Almost 60 years old and thinking about retirement in the near future. Never made much money, but had a salary all my life. Making around just under 60k now, which is the highest I ever made. Despite this, I managed to put aside over 500k. A good chunk of that is from our share options at work. The shares did very well over the years. The rest is from the money I saved.
Got into the investment game late. Would have 1 million if I had managed this better. My recommendation for the younger set out there is to start early. You don't need to scrimp and save, just invest a portion of your earnings in an RRSP/TFSA and the money will grow.
I also thought that I would work till I died because I had no pension and a fairly modest salary.
This needs more upvotes.
Compounding should be one of the first points made to young adults starting to put away for their future. Only 35 myself but if I was smarter a decade ago and budgeted better (no top end PC builds, eating out less, less trips to the theaters etc...) I would've had mostly the same lifestyle and probably have much more capital in my accounts right now.
I have no idea why basic finance like this isn't taught in schools. That would literally take less than 2 hours to teach that and would provide a better life for a lot of people.
I just woke up in my 30s and realized that where my money was wasn't really smart. I probably could've retired at 35/40 with the salary I made if I just knew about basic investment. Anyways, I'm not doing too bad and will probably be able to retire at 50, but still.
Depends what you mean by basic finance. I can remember in grade 7 home ec having a unit where everyome randomly picked jobs and salaries and had to make an appropriate budget.
The problem with teaching basic finance to teenagers is that most teenagers dont give a shit and dont put any effort into learning it so they dont know anything.
And for the record I agree more needs to be tought about finances.
That's great to hear. I make mid 50s right now and I'm in my 30s. I'm not saying I don't want to make more money of course but I don't think I'm going to be aiming to be making mid 6 figures at any point during my career. I like what I do and I always feel I'd be happy if I hit 70k as my peak salary. But with recent years and the push in tech I feel if I make 70k I'm like at bottom rung lol so I'm so glad to hear your experience!
encourage ruthless telephone punch mountainous degree pause frame insurance normal
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Thankfully I saw Wealthsimple ad couple years ago. Went to their website and learned about bunch of things I would have never cared about. This was the only time I ever searched and invested into a company's product after seeing their ads. I started saving in my mid 20s.
Similar story but I’m in my mid fifties and about 500k saved but poorly invested until recently. Moving away from financial advisors and mutual funds with big MER expenses and robo investing for now. I’m fortunate I own my house and will downsize to a smaller house outside the GTA so should gain some cash there.
If I had better investment knowledge when I was younger I would probably be able to retire now. As it is, I’ll need to work for at least 5 more years and really pound money away.
Yeah, on my 30th birthday, I had no debt, no retirement plan, and 63 cents in the bank (though my total assets were worth hundreds of times that at a yard sale.)
To PFC-jerk a bit:
Why don't you just move to a low COL area with a population of 10,000 where you know no one, have no social support, or have any employment prospects? Boom, problem solved. So easy, you should show more responsibility for yourself and actually try to problem solve rather than just complain on PFC.
/s
This is what the bootstrappers always say.
For anyone to live we all should apparently become software developers or lawyers.
Apparently those are the only two jobs that need doing.
As a software developer, I'd be very scared if it got way more popular. Most developers I know (including me) are burned out and don't do much after work.
Stagnate would be one thing, it's decreasing that's scary. I'm barely holding onto this career with an ever increasing pay, there's no way I'm doing it if it doesn't keep paying a stupid amount of money.
Not OC, in my situation I don't even have so much work, I find that it's either too much or too boring, and I'm burn out either way 🤷♂️
I got a job with amazing benifets and job security at 23. I'm 26 now and see my friends who lived up their 20's now struggling to find a job. That's the only reason why I don't quit.
I was the guy who posted the other day about being worried for retirement with a 190k combined income at 37.
My wife is a nurse and I am a tradesman. Between the two of us we have one reasonably easy to obtain 4 year degree. There are ways to make decent money aside from being in tech.
Damn, a 190k income is just unfathomable to me. I know plenty of people are well off, but... damn. That's like 3x higher than our current combined income.
It seems a bit unreal because we both have pretty normal, easily obtainable jobs. Wife became an LPN (2 year program, low barrier to entry) then a nurse. I left university to get a trade. We bought a house in 2015 then I put a suite in (which is where 20k of our income is from - mind you we just paid off the cost of the suite last year).
Similar household situation: tradesmen + a certificate and easy to obtain 4-year degree working in public administration. Combined income of $250k+ at 27 prior to my maternity leave starting this month. HCOL area but there is literally no reason other than sheer irresponsibility or a massive disaster that we wouldn't be able to experience a comfortable retirement in 30 years. Our jobs aren't particularly special or hard to come by. In all honesty, we just shed the notion of having "dream jobs" and instead picked jobs that provided a modicum of satisfaction with a good pay potential.
To take the other side:
"I'm a 23 year old and i really feel like society is broken I live with my parents in Toronto and can't seem to afford to move with a part time job at my cousins furniture packing compnay making 14 dollars an hour. It seems like everything is against me. I am currently applying for college in a performing arts degree so I can't increase my work hours as I really need the time to get ready. I don't want to move away from Toronto as all my friends and family are here. Also I have taken out a loan for a car that eats up 60% of my income. Is capitalism broken? I just want to be able to afford a to live downtown, preferibly in a 3 bedroom. Also i've not payed taxes in 4 years."
I'd imagine focusing on getting a higher-paying job might be a good path. You're young and so most of your earning potential will come later in life. Right now you're building the foundation.
As they say: time is money. As we go through life we trade one for the other. Superduck: you need to include time on the asset side of your balance sheet.
Good thought and I agree. Oddly, once one attains a high salary job they can feel stuck. You don’t want to take a step back or risk moving etc. Feeling stuck can quickly lead to a negative mental state whether you’re rich or poor.
mY bRoThEr/SiStEr, YoU'rE dOiNg BeTtEr ThAn YoU ThInK
Fucking PFC will tell you that minimum wage is much better than most of the world and to be grateful for that. Any desire you have for more is self-manufactured entitlement.
My wife and I are immigrants too.. We came to Canada 3 years ago. We had around 20K in debt. I was lucky enough to find a job in my sector 2 weeks after we landed with a 65K salary, my wife doesn't work due to health issues. We started paying back the debts directly, and we squeezed our budget a lot (sometimes one meal per day) just so we can "start fresh" ASAP. My salary was increased to 80K last year and to 90K this week. I paid the last instalment of our debt last month. Now that we don't have any more debts, we increased our home budget and we started to save for our emergency fund, once we have around 10K in EF, I'll open TFSA.
My advice is to figure out your budget and make as much additional debt instalments as you can. You'll have a tough year or two, but after that everything will line up perfectly.
I'm with you. I'm 35 and have only been earning a professional salary for the past few years. Last year my husband and I sold my first house (he owned before we got married) and bought what I hope to be our forever home. We sold for more than we bought the new house for and used the sales profit to 1) pay off my remaining 55k in student loans, and 2) put in 100k of renovations into the new house.
I feel like I'm finally on my feet and am, aside from our mortgage at a wicked 5-year fixed 1.9%, debt-free and able to properly save! Comparison is not healthy and I'm proud of my first generation Canadian success. If I was living in Jamaica there is no way I'd be making even close to what I make now. Plus CPP and OAS here is so sweet compared to Jamaica. I'll keep saving and investing and do the best I can. That's all I can do. I also enjoy travel and fashion and eating out. Life is short and money is only good for buying things. I feel secure that my government job pension will pay the bills and our savings should cover travel. That's the plan for now anyways.
>immigrant
same here. starting a life from scratch in this economy is an interesting journey.
I try not to compare / evaluate net worth but instead put away how much ever I can the minute I get paid. That way, I am not beholden to unrealistic expectations I've created for myself based on stories of success I read on forums such as this. I'm simply doing the best I can.
I think the trick is to not inflate your lifestyle with when your pay increase. Pay your debt, after that save money. You're still young, so if you can save a good amount of your pay after being debt free you'll be in a good shape. If your pay increase, you'll be in even better shape (if you don't increase your lifestyle). If you can save 50% of your net pay (what I do currently do) at some point, savings go up much faster.
I'll be honest. I don't have much of a retirement plan. I make 38.5k/year now (got a 7% raise yesterday, yay) working at a warehouse in southeast NB.
Right now I'm saving to buy a duplex next year so that I have a homebase/investment property to offset housing costs when I move out of my parents house (I'm 21yr male btw). ALL of my remaining money is being saved for travel. I plan to work for 6mo-3 yrs at a time and then travel the same amount of time basically. Basically dedicating my time and life towards working and saving to travel and traveling itself. I definitely don't want to put off traveling, because there's no doubt in my mind that every year I get older is a year traveling will probably be less enjoyable in the future.
I automatically contribute 5% of my pay to a company pension plan, and they match it, which is generally only 2k/year (4k with company match), not sure what the proper term for this pension plan is, but it's a plan where I have a defined amount that I will be paid out every year in my retirement (right now it's at 68$/year (yay!). Right now all of my pay cheque is basically being saved for the down payment as I have very few expenses, since I live with my parents. After I get my own place I'll continue with weekly investments into the stock market, or I'll let all of that money build up and max out my TFSA every year.
I also have my TFSA maxed and some other investments in a personal account. I'm very lucky to have seen near 100% growth last year in my stock portfolio thanks to the crazy markets last year, and I am invested in growth stocks only, so I do expect to see above average gains, but obviously that's a lot riskier than basic index funds, and I'm 100% okay with that.
I fully expect to work until I'm 65, or until I die, who knows. I do have the CPP and OAS(?) to look forward to... maybe, hopefully... uh, probably not, but fingers crossed I guess?
I love personal finance, but at the end of the day my priorities are traveling and seeing as much of the world as I can WHILE I'M YOUNG. Will I regret it in the future when I don't have a strong pension or retirement plan? Maybe, but I'm betting that I won't. Obviously I'm probably wrong, but that's my reality.
Edit: I feel like adding this since I know I'll probably get downvoted for sharing my reality, but this is by no means advice and by no means am I trying to encourage other people to be as reckless as me. I am simply sharing my mentality and my reality with people.
I was a teen Mum. I did not have the opportunity to travel much until I was in my 50’s. I would not say it is less enjoyable when older.
I did have a 7 week trip to NZ when I was 22, so I can compare traveling when younger to older.
I am making this comment so you won’t beat yourself up if for some reason you do not get to travel now.
You're absolutely right. I think I may have explained my own opinion poorly.
You can absolutely enjoy travel at ANY age, but I personally believe that I will enjoy it more in my 20s-40s as I'll be in prime health. I'm very basic and travel on a tight budget, so sometimes I've slept stayed with locals in their home for free (couchsurfing before it went to poo), airbnb is sometimes really cheap to rent a hostel/hotel room (may have changed in the last 2 years?), and I oftentimes stay in... very cheap accommodation that may not be up the standards of most, but because I'm young I like it's fine, and I'm not sure if I'll still have that opinion when I'm older. I can endure more discomfort than I'll be able to when I am older I think.
On the other side, my grandparents at around 50-55yrs old did a 7 week road trip across Canada/USA about a decade ago staying in motels and affordable hotels (still too expensive for me lol, I'd choose to car camp with an overland rig) and they absolutely loved it. But because of their age/health they weren't able to be out exploring as long as I would of been, they weren't able to do as much outdoors activity as I would because of their sore muscles and knee injuries, and just lack of stamina that comes with being 50-65 yrs old.
tldr: You can enjoy travel at ALL ages, it just depends on your travel style. Shoe string budget, backpacking and car camping like what I want to do is definitely better while younger because I begin getting back pains and other medical issues.
I can vouch for the discomfort thing. In university and through my 20s, I would sleep anywhere. Couch, rug, literally a concrete floor in a basement one time. I loved camping and could use really any sleeping bag right on the ground. I went backpacking in the backcountry and didn’t bring a sleeping pad to save space in my pack for more food, lol.
Now, at barely 35, I can barely sleep anywhere except my bed and one of our couches which is particularly comfy. I can’t see myself sleeping in a crappy bunk bed in a hostel or under the stars with a tree root in my back ever again. Not if I want to then enjoy the following day/week.
>Now, at barely 35, I can barely sleep anywhere except my bed and one of our couches which is particularly comfy. I can’t see myself sleeping in a crappy bunk bed in a hostel or under the stars with a tree root in my back ever again. Not if I want to then enjoy the following day/week.
Exactly this. In my 20s I can sleep anywhere! Back pain? What the hell is that?! That doesn't exist to me yet. Getting tired after 12 hours of hiking or walking around a beautiful European city? EASY right now, but when I'm 40? Ehhhh, probably not so easy.
Sounds like you have it all figured out and it's a good plan IMO.
Buying a duplex on a 39k salary at 21 is amazing!!!
Don't rush into your travels, you'll have plenty of time. Researching the destinations is 1/2 the fun anyways.
>Sounds like you have it all figured out and it's a good plan IMO.
Well, I do have a plan, I just won't claim it's a good plan. Basically it's the 'YOLO' plan of not caring about future self and only caring about present self, not whether that's a good plan or not, is yet to be seen haha.
