Are you saving enough for retirement?

[Monahammer]

If i was close to retirement, I would definitely consider dumping a large portion into a solid 5% or even 6% GIC if you have a couple years, after the market gets back to about even (it almost is for me right now.)

I have a much longer time horizon right now, so I'm willing to play the risk. But it's tempting to take a 5-6% guarantee gain in this sort of volatility, and there's something to be said for being able to plan. It's sort of like the fixed vs variability rate for mortgages debate: sure, you might lose out on extra gains, but if you can lock in the security of your retirement date, it seems like an obvious choice.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

If i was close to retirement, I would definitely consider dumping a large portion into a solid 5% or even 6% GIC if you have a couple years, after the market gets back to about even (it almost is for me right now.)

I have a much longer time horizon right now, so I'm willing to play the risk. But it's tempting to take a 5-6% guarantee gain in this sort of volatility, and there's something to be said for being able to plan. It's sort of like the fixed vs variability rate for mortgages debate: sure, you might lose out on extra gains, but if you can lock in the security of your retirement date, it seems like an obvious choice.

I don’t think GICs are a better or worse investment then they were previously. There still current inflation minus 2% or so which is what they were previously. I do agree that if you are retiring soon setting up a GIC ladder to lock in your first 5 years of spending likely de-risks your retirement.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by GGG

I don’t think GICs are a better or worse investment then they were previously. There still current inflation minus 2% or so which is what they were previously. I do agree that if you are retiring soon setting up a GIC ladder to lock in your first 5 years of spending likely de-risks your retirement.

Well you could also buy bonds.

[nik-]

I thought I was doing pretty well, but after this latest inflation explosion, and knowing there will probably be another before I retire, or during retirement, I'm not so sure now.

I'll probably just wrap my last day of work, take the elevator to the top floor, and toss myself out a window.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nik-

I thought I was doing pretty well, but after this latest inflation explosion, and knowing there will probably be another before I retire, or during retirement, I'm not so sure now.

I'll probably just wrap my last day of work, take the elevator to the top floor, and toss myself out a window.

You just need to time your last day of spending to line up with a MAID request. "I'm outa money, I can't go on like this!"

[sa226]

If you're fortunate enough to be disciplined with saving and continually adding to your investments aaand have a longer term horizon, the power of dollar cost averaging is pretty strong right now.

There's a lot of boxs to tick but it is.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

I haven't touched my investments. They're close to being back to where they were before the bear market. I have all index based ETFs - ie XUU, XIU, XEQT, 100% equities. Even in downturns, dividends roll in.

People always panic sell for a loss during downturns. It's stupid, but they do it.

Interestingly, GIC rates are pretty good. I had to park 100k that I have in cash for a potential down payment for a house next year. I got close to 5% for a 1-year GIC.

I hate to say it but I’m struggling to make the jump to ETFs. I find it intimidating and potentially time consuming when I already have too much stuff/stress in life. So yeah I have far too much with funds but at least they’re some of the lowest MERs relative to top quarter returns overall. Any advice on how to initiate the jump to ETFs?

I recently did a retirement forecast and noted that going ETFs versus MERS (typically lower than 2%) is a huge drain and means I gotta work longer to save more. Of course the risk is poor management of my chosen ETFs. Sigh…

[mikephoen]

I retired this year at the age of 49! I'm pretty excited to be retired while still young enough to enjoy it.

I got here through some very unorthodox investment strategies, mainly collectibles. I also had a small business that I sold, a commercial property which earns me some monthly rent for now, and I did well on some Bitcoin that I bought long ago and sold early this year. I missed selling at the peak, but I also got out before the worst of the crash. And my wife and I also have TFSAs and small RRSPs, but they aren't really a significant part of our plan.

Mainly, I invested over the last 35 years, and especially the last 16, in comic books and Magic the Gathering cards. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for the average person, this has been the industry I've been in professionally since the early 90s and I was confident in my ability to navigate it.

I cashed out the Bitcoin and my comics earlier this year, and that's all in traditional investments now. I didn't quite time the stock market perfectly, as some of the money went in before the bear market really took hold, but some of it did go in around the recent bottom as well. My plan (not really 'my' plan, I have a professional investment advisor and accountants for this) has a lot of resiliency built in, so I should be good even if there are years of bear market and inflation ahead. I still have the MtG and I'll be cashing that out in a few years to add to the traditional investment fund.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

I hate to say it but I’m struggling to make the jump to ETFs. I find it intimidating and potentially time consuming when I already have too much stuff/stress in life. So yeah I have far too much with funds but at least they’re some of the lowest MERs relative to top quarter returns overall. Any advice on how to initiate the jump to ETFs?

I recently did a retirement forecast and noted that going ETFs versus MERS (typically lower than 2%) is a huge drain and means I gotta work longer to save more. Of course the risk is poor management of my chosen ETFs. Sigh…

You can hire someone for way less than 2% and they can run that for you.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

I hate to say it but I’m struggling to make the jump to ETFs. I find it intimidating and potentially time consuming when I already have too much stuff/stress in life. So yeah I have far too much with funds but at least they’re some of the lowest MERs relative to top quarter returns overall. Any advice on how to initiate the jump to ETFs?

I recently did a retirement forecast and noted that going ETFs versus MERS (typically lower than 2%) is a huge drain and means I gotta work longer to save more. Of course the risk is poor management of my chosen ETFs. Sigh…

What do you mean by this? Switching to ETFs does not imply that your returns will be lower - just the opposite, they should be a little higher, due to the lower MERs.

