All posts by Jonathan Chevreau

Twice as many retirees now rely on home equity: Fidelity survey

Posted By |

By Jonathan Chevreau

House made of money in handSeniors are now twice as likely  to rely on their home equity to fund their retirement than before the financial crisis, says a Fidelity retirement survey. They’re also more likely to work in retirement, provided they can find employment.

Since 2005, the number of Canadian retirees relying on home equity to fund retirement has more than doubled from 14% to 36%, says the survey, commissioned by Fidelity Investments Canada ULC.

Conducted by The Strategic Counsel, the 10th Fidelity Canadian Retirement Survey of retirees or workers 45 or older also finds:

•  Since the financial crisis, the number of retirees saying it has been more difficult than expected to retire has dropped from 28% in 2009 to 20% in 2014

• More pre-retirees expect to work full or part-time in retirement (62% in 2014 compared with 55% in 2005) Continue Reading…

Taking a long-term view of your finances

Posted By |
robb-engen
Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

By Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I like to keep tabs on my finances for both the short and long term. A monthly spending summary is great for keeping track of where your paycheque goes, and an annual forecast works well for spotting trends and opportunities for your money.

 

But it’s also nice to gaze into the future. I want to know what my finances will look like in 20+ years so I use a spreadsheet to take a 50,000-foot view of my long-term finances.

Long-term financial outlook Continue Reading…

Longevity changes everything — why you should think twice about Early Retirement

Posted By |

Here’s my latest MoneySense blog, entitled Why you should re-think Early Retirement. This is a topic I’ve been researching for several months, going back to some blogs I wrote on Mark Venning’s ChangeRangers.com, which challenges readers to “envision the promise of longevity.” He also sensibly counsels that we should “plan for Longevity, not for Retirement.”

As you can see by clicking through to the blog (also reproduced below), some of this message was articulated in a speech delivered Wednesday evening at the Financial Show, and which I also gave Monday night at the Port Credit chapter of Toastmasters.

By Jonathan Chevreau

foreverpillcover

I recently delivered a talk about how longevity changes everything. I began by showing the front cover of the latest Bloomberg Business magazine, which shows a woman celebrating her 173rd birthday. Continue Reading…

Book Excerpt from The Wills Lawyers: The Knife in Dad’s Heart

Posted By |

I will be one of four speakers tonight at The Financial Show in downtown Toronto. Three books will be distributed, including Findependence Day and The Wills Lawyers. The authors/wills & estates lawyers provided the Hub with a sample excerpt of their book below, a sad little tale that starkly reveals the need to have a will in place before the inevitable occurs. As it has already been published, we have not altered the text.  — JC

Les&BarryBy Les Kotzer and Barry Fish, The Wills Lawyers

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

It’s not as if Kayla and her three brothers had always gotten along with each other; but when Dad’s health started to go downhill, all four siblings agreed amongst themselves that in Dad’s presence, they would never argue and would never speak of sickness or death. All they agreed to speak of in his presence was the upbeat, the comical, only those special warm subjects that make people happy. Continue Reading…

TFSAs benefit everyone, not just the so-called “rich”

Posted By |

Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account concept word cloud

By Jonathan Chevreau

No surprise that the Broadbent Institute — a newish left-leaning think tank that counterbalances the rightish Fraser Institute — has concluded in its report Double Trouble that only the “rich” would benefit from the promised doubling of annual contribution limits for Tax-free Savings Accounts (TFSAs.)

You can read the Financial Post’s front page story by Garry Marr (aka @DustyWallet on Twitter) here and the Globe’s version here.

I was particularly interested in the CBC website’s coverage, and especially the almost 900 reader comments that have been piling on. For instance, one reader said:

What was the big surprise here? you need money to make it?

Or this:

The government doesn’t lose anything. The NDP lose votes. The TFSA is one of the few programs the average guy and gal can use. The NDP should be all over the TFSA and tell Canadians how they would make it better faster. This is really bad electioneering on their part. The NDP should be trying to convince the public TFSA were their idea.

Continue Reading…