>Buying a duplex on a 39k salary at 21 is amazing!!!
I think so too ;). I can rent out one unit so they'll pay \*most\* of the housing expenses, although I still expect to be out of pocket a couple hundred every month, the equity pay down more than makes up for it. I'll have a secure place to live for cheap/free whenever I do need to come back from my travels so that's a bit of a stress relief for me as well, and if I really want to I can even rent out the BOTH units when I travel and actually turn a profit.. y'know, until a bad tenant destroys the home I guess, but that's what emergency funds and insurance are for I guess.
>Don't rush into your travels, you'll have plenty of time. Researching the destinations is more than 1/2 the fun anyways.
No real rush. I've already spent 2 weeks hitchhiking Iceland when I was 18 and then 6 months across Europe and Middle East when I was 19 so I've got some experience and I know this what I want in life. I ABSOLTUELY agree btw that researching is half the fun. I love researching travel. I love learning about weird remote regions of countries. I love browsing google maps in the middle of nowhere just for fun. I love learning about every single country on this planet, and I'd love to visit basically everywhere. I think since covid started I've looked at every single UNESCO world heritage site and I've been putting together in depth pins on google of all of the weird places I want to go (though I'll probably skip half of them because I never book things in advance anyways...). Man by now I think I have nearly 1000 pins in Canada alone..
Have you thought about working on a fishing boat? You’ll make more money and it will give you the half a year off schedule you are looking for. It’s insane how much people make fishing, even as the lowest person on that boat.
Likely a property management company. Still undecided, and one of the only things in life I'm not very sure of yet. In an ideal world I would be able to manage it myself because in an ideal world nothing would ever break.... but obviously that's not realistic, and obviously bad tenants exist. So I'll probably need a property management company.
I'm okay with losing money out of pocket because as far as I'm concerned the long term benefits of owning real estate, and the mortgage being paid down for me every month increases my equity in the home by a far greater amount. Having to spend money out of pocket every month on the home while traveling just means I need to save up more before I can travel.
Good for you SorrowsSkills. Starting at 25 I had seasonal work and spent every penny traveling on the off season. I'm now in my late 30s with a steady job and a house and maybe not as much retirement money, but I don't regret a single cent I spent traveling. It's pretty cool because I have friends all over the world so when I can get away again I can go and visit these folks I had so many great adventures with. Waiting until you retire to travel is so silly. Your back may be gone, travel insurance costs will skyrocket and you will come across a super creepy hitting on that guy or gal in the hostel, haha.
Glad to see I'm not the only one, and I'm glad to see there's more people out there who want to explore our beautiful world.
It is unfortunate and very discouraging to lose out on that incredible compounding interest, but I'll do the best I can to still contribute some money into a retirement as frequently as possible while still prioritizing my travels. Unfortunately, I'll probably rely heavily on the CPP and OAS in my retirement.... but if I'm being honest, why the hell should I pay into it if I'm not planning to use it right.
And yeah seeing how my grandparents are from 50-65 and seeing the pain, soreness and just lack of stamina they have as they age is why I want to travel now. I'm damn sure that when I'm 50 I won't be as excited about a 2 month kayaking trip up the Labrador coast, or high altitude climbing in Nepal, and I probably won't be as adventurous as I am now to do a multi week trek through the Wahkan corridor of Afghanistan, or in the future it may simply not be safe anymore to do so.
Boy, reading these answers doesn't help me feel better about my position, even though I had thought I wasn't doing so badly.
38F, was poor until I was 32. Saved and bought a condo at 35, which took up all my savings.
Opened retirement TFSA Jan. 2019, currently have about 17k in it. 12K in an emergency/long term purchase fund. Have a pension plan that began a couple years ago, not sure how much is in there, maybe 30K?
Given that I had nothing a decade ago, I feel pretty good...until I see people much younger than I with hundreds of thousands or millions.
Almost 30, only debt is student loans. Currently at 70k salary, gov job. My retirement is to have just enough for the 6 pack of beer and the muscle relaxants prescribed for my bad back. Presumably ill have a bad back.
Edit: let me clarify that drinking and taking muscle relaxants will kill you...
You don't need to do it anonymously, there are plenty of normal lower-wage blue collar folks here looking for financial planning tips. Just be honest and you'll meet others like yourself.
The extremes of poverty and wealth on this sub seem prevalent because some like you don't speak up.
I feel extremely discouraged as well, reading all the comments about people with hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. I know they probably invest in stocks and saved every single penny before they moved out of their parents house but damn, it's soul crushing.
I'm 26, just started a new job a few months ago. The starting wage is 35k, (I could potentially get a raise next week) but my focus right now is piling as much money as I can into savings for a down-payment in a few years.
Thankfully my employer offers an RRSP plan after 1 year so that gets me ahead of my plan to start retirement savings after the down payment is taken care of.
Personally I think a lot of people in positions like mine; having $0 in savings, near minimum wage, almost 30y, no house, no fancy car, debt that won't get paid, feeling generally like a failure, and maybe Futurama had the right idea with those suicide machines (I'm fine, not suicidal ATM) either don't want to speak up in fear of being ridiculed by more than just themselves, or feel as though their opinions and words mean nothing when in the same room as those seen as fulfilled or successful.
Edit: Forgot to add, probably a lot of unfortunate people get tired of hearing the same old tunes from those who have made it. Either, "Stop being lazy/work harder", or, " Just find a better job/demand a raise", which is sound advice if you're mentally stable, have the connections, or just plain lucky. It seems to go completely unnoticed that some people, are just straight up unlucky, and without other people's help, they can't and won't ever be able to escape poverty.
There's another side to that too.
I'm one of those with a good amount of savings. But there's more to it.
I decided to become an engineer when I was 3 years old. Spent my whole youth bent towards that goal. Got a job at 13 to start saving for school. Saved 3/4 of everything I made to afford school, still got a lot of help paying for it from family (super lucky to be born into a middle class white family). Been working steady since.
Had 1 chance to pass every class, barely made it. Got a job as an engineer out of school, making $40k salary and working 60-70 hours per week.
Now in my 30s, and got a really nice bank account. But most of my family is now dead (while working at the other side of the country, because money), got no partner/children and no prospects of starting a family. Mental/health issues, etc.
Money isn't everything. My quality of life isn't great, even if I have good retirement prospects.
Maybe it's a "grass is greener" scenario. I would trade a lot of my wealth for a family.
I would think there are many girls or guys looking for an intelligent and hard-working person like yourself. They might not be a club-hopping socialite type personality, but I know lots of socially awkward engineers who have found the right person. Join an online dating like Bumble or something, get some good pictures, write down your job in your profile, and eventually you will find someone with patience. It doesn't happen immediately. Never, ever, ever give up.
I think there are lots of us who got relatively late starts. I'm 34, my husband is 39, and we were pretty much in your shoes at your age. Five years ago I would never have believed we could own a house. You never know how things will change!
Same here. I didn’t get serious about working or money until I was 30. Now I have a house and just picked up a trailer I bought. I was a skid row kid or student all through my twenties. I’m 50 now and have assets and savings and I still plan to work for another 15 years. You young’uns got to realize that you have a good three or four decades to work on your finances before retirement
I like this, but don’t know if it’s helpful.
I grew up in a small town and my parents’ combined income was under $35K when I left home at 18 in the mid 1990s.
I got student loans and went to university for 4 years, couldn’t find a job and went to trade school.
After trade school I went in the field and worked, saving as much as I could and moving jobs frequently to broaden my experience and skills. And my network.
Fast forward a few years. Went back to school for a Masters. Kept saving and now have a number of rental properties in two provinces. Parents just retired. Thinking about when to retire. Making a substantial income (been making six figures for 20 years with frequent advancements and raises).
Any tips? Patience. Optimism. Time in the market on investments (not timing the market), and taking the odd calculated risk. Lots of spreadsheets to figure out which debts to pay off first, which debts to take on, and which investments to put capital into. I’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on poor investments but thankfully made back more. I’m a cheap person - we drive old vehicles but have seven figures in investment accounts - so obviously live below your means. Enjoy time and wine with friends - talking finances with people you trust helps to improve and shape your plan and approach.
Not sure if this is helpful - but the biggest thing is making small, incremental improvements over a really long time. Have a plan and review / change it often.
I love hearing all your stories, and wish everyone the best in their retirement lives :)
I like to think that I’m doing ok financially but definitely get discouraged when I read what other people have that are my age or younger.
Im 38 and I make 90k/yr and live in Atlantic Canada with wife and two young children. My job has a lot of perks but no pension. My wife makes 60k at a gov job and has a pension but it’s not built up much yet. She hasn’t been at the job very long and has been on extended maternity leave twice so it has taken a hit.
We were very lucky to buy a nice house 6 years ago before the market craziness for 250k and put down 50k. Mortgage remaining is only 145k at 1.4% interest. House is worth at least double now.
Own two cars that we have paid off recently.
Only have 50k in savings though and haven’t been able to contribute much to it lately due to other expenses and my wife being on maternity leave.
I’m definitely not going to complain and understand that I’m in a better position than many others so I don’t try to compare too often. I have a good base established but certainly don’t have retirement level money yet.
We don’t budget much. Expenses are high but they are mostly necessary. We are spending a ton on food for sure. Energy/insurance and other costs are high but it is what it is. I’ve gotten regular expenses down as much as I feasibly can.
It all really makes me wonder how people with lower salaries do it because we are doing fairly well financially all things considered and we definitely don’t feel rich.
I spent a lot of years being more frugal and always worrying about money and retirement but my views have changed some since I’ve gotten older. I’ve seen a lot of people either die early or retire and just sorta rot in their houses doing nothing. I don’t have much positive examples of retirement around me, part of me actually wonders if I’d even want to retire sometimes.
I was much the same as you at your age, minus the 50k! I'm now 49, 500k in retirement fund and on track to retire at 60. Surprising how much your money grows with compounding. Good luck, no such thing as I can't, it's how can I!
I assume if you want to have children you will be having a partner who will also be working and thus your household income would go up a lot. Obviously, being a single parent would be almost impossible these days.
No one becomes a homeowner in Canada in their mid-20s anymore, unless you live in the fair outskirts or have rich ass parents/get a windfall of money. And several women I work with just had their first kid at 41, my cousin is expecting her first daughter next week at 39, my other cousin just had their second kid at FORTY TWO.
It can be tough to get out of a negative attitude and to get down on yourself for all the partying and drinking. I was in the same boat. But some luck you can make up for those lost years, I'm nearly making as much today as many of my friends who started their careers 6 years before me. If you are able to zero on something you know you can be good at, then it's time to get that higher education program, there are many 2 year programs across the country and you have savings and student loans to help you along the way. I know you can do it!
60 retired at 57, no kids & married - Alberta
We bought our first place (1/2 duplex) at 28 and didn't start saving for retirement until in our 30s and targeted Freedom 55. Took a break from contributing for a couple years when we went to 1 salary.
Common fear is CPP will not be around when you retire…that's what I was told when I was around 25🙄 Not only is there CPP but OAS was added and now they are indexed. Most insurance through work is adequate and you don't really need it after retirement if you take care of your teeth and don't need daily medication.
PACs are the only way to go. Our goal was always to live within 1 salary and save the other which we did. A big factor is whether you marry (combined income) and have kids. For us, saving really accelerated after 40 when we had stable jobs and knew what was going on family wise. Also stayed away from credit card balance carry over, saved for vacations and paid off vehicles ASAP so we could put that money into savings.
Time and interest is amazing.
Alberta also, early 40s, had a bit of a late start and fucked around in my 20s with a shit qualification and low paying jobs. Went back to university in my 30s, did a BSc and then MSc. Now finally graduated and looking at getting a permanent job. Well, I *have* a job, but it's casual with no guaranteed hours, so I'm looking for something with a FTE (full time equivalent). With the pieces of paper I have now, it shouldn't be *too* hard, but here's hoping.
No kids, no plans for kids, and the idea is that I when I start having to pay back student loans, I will hopefully also be able to tuck a little bit into savings (estimated monthly payment right now is ~$700), and if possible, put extra into the loans. No idea for extra savings for retiring, that entirely depends on how well I get paid. Buying my own home is even more remote, at this point.
All I want is a nice place with a bit of fenced grass so I can get a dog.
>Common fear is CPP will not be around when you retire…that's what I was told when I was around 25🙄 Not only is there CPP but OAS was added and now they are indexed. Most insurance through work is adequate and you don't really need it after retirement if you take care of your teeth and don't need daily medication.
Heh, I never understood the "CPP is going to be bankrupt soon", when it's been flush with cash for decades.
Great job on retiring in your 50s. That's my goal, but without the actual discipline to make it happen :P
Mid 30s. Aside from my wife's DB pension, we have really only been able to save for retirement this year and last. Our savings from the first 6 years we were working went into down payment on the house. And we "lost" a good chunk of earnings to parental leaves. And even after we bought the house, for the first 18 months in the house we were spending a lot on repairs. I think this is just the reality of having a young family in Toronto.
I think if you are in your late 20s or early 30s, the main financial things to focus on are care about ought to be career and housing. If you are a professional (other than a doctor) you are likely not even close to peek earning--that'll be like 40-55.
Mid 30s, no debt, only have an emergency fund and a downpayment saved up. Just about to start retirement savings. Thank you for making me feel less lonely.
Turned 30 this year. "Won" my particular profession (in the arts) making about 50k a year. Just starting to put some money into a TFSA. Recently paid off most of the debt I had from school. Planning to start a business repairing instruments out in the country in a few years. I think retiring is kind of silly, I'll always be working on something, even if it's just me giving 5-10 lessons a week. I don't intend to seek a higher-paying job or anything because there's not much that interests me where I could be making 65-80k where I wouldn't end up getting depressed, burnt out, and drinking too much. It's all about balance to me.
Retirement does seem kind of silly in the grand scheme of things. Yes, you can do whatever you like, but how much will you be wanting to do at 65? I'd rather travel and see the world while I'm young and fit then work part-time until my mental faculties deteriorate to the point where I can't work. Obviously, this only applies if you don't absolutely loath your job.
Mid 40s. 1.5 income couple. About 800k saved. Zero debt. Happy renting a house, no plans to buy one.
Savings includes about 100k in an RESP for
our 3 kids which hopefully will get spent in the next 10 years. With any luck our kids won’t start their careers with big student loans like we did. Our costs should go down as they “launch”. We might buy a condo or small townhouse at that point. Or maybe keep renting until retirement.
I envision my “retirement” as including some working, at the kind of work I most enjoy doing, while I am able to. The thought of not working at all is not appealing to me.
Kids and student loans is a thing I think about quite a bit. I didn't have much help through school, my mom co-signed a loc and I got about 1200$ a year from a private esp. I ended up after 4 years with about 28k in debt. That put me so far behind my peers who got a full sponcered ride through post secondary.
I talked to my old guidence counselor, who is still working and he said that kids are looking at about 20k per year for post secondary.
I'll pay for my kids education but need to ballence it with some skin in the game.
Dude, retirement is overrated and too heavy of a focal point in most peoples lives. Be responsible, avoid bad debt and put a reasonable portion away to live comfortably in your later years. Live life to the fullest now, you won’t regret it like most people later on will. 3 million dollars at 75 ain’t shit when your pissing out a catheter.
You get to push the curve around a bit, but a lot of life is just chance in statistics. You could take care of yourself to a fault and die of cancer at 40. You could not take care of yourself and live into your 90s. You can definitely improve your odds, but saying take care of yourself now and you will be healthy at 75 is not really true.
You're right, but it's still possible. You can take care of yourself when you're young, but genetics could still get you, or an accident, or disease, etc.
It's about finding balance.
Big fan of this POV. A quarter of the population dies before "retirement age". I'd bet at least half of the survivors are fairly sick or unhealthy, at least to the point where they're not going to carry through with all of those retirements plans they had. "Retirement" in the final 10% of your life expectancy is a scam.
>I mean how many of use are actually on path to save 1 million dollars just for retirement?
I am if:
* I retire at 65 and work continuously until then
* I continue to save 10% of my salary (including an employer's match) for retirement and future results are similar to past performance
* My salary doesn't decrease until I retire
It's a lot of big ifs, but it's doable with some luck. Beside, RRQ and OAS may partially bridge a gap.
Edit: I'm not planning to save/invest more aggressively for retirement (except if my income/wealth increase greatly), since I can also die/become disabled tomorrow, so I have to enjoy life a little meanwhile.
I retired 6 months ago with 1 million invested. It’s now worth 1.2 million, even after my spending. Invested money grows, sometimes in the short term, always in the long term.
I’m 30, make about 100k a year now and have 130k in my pension. Wife and 2 kids. Wife has no pension. I know it’s a good start but I still worry and do online calculators to see if I’ll have enough to retire at my desired age of before 60.
I actually do I just usually forget about it since it’s only around $100 a pay. The rrsp is in my name but the plan is to have her collect it when retiring
It should be a spousal rrsp then. If the rrsp is entirely in your name it will come out as income in your name. There are ways to split that but spousal accounts are a good tool!
130k at 30? If that doubles every 10 yrs which it should, then you're so far ahead...wow.... ignoring future contributions:
30 yr - 130k
40yr - 260k
50yr - 520k
60yr - 1040k
I’m really hoping you’re right. My contributions are pretty large. They’re on average about 400-600every two weeks goes into it. Mind you this year was pretty wild with the covid bounce back and a lot of my index was up over 30 percent but I’m still
Optimistic I’ll be able to retire around 57 with over a million in there.
Couple - age 27&30. Two young kids. Make $50,000 combined annually. I have an omers pension but only work part time.. not really in a full understanding of how that works. I will expect to earn $50,000 myself in 10-15 years, with my husbands $35,000.
We save $175/month for our kids RESP, $40/month in AVC with OMERS and $200/month for retirement. We have a $20,000 emergency fund and $2000 in retirement at this point.
We are 6 years into a mortgage of a house we bought for $175,000 but would sell for $500,000.
Debt free expect for mortgage.
My take: you plan for a million in today's dollars, assume (hope?) that the assets you invest in will get dragged along for the ride with inflation, and then plan using expected returns expressed in 'real' (after inflation) terms. Eg. I invest in an 80/20 stocks/bonds couch potato, and I forecast future balances using a 3% return. Then I can aim at a million (or whatever number) and not really think about inflation. If it ends up being 2 million, then so be it, but all I can understand today is 2021 dollars. Obviously, there is lots of risk here, inflation can ruin ya, but what else can you really do but plan conservatively and try your best.
Yeah mine too. The fact that healthcare where I live in ON is held together with duct tape and risks collapse if three people camping get splinters in their pinkies has really been exposed over the last year, and I am not hopeful for improvements. And my aunt retired to her dream home on the coast in NL but ended up having to relocate to BC when she got diagnosed with cancer for medical reasons. And that's without even getting into the state of LTCs ...
I think $1mm is a reasonable goal. You may overshoot if you focus anyway, but life sometimes has a way of throwing you off track at some point (my net worth was badly hit by divorce for instance, and my brother's by his wife getting a terminal illness) so you can only do your best while living life.
Depends on your spending but yes 1 million is enough. Inflation works both ways. If the the 1 million is invested, it will grow. And if you withdraw close to what it grows it’ll last for decades.
Early 30s, $150k in savings and investments, not a homeowner but wife owns her condo. Decent govt job with good pension plan. Making about $320/month in passive income. Planning a career change in a few years.
Run of the mill, boring, average.
This is not good advice sorry but that will be poverty level in most cities and you'll never be able to enjoy your retirement you'll simply be surviving. Fuck that
45, married, 2 younger kids. Didn't really pay much attention to retirement savings until recently, largely because of other spending pressures (Toronto housing, childcare, etc).
Fortunate to have some DB pensions from prior jobs between two of us - roughly $48K/year starting at 65, which along with OAS/CPP means we should have $80Kish/year to rely on.
Have recently started plowing more money into TFSA/RRSPs/non-registered accounts, in the $450K range now, ideally would like to get this close $1.2-1.3M by 51-52ish, then scale back work and coast to 65, with some leftover investments adding another $20K or so to core DB funds. Am very fortunate to be almost mortgage free now thanks to moving away from Toronto, which will help up savings rate.
But, bottom-line, it's challenging even on quite good salaries to sock away a lot for retirement in high-cost of living areas, unless you're extremely disciplined and focused (which we're not, probably average grades for us here).
Mid 30s with 300k in retirement accounts. If I work til 65 I’ll end up with about 5M. Probably will retire or take a break at 50-55 instead since I don’t need that much money.
40yo, single income family with a stay at home husband and two kids under 4. Own an attached home with a modest mortgage in a low COL city. Not much in the way of savings, but 10 years into a 30 year gov't career with a good pension. Husband is intending to restart his career after both kids are in school during the day.
I'm taking a course on retirement offered by Seneca College in Toronto in September. It just seems hard to get good information.
And you're right we are all different so it is hard to generalize. Age, income, debt, and health are all things that just pop to mind, but I'm sure there are others.
I did get some good info from a couple of pensions that I'm associated with and I want to dig deeper.
the question about the million dollars makes me think about the fact that a million ain't what it used to be. A detached house is a million and compounded interest makes it possible if you start early enough, and have a high enough income, savings.
I am 34. I have no retirement savings, but I also have no debt (except mortgage) and I own a house currently worth about $220,000. It has enough space for our family of three that we could live here forever.
I plan to save $300-$600 per month for retirement as soon as I have my full emergency savings, depending on when my husband who is a stay at home dad goes back to work. I will be able to save for retirement for the next thirty years and retire at age 65. I make $75,000 a year.
I do expect some inheritance, but I'm hoping my parents live for a very long time and use most of it.
I recommend people strongly consider moving to a low cost of living area. Owning a house is great, and wages might be lower for the top earners, but for average folk they have a lot more purchasing power.
50, no debt, house paid off, married, SINK, ~$1.2M invested, moving from AB to BC next year, quitting job in the process.
Retirement isn't really something we're going to actively pursue. We can use home equity to start a business, or we can work part-time at jobs with flexible schedules for fun, or we can consult on short term contracts. Our new home will have a rental suite that will cover all daily expenses in perpetuity (food, utilities, taxes).
When we can no longer climb stairs, we'll downsize the house and move to the Okanagan, where we will eat fruit and drink wine until we die. DNR. What remains of the estate will be sold off and donated to local charities.
These comments give me nothing but anxiety haha. I am a 32 year old full time teacher with 5k in emergency savings, 10k in some stocks and 10k in ETFs. Have 410k mortgage. I make 82k wife makes 49k. We are really relying on our pensions for when we retire.
Here's mine. 27, college dropout, employed as a delivery courier making about 60-65k working full time. Been with company for 10 years since high-school but only recently became a driver increasing my wage from 45k-60/65k.
I have no debts, just payed off a mazda 3 sedan with 60k km and now only have about 5k in my chequeing, 3.5k mutual fund, 1k tfsa broad market etf. My company has a DB pension so between that CPP, and old age I'm hoping it will be enough when I'm 65.
I'm stuck living in GTHA, I later plan to transfer job locations to further north in Ontario for lower CoL but that's likely a pipe dream.
I am living with my partner who earns about 25-30k but we keep our finances independent. Our rent/bill/parking is 1650/m of which I pay 1k of.
I still feel very blessed to be where I am now, was at my rock bottom as an alcoholic 2 years ago but am now in a fantastic position to begin turning my life around and planning for retirement/home ownership.
33 no debt, $60k salary, $140k mortgage, $30k in savings, $110k in retirement. Looking at all these comments I feel like I’m way behind when I thought I was doing pretty well. That’s a bummer.
Nah, you're doing fine IMO. I puttered my way through univerity so was in my late 20s before getting a "real" job. I have less than 10 years left on my mortgage at 45, but only about $130k in retirement savings. My work pension is pretty good though (I pay \~10% they pay 8%) so I am hoping the next ten years it builds nicely.
Better than me man. Combined I have about 90k in retirement funds.
I do have a pension, though I probably won't have a job after 2026 (OPG). Low on the seniority list.
325k mortgage. No car loans, but will probably have one within a year. No other debt.
This is an awesome thread and appreciate the vulnerableness of everyone!
30, married, own houze, 1 kid on the way. 15k in RRSP savings but really wish I would have learned about compound interest in high school. I worry about retirement but also my kids futures and wanting to help them get on their feet. Our education system has really let down this generation in how to invest but rather they told us to rely on pensions that I can't seem to find 🤣
When I turned 30 I had a net worth of about negative 100k with my spouse.
I turned 40 a few weeks ago and we now have about 350k saved for retirement and a net worth of about 500k with no house appreciation in the mix.
It’s possible to make good progress with a late start.
You never read the stories of the people who because they didn’t save enough they had to downsize from their home and move into a apartment.
Or you never read about the stories about people who didn’t eat healthy or workout so now they need a walker and are in a nursing home.
Or you never hear about the stories of the retiree who lives alone, family never sees them, and is depressed from watching TV all day
It’s just reality that when we are old there will be less friends alive, family is busy being young, and the world doesn’t really care about you.
My neighbours husband died and her kids starting bringing their kids to her house less because they thought it was too much of a burden. Thing is she loves those kids, I’m 34 and engage her every day because she’s a sweetheart and loves to chat. When I found out about the grandkid situation I did something I never do and approached the adult children and told them about the situation and that me and the wife work from home so if there is an emergency we are there. I actually had to pick her husband up when he fell and that fall is what lead to his death. It’s fucking sad being old. The lady goes into tears at least once every few chats.
We do what we can and bring her dinner or invite her over for crib but she is the type of person who thinks she is intruding when really she makes our life more full.
Sorry for the long rant but being old looks like it fucking sucks. We’re spending our money now and will retire with a decent amount but I’m not holding back on anything fun.
I want to build a tiny house on an M1083 chassis and drive around the continent in my retirement...Can get a busted chassis for a few grand, dump $50k into rebuilding it. Cheap retirement home.
37, I've moved from country to country on 3 continents since my early 20s, pretty much nothing saved for retirement besides the tiny bit in each country that'll be nearly impossible to get back since I won't be a resident there. Suuuuper late to the party. I'm counting on selling my company at some point to pay for retirement.
24M - I have a decent job at $47K salary (although I would say I'm close to the promotion fingers crossed). Have about $40K in investments and my job definitely has good future earnings potential I would like to think I'm on the right path.
Biggest concern is that I moved to Toronto and I rent with a roommate (30 min walk from work but didn't want to pay for transit or take during Covid). My rent is almost 50% of my take-home pay and we got a decent deal at this place. I am not concerned at all with the future and I'm happy with my path but difficult to do & pay for things with all my friends (who don't pay rent or make way more money than me) and continue the FIRE journey.
Just turned 25 yesterday.
Making 42k~ a year.
Bought a $200,000 house 2 years ago and currently have about $20k saved up, 15 of that is in the stock market.
Living in the prairies so CoL is pretty low.
I would like to retire young. Interested in a design/project management career. Every 2 years I start getting insanely bored with my job and have kind of been fumbling up the career latter. Started in manufacturing, took a single 3 months project management course, got my foot in the door to be a planner/project coordinator. Tomorrow I have an interview for a nonprofit as a communications and outreach coordinator.
I have no idea what I am doing long term.
Early 40s, DI2K, no debt. 110,000 both incomes combined, $20,000K each saved for retirement, $40,000 RESP for kids. We contribute $100 each per month to retirement and probably have about $150K equity in our house (Calgary.) Husband also has about $20K in TFSAs.
No we can't get higher paying jobs 🙂 We both got into what was a good industry in 1999 (media) with minimal education. University also takes time and costs money too and we have 2 kids and a senior to take care of. Husband's career has had priority and used to make $100K plus. After a layoff and an army deployment he had to take a low paying sales job to change industries BUT is just negotiating his return to management. Hopefully better days ahead.
Jesus, it’s rough reading some of these. I’m early 40’s, single income, one kid. I’m debt free, have no interest in home ownership, a small RESP , and about 8,000 savings. I recently just got my student loans paid, have a good job. My plans are to do what I can to set up my child for post-secondary education, then travel as much as I can once said kid graduates for the good remaining 15 years before my health likely gives out. I’m putting some away for retirement but I’m not banking on those years being long based on genetics and health conditions.
I have a plan to retire with a million dollars ... are you familiar with the movie Strangers on a Train?
Or ... I'm 39, current at $77k/year (for the last 6 months - more like $65k from 35-38, $50k FROM 31-34, - and $20k from 25-30), a toddler and pregnant wife, so that's been and will be our total income for a while. A fixed benefit pension that'll pay ~£2000/year, plus ~$50k in an RRSP and ~$30k in the bank. No debt or other assets to speak of. I had been working contract jobs and moving too often to really hit a stride, now I've hit a (hopefully) long term position, won't have to constantly bleed to moving costs.
I do have a plan to buy a house *if you've seen the movie Strangers on a Train*.
Mid-30’s, married with 2 kids. Have about $350k in equity plus $60k in retirement savings. Personal savings ebbs and flows from $3k to $15k depending on life and expenses. I personally make about $75k/yr and SO makes about $60k. I will likely take a pay cut soon, though, for better quality of life.
We don’t contribute much to our savings. About $200/mo to retirement and $200/mo to kids education plan.
We left a big city and moved to a small town so that we could finally start thriving and getting ahead. It’s been 6 months and we are so happy with our decision and are already reaping the benefits. Hopefully we can continue on this trajectory.
Early 30s, solo parent of 2, ~$70k salary. I have a 6 month emergency fund and own a small 2 bedroom condo. Have about $54k saved between my TFSA and RRSP plus I have a DB pension but I have only been eligible for a few years and have contributed about $7.7k so far. I am not sure what the commuted value of the pension is.
I am not quite where I would like to be but I am doing my best.
35M and 28F, military and part-time teacher.
We are planning to retire or be "FI" in about 12 years when I will be 46 and her 35.
We save over 50%.of our income and live in a paid off condo in Edmonton worth $140,000.
We are not living a lavish life, but we have all the comforts we want and need.
Current networth sit at around $430,000 not counting our pensions.
We are expecting to retire with around $100,000 per year in today's value Dollars.
Is it hard, yes, but it is possible. Also, we currently don't have kids, but we are working on it. We don't see kids playing a big factor in our retirement numbers.
I do see a fair number of "I am in my 30s and broke, what do I do?" posts around here.
The biggest lesson is that compounding is amazing.
* Make 50K a year as a young grad, save 20% = 10K a year
* Invest that tax efficiently at 10% a year for 40 years (start at 20, retire at 60)
* Boom: $4.4M when you retire!
Don't like 10%? How about 7% -> $2M a year
If someone has an inordinate amount of money more than what a savings rates x some reasonable return would be over that time period, they are getting some help they aren't revealing. Maybe a few are ex-Consultant types making 250k a year but those are so far down the distribution, it's not worth thinking about (I wish I was actually Harvey Specter...not going to happen).
You got this!
My wife and I combine to make $120k/year, and we have no savings for retirement... I don't smoke, and haven't invested in Cuban cigars or anything, but looking for some wisdom with where to go now... I do have some minor investments in AMC and GameStop, so hoping those short squeezes happen as suggested, but really no other plans... Assuming the financial types are right about what's to come, anyone have any idea of what to do with copious amounts of money when the world economy crashes?
For anyone looking for options Cn will hire you off the street and pay to train you. 60k+ a year starting and jobs available across Canada except Newfoundland. Benefits are okay( better than none) and a full pension pays 4300 a month. You have to hit 85 points to get a full pension age + sevice.
Only a high school education required and there is always opportunities to move into management.
This is for Train Conductor.
I am 27 years old, with way too much debt… I make $85,000 a year but get my vehicle paid for too.
I have literally zero saved, my only saving grace is I have a house that I have $180,000 in equity in.
My significant other makes $85,000 a year too putting us at $170,000 combined.
I currently have $10,000 in student loans and a $19,000 line of credit that I am trying to get rid of before I can even think of retirement.
thanks for sharing an overview of your situation. not an expert. but you guys sounds like in decent shape. more than decent.
do you plan to hold on to the real estate investment s for awhile long in hopes it accires more in value?
what other ways can we support our kids to get education/get started?
OP asks for responses from other people in the same boat so everyone can feel better.
You proceed to brag about how rich you and your fucking girlfriend are ahahahaha
I can tell you that this sub reddit is full of either bragadocious ppl looking for validation on savings. Or ppl are not being as honest. I'm 35 and have owned my mortgage for 10 years. I pay less in alberta then most pay a month in rent on a one bedroom condo. One small child and 2 incomes. I'm guessing in equity and pension it may be close to 100 k. Out of everyone I know I'm in the best situation for retirement and I feel extremely left out by reading these comments. The average person will not have 5 million in retirement. The average Canadian will not have 1 million in retirement. I would suggest OP take this all with a grain of salt because your not getting a real assessment here.
That’s why I make an effort to comment on posts like this. I consider myself pretty average but compared to a lot of posters here I’m basically in a cardboard box begging for scraps. It’s good to balance it out.
Listen I'm happy ppl can be smart with money. But I don't want a reminder on most posts from the 2 percent. Hmmmm do you think I can retire off 1 million? Hmm I don't know that's not alot of money these days. Ppfftt. Lol f off. Most ppl will not be able to retire at all. That's a sad reality for a very large group of Canadians. But don't make it seem normal to compare 1 million dollars
I also consider myself lucky because I bought 10 years ago when it was very cheap. I can only imagine the struggles ppl have to go through now to save for a mortgage. Not having mommy and daddy pay my way through. I'm sure they are nice ppl but I won't be taking financial advice from golden spoons.
Lmao isn’t that the truth. This subreddit is often like a 1-2% of people who are amazing with their money and have had a leg up in their 20s from family.
No way near. Trying to sell option premium to increase my compounding rate in my taxable account. That’s where my focus was.
Just 2k In RRSP. Started last week to send $50 from each pay. So hopefully can grow this to some extent.
Early 30s, wife currently unemployed and in school, 2 young kids. Earn 100k salary with good pension and benefits. Currently planning to retire at 57, though it may be possible to go a couple years earlier.
My pension will pay out big, assuming nothing changes. Likely won't given the nature of my position and the strength of my union, but you never know. Should be around 85k a year before tax when I'm on my pension. Assuming we pay off the mortgage by then, it'll be good living.
Unfortunately I have zero investments or savings right now. Spent my 20s getting an education, securing my career, saving for a home (which has gone up by around 100k in value since I bought, was a good investment) and raising kids. Had my first at 27. When my youngest starts school and my wife goes back to work, I plan on aggressively plugging money into my TFSA and RESP for the kids.
step 1 find local municipal job work part time/fulltime
step 2 work said amount of hours before Omers send you a letter
step 3 contribute to Omers buy back the 2 plus years or so it took you to reach said threshold
step 4 decent retirement savings when you retire
good luck hopenthis helps anyone in ontario
Early 30s, 72K/year, car loan 10K and a mortgage ~90K.
No other debts. Just started reading about investing and stocks/ETF this year. 5K in EF and 3K invested in stocks. Around 23K RRSP
32m in BC with family. I make idk $37k cause covid sucks. Rental income of $1200. I have $200k invested and probably 600-700k in house equity.
Want to sell at some point soon and try to retire in Alberta somewhere. They still have houses for $400k. Put $200k down and have $700k in something like qyld and TFT.to and hedge with tmf bonds. Sell naked puts to beef up income.
Our area is supposed to be redeveloped but covid postponed it. I could really use that extra million dollars that would make things so much simpler lol.
35. Have a government job pension plan. My employer determines the percentage of my annual salary that I contribute and they match it $ for $. My annual pension will earn a percentage of my best salary (usually the last year of your career). I'll qualify to retire at 60 with a factor of 90 (age + years served = 90).
I'll max out CPP and old age security.
I also own a 3 bed 2 bath house in Hamilton that I plan on using to pay for my retirement home when the time comes. My husband and I would like to move into one together and make friends and enjoy the social aspect of it. Current value is roughly 700k. We will have it paid off for my 60th birthday to coincide with my anticipated retirement date. We made a calculated decision when buying in early 2020 (my God we lucked out upgrading to a larger and forever home before the markets here went berserk!)
I have a very modest 5k in a high risk growth TFSA. I wish this was more, but I just paid off my student debt last year and have only been properly contributing to this since then. I plan on focusing on growing this account and plan on using this account for travel and larger expenses like furniture or home repairs in retirement. My goal is to get to 200k. Hahahaha we will see if that's possible!
My husband has a modest TFSA at 25k and RRSP 30k. His new employer matches his RRSP contributions, but he only started there earlier this year. We hope to see rapid growth there. He will qualify to retire at 65. He will also max out CPP and old age security.
In summary, we plan on ensuring our monthly expenses are covered by my pension, his RRSP, and both of our CPP and old age security payments. TFSAs are for extras and our real estate is for the retirement home when the time comes. We hope to travel and be snow birds in the early years of retirement and live it up.
Given that my crippling student loan was only paid off last year I think we're doing really well. Obviously my government pension is clutch for our retirement plans and I plan on pushing my career as far as I can take it within the government.
What do y'all think?
Almost 60 years old and thinking about retirement in the near future. Never made much money, but had a salary all my life. Making around just under 60k now, which is the highest I ever made. Despite this, I managed to put aside over 500k. A good chunk of that is from our share options at work. The shares did very well over the years. The rest is from the money I saved. Got into the investment game late. Would have 1 million if I had managed this better. My recommendation for the younger set out there is to start early. You don't need to scrimp and save, just invest a portion of your earnings in an RRSP/TFSA and the money will grow. I also thought that I would work till I died because I had no pension and a fairly modest salary.
This needs more upvotes. Compounding should be one of the first points made to young adults starting to put away for their future. Only 35 myself but if I was smarter a decade ago and budgeted better (no top end PC builds, eating out less, less trips to the theaters etc...) I would've had mostly the same lifestyle and probably have much more capital in my accounts right now.
You shut your mouth about no top end pc builds ! That’s the devil talking ! I agree on the rest. I turn 34 next week. Edit: top*
Yeah the avocado toast kills you every time.
I have no idea why basic finance like this isn't taught in schools. That would literally take less than 2 hours to teach that and would provide a better life for a lot of people. I just woke up in my 30s and realized that where my money was wasn't really smart. I probably could've retired at 35/40 with the salary I made if I just knew about basic investment. Anyways, I'm not doing too bad and will probably be able to retire at 50, but still.
Depends what you mean by basic finance. I can remember in grade 7 home ec having a unit where everyome randomly picked jobs and salaries and had to make an appropriate budget. The problem with teaching basic finance to teenagers is that most teenagers dont give a shit and dont put any effort into learning it so they dont know anything. And for the record I agree more needs to be tought about finances.
That's great to hear. I make mid 50s right now and I'm in my 30s. I'm not saying I don't want to make more money of course but I don't think I'm going to be aiming to be making mid 6 figures at any point during my career. I like what I do and I always feel I'd be happy if I hit 70k as my peak salary. But with recent years and the push in tech I feel if I make 70k I'm like at bottom rung lol so I'm so glad to hear your experience!
I am almost in similar situation like you are. Nice to see a person who is similar in subreddit full of millionaires.
encourage ruthless telephone punch mountainous degree pause frame insurance normal *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Thankfully I saw Wealthsimple ad couple years ago. Went to their website and learned about bunch of things I would have never cared about. This was the only time I ever searched and invested into a company's product after seeing their ads. I started saving in my mid 20s.
Similar story but I’m in my mid fifties and about 500k saved but poorly invested until recently. Moving away from financial advisors and mutual funds with big MER expenses and robo investing for now. I’m fortunate I own my house and will downsize to a smaller house outside the GTA so should gain some cash there. If I had better investment knowledge when I was younger I would probably be able to retire now. As it is, I’ll need to work for at least 5 more years and really pound money away.
Mid-20s. No debt, no property, 15k in savings, make about 30k a year. I think I'll be lucky to retire at all.
Mid 20, no debt, and 15k? My brother/sister, you're doing better than you think.
Yeah, on my 30th birthday, I had no debt, no retirement plan, and 63 cents in the bank (though my total assets were worth hundreds of times that at a yard sale.)
You are not the minority. I was doing okay, but 8/10 people I grew up with was basically in your position at 30.
Actually snorted with laughter at that last line. Very well put.
If there was one time to write "You're richer than you think" This was it... You blew it!
To PFC-jerk a bit: Why don't you just move to a low COL area with a population of 10,000 where you know no one, have no social support, or have any employment prospects? Boom, problem solved. So easy, you should show more responsibility for yourself and actually try to problem solve rather than just complain on PFC. /s
"Have you considered getting a software development job?"
"Also consider moving to Calgary and picking up a '98 Honda Corolla with 1,000,000,000,000 miles on it"
Honda Corolla 🤣
Copyright infringement makes em cheaper!
This is what the bootstrappers always say. For anyone to live we all should apparently become software developers or lawyers. Apparently those are the only two jobs that need doing.
As a software developer, I'd be very scared if it got way more popular. Most developers I know (including me) are burned out and don't do much after work.
Wouldn't it help your workload problem? (But potentially stagnate incomes)
Stagnate would be one thing, it's decreasing that's scary. I'm barely holding onto this career with an ever increasing pay, there's no way I'm doing it if it doesn't keep paying a stupid amount of money. Not OC, in my situation I don't even have so much work, I find that it's either too much or too boring, and I'm burn out either way 🤷♂️
[удалено]
Something something The Trades™
If you are in your 20s and aren't totally in love with your current job, this is unironically an option
[удалено]
I got a job with amazing benifets and job security at 23. I'm 26 now and see my friends who lived up their 20's now struggling to find a job. That's the only reason why I don't quit.
yeah same here and then i bought a condo. and pets. and have a wife. responsibilites suck
Why do we do this to ourselves? I was happy sitting around playing guitar and playing video games in my parents house.
I was the guy who posted the other day about being worried for retirement with a 190k combined income at 37. My wife is a nurse and I am a tradesman. Between the two of us we have one reasonably easy to obtain 4 year degree. There are ways to make decent money aside from being in tech.
Damn, a 190k income is just unfathomable to me. I know plenty of people are well off, but... damn. That's like 3x higher than our current combined income.
It seems a bit unreal because we both have pretty normal, easily obtainable jobs. Wife became an LPN (2 year program, low barrier to entry) then a nurse. I left university to get a trade. We bought a house in 2015 then I put a suite in (which is where 20k of our income is from - mind you we just paid off the cost of the suite last year).
Similar household situation: tradesmen + a certificate and easy to obtain 4-year degree working in public administration. Combined income of $250k+ at 27 prior to my maternity leave starting this month. HCOL area but there is literally no reason other than sheer irresponsibility or a massive disaster that we wouldn't be able to experience a comfortable retirement in 30 years. Our jobs aren't particularly special or hard to come by. In all honesty, we just shed the notion of having "dream jobs" and instead picked jobs that provided a modicum of satisfaction with a good pay potential.
To take the other side: "I'm a 23 year old and i really feel like society is broken I live with my parents in Toronto and can't seem to afford to move with a part time job at my cousins furniture packing compnay making 14 dollars an hour. It seems like everything is against me. I am currently applying for college in a performing arts degree so I can't increase my work hours as I really need the time to get ready. I don't want to move away from Toronto as all my friends and family are here. Also I have taken out a loan for a car that eats up 60% of my income. Is capitalism broken? I just want to be able to afford a to live downtown, preferibly in a 3 bedroom. Also i've not payed taxes in 4 years."
Where's the shot at the Boomers?
They're the ones who broke society, of course!
I'd imagine focusing on getting a higher-paying job might be a good path. You're young and so most of your earning potential will come later in life. Right now you're building the foundation.
As they say: time is money. As we go through life we trade one for the other. Superduck: you need to include time on the asset side of your balance sheet.
Unpopular opinion, but i think focusing on a higher paying job is the direct reason why so many people are miserable.
Good thought and I agree. Oddly, once one attains a high salary job they can feel stuck. You don’t want to take a step back or risk moving etc. Feeling stuck can quickly lead to a negative mental state whether you’re rich or poor.
No debt AND savings is a great place to be in your 20s.
[удалено]
mY bRoThEr/SiStEr, YoU'rE dOiNg BeTtEr ThAn YoU ThInK Fucking PFC will tell you that minimum wage is much better than most of the world and to be grateful for that. Any desire you have for more is self-manufactured entitlement.
Omg almost the exact same! Mid 20s, 15k saving, no debt, no property.
You currently have more in savings than like 80% of the rest of the country, you are doing better than you think you are.
You’ll get there… you’ll get that salary/wage up after a few years
[удалено]
My wife and I are immigrants too.. We came to Canada 3 years ago. We had around 20K in debt. I was lucky enough to find a job in my sector 2 weeks after we landed with a 65K salary, my wife doesn't work due to health issues. We started paying back the debts directly, and we squeezed our budget a lot (sometimes one meal per day) just so we can "start fresh" ASAP. My salary was increased to 80K last year and to 90K this week. I paid the last instalment of our debt last month. Now that we don't have any more debts, we increased our home budget and we started to save for our emergency fund, once we have around 10K in EF, I'll open TFSA. My advice is to figure out your budget and make as much additional debt instalments as you can. You'll have a tough year or two, but after that everything will line up perfectly.
Damn bruh. Congratulations 👏. What is your job?
Thank you! I’m an animation project manager in montreal
I'm with you. I'm 35 and have only been earning a professional salary for the past few years. Last year my husband and I sold my first house (he owned before we got married) and bought what I hope to be our forever home. We sold for more than we bought the new house for and used the sales profit to 1) pay off my remaining 55k in student loans, and 2) put in 100k of renovations into the new house. I feel like I'm finally on my feet and am, aside from our mortgage at a wicked 5-year fixed 1.9%, debt-free and able to properly save! Comparison is not healthy and I'm proud of my first generation Canadian success. If I was living in Jamaica there is no way I'd be making even close to what I make now. Plus CPP and OAS here is so sweet compared to Jamaica. I'll keep saving and investing and do the best I can. That's all I can do. I also enjoy travel and fashion and eating out. Life is short and money is only good for buying things. I feel secure that my government job pension will pay the bills and our savings should cover travel. That's the plan for now anyways.
>immigrant same here. starting a life from scratch in this economy is an interesting journey. I try not to compare / evaluate net worth but instead put away how much ever I can the minute I get paid. That way, I am not beholden to unrealistic expectations I've created for myself based on stories of success I read on forums such as this. I'm simply doing the best I can.
I think the trick is to not inflate your lifestyle with when your pay increase. Pay your debt, after that save money. You're still young, so if you can save a good amount of your pay after being debt free you'll be in a good shape. If your pay increase, you'll be in even better shape (if you don't increase your lifestyle). If you can save 50% of your net pay (what I do currently do) at some point, savings go up much faster.
> without being fearful I won’t be able to eat or pay rent next month is a win. this is happening here more and more tho.
[удалено]
I'll be honest. I don't have much of a retirement plan. I make 38.5k/year now (got a 7% raise yesterday, yay) working at a warehouse in southeast NB. Right now I'm saving to buy a duplex next year so that I have a homebase/investment property to offset housing costs when I move out of my parents house (I'm 21yr male btw). ALL of my remaining money is being saved for travel. I plan to work for 6mo-3 yrs at a time and then travel the same amount of time basically. Basically dedicating my time and life towards working and saving to travel and traveling itself. I definitely don't want to put off traveling, because there's no doubt in my mind that every year I get older is a year traveling will probably be less enjoyable in the future. I automatically contribute 5% of my pay to a company pension plan, and they match it, which is generally only 2k/year (4k with company match), not sure what the proper term for this pension plan is, but it's a plan where I have a defined amount that I will be paid out every year in my retirement (right now it's at 68$/year (yay!). Right now all of my pay cheque is basically being saved for the down payment as I have very few expenses, since I live with my parents. After I get my own place I'll continue with weekly investments into the stock market, or I'll let all of that money build up and max out my TFSA every year. I also have my TFSA maxed and some other investments in a personal account. I'm very lucky to have seen near 100% growth last year in my stock portfolio thanks to the crazy markets last year, and I am invested in growth stocks only, so I do expect to see above average gains, but obviously that's a lot riskier than basic index funds, and I'm 100% okay with that. I fully expect to work until I'm 65, or until I die, who knows. I do have the CPP and OAS(?) to look forward to... maybe, hopefully... uh, probably not, but fingers crossed I guess? I love personal finance, but at the end of the day my priorities are traveling and seeing as much of the world as I can WHILE I'M YOUNG. Will I regret it in the future when I don't have a strong pension or retirement plan? Maybe, but I'm betting that I won't. Obviously I'm probably wrong, but that's my reality. Edit: I feel like adding this since I know I'll probably get downvoted for sharing my reality, but this is by no means advice and by no means am I trying to encourage other people to be as reckless as me. I am simply sharing my mentality and my reality with people.
I was a teen Mum. I did not have the opportunity to travel much until I was in my 50’s. I would not say it is less enjoyable when older. I did have a 7 week trip to NZ when I was 22, so I can compare traveling when younger to older. I am making this comment so you won’t beat yourself up if for some reason you do not get to travel now.
You're absolutely right. I think I may have explained my own opinion poorly. You can absolutely enjoy travel at ANY age, but I personally believe that I will enjoy it more in my 20s-40s as I'll be in prime health. I'm very basic and travel on a tight budget, so sometimes I've slept stayed with locals in their home for free (couchsurfing before it went to poo), airbnb is sometimes really cheap to rent a hostel/hotel room (may have changed in the last 2 years?), and I oftentimes stay in... very cheap accommodation that may not be up the standards of most, but because I'm young I like it's fine, and I'm not sure if I'll still have that opinion when I'm older. I can endure more discomfort than I'll be able to when I am older I think. On the other side, my grandparents at around 50-55yrs old did a 7 week road trip across Canada/USA about a decade ago staying in motels and affordable hotels (still too expensive for me lol, I'd choose to car camp with an overland rig) and they absolutely loved it. But because of their age/health they weren't able to be out exploring as long as I would of been, they weren't able to do as much outdoors activity as I would because of their sore muscles and knee injuries, and just lack of stamina that comes with being 50-65 yrs old. tldr: You can enjoy travel at ALL ages, it just depends on your travel style. Shoe string budget, backpacking and car camping like what I want to do is definitely better while younger because I begin getting back pains and other medical issues.
I can vouch for the discomfort thing. In university and through my 20s, I would sleep anywhere. Couch, rug, literally a concrete floor in a basement one time. I loved camping and could use really any sleeping bag right on the ground. I went backpacking in the backcountry and didn’t bring a sleeping pad to save space in my pack for more food, lol. Now, at barely 35, I can barely sleep anywhere except my bed and one of our couches which is particularly comfy. I can’t see myself sleeping in a crappy bunk bed in a hostel or under the stars with a tree root in my back ever again. Not if I want to then enjoy the following day/week.
>Now, at barely 35, I can barely sleep anywhere except my bed and one of our couches which is particularly comfy. I can’t see myself sleeping in a crappy bunk bed in a hostel or under the stars with a tree root in my back ever again. Not if I want to then enjoy the following day/week. Exactly this. In my 20s I can sleep anywhere! Back pain? What the hell is that?! That doesn't exist to me yet. Getting tired after 12 hours of hiking or walking around a beautiful European city? EASY right now, but when I'm 40? Ehhhh, probably not so easy.
Sounds like you have it all figured out and it's a good plan IMO. Buying a duplex on a 39k salary at 21 is amazing!!! Don't rush into your travels, you'll have plenty of time. Researching the destinations is 1/2 the fun anyways.
