Insurance: Spring Cleaning Your Retirement Planning

Insurance for the whole family

The year was 1955. Working people (mostly men) often started as teenagers, and retired well over 40 years later at 65 assuming they were healthy enough to reach that age. They then spent four years as senior citizens in declining health, and passed away at age 69.

Retirement planning was not their responsibility. It was usually taken care of by the company pension.

Today things are very different. Life expectancy has grown significantly. In the U.S. it was 49 years in 1900, and 77 years in 2000.

People (men and women) often start their careers after college or university at around 24. After working for a few employers and a period as self employed, they retire at about 58. They spend the next 28 or so years living life in good health until their mid ‘80’s when health starts to decline, passing away at age 86.

Year: 1955
Years Working: 46 years
Years Retired for 4 years
Key Income Source: Company Pension

Year: 2005
Years Working: 32 years
Years Retired for 28 years
Key Income Source: Personal Savings

Retirement planning is now an individual responsibility

The Canadian government helps with their Pension Plan and Old Age Security (OAS), but the rest of their retirement lifestyle is dependent on the planning and saving they did between the ages of 24 and 58.

What does this mean for you today?

First and foremost you need to appreciate the importance of planning. The average 60 year old Canadian male will have 16 healthy years left and females 19.
RRSPs need to be started as early as possible.
‘Living’ insurance such as Critical Illness needs to be seriously considered.
Find out where you stand with your goals and your timelines.

If the thought of making 32 years of work cover 28 years of retirement sounds daunting, so it should. But with a solid plan, your dreams and goals can often turn into a reality. To get started, please call or email for a free retirement review.

Article submitted by Anton Tucker, CFP, FMA, FCSI. Anton is Vice President at TriDelta Financial Partners, a fee based financial planning firm offering Investments, Insurance and Mortgages in the Oakville area. He can be contacted at 905.330.7448 or by email. For more information visit the TriDelta site.

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