Most of your investing life you and your adviser (if you have one) are focused on wealth accumulation. But, we tend to forget, eventually the whole idea of this long process of delayed gratification is to actually spend this money! That’s decumulation as opposed to wealth accumulation. This stage may also involve downsizing from larger homes to smaller ones or condos, moving to the country or otherwise simplifying your life and jettisoning possessions that may tie you down.
Here’s a look at some of your best retirement investment management options and choices. These include pensions, RRSPs, RRIFs and more.
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Your retirement investment management plan should build in contingencies for long-term medical needs and supplemental health insurance. As well, you should factor in caring for loved ones who are unable to take care of themselves.
When you work out a plan for your retirement, make sure that you aren’t basing your future income on overly-optimistic calculations that will end up leaving you short.
Retirement income can come from many different sources, such as personal savings, Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, company pensions, RRSPs, RRIFs, and other types of investment accounts.
Learn how your retirement investment management works in a Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
The Canada Pension Plan, or CPP, is the name for the Canadian national social insurance program. The program pays out based on contributions, and it provides income protection for individuals or their survivors in the instance of retirement, disability or death. Since 1999, the CPP has been legally permitted to invest in the stock market.
Nearly all individuals working in Canada contribute to the CPP, unless they live in Quebec, where the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) exists and provides comparable benefits.
Applicants can apply to receive full CPP benefits at age 65. The CPP can be received as early as age 60 at a reduced rate. It can also be received as late as age 70, at an increased rate.
Here’s a look at some of the pensions or benefits provided by the Canada Pension Plan:
Retirement pension
Post-retirement pension
Death benefit
Child rearing provision
Credit splitting for divorced or separated couples
Survivor benefits
Pension sharing
Disability benefits
Use a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) as a starting place when you look into retirement investment management
RRSPs were introduced by the federal government in 1957 to encourage Canadians to save for retirement. Before RRSPs, only individuals who belonged to employer-sponsored registered pension plans could deduct pension contributions from their taxable income.
RRSPs are a form of tax-deferred savings plan. They are a little like other investment accounts, except for their tax treatment. RRSP contributions are tax deductible, and the investments grow tax-free.
You might think of investment gains in an RRSP as a double profit. Instead of paying up to, say, 50% of your profit to the government in taxes and keeping 50% to work for you, you keep 100% of your profit working for you, until you take it out.
Convert an RRSP to a RRIF to create one of the best investments for retirement
Converting your RRSP to a RRIF is clearly one of the best of three alternatives at age 71. That’s because RRIFs offer more flexibility and tax savings than annuities or a lump-sum withdrawal (which in most cases is a poor retirement investing option, since you’ll be taxed on the entire amount in that year as ordinary income). Continue Reading…
Inspiration for this post arrived from attending a few retirement parties of late with work colleagues, another one as recently as yesterday and a few more to attend this spring.
Is age 50 too young to retire?
What about age 55? Age 60?
After talking to some work colleagues who submitted their retirement letters and who are now moving on, I know their ages. The celebration yesterday was for someone in their early 60s. They talked and yearned about more time at their cottage, doing small home reno projects, and leaving early morning Microsoft Teams calls in the rearview mirror.
They also talked about their desire to retire now since they “had enough” both mentally and financially: support from the latter after working with their financial advisor or planner and doing some retirement math on their own to bridge the gap between spending needs now and when their pension benefits would kick in, at age 65, including their firm intention to take CPP and OAS at that age too.
Although I’m leaping to lots of assumptions here, this makes me believe that the personal retirement savings of some work colleagues (the sum of RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered investments or other assets) is likely small to modest beyond a workplace pension: in that they needed to work to ensure they were not sacrificing their personal portfolio too much, too soon. I get that. After decades of raising a family, buying a cottage, paying down a mortgage or two along with other expenses I’m sure, it seems my colleague was more than ready to permanently slow down; cut the cord from work and enjoy their time more while they still have decent health. Good on them. 🙂
This individual is however not the first person to mention the following to me:
“Oh, I can’t afford to retire yet but thinking age 63 or so should be fine since that’s when I can get my full OAS and decent CPP income.”
And my work colleague is hardly alone …
In looking at some stats (Source: StatsCan) the average age of retirement is hardly for anyone in their 50s:
These are also not easy times to retire…
Rising general inflation, uncertain tax rates, and higher healthcare costs could very well impact many retirees at any age. Myself included. Certainly, starting to save for retirement early and often and getting out of debt faster than most would be enablers – and I hope they have been for us.
You are too young to retire – is early retirement right for you?
Although many Canadians seem to expect to retire between the ages of 60 and 70 above, there is absolutely no hard and fast rules about when you need or must stop working of course.
Your retirement timeline will depend on many factors, I’ve highlighted some milestone ideas below:
Somewhere between 3-5 years before retirement, it’s probably wise to get some retirement details in order. Accuracy isn’t overly important IMO but the process of planning is.
I recall focusing on our desired lifestyle and spending habits to go with it: what early retirement or semi-retirement or full retirement might look like:
We started estimating our retirement spending levels, our income sources, and inflation factors.
We started evaluating our portfolio returns over the last 5- or 10-years.
We looked seriously at our sustainable cashflow from our portfolio (passive dividend and distribution income since we’d be too young to accept any workplace pension or any CPP or OAS government benefits).
We started tracking our spending in more detail to challenge those spending assumptions.
1-2 Years Before Retirement
As recently as early 2024 for us, things got more serious.
In the year or so leading up to any big decisions, more detailed planning kicked into higher gear:
We spent more time as a couple talking about how to put some travel dreams into reality – multi-week vacations in the coming years away from icy/cold Ottawa winters.
We started to explore ways at work to test some semi-retirement assumptions; the desire but also the financial flexibility to work part-time vs. full-time (i.e., could we still make ends meet).
We started to look into post-retirement healthcare insurance options, where needed.
We started to talk about our purpose (if not working at all) – what would we do with our time?
Although we might be in this timeline, not sure, since part-time work is now occurring with our solid employer (this could continue for both of us??) but this is where the real retirement countdown calendar probably begins for most people…as you strike full-time working days off your calendar: Continue Reading…
Discover unconventional paths to Financial Freedom that go beyond traditional advice. This article presents surprising strategies, backed by expert insights, that can transform your approach to wealth-building. From maintaining your lifestyle despite income increases to investing in non-financial assets, these innovative methods offer fresh perspectives on achieving financial success.
Maintain Lifestyle Despite Income Increases
Access High-Value Real Estate Through Syndications
Build Wealth with Niche Websites
Invest in Non-Financial Assets for Growth
Profit from Surplus Business Equipment Sales
Turn Discarded Inventory into Profitable Ventures
Monetize Legal Downtime with Tech Solutions
Transform Teaching into Wealth-Building Opportunity
Generate Passive Income by Renting Unