Topic: Retirement Budget

[ArticSteve]

OK.  Time to interject a little cheer into this thread!

This country is FACKED on the economic front.  A combination of high taxes, ultra high regulation, a stupendously over paid civil service, and NAFTA have now intersected quite nicely.  Other than the Tar Sands, Canada has no industrial base that hasn't already moved south or is destined to.

Job quality in Canada declining on all fronts, CIBC index shows (todays G&M)

The unfunded pension liabilities in this country are beyond calculation.   OAS will in a decade be reserved for those at the poverty level. CPP will be paid, but will be next to worthless as we'll run out of businesses and workers to support it.

In the future retirement will be mean something completely different.


Happy Thursday!

[Northernridge]

OK.  Time to interject a little cheer into this thread!

This country is FACKED on the economic front.  A combination of high taxes, ultra high regulation, a stupendously over paid civil service, and NAFTA have now intersected quite nicely.  Other than the Tar Sands, Canada has no industrial base that hasn't already moved south or is destined to.

Job quality in Canada declining on all fronts, CIBC index shows (todays G&M)

The unfunded pension liabilities in this country are beyond calculation.   OAS will in a decade be reserved for those at the poverty level. CPP will be paid, but will be next to worthless as we'll run out of businesses and workers to support it.

In the future retirement will be mean something completely different.


Happy Thursday!

That's it, all retirements are cancelled! Abandon hope and get back to work.

As a consolation, here is a strategy to keep yourself grounded...

When you find your life to be humming along particularly well, especially related to finance, take a moment to prevent unrealistic expectations from forming and keep your optimism in check by asking yourself, "If ArticSteve was here, what would he say?" The answer is sure to help you abandon all hope.

ArticSteve also offers an advanced class in Dashing hope for a strong Canadian federal government (Despair and Cynicism 101 are requisites).

He writes commentary on Canadian life @chickenlittle

 

Cheers bud.

[ArticSteve]

Very nicely written and  to you!

Tip time:  Never enter a car dealership with a credit card in your possession.  Cheques are OK if written on a Friday or Saturday as it gives you enough time to show up at the branch and put a STOP on it.

[Snowman]

Steve's new avatar   

[dougjp]

OK.  Time to interject a little cheer into this thread!

This country is FACKED on the economic front.  A combination of high taxes, ultra high regulation, a stupendously over paid civil service, and NAFTA have now intersected quite nicely.  Other than the Tar Sands, Canada has no industrial base that hasn't already moved south or is destined to.

Job quality in Canada declining on all fronts, CIBC index shows (todays G&M)

The unfunded pension liabilities in this country are beyond calculation.   OAS will in a decade be reserved for those at the poverty level. CPP will be paid, but will be next to worthless as we'll run out of businesses and workers to support it.

In the future retirement will be mean something completely different.


Happy Thursday!

[Serniter]

When you find your life to be humming along particularly well, especially related to finance, take a moment to prevent unrealistic expectations from forming and keep your optimism in check by asking yourself, "If ArticSteve was here, what would he say?" The answer is sure to help you abandon all hope.

 

[PJungnitsch]

Thought this was interesting, as the oldies continue to multiply:

......the average human lifespan in a developed country has been increasing at three months per year ever since the year 1840.

Everybody assumes that lifespan grew much faster in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and is growing much slower now. But no. It has plodded along at the same rate, adding about three months to people’s life spans every year, for the past 175 years. And yes, that does mean that a baby born four years from now can expect to live, on average, a whole year longer than a baby born this year.

There have always been some people who lived to 70 or 80, but the average age at death in 1840 was only 40 years. By the year 2000 it was 80 years. That’s 40 more years of life per person in 160 years.

And lifespan is still increasing at the same rate. In Britain, for example, the average lifespan has increased by 11 more years in the past 44 years. Three months per year, just like in the 19th century.

This is why actuaries predict that babies born in the year 2000 will have an average lifespan of 100 years. Give those babies the 80 years of life that people who died in 2000 enjoyed, then give them an extra three months for every one of those 80 years—and they will have 20 years more years to live. That is, an average of 100 years.

This sounds so outlandish that you instinctively feel there must be something wrong with it, and maybe there is. The fact that it has gone on like this for 175 years doesn’t necessarily mean that it will go on forever. But it’s not stopping or even slowing, so the smart money says that it will continue for quite a while yet

What about the developing world? Most of it has been playing catch-up, and by now the gap isn’t very big any more. In China the average lifespan was only 42 years as recently as 1950—but then it began increasing by six months per year, so that the average Chinese citizen can now expect to live to 75. Once you hit an average lifespan of 75 years, however, the pace slows down to three months per year, the same as in the developed countries.

India is a little behind China: average lifespan was still 42 years in 1960, and is now 68, so it’s still going up at six months per year. But we may expect to see it fall to the normal three months per years in about 2030, after the average Indian lifespan reaches 75.

All the developing countries of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East are in the same zone. The sole exception is Africa: where 35 countries have average life spans of 63 years or lower. But even most African countries are seeing a slow growth in average lifespan.

So do we end up with a huge population of people so old they can barely hold their heads up, let alone eat solid food? Probably not.