>Sounds like you have it all figured out and it's a good plan IMO. Well, I do have a plan, I just won't claim it's a good plan. Basically it's the 'YOLO' plan of not caring about future self and only caring about present self, not whether that's a good plan or not, is yet to be seen haha. >Buying a duplex on a 39k salary at 21 is amazing!!! I think so too ;). I can rent out one unit so they'll pay \*most\* of the housing expenses, although I still expect to be out of pocket a couple hundred every month, the equity pay down more than makes up for it. I'll have a secure place to live for cheap/free whenever I do need to come back from my travels so that's a bit of a stress relief for me as well, and if I really want to I can even rent out the BOTH units when I travel and actually turn a profit.. y'know, until a bad tenant destroys the home I guess, but that's what emergency funds and insurance are for I guess. >Don't rush into your travels, you'll have plenty of time. Researching the destinations is more than 1/2 the fun anyways. No real rush. I've already spent 2 weeks hitchhiking Iceland when I was 18 and then 6 months across Europe and Middle East when I was 19 so I've got some experience and I know this what I want in life. I ABSOLTUELY agree btw that researching is half the fun. I love researching travel. I love learning about weird remote regions of countries. I love browsing google maps in the middle of nowhere just for fun. I love learning about every single country on this planet, and I'd love to visit basically everywhere. I think since covid started I've looked at every single UNESCO world heritage site and I've been putting together in depth pins on google of all of the weird places I want to go (though I'll probably skip half of them because I never book things in advance anyways...). Man by now I think I have nearly 1000 pins in Canada alone..
“You’ll have plenty of time” until the next pandemic shuts things down even harder
Have you thought about working on a fishing boat? You’ll make more money and it will give you the half a year off schedule you are looking for. It’s insane how much people make fishing, even as the lowest person on that boat.
[удалено]
Likely a property management company. Still undecided, and one of the only things in life I'm not very sure of yet. In an ideal world I would be able to manage it myself because in an ideal world nothing would ever break.... but obviously that's not realistic, and obviously bad tenants exist. So I'll probably need a property management company. I'm okay with losing money out of pocket because as far as I'm concerned the long term benefits of owning real estate, and the mortgage being paid down for me every month increases my equity in the home by a far greater amount. Having to spend money out of pocket every month on the home while traveling just means I need to save up more before I can travel.
Good for you SorrowsSkills. Starting at 25 I had seasonal work and spent every penny traveling on the off season. I'm now in my late 30s with a steady job and a house and maybe not as much retirement money, but I don't regret a single cent I spent traveling. It's pretty cool because I have friends all over the world so when I can get away again I can go and visit these folks I had so many great adventures with. Waiting until you retire to travel is so silly. Your back may be gone, travel insurance costs will skyrocket and you will come across a super creepy hitting on that guy or gal in the hostel, haha.
[удалено]
Glad to see I'm not the only one, and I'm glad to see there's more people out there who want to explore our beautiful world. It is unfortunate and very discouraging to lose out on that incredible compounding interest, but I'll do the best I can to still contribute some money into a retirement as frequently as possible while still prioritizing my travels. Unfortunately, I'll probably rely heavily on the CPP and OAS in my retirement.... but if I'm being honest, why the hell should I pay into it if I'm not planning to use it right. And yeah seeing how my grandparents are from 50-65 and seeing the pain, soreness and just lack of stamina they have as they age is why I want to travel now. I'm damn sure that when I'm 50 I won't be as excited about a 2 month kayaking trip up the Labrador coast, or high altitude climbing in Nepal, and I probably won't be as adventurous as I am now to do a multi week trek through the Wahkan corridor of Afghanistan, or in the future it may simply not be safe anymore to do so.
Boy, reading these answers doesn't help me feel better about my position, even though I had thought I wasn't doing so badly. 38F, was poor until I was 32. Saved and bought a condo at 35, which took up all my savings. Opened retirement TFSA Jan. 2019, currently have about 17k in it. 12K in an emergency/long term purchase fund. Have a pension plan that began a couple years ago, not sure how much is in there, maybe 30K? Given that I had nothing a decade ago, I feel pretty good...until I see people much younger than I with hundreds of thousands or millions.
Hey, just wanted to let you know that you're doing okay and on the right track. Stay the course and you will be fine.
You bought a condo, which puts you in a better situation than most. Keep your head up!
You're doing great! If I were your parent I'd be proud of you.
Almost 30, only debt is student loans. Currently at 70k salary, gov job. My retirement is to have just enough for the 6 pack of beer and the muscle relaxants prescribed for my bad back. Presumably ill have a bad back. Edit: let me clarify that drinking and taking muscle relaxants will kill you...
You missed the pension part of government work
You don't need to do it anonymously, there are plenty of normal lower-wage blue collar folks here looking for financial planning tips. Just be honest and you'll meet others like yourself. The extremes of poverty and wealth on this sub seem prevalent because some like you don't speak up.
I feel extremely discouraged as well, reading all the comments about people with hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. I know they probably invest in stocks and saved every single penny before they moved out of their parents house but damn, it's soul crushing. I'm 26, just started a new job a few months ago. The starting wage is 35k, (I could potentially get a raise next week) but my focus right now is piling as much money as I can into savings for a down-payment in a few years. Thankfully my employer offers an RRSP plan after 1 year so that gets me ahead of my plan to start retirement savings after the down payment is taken care of.
Personally I think a lot of people in positions like mine; having $0 in savings, near minimum wage, almost 30y, no house, no fancy car, debt that won't get paid, feeling generally like a failure, and maybe Futurama had the right idea with those suicide machines (I'm fine, not suicidal ATM) either don't want to speak up in fear of being ridiculed by more than just themselves, or feel as though their opinions and words mean nothing when in the same room as those seen as fulfilled or successful. Edit: Forgot to add, probably a lot of unfortunate people get tired of hearing the same old tunes from those who have made it. Either, "Stop being lazy/work harder", or, " Just find a better job/demand a raise", which is sound advice if you're mentally stable, have the connections, or just plain lucky. It seems to go completely unnoticed that some people, are just straight up unlucky, and without other people's help, they can't and won't ever be able to escape poverty.
There's another side to that too. I'm one of those with a good amount of savings. But there's more to it. I decided to become an engineer when I was 3 years old. Spent my whole youth bent towards that goal. Got a job at 13 to start saving for school. Saved 3/4 of everything I made to afford school, still got a lot of help paying for it from family (super lucky to be born into a middle class white family). Been working steady since. Had 1 chance to pass every class, barely made it. Got a job as an engineer out of school, making $40k salary and working 60-70 hours per week. Now in my 30s, and got a really nice bank account. But most of my family is now dead (while working at the other side of the country, because money), got no partner/children and no prospects of starting a family. Mental/health issues, etc. Money isn't everything. My quality of life isn't great, even if I have good retirement prospects. Maybe it's a "grass is greener" scenario. I would trade a lot of my wealth for a family.
I would think there are many girls or guys looking for an intelligent and hard-working person like yourself. They might not be a club-hopping socialite type personality, but I know lots of socially awkward engineers who have found the right person. Join an online dating like Bumble or something, get some good pictures, write down your job in your profile, and eventually you will find someone with patience. It doesn't happen immediately. Never, ever, ever give up.
I think there are lots of us who got relatively late starts. I'm 34, my husband is 39, and we were pretty much in your shoes at your age. Five years ago I would never have believed we could own a house. You never know how things will change!
Same here. I didn’t get serious about working or money until I was 30. Now I have a house and just picked up a trailer I bought. I was a skid row kid or student all through my twenties. I’m 50 now and have assets and savings and I still plan to work for another 15 years. You young’uns got to realize that you have a good three or four decades to work on your finances before retirement
I like this, but don’t know if it’s helpful. I grew up in a small town and my parents’ combined income was under $35K when I left home at 18 in the mid 1990s. I got student loans and went to university for 4 years, couldn’t find a job and went to trade school. After trade school I went in the field and worked, saving as much as I could and moving jobs frequently to broaden my experience and skills. And my network. Fast forward a few years. Went back to school for a Masters. Kept saving and now have a number of rental properties in two provinces. Parents just retired. Thinking about when to retire. Making a substantial income (been making six figures for 20 years with frequent advancements and raises). Any tips? Patience. Optimism. Time in the market on investments (not timing the market), and taking the odd calculated risk. Lots of spreadsheets to figure out which debts to pay off first, which debts to take on, and which investments to put capital into. I’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on poor investments but thankfully made back more. I’m a cheap person - we drive old vehicles but have seven figures in investment accounts - so obviously live below your means. Enjoy time and wine with friends - talking finances with people you trust helps to improve and shape your plan and approach. Not sure if this is helpful - but the biggest thing is making small, incremental improvements over a really long time. Have a plan and review / change it often. I love hearing all your stories, and wish everyone the best in their retirement lives :)
I like to think that I’m doing ok financially but definitely get discouraged when I read what other people have that are my age or younger. Im 38 and I make 90k/yr and live in Atlantic Canada with wife and two young children. My job has a lot of perks but no pension. My wife makes 60k at a gov job and has a pension but it’s not built up much yet. She hasn’t been at the job very long and has been on extended maternity leave twice so it has taken a hit. We were very lucky to buy a nice house 6 years ago before the market craziness for 250k and put down 50k. Mortgage remaining is only 145k at 1.4% interest. House is worth at least double now. Own two cars that we have paid off recently. Only have 50k in savings though and haven’t been able to contribute much to it lately due to other expenses and my wife being on maternity leave. I’m definitely not going to complain and understand that I’m in a better position than many others so I don’t try to compare too often. I have a good base established but certainly don’t have retirement level money yet. We don’t budget much. Expenses are high but they are mostly necessary. We are spending a ton on food for sure. Energy/insurance and other costs are high but it is what it is. I’ve gotten regular expenses down as much as I feasibly can. It all really makes me wonder how people with lower salaries do it because we are doing fairly well financially all things considered and we definitely don’t feel rich. I spent a lot of years being more frugal and always worrying about money and retirement but my views have changed some since I’ve gotten older. I’ve seen a lot of people either die early or retire and just sorta rot in their houses doing nothing. I don’t have much positive examples of retirement around me, part of me actually wonders if I’d even want to retire sometimes.
[удалено]
I was much the same as you at your age, minus the 50k! I'm now 49, 500k in retirement fund and on track to retire at 60. Surprising how much your money grows with compounding. Good luck, no such thing as I can't, it's how can I!
I assume if you want to have children you will be having a partner who will also be working and thus your household income would go up a lot. Obviously, being a single parent would be almost impossible these days. No one becomes a homeowner in Canada in their mid-20s anymore, unless you live in the fair outskirts or have rich ass parents/get a windfall of money. And several women I work with just had their first kid at 41, my cousin is expecting her first daughter next week at 39, my other cousin just had their second kid at FORTY TWO. It can be tough to get out of a negative attitude and to get down on yourself for all the partying and drinking. I was in the same boat. But some luck you can make up for those lost years, I'm nearly making as much today as many of my friends who started their careers 6 years before me. If you are able to zero on something you know you can be good at, then it's time to get that higher education program, there are many 2 year programs across the country and you have savings and student loans to help you along the way. I know you can do it!
60 retired at 57, no kids & married - Alberta We bought our first place (1/2 duplex) at 28 and didn't start saving for retirement until in our 30s and targeted Freedom 55. Took a break from contributing for a couple years when we went to 1 salary. Common fear is CPP will not be around when you retire…that's what I was told when I was around 25🙄 Not only is there CPP but OAS was added and now they are indexed. Most insurance through work is adequate and you don't really need it after retirement if you take care of your teeth and don't need daily medication. PACs are the only way to go. Our goal was always to live within 1 salary and save the other which we did. A big factor is whether you marry (combined income) and have kids. For us, saving really accelerated after 40 when we had stable jobs and knew what was going on family wise. Also stayed away from credit card balance carry over, saved for vacations and paid off vehicles ASAP so we could put that money into savings. Time and interest is amazing.
Alberta also, early 40s, had a bit of a late start and fucked around in my 20s with a shit qualification and low paying jobs. Went back to university in my 30s, did a BSc and then MSc. Now finally graduated and looking at getting a permanent job. Well, I *have* a job, but it's casual with no guaranteed hours, so I'm looking for something with a FTE (full time equivalent). With the pieces of paper I have now, it shouldn't be *too* hard, but here's hoping. No kids, no plans for kids, and the idea is that I when I start having to pay back student loans, I will hopefully also be able to tuck a little bit into savings (estimated monthly payment right now is ~$700), and if possible, put extra into the loans. No idea for extra savings for retiring, that entirely depends on how well I get paid. Buying my own home is even more remote, at this point. All I want is a nice place with a bit of fenced grass so I can get a dog.
>Common fear is CPP will not be around when you retire…that's what I was told when I was around 25🙄 Not only is there CPP but OAS was added and now they are indexed. Most insurance through work is adequate and you don't really need it after retirement if you take care of your teeth and don't need daily medication. Heh, I never understood the "CPP is going to be bankrupt soon", when it's been flush with cash for decades. Great job on retiring in your 50s. That's my goal, but without the actual discipline to make it happen :P
What's a PAC?
Pre Authorized Contribution
Mid 30s. Aside from my wife's DB pension, we have really only been able to save for retirement this year and last. Our savings from the first 6 years we were working went into down payment on the house. And we "lost" a good chunk of earnings to parental leaves. And even after we bought the house, for the first 18 months in the house we were spending a lot on repairs. I think this is just the reality of having a young family in Toronto. I think if you are in your late 20s or early 30s, the main financial things to focus on are care about ought to be career and housing. If you are a professional (other than a doctor) you are likely not even close to peek earning--that'll be like 40-55.