Also choosing ETFs is not a difficult or burdensome venture, quite the opposite. One of the benefits of ETFs is that you know exactly what you're getting - a whole market equity fund means that you are buying the whole market. There are minor differences, but if you stick to larger ETFs with the lowest fees (such as Vanguard) it is pretty straight-forward.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

I retired this year at the age of 49! I'm pretty excited to be retired while still young enough to enjoy it.

I got here through some very unorthodox investment strategies, mainly collectibles. I also had a small business that I sold, a commercial property which earns me some monthly rent for now, and I did well on some Bitcoin that I bought long ago and sold early this year. I missed selling at the peak, but I also got out before the worst of the crash. And my wife and I also have TFSAs and small RRSPs, but they aren't really a significant part of our plan.

Mainly, I invested over the last 35 years, and especially the last 16, in comic books and Magic the Gathering cards. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for the average person, this has been the industry I've been in professionally since the early 90s and I was confident in my ability to navigate it.

I cashed out the Bitcoin and my comics earlier this year, and that's all in traditional investments now. I didn't quite time the stock market perfectly, as some of the money went in before the bear market really took hold, but some of it did go in around the recent bottom as well. My plan (not really 'my' plan, I have a professional investment advisor and accountants for this) has a lot of resiliency built in, so I should be good even if there are years of bear market and inflation ahead. I still have the MtG and I'll be cashing that out in a few years to add to the traditional investment fund.

Cool, now my life of toil seems much more bleak.

Well done and kudos for living the dream (at least the dream i had as a kid!)

PS one of my "friends" stole and sold my best magic cards during university. I had a collection ranging from first editions that my elder cousin (15 years older than me) had started collecting when they were first becoming popular. I was ####ing invincible- part of the reason she stole it, as she said, was that I never let her win. I will never forgive her for this.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

I hate to say it but I’m struggling to make the jump to ETFs. I find it intimidating and potentially time consuming when I already have too much stuff/stress in life. So yeah I have far too much with funds but at least they’re some of the lowest MERs relative to top quarter returns overall. Any advice on how to initiate the jump to ETFs?

I recently did a retirement forecast and noted that going ETFs versus MERS (typically lower than 2%) is a huge drain and means I gotta work longer to save more. Of course the risk is poor management of my chosen ETFs. Sigh…

You can start with XGRO 80/20 indexed and bonds and probably a little bit too much home country bias. It’s one ETF you can set up auto purchasing and dividend reinvestment on quest trade and forget about it. .20% MER. There is also Xeqt, and xbal which have different levels of bond exposure. And also Vanguard equivalents instead of blackrock. Those work well if your investments are all non-taxable.

Once you have taxable accounts you want to spilt your US/Bonds/global/can for better tax efficiency and at that point paying to get that all set up in the most efficient manner can add value.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

I hate to say it but I’m struggling to make the jump to ETFs. I find it intimidating and potentially time consuming when I already have too much stuff/stress in life. So yeah I have far too much with funds but at least they’re some of the lowest MERs relative to top quarter returns overall. Any advice on how to initiate the jump to ETFs?

I recently did a retirement forecast and noted that going ETFs versus MERS (typically lower than 2%) is a huge drain and means I gotta work longer to save more. Of course the risk is poor management of my chosen ETFs. Sigh…

Vanguard is your friend.

Or if you want even simpler, TD e-Series are seem to work for people who want nothing to do with investing, but want out of Mutual Funds.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GGG

I don’t think GICs are a better or worse investment then they were previously. There still current inflation minus 2% or so which is what they were previously. I do agree that if you are retiring soon setting up a GIC ladder to lock in your first 5 years of spending likely de-risks your retirement.

5% with inflation at 7% is actually worse than 0% with inflation at 2%.

Your purchasing power goes down by 2% per year, but in the high inflation scenario you are also paying taxes on the 5%

[opendoor]

But inflation is what happened in the last 12 months while a bond pays over the next 12/24/36/60 months. The chance of outperforming inflation with a 5% GIC is astronomically higher than it is with a 1% one.

Now it's possible that 5%+ inflation persists for years, but the bond markets certainly aren't betting that. The current spread between inflation-adjusted and non-inflation-adjusted bonds is just over 2%, which is effectively the 5-year average inflation expectation.

[Faust]

I am on the Freedom 95 plan.

[schteve_d]

I am trying to help my girlfriend's daughter to start saving. She is 15 years old and has just started her first job.

I told her that if she was willing to put in $150 I would match it and we'd invest it and get her started. I've been talking to her about compounding interest and all that good stuff; lots of things that I wish I had learned at her age!

Any good advice on what I should get her started with at her age? TFSA, RRSP? She plans to contribute a small amount every month as she won't be making a whole lot of money.

I'd like to get her into something she could watch with an app on her phone, whether it's through a bank or whatever so that she can see her money slowly growing. Hopefully!

I'm a financial rookie myself and don't do much else but contribute to an RRSP that I started years ago so any advice is appreciated.

[GGG]

TFSAs don’t start until a person is 18.

She will want to bank the RRSP room until she is a higher tax bracket as she would be likely under the 12k and 18k thresholds for federal and provincial taxes.

If she plans on going to post secondary an RESP would make sense because the government will match 20% but otherwise a regular non-sheltered account makes the most sense.

Is this saving for retirement or saving for a purchase sometime in the future because that would determine what to invest in based on the time horizon.

[Domoic]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

I retired this year at the age of 49! I'm pretty excited to be retired while still young enough to enjoy it.

---

Congrats! Are you married? Any kids?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Domoic

Congrats! Are you married? Any kids?

A wife apparently.