Three hundred years ago Jonathan Swift wrote about people like that in his satire Gulliver’s Travels. Struldbrugs, he called them: people who could not die, but went on ageing until they were so decrepit and disabled that death would have been a mercy.

They were declared legally dead when they reached eighty, as otherwise their longevity would mean they ended up owning everything. But they weren’t really dead; now it was the public that had to support them for the rest of their interminable lives.

In real life, crippling diseases and disabilities are still mainly a phenomenon of the last decade of life, and as the lifespan lengthens that final decade also moves.

Demographers now talk about the “young old”, who are in their 70s and 80s and still in reasonably good shape—and the “old old”, in their 90s and 100s, who are mostly frail and in need of care. So the time is probably coming when people must work until into their 80s, because the over-65s will amount to a third of the population. No society can afford to support so many.

But by then people won't be decrepit in their 80s. And the only alternative is dying younger.

http://www.straight.com/news/807541/gwynne-dyer-average-lifespan-still-increasing

[Bubba]

My recent vacation in Arizona hardened my resolve to spend at least three months per year in the sunshine state after I retire.  I've scheduled a meeting with my financial planner for next Tuesday to work the numbers.  I'm at least 10 years from retirement and there's plenty of work to do.

[Snowman]

My recent vacation in Arizona hardened my resolve to spend at least three months per year in the sunshine state after I retire.  I've scheduled a meeting with my financial planner for next Tuesday to work the numbers.  I'm at least 10 years from retirement and there's plenty of work to do.

Excellent

[quadzilla]

My recent vacation in Arizona hardened my resolve to spend at least three months per year in the sunshine state after I retire.  I've scheduled a meeting with my financial planner for next Tuesday to work the numbers.  I'm at least 10 years from retirement and there's plenty of work to do.

Just remember to get a place big enough so Snowman and I can come and crash while we do our winter cycling training. 

[blotter]

My recent vacation in Arizona hardened my resolve to spend at least three months per year in the sunshine state after I retire.  I've scheduled a meeting with my financial planner for next Tuesday to work the numbers.  I'm at least 10 years from retirement and there's plenty of work to do.

 

My mom is retired and dad semi retired.    For the past 3 years they've pick up and left right after Christmas and headed to Florida until Spring arrives here.    When my dad finally retires, they start heading into Arizona instead.   One thing to consider is how you want to be living down south.  Do you want to rent, buy a house or have a motorhome.   My parents are in the RV group which turned out to be a smart move since the US Gov has changed tax rules.   If you've ever considered purchasing a home, be sure to have that conversation with a Planner / Tax expert.    You also have to be more careful to how much time you spend in the USA now.   After 120 the Gov starts poking around...  I think the official number is 240 days (if you hit that, you have to file US taxes).    One thing people don't realize is it's total days per year and not a single stay.   

[dougjp]

My recent vacation in Arizona hardened my resolve to spend at least three months per year in the sunshine state after I retire.  I've scheduled a meeting with my financial planner for next Tuesday to work the numbers.  I'm at least 10 years from retirement and there's plenty of work to do.

 

My mom is retired and dad semi retired.    For the past 3 years they've pick up and left right after Christmas and headed to Florida until Spring arrives here.    When my dad finally retires, they start heading into Arizona instead.   One thing to consider is how you want to be living down south.  Do you want to rent, buy a house or have a motorhome.   My parents are in the RV group which turned out to be a smart move since the US Gov has changed tax rules.   If you've ever considered purchasing a home, be sure to have that conversation with a Planner / Tax expert.    You also have to be more careful to how much time you spend in the USA now.   After 120 the Gov starts poking around...  I think the official number is 240 days (if you hit that, you have to file US taxes).    One thing people don't realize is it's total days per year and not a single stay.

Yes, very important. Its a 3 year averaging type thing in terms of time, and with recent increased tax information co-operation between the countries, people will be caught out. ;

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Substantial-Presence-Test

[tpl]

Reading that stuff it looks as if limiting ones TOTAL presence in the USA to less than 120 days a calendar year works.   That means adding up shopping trips and odd weekend getaways as well as the snowbird thing.  Seems fair enough to me.

[blotter]

Reading that stuff it looks as if limiting ones TOTAL presence in the USA to less than 120 days a calendar year works.   That means adding up shopping trips and odd weekend getaways as well as the snowbird thing.  Seems fair enough to me.

this summer I'm going to have to make sure my parents understand this.
aside from spending the winter in the US, living so close to the border has them making a lot of day trips year round.    This can quickly add up.  I think they're going to have to keep track and be careful

[Bubba]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

[dougjp]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

   Did you find a different financial planner?

[Bubba]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

   Did you find a different financial planner?

Nope.  Same one I've had for 15+ years.  Some schedule shuffling and we were good to go for this morning's meeting.

[Snowman]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

Excellent. So you gonna buy a place in the SW US or rent as required?

[Bubba]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

Excellent. So you gonna buy a place in the SW US or rent as required?

Rent as required.

[random006]

Start the countdown clock: 10 years to retirement.   

Congrats, Wink!   

I guess I'm not the only one around here with a countdown:

Minimum:   2 years, 2 months
Likely:    4 years
Outside:   5 - 7 years