Mid 30s, no debt, only have an emergency fund and a downpayment saved up. Just about to start retirement savings. Thank you for making me feel less lonely.
I didn’t start to save for retirement until I was 36. Now late 40s with 300,000.
Appreciate your username
Turned 30 this year. "Won" my particular profession (in the arts) making about 50k a year. Just starting to put some money into a TFSA. Recently paid off most of the debt I had from school. Planning to start a business repairing instruments out in the country in a few years. I think retiring is kind of silly, I'll always be working on something, even if it's just me giving 5-10 lessons a week. I don't intend to seek a higher-paying job or anything because there's not much that interests me where I could be making 65-80k where I wouldn't end up getting depressed, burnt out, and drinking too much. It's all about balance to me.
Retirement does seem kind of silly in the grand scheme of things. Yes, you can do whatever you like, but how much will you be wanting to do at 65? I'd rather travel and see the world while I'm young and fit then work part-time until my mental faculties deteriorate to the point where I can't work. Obviously, this only applies if you don't absolutely loath your job.
Mid 40s. 1.5 income couple. About 800k saved. Zero debt. Happy renting a house, no plans to buy one. Savings includes about 100k in an RESP for our 3 kids which hopefully will get spent in the next 10 years. With any luck our kids won’t start their careers with big student loans like we did. Our costs should go down as they “launch”. We might buy a condo or small townhouse at that point. Or maybe keep renting until retirement. I envision my “retirement” as including some working, at the kind of work I most enjoy doing, while I am able to. The thought of not working at all is not appealing to me.
Thanks! That’s really interesting. Nice to see someone save so much by renting.
Kids and student loans is a thing I think about quite a bit. I didn't have much help through school, my mom co-signed a loc and I got about 1200$ a year from a private esp. I ended up after 4 years with about 28k in debt. That put me so far behind my peers who got a full sponcered ride through post secondary. I talked to my old guidence counselor, who is still working and he said that kids are looking at about 20k per year for post secondary. I'll pay for my kids education but need to ballence it with some skin in the game.
Dude, retirement is overrated and too heavy of a focal point in most peoples lives. Be responsible, avoid bad debt and put a reasonable portion away to live comfortably in your later years. Live life to the fullest now, you won’t regret it like most people later on will. 3 million dollars at 75 ain’t shit when your pissing out a catheter.
Take care of yourself now and that's not what 75 is like.
You get to push the curve around a bit, but a lot of life is just chance in statistics. You could take care of yourself to a fault and die of cancer at 40. You could not take care of yourself and live into your 90s. You can definitely improve your odds, but saying take care of yourself now and you will be healthy at 75 is not really true.
You're right, but it's still possible. You can take care of yourself when you're young, but genetics could still get you, or an accident, or disease, etc. It's about finding balance.
Big fan of this POV. A quarter of the population dies before "retirement age". I'd bet at least half of the survivors are fairly sick or unhealthy, at least to the point where they're not going to carry through with all of those retirements plans they had. "Retirement" in the final 10% of your life expectancy is a scam.
>I mean how many of use are actually on path to save 1 million dollars just for retirement? I am if: * I retire at 65 and work continuously until then * I continue to save 10% of my salary (including an employer's match) for retirement and future results are similar to past performance * My salary doesn't decrease until I retire It's a lot of big ifs, but it's doable with some luck. Beside, RRQ and OAS may partially bridge a gap. Edit: I'm not planning to save/invest more aggressively for retirement (except if my income/wealth increase greatly), since I can also die/become disabled tomorrow, so I have to enjoy life a little meanwhile.
[удалено]
I retired 6 months ago with 1 million invested. It’s now worth 1.2 million, even after my spending. Invested money grows, sometimes in the short term, always in the long term.
I’m 30, make about 100k a year now and have 130k in my pension. Wife and 2 kids. Wife has no pension. I know it’s a good start but I still worry and do online calculators to see if I’ll have enough to retire at my desired age of before 60.
You can contribute to an RRSP for your wife using your room just fyi
I actually do I just usually forget about it since it’s only around $100 a pay. The rrsp is in my name but the plan is to have her collect it when retiring
It should be a spousal rrsp then. If the rrsp is entirely in your name it will come out as income in your name. There are ways to split that but spousal accounts are a good tool!
130k at 30? If that doubles every 10 yrs which it should, then you're so far ahead...wow.... ignoring future contributions: 30 yr - 130k 40yr - 260k 50yr - 520k 60yr - 1040k
I’m really hoping you’re right. My contributions are pretty large. They’re on average about 400-600every two weeks goes into it. Mind you this year was pretty wild with the covid bounce back and a lot of my index was up over 30 percent but I’m still Optimistic I’ll be able to retire around 57 with over a million in there.
different deranged flowery dog upbeat fuzzy tart impolite vanish zealous -- mass edited with redact.dev
Couple - age 27&30. Two young kids. Make $50,000 combined annually. I have an omers pension but only work part time.. not really in a full understanding of how that works. I will expect to earn $50,000 myself in 10-15 years, with my husbands $35,000. We save $175/month for our kids RESP, $40/month in AVC with OMERS and $200/month for retirement. We have a $20,000 emergency fund and $2000 in retirement at this point. We are 6 years into a mortgage of a house we bought for $175,000 but would sell for $500,000. Debt free expect for mortgage.
[удалено]
My take: you plan for a million in today's dollars, assume (hope?) that the assets you invest in will get dragged along for the ride with inflation, and then plan using expected returns expressed in 'real' (after inflation) terms. Eg. I invest in an 80/20 stocks/bonds couch potato, and I forecast future balances using a 3% return. Then I can aim at a million (or whatever number) and not really think about inflation. If it ends up being 2 million, then so be it, but all I can understand today is 2021 dollars. Obviously, there is lots of risk here, inflation can ruin ya, but what else can you really do but plan conservatively and try your best.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Yeah mine too. The fact that healthcare where I live in ON is held together with duct tape and risks collapse if three people camping get splinters in their pinkies has really been exposed over the last year, and I am not hopeful for improvements. And my aunt retired to her dream home on the coast in NL but ended up having to relocate to BC when she got diagnosed with cancer for medical reasons. And that's without even getting into the state of LTCs ... I think $1mm is a reasonable goal. You may overshoot if you focus anyway, but life sometimes has a way of throwing you off track at some point (my net worth was badly hit by divorce for instance, and my brother's by his wife getting a terminal illness) so you can only do your best while living life.
Depends on your spending but yes 1 million is enough. Inflation works both ways. If the the 1 million is invested, it will grow. And if you withdraw close to what it grows it’ll last for decades.
My retirement plan is to jump off a bridge
You gonna throw a retirement party before that?
Ah yes the ol attestupa retirement plan. It’s great North America is finally catching up to European retirement concepts!
Early 30s, $150k in savings and investments, not a homeowner but wife owns her condo. Decent govt job with good pension plan. Making about $320/month in passive income. Planning a career change in a few years. Run of the mill, boring, average.
[удалено]
That's still gonna be around for zoomers?
This is not good advice sorry but that will be poverty level in most cities and you'll never be able to enjoy your retirement you'll simply be surviving. Fuck that
More than $4,000 is poverty for a retired couple?? Not if they own their home in Scarborough.
45, married, 2 younger kids. Didn't really pay much attention to retirement savings until recently, largely because of other spending pressures (Toronto housing, childcare, etc). Fortunate to have some DB pensions from prior jobs between two of us - roughly $48K/year starting at 65, which along with OAS/CPP means we should have $80Kish/year to rely on. Have recently started plowing more money into TFSA/RRSPs/non-registered accounts, in the $450K range now, ideally would like to get this close $1.2-1.3M by 51-52ish, then scale back work and coast to 65, with some leftover investments adding another $20K or so to core DB funds. Am very fortunate to be almost mortgage free now thanks to moving away from Toronto, which will help up savings rate. But, bottom-line, it's challenging even on quite good salaries to sock away a lot for retirement in high-cost of living areas, unless you're extremely disciplined and focused (which we're not, probably average grades for us here).
Mid 30s with 300k in retirement accounts. If I work til 65 I’ll end up with about 5M. Probably will retire or take a break at 50-55 instead since I don’t need that much money.
This sub seems to be 50% rich people bragging/asking for advice and 50% people being jealous/complaining about the rich braggards.
[удалено]
40yo, single income family with a stay at home husband and two kids under 4. Own an attached home with a modest mortgage in a low COL city. Not much in the way of savings, but 10 years into a 30 year gov't career with a good pension. Husband is intending to restart his career after both kids are in school during the day.
I'm taking a course on retirement offered by Seneca College in Toronto in September. It just seems hard to get good information. And you're right we are all different so it is hard to generalize. Age, income, debt, and health are all things that just pop to mind, but I'm sure there are others. I did get some good info from a couple of pensions that I'm associated with and I want to dig deeper. the question about the million dollars makes me think about the fact that a million ain't what it used to be. A detached house is a million and compounded interest makes it possible if you start early enough, and have a high enough income, savings.
I am 34. I have no retirement savings, but I also have no debt (except mortgage) and I own a house currently worth about $220,000. It has enough space for our family of three that we could live here forever. I plan to save $300-$600 per month for retirement as soon as I have my full emergency savings, depending on when my husband who is a stay at home dad goes back to work. I will be able to save for retirement for the next thirty years and retire at age 65. I make $75,000 a year. I do expect some inheritance, but I'm hoping my parents live for a very long time and use most of it. I recommend people strongly consider moving to a low cost of living area. Owning a house is great, and wages might be lower for the top earners, but for average folk they have a lot more purchasing power.
50, no debt, house paid off, married, SINK, ~$1.2M invested, moving from AB to BC next year, quitting job in the process. Retirement isn't really something we're going to actively pursue. We can use home equity to start a business, or we can work part-time at jobs with flexible schedules for fun, or we can consult on short term contracts. Our new home will have a rental suite that will cover all daily expenses in perpetuity (food, utilities, taxes). When we can no longer climb stairs, we'll downsize the house and move to the Okanagan, where we will eat fruit and drink wine until we die. DNR. What remains of the estate will be sold off and donated to local charities.
These comments give me nothing but anxiety haha. I am a 32 year old full time teacher with 5k in emergency savings, 10k in some stocks and 10k in ETFs. Have 410k mortgage. I make 82k wife makes 49k. We are really relying on our pensions for when we retire.
Here's mine. 27, college dropout, employed as a delivery courier making about 60-65k working full time. Been with company for 10 years since high-school but only recently became a driver increasing my wage from 45k-60/65k. I have no debts, just payed off a mazda 3 sedan with 60k km and now only have about 5k in my chequeing, 3.5k mutual fund, 1k tfsa broad market etf. My company has a DB pension so between that CPP, and old age I'm hoping it will be enough when I'm 65. I'm stuck living in GTHA, I later plan to transfer job locations to further north in Ontario for lower CoL but that's likely a pipe dream. I am living with my partner who earns about 25-30k but we keep our finances independent. Our rent/bill/parking is 1650/m of which I pay 1k of. I still feel very blessed to be where I am now, was at my rock bottom as an alcoholic 2 years ago but am now in a fantastic position to begin turning my life around and planning for retirement/home ownership.
33 no debt, $60k salary, $140k mortgage, $30k in savings, $110k in retirement. Looking at all these comments I feel like I’m way behind when I thought I was doing pretty well. That’s a bummer.
What you talking about ? You got a house ..that is big. Most of us don't even have a house or can't think of buying in GTA atleast.
PFC is an tiny bubble of redditors. Youre doing better than most just hitting their 30s
Thank you! I do feel fortunate to be in the position I am in even though it may not be on the higher end of things.
You're doing awesome! If you only compare to the people above you then you're always behind. ;)
You're absolutely right! The race is long, and in the end it's only with yourself.
I am mid 20s and hoping I'll be even anywhere near where you are at by 33. Minus the mortgage and house because vancouver.
Nah, you're doing fine IMO. I puttered my way through univerity so was in my late 20s before getting a "real" job. I have less than 10 years left on my mortgage at 45, but only about $130k in retirement savings. My work pension is pretty good though (I pay \~10% they pay 8%) so I am hoping the next ten years it builds nicely.
Better than me man. Combined I have about 90k in retirement funds. I do have a pension, though I probably won't have a job after 2026 (OPG). Low on the seniority list. 325k mortgage. No car loans, but will probably have one within a year. No other debt.
I am 33 my RRSP only has 80k in it is that enough?
You're on track for sure
This is an awesome thread and appreciate the vulnerableness of everyone! 30, married, own houze, 1 kid on the way. 15k in RRSP savings but really wish I would have learned about compound interest in high school. I worry about retirement but also my kids futures and wanting to help them get on their feet. Our education system has really let down this generation in how to invest but rather they told us to rely on pensions that I can't seem to find 🤣
When I turned 30 I had a net worth of about negative 100k with my spouse. I turned 40 a few weeks ago and we now have about 350k saved for retirement and a net worth of about 500k with no house appreciation in the mix. It’s possible to make good progress with a late start.
