1. Ask
Bert
Griffin:
Can
You
Afford
to
Retire?
Over
the
recent
months,
the
media
has
been
telling
us
two
opposing
views
about
Canadians
being
able
to
afford
their
dream
retirement.
A
HSBC
Bank
Canada
study
done
earlier
in
2013
found
that
17%
of
Canadians
believe
that
they
will
never
retire,
expecting
to
be
working
even
well
past
retirement
age.
Those
who
do
think
they
will
retire
believe
that
they
will
do
so
by
age
63,
not
61
years
old,
the
age
that
the
generation
before
them
retired.
The
reason
is
quite
simple,
most
retirees
simply
cannot
afford
to
retire.
With
the
economic
downturn
affecting
a
lot
of
employees,
baby
boomers
found
themselves
jobless
at
50,
a
few
years
before
they
are
set
to
retire.
They
lost
their
pensions
and
they
cannot
find
a
new
job
that
pays
an
equivalent
salary.
The
2008
recession
also
negatively
affected
their
portfolios,
with
most
of
their
investments
losing
money
for
a
good
number
of
years.
Most
people
also
thought
that
their
retirement
means
that
they
would
have
lesser
expenses,
not
preparing
for
aging
costs
such
as
home
care,
nursing
care
and
medical
expenses.
Further
complicating
things
are:
1.
Grown
children
who
return
to
their
parents'
home
after
losing
their
jobs.
There
are
also
those
that
have
not
moved
out
because
they
cannot
afford
to.
Statistics
Canada
found
that
more
than
four
out
of
every
ten
young
adults
from
20
to
29
years
old
are
living
with
their
parents.
This
situation
meant
that
baby
boomers
are
not
getting
the
savings
they
would
expect
to
have
as
empty
nesters.
2.
The
mortgage
is
not
paid
off
yet.
There
are
some
people
who
enter
retirement
with
hefty
mortgages
where
there
is
still
more
than
$100,000
left
to
pay
off.
These
are
people
who
will
need
to
go
back
to
work
even
when
they
are
in
their
60s.
3.
Some
8
million
retirees
are
not
only
caring
for
their
grown
children
but
are
also
caring
for
their
own
ailing
parents.
A
lot
of
baby
boomers
nowadays
not
only
spend
to
care
for
their
grown
children,
but
they
are
also
caring
for
their
ailing
parents.
This
can
put
quite
a
strain
on
one's
finances
and
instead
of
saving
money,
you
are
spending
more
of
it.
4.
One
of
these
three:
not
having
enough
savings,
not
having
a
solid
financial
plan
and
not
budgeting.
For
some
people,
they
simply
failed
to
take
into
consideration
how
much
to
budget,
or
they
relied
solely
on
their
home
to
pay
for
retirement.
Some
people
did
not
even
think
about
retiring
until
it's
just
a
few
years
away.
Then
there
are
those
who
rushed
into
retirement
or
semi-­‐retirement,
only
to
wish
that
they
did
not
shortly
after.
Scare
Tactics?
On
the
other
hand,
there
are
people
such
as
Philip
Cross
and
Ian
Lee
who
think
that
these
are
just
scare
tactics,
and
that
Canadians
could
very
well
pay
for
their
retirement.

2.
Cross
and
Lee
write
that
studies
often
overestimate
expenses
and
underestimate
the
value
of
some
assets.
If
you
do
take
personal
wealth
into
consideration,
such
as
what
Statistics
Canada
had
done
in
its
“The
Adequacy
of
Household
Savings”
study,
then
two
out
of
three
Canadians
would
actually
have
not
just
enough
but
excess
savings
for
their
retirement.
The
remaining
third
might
need
to
save
some
more,
but
what
they
have
to
cover
is
not
a
big
amount.
In
fact,
the
Organisation
for
Economic
Co-­‐operation
and
Development
reports
that
we
have
the
lowest
percentage
of
elderly
poverty
in
the
whole
world.
