Retirement used to mean a gold watch, a pension and spending time on hobbies or new pastimes. For some this may still be true, but times have changed and there are new realities that will affect how retirement will look in the future.
The largest segment of the population in Canada today, the "Baby Boomers", started retiring in large numbers a few years ago. Those born in 1947 are considered the first Baby Boomers and they reached age 65 back in 2012. Many were in position to retire immediately while some of their peers have had to postpone or scale back their retirement plans.
You are more experienced now, your bank account is larger, and it is easier to think further ahead. Paying next month’s bills is not as stressful as it used to be. However, while paying the mortgage might not keep you up at night, planning for the next few years might cause some tossing and turning.
How will you pay for your son’s private high school? Your daughter’s violin lessons are getting expensive too. What about your aging mother who may need to move in with you? And your spouse just told you they might lose their job.
Increasingly consumers in major Canadian cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver or Toronto, are faced with a dilemma of how to best manage their cash flow in the face of record mortgage and consumer debt.
Most people have a false sense of security by believing that they will not be victims of a critical illness like cancer, heart attack or stroke; and if they are, that the healthcare system will look after them. Nothing could be further from the truth.
One out of every three workers is covered by a registered pension plan (RPP). That’s over 6 million people. Like all hard-working Canadians, they are looking forward to a satisfying retirement. Nothing helps create a pleasant experience in your golden years like a steady stream of income every month.
Eldercare is a journey. The first step is gathering information.
Care giving for an aging parent, spouse, domestic partner or close friend presents tough challenges...especially when a crisis hits and responsibility descends upon you suddenly.
Maybe your mother has fallen...perhaps due to instability caused by prescription drug side effects...and is hospitalized with a broken hip. Or your spouse has wandered off and become lost several times. Or a long-time friend and mentor has lost a lot of weight and rarely seems to leave home.
Insurance is, and has always been, a tool to manage risk. If you cannot afford to 'lose' something, it is best to insure it. The five types of insurance everyone should have are:
Sometimes during social events or other gatherings a person will approach someone in the financial services business with an opening question: “I hear you do investments. What kind of returns can I expect?” .
Over the last one hundred years, every new generation of Canadians has enjoyed the benefit of a longer life expectancy. With dramatic improvements in health care, the human life span has never been longer. Additionally, some have set their sights on early retirement. The combination of living longer and retiring earlier creates a serious cash crunch because that greatly expands your time in retirement. A financial advisor can help you develop a plan to solve this critical problem.
Estate planning can be an overwhelming process. Whether it is your own estate or you are the executor for someone else, the checklist can seem never-ending. A financial advisor can help make sure your checklist is complete before you start checking the boxes.
One of those items on the checklist is probate, the legal process that confirms the executor's role. A will authorizes the executor to act on behalf of an estate, but an executor may seek confirmation of their authority from a court through a letter of probate.
