Most have already come to terms with the fact that the old insurance slogan “Freedom 55” is little more than a dream. But for a growing number of people, retirement at the traditional age of 65 is also out of reach.
Bill VanGorder, from the Canadian Association For Retired Persons, said he’s heard that the number one worry is whether they will outlive their money, given the rising cost of living.
The latest report from the province’s Office of the Seniors Advocate found that one in two seniors worry about being able to stay in their home. Roughly 58 per cent can’t pay for living expenses and 84 per cent say they would run out of money to buy food.
“When we surveyed our members we found that about 40 percent of them were still working in one way or another and of that group over half of them would rather not be doing the job they have but they were working because they had to,” VanGorder said.
Worsening conditions, Statistics Canada now says that the majority of Canadians have more debt on their hands than savings because of the cost of living crisis
which makes retirement that much more of a long shot for many.
Valley First Wealth Planning Specialist and former CFL’er Jay Christensen said, however, there’s hope and there’s no time like the present to start planning.
“Twenty years ago we got to 65 years old, and most people had a defined benefit pension plan and retirement was taken care of,” he said. Now there is much more onus on the retiree to plan for their own retirement and retirement has completely changed.”
Among the tools one should get into their collection is a financial plan.
Christensen said the right person for that job is someone with a CFP designation, who is trustworthy.
“Number two talk to them about investments,” he said. “Things that are going to outpace inflation are a big factor in long-term planning right now so we want something that is going to give you great growth potential. And number three figure out from a budget perspective how much you can commit to achieving these goals and start those investments up as soon as possible.”