the answers you need) and then go back on your merry way. Don't hire someone based on a percentage of your investments.

However, you might quickly find out that you were asking the wrong questions, so you have to go back and ask revised questions for a new scenario you may have ended up in. It's very normal to have to redo calculations every 3-5 years. You can't just do one up and leave it for decades until you die.

By the way, the same should be done for wills. Re-read and evaluate them every 5 years and get them updated/corrected if certain things change.

I don't have any recommendations for professionals. I'm just saying I'm 99% sure GIS income calculations are untweakable via deductions.