I don't expect to retire - I'm going to work until I die

[steves]

You seem to have avoided the issue of tax. Is your $50K before or after tax? This is a pretty sizeable part of the determination, and is why the nature of the nest egg (reg/nonreg/mix) is so important.

[Matador]

I forgot to add I made the spreadsheet because I couldn't find a retirement calculator which allowed me to combine two persons financial info. (ie ages, other income etc)

[Matador]

SorryI should have waited awhile longer before posting again.

The $50K is pre tax with each of us claiming $25K. Thats another place where our disposable income will increase becuase now the $50K is claimed by one person.

As far as the spreadsheet is concerned I just removing $50K, taxes are not considered.

[steves]

I won't argue. $50K before tax is probably correct.

[Taggart]

I figured this would be a good thread to post this. It seems only a few years ago, it was Freedom 55 (or earlier). Now it's work til they carry you out in your coffin.

Remaking the Retirement Plan, Post-Crisis

October 2009

By Sherry Cooper

[parvus]

To which one might add:
Pension system in crisis, Canadian executives say

If Canadians are looking to their employers for assurance they will enjoy a financially secure retirement, they'd better think again.

Executives who responded to the latest C-Suite survey say the pension system is in crisis, but corporations should not be expected to pick up the slack.

Indeed, fully 70 per cent said they feel that people working today will not have enough to live on in retirement.

And more than 80 per cent say that defined benefit plans – which provide a guaranteed pension that is most likely to provide a secure long-term retirement income – are no longer affordable for companies to fund. Less than a quarter of those say they are likely to increase contributions to their employees' plans in the next year.

Old news, perhaps ...

[WishingWealth]

From the article:

...
After the kind of grim downturn in the markets that we've seen in the past year, the level of funding at some defined benefit plans “can be almost insurmountable,” he said.
...

Isn't it terrible when some unnamed, outside force or being underfunds the plan to the point where the big govment must take over.

...
More than two-thirds said tax breaks on corporate contributions to pension plans should be boosted, while almost that proportion said companies should have more time to make up DB shortfalls....

Shame on those hypocrites captains of industry, welfare bums trying to live sucking at the nanny state's teats.

WW.

[parvus]

It's a two-way deal, I think, and additional tax breaks and (employer) contribution holidays are not going to do it.

I was struck, in the early 1990s, by freespending Gen Ys a decade my junior (who also, appallingly, resurrected bell bottom pants). I called it then the "pension plan fallacy." Their parents had pension plans and they assumed they did too. Of course, they didn't. (I'm probably repeating myself here.)

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but full funding for the industry-leading Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan would actually require, according to some sources, 30% in contributions, so 15% from the government and 15% from the employees. Right nowit's around 22%, up from 16% over the past two decades.

Not trying to lay blame here, but we all lived under the illusion that brute robustness of economic growth could make problems go away.

[WishingWealth]

All true and I was writing a few chosen words for effect but it seems that right now there is a rush to claim 'can't afford what we promised'.

Obviously right in many cases but the stampede is a bit suspect.

WW

[twocentsworth]

Globe & Mail had another sorry tale of underfunded pension funds today but I also noticed their free retirement calculator online:

www.theglobeandmail.com/pages/retirementplan/

Anyone use it before? Looks reasonably easy and straightforward.

[Flights of Fancy]

[shrug] Calculator reads like more Financial Planning in Fantasyland

[twocentsworth]

Re:Fantasyland

What's the old saying: "Garbage in, garbage out." No different than getting, ahem, "professional" advice. I like calculators like this because you can plug in different scenarios i.e. lower/higher investment returns etc. Being conservative, I use the lower end which is probably more realistic.

[twocentsworth]

Check out this poor guy's retirement pension:

www.globeandmail.com/report-on-business ... le1324807/

Started with $600/month....now down to less than $200!

[scomac]

Check out this poor guy's retirement pension:

www.globeandmail.com/report-on-business ... le1324807/

Started with $600/month....now down to less than $200!

A sad story for sure, but one has to wonder where the money went from remortgaging the house the year before he was laid off?

What's worse is that this is just the beginning of what is likely to be a continuous and growing flow of accounts just like this.

[twocentsworth]

I thought the same thing about the remortgaging but I have a feeling it was for "basics". If not -- i.e. $$ used to buy a new van etc -- then he ain't thinking straight.

[Shakespeare]

Finally, an ant:Freedom 55? Couple couldn’t wait that long for retirement

Mr. Grant paid off his mortgage as quickly as possible. He maximized his RRSP contributions. He stayed out of credit-card debt. “I paid MasterCard $10 in interest once and that was because I missed a payment when I was on my honeymoon,” he says.

When Mr. Grant needed a new car, he saved up the cash first. If he and his wife found a deal at a discount grocer like No Frills, they stocked up their freezer. They tracked their income and expenses meticulously, so they knew exactly how much money would be left over every month.

[Nemo2]

That's the way...........I stopped working 21 years ago this December....no company pension....have lived well and now have more than twice as much money as I had when I quit work.

We live frugally but not 'stingily'.

[Shakespeare]

Longevity calculator:

Life Expectancy Calculator - PHIRN: Population Health Improvement Research Network

I got 82.

[fundamental]

Longevity calculator:

Life Expectancy Calculator - PHIRN: Population Health Improvement Research Network

I got 82.

Only 80 for me.

On the bright side, I can now do some cash flow calculations based on my 13 years of OAS

[Bylo Selhi]

Based on what you have entered your estimated life expectancy is: 87 years
Your largest modifiable risk factor is: Alcohol

But...
• no questions about weight (BMI), medical history, genetics, etc. all of which I thought were highly relevant, perhaps even more so than factors they asked about
• even exercise is misleading as recent evidence shows
• my largest modifiable risk factor is alcohol even though I reported consuming 0-4 drinks per week (I thought 1 drink a day actually increased life expectancy)

This calculator is a companion to Five unhealthy habits sending us to an early grave - The Globe and Mail which talks about "overcom[ing] five unhealthy habits: smoking, excess alcohol consumption, poor diet, sedentary behaviour and stressing out." Giving the calculator a general name like "Life Expectancy Calculator" is very misleading since it doesn't factor in other important criteria for estimating life expectancy.

[Flights of Fancy]

91, with no modifiable risk factors. I can't tell whether it is my relative lack of fruit juice and potatoes (in my 28+ servings of fruits and vegetables), or my complete lack of jogging and ice hockey (in my 7 hours of exercise) or what.

I get the sense that fruit juice and potatoes (French fries? potato chips? poutine?!) are downgraded in the fruits and vegetables dept.

[Flights of Fancy]

But BMI is not that helpful, either. I have a high BMI but I am active weightlifing and I commute by cycle 1+ hours per workday day. [shrug]

[Insomniac]

It's not supposed to be an accurate calculator. Idea is to identify biggest risks to longevity: stress, alcohol, smoking, poor diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Calculated 85 for me. Yes, I should have more fruit and veggies in my diet - she who must be obeyed has already told me about that.

[newguy]

I get 403 forbidden and a useless website in Chrome.

newguy

[Shakespeare]

Well, it's an Ontario calculator and you're in Quebec.