Retirement. Are you ready for it?

Reading this election thread made me think. Retirement was mentioned a couple times. Who is ready for it financially? Who did what and when? How old were you when you started preparing for it?

We here in Canada have Canada Pension which kicks in at 60 years of age then Old Age Pension starts at 65. Many companies have company pension plans. Many people do their own with Registered Pension Plans.

My former life gave me a pension when I retired from it at 48 years of age which allowed me to collect this pension as well as work a second career, with whom I contribute to their pension plan. So when I do fully retire, I will have the RCMP pension, present company pension, Canada Pension then old age pension. I also have a disability pension. So I am set. Most are not.

The RCMP offered us a Retirement Course if we were interested but only offered it to those who were nearing pension. The course was basically a seminar on preparing financially for retirement with investments and such. During the critique of the course something that was always said was:"We should have had this offered to us at the beginning of our service so that we could prepare early". My present employer offers similar seminars to anyone regardless of their service and I encourage all my subordinates to attend.

So Are you ready? You younger people, have you considered this? What are you doing now to ensure your financial security when you do retire?

 

As much as I am not looking forward to getting old at my current age of 29, I know that I have to start thinking seriously about it. Fortunately my employer has a really good retirement plan in which I contribute 5% of my paycheck to it and the employer matches 4% so I'm getting some "free money" there.

I do admit that I've thought about cashing in my retirement at times to get a sweet R1 but the VFR is all the bike I need. And the fact they're taking so little out of my paycheck just makes it not that a big deal and I'd rather sacrifice some immediate gains for a more secure future. I sure as hell don't want to be a 60 year old working at McD's!

 

The way the markets have been since 2001 I may never retire....

 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Leave your 401k alone!!!! I know retirement seems a long way off, but in no time you'll be 50, and then it'll be too late to save enough. If you do pull it out, our friends in the government will help themselves to about 40% of it, to spend as they see fit. :bs:

 

I'm pretty sure I could provide myself retirement if I would only save the copious amount of money I spend on food.

 

Good for you Joey-dude. Seems you present pension plans are a good "foundation" for your retirement but you will likely see near to retirement, that this will give you the basic necessities of life when you do retire. Now is the time to start some long term safe investments. And you have to make these investments for the long term. Don't get jitty and pull everything out when you see a drop in your investments. Stocks and Mutual Funds will go up and down throughout the years, but in most cases, the low risk funds gradually climb

Look for an investment that pays monthly dividends and just continuously re-invest them back into the fund. When you retire, the principal will be vastly greater this way and when you retire, you can then leave the principal, and draw on the monthly dividends to supplement you pension for the extras you want to do like travel, or other things like new toys.

And Eddie hit the nail right square on the head. Leave the damned thing alone. It is future money really that you don't even notice they are taking. Find another way to support your present wants.

Having said all this, I am not an investment counselor, just someone who wants everyone to look at their own future.

 

Be patient my friend. With some exceptions, the stock market had always bounced back. Seem a counselor who is paid a salary rather than a commission. My investments were referred to me by my banker (a relative at that) She got no renumeration for this other than her salary. Look at where large pension groups invest their money, such as government employees or trade unions.