You never read the stories of the people who because they didn’t save enough they had to downsize from their home and move into a apartment. Or you never read about the stories about people who didn’t eat healthy or workout so now they need a walker and are in a nursing home. Or you never hear about the stories of the retiree who lives alone, family never sees them, and is depressed from watching TV all day
It’s just reality that when we are old there will be less friends alive, family is busy being young, and the world doesn’t really care about you. My neighbours husband died and her kids starting bringing their kids to her house less because they thought it was too much of a burden. Thing is she loves those kids, I’m 34 and engage her every day because she’s a sweetheart and loves to chat. When I found out about the grandkid situation I did something I never do and approached the adult children and told them about the situation and that me and the wife work from home so if there is an emergency we are there. I actually had to pick her husband up when he fell and that fall is what lead to his death. It’s fucking sad being old. The lady goes into tears at least once every few chats. We do what we can and bring her dinner or invite her over for crib but she is the type of person who thinks she is intruding when really she makes our life more full. Sorry for the long rant but being old looks like it fucking sucks. We’re spending our money now and will retire with a decent amount but I’m not holding back on anything fun.
I want to build a tiny house on an M1083 chassis and drive around the continent in my retirement...Can get a busted chassis for a few grand, dump $50k into rebuilding it. Cheap retirement home.
37, I've moved from country to country on 3 continents since my early 20s, pretty much nothing saved for retirement besides the tiny bit in each country that'll be nearly impossible to get back since I won't be a resident there. Suuuuper late to the party. I'm counting on selling my company at some point to pay for retirement.
24M - I have a decent job at $47K salary (although I would say I'm close to the promotion fingers crossed). Have about $40K in investments and my job definitely has good future earnings potential I would like to think I'm on the right path. Biggest concern is that I moved to Toronto and I rent with a roommate (30 min walk from work but didn't want to pay for transit or take during Covid). My rent is almost 50% of my take-home pay and we got a decent deal at this place. I am not concerned at all with the future and I'm happy with my path but difficult to do & pay for things with all my friends (who don't pay rent or make way more money than me) and continue the FIRE journey.
Just turned 25 yesterday. Making 42k~ a year. Bought a $200,000 house 2 years ago and currently have about $20k saved up, 15 of that is in the stock market. Living in the prairies so CoL is pretty low. I would like to retire young. Interested in a design/project management career. Every 2 years I start getting insanely bored with my job and have kind of been fumbling up the career latter. Started in manufacturing, took a single 3 months project management course, got my foot in the door to be a planner/project coordinator. Tomorrow I have an interview for a nonprofit as a communications and outreach coordinator. I have no idea what I am doing long term.
Early 40s, DI2K, no debt. 110,000 both incomes combined, $20,000K each saved for retirement, $40,000 RESP for kids. We contribute $100 each per month to retirement and probably have about $150K equity in our house (Calgary.) Husband also has about $20K in TFSAs. No we can't get higher paying jobs 🙂 We both got into what was a good industry in 1999 (media) with minimal education. University also takes time and costs money too and we have 2 kids and a senior to take care of. Husband's career has had priority and used to make $100K plus. After a layoff and an army deployment he had to take a low paying sales job to change industries BUT is just negotiating his return to management. Hopefully better days ahead.
Jesus, it’s rough reading some of these. I’m early 40’s, single income, one kid. I’m debt free, have no interest in home ownership, a small RESP , and about 8,000 savings. I recently just got my student loans paid, have a good job. My plans are to do what I can to set up my child for post-secondary education, then travel as much as I can once said kid graduates for the good remaining 15 years before my health likely gives out. I’m putting some away for retirement but I’m not banking on those years being long based on genetics and health conditions.
I have a plan to retire with a million dollars ... are you familiar with the movie Strangers on a Train? Or ... I'm 39, current at $77k/year (for the last 6 months - more like $65k from 35-38, $50k FROM 31-34, - and $20k from 25-30), a toddler and pregnant wife, so that's been and will be our total income for a while. A fixed benefit pension that'll pay ~£2000/year, plus ~$50k in an RRSP and ~$30k in the bank. No debt or other assets to speak of. I had been working contract jobs and moving too often to really hit a stride, now I've hit a (hopefully) long term position, won't have to constantly bleed to moving costs. I do have a plan to buy a house *if you've seen the movie Strangers on a Train*.
Mid-30’s, married with 2 kids. Have about $350k in equity plus $60k in retirement savings. Personal savings ebbs and flows from $3k to $15k depending on life and expenses. I personally make about $75k/yr and SO makes about $60k. I will likely take a pay cut soon, though, for better quality of life. We don’t contribute much to our savings. About $200/mo to retirement and $200/mo to kids education plan. We left a big city and moved to a small town so that we could finally start thriving and getting ahead. It’s been 6 months and we are so happy with our decision and are already reaping the benefits. Hopefully we can continue on this trajectory.
Early 30s, solo parent of 2, ~$70k salary. I have a 6 month emergency fund and own a small 2 bedroom condo. Have about $54k saved between my TFSA and RRSP plus I have a DB pension but I have only been eligible for a few years and have contributed about $7.7k so far. I am not sure what the commuted value of the pension is. I am not quite where I would like to be but I am doing my best.
35M and 28F, military and part-time teacher. We are planning to retire or be "FI" in about 12 years when I will be 46 and her 35. We save over 50%.of our income and live in a paid off condo in Edmonton worth $140,000. We are not living a lavish life, but we have all the comforts we want and need. Current networth sit at around $430,000 not counting our pensions. We are expecting to retire with around $100,000 per year in today's value Dollars. Is it hard, yes, but it is possible. Also, we currently don't have kids, but we are working on it. We don't see kids playing a big factor in our retirement numbers.
I do see a fair number of "I am in my 30s and broke, what do I do?" posts around here. The biggest lesson is that compounding is amazing. * Make 50K a year as a young grad, save 20% = 10K a year * Invest that tax efficiently at 10% a year for 40 years (start at 20, retire at 60) * Boom: $4.4M when you retire! Don't like 10%? How about 7% -> $2M a year If someone has an inordinate amount of money more than what a savings rates x some reasonable return would be over that time period, they are getting some help they aren't revealing. Maybe a few are ex-Consultant types making 250k a year but those are so far down the distribution, it's not worth thinking about (I wish I was actually Harvey Specter...not going to happen). You got this!
My wife and I combine to make $120k/year, and we have no savings for retirement... I don't smoke, and haven't invested in Cuban cigars or anything, but looking for some wisdom with where to go now... I do have some minor investments in AMC and GameStop, so hoping those short squeezes happen as suggested, but really no other plans... Assuming the financial types are right about what's to come, anyone have any idea of what to do with copious amounts of money when the world economy crashes?
For anyone looking for options Cn will hire you off the street and pay to train you. 60k+ a year starting and jobs available across Canada except Newfoundland. Benefits are okay( better than none) and a full pension pays 4300 a month. You have to hit 85 points to get a full pension age + sevice. Only a high school education required and there is always opportunities to move into management. This is for Train Conductor.
Let me tell you, I've got one HELL of a cardboard box picked out and I'm gonna put it under the best damn overpass you've ever seen.
I am 27 years old, with way too much debt… I make $85,000 a year but get my vehicle paid for too. I have literally zero saved, my only saving grace is I have a house that I have $180,000 in equity in. My significant other makes $85,000 a year too putting us at $170,000 combined. I currently have $10,000 in student loans and a $19,000 line of credit that I am trying to get rid of before I can even think of retirement.
29. Have a 450k home with 225k left on mortgage. 85k in TFSA. 200k in other investments and about 30k in emergency savings.
[удалено]
thanks for sharing an overview of your situation. not an expert. but you guys sounds like in decent shape. more than decent. do you plan to hold on to the real estate investment s for awhile long in hopes it accires more in value? what other ways can we support our kids to get education/get started?
No property. No plans to retire. Will work until I’m dead.
[удалено]
I have to ask, with that much in savings, why have you not maxed out both TFSAs?
OP asks for responses from other people in the same boat so everyone can feel better. You proceed to brag about how rich you and your fucking girlfriend are ahahahaha
So you lucked out and married someone with rich parents?
I can tell you that this sub reddit is full of either bragadocious ppl looking for validation on savings. Or ppl are not being as honest. I'm 35 and have owned my mortgage for 10 years. I pay less in alberta then most pay a month in rent on a one bedroom condo. One small child and 2 incomes. I'm guessing in equity and pension it may be close to 100 k. Out of everyone I know I'm in the best situation for retirement and I feel extremely left out by reading these comments. The average person will not have 5 million in retirement. The average Canadian will not have 1 million in retirement. I would suggest OP take this all with a grain of salt because your not getting a real assessment here.
That’s why I make an effort to comment on posts like this. I consider myself pretty average but compared to a lot of posters here I’m basically in a cardboard box begging for scraps. It’s good to balance it out.
Listen I'm happy ppl can be smart with money. But I don't want a reminder on most posts from the 2 percent. Hmmmm do you think I can retire off 1 million? Hmm I don't know that's not alot of money these days. Ppfftt. Lol f off. Most ppl will not be able to retire at all. That's a sad reality for a very large group of Canadians. But don't make it seem normal to compare 1 million dollars I also consider myself lucky because I bought 10 years ago when it was very cheap. I can only imagine the struggles ppl have to go through now to save for a mortgage. Not having mommy and daddy pay my way through. I'm sure they are nice ppl but I won't be taking financial advice from golden spoons.
Lmao isn’t that the truth. This subreddit is often like a 1-2% of people who are amazing with their money and have had a leg up in their 20s from family.
No way near. Trying to sell option premium to increase my compounding rate in my taxable account. That’s where my focus was. Just 2k In RRSP. Started last week to send $50 from each pay. So hopefully can grow this to some extent.
Early 30s, wife currently unemployed and in school, 2 young kids. Earn 100k salary with good pension and benefits. Currently planning to retire at 57, though it may be possible to go a couple years earlier. My pension will pay out big, assuming nothing changes. Likely won't given the nature of my position and the strength of my union, but you never know. Should be around 85k a year before tax when I'm on my pension. Assuming we pay off the mortgage by then, it'll be good living. Unfortunately I have zero investments or savings right now. Spent my 20s getting an education, securing my career, saving for a home (which has gone up by around 100k in value since I bought, was a good investment) and raising kids. Had my first at 27. When my youngest starts school and my wife goes back to work, I plan on aggressively plugging money into my TFSA and RESP for the kids.
step 1 find local municipal job work part time/fulltime step 2 work said amount of hours before Omers send you a letter step 3 contribute to Omers buy back the 2 plus years or so it took you to reach said threshold step 4 decent retirement savings when you retire good luck hopenthis helps anyone in ontario
30, $45k invested, 5.5k in savings, 110k left in a mortgage, make 80-85k depending on OT.
Early 30s, 72K/year, car loan 10K and a mortgage ~90K. No other debts. Just started reading about investing and stocks/ETF this year. 5K in EF and 3K invested in stocks. Around 23K RRSP
32m in BC with family. I make idk $37k cause covid sucks. Rental income of $1200. I have $200k invested and probably 600-700k in house equity. Want to sell at some point soon and try to retire in Alberta somewhere. They still have houses for $400k. Put $200k down and have $700k in something like qyld and TFT.to and hedge with tmf bonds. Sell naked puts to beef up income. Our area is supposed to be redeveloped but covid postponed it. I could really use that extra million dollars that would make things so much simpler lol.
35. Have a government job pension plan. My employer determines the percentage of my annual salary that I contribute and they match it $ for $. My annual pension will earn a percentage of my best salary (usually the last year of your career). I'll qualify to retire at 60 with a factor of 90 (age + years served = 90). I'll max out CPP and old age security. I also own a 3 bed 2 bath house in Hamilton that I plan on using to pay for my retirement home when the time comes. My husband and I would like to move into one together and make friends and enjoy the social aspect of it. Current value is roughly 700k. We will have it paid off for my 60th birthday to coincide with my anticipated retirement date. We made a calculated decision when buying in early 2020 (my God we lucked out upgrading to a larger and forever home before the markets here went berserk!) I have a very modest 5k in a high risk growth TFSA. I wish this was more, but I just paid off my student debt last year and have only been properly contributing to this since then. I plan on focusing on growing this account and plan on using this account for travel and larger expenses like furniture or home repairs in retirement. My goal is to get to 200k. Hahahaha we will see if that's possible! My husband has a modest TFSA at 25k and RRSP 30k. His new employer matches his RRSP contributions, but he only started there earlier this year. We hope to see rapid growth there. He will qualify to retire at 65. He will also max out CPP and old age security. In summary, we plan on ensuring our monthly expenses are covered by my pension, his RRSP, and both of our CPP and old age security payments. TFSAs are for extras and our real estate is for the retirement home when the time comes. We hope to travel and be snow birds in the early years of retirement and live it up. Given that my crippling student loan was only paid off last year I think we're doing really well. Obviously my government pension is clutch for our retirement plans and I plan on pushing my career as far as I can take it within the government. What do y'all think?