So
there
are
those
who
say
that
the
future
is
bleak,
and
there
are
those
who
say
that
we
are
just
being
alarmists
when
it
comes
to
our
retirement
funds.
Which
side
of
the
fence
should
you
be
on?
Figure
It
out
Yourself
A
lot
of
people
believe
that
they
do
not
have
enough
money
to
retire
and
would
just
postpone
whatever
plans
they
have
because
of
it.
The
sad
thing
is
that
instead
of
spending
their
days
on
the
beach
or
just
doing
whatever
they
want,
they
have
to
stay
at
a
job
they
hate
just
to
be
able
to
earn
more.
It
makes
perfect
sense
to
just
find
out
if
you
could
afford
to
retire.
How
do
you
do
this
and
what
are
the
things
you
need
to
consider?
1.
How
much
will
the
government
give
you?
You
can
visit
the
Canadian
government's
Web
site
where
you
could
calculate
just
how
much
you
are
going
to
receive
from
the
government
if
you
retire
on
a
certain
date.
This
can
tell
you
your
income
from
Old
Age
Security
and
Canada
Pension
Plan.
If
you
have
been
working
in
the
country
for
40
years,
a
couple
can
easily
get
around
$30,000
a
year
from
the
government.
2.
How
much
will
your
employer
give
you?
If
your
employer
has
a
group
RRSP
or
its
own
pension
plan,
you
might
want
to
ask
your
employer
to
give
you
an
estimate
of
how
much
you
could
get
if
you
enter
retirement.
3.
How
much
do
you
owe?
It
is
a
sad
fact
that
there
are
many
people
who
are
retiring
with
debt
nowadays.
So
do
check
out
if
you
owe
40%
or
more
of
a
year's
income.
If
you
do,
you
might
want
to
work
for
an
extra
year
before
retiring
so
that
you
can
substantially
bring
your
debts
down.
The
last
thing
you
want
to
do
is
to
be
saddled
with
a
hefty
mortgage
when
entering
retirement.
4.
Do
plan
on
living
longer.
You
probably
have
20
to
30
years
left
to
enjoy
your
retirement.
So
be
sure
to
pace
your
withdrawals
so
that
the
money
lasts
for
two
to
three
decades.
5.
What
do
you
need?
You
would
need
to
ask
yourself
this
and
be
honest
with
your
answer.
Generally,
you
need
to
have
around
70%
of
the
income
you
earn
now
to
live
the
same
lifestyle
you
enjoy
now
during
retirement.

3. To
be
sure,
list
down
all
your
expenses
for
your
retirement.
You
can
ask
a
retirement
planner
for
help
in
coming
up
with
this
list.
Bert
Griffin,
a
certified
retirement
planner
and
investment
specialist,
says
that
you
should
keep
these
five
in
consideration
when
figuring
out
if
you
can
afford
to
retire
or
not.
"So
let's
say
you
are
earning
$120,000
now.
That
means
that
you
more
or
less
need
around
$84,000
to
retire.
You
and
your
spouse
can
get
up
to
$30,000
from
the
government,
while
your
employer
will
give
you
around
$30,000.
So
you
need
to
come
up
with
$24,000,"
Griffin
explains.
He
adds,
"Granting
that
investments
nowadays
earn
around
5%
in
general,
this
would
mean
that
you
would
need
to
have
$480,000
worth
of
investments
in
your
portfolio."
So
if
you
have
an
investment
portfolio
that
is
currently
worth
$500,000
or
up,
go
ahead
and
retire!
Retirement
can
be
a
pretty
exciting
time
in
your
life,
having
worked
so
hard
and
so
long
for
it.
Make
sure
that
you
have
enough
money
to
afford
it,
not
just
by
reading
what
people
are
saying
but
also
by
looking
closely
at
your
own
situation.
If
you
need
to
earn
more
today
in
order
to
get
the
retirement
of
your
dreams,
there
are
some
retirement
strategies
that
would
work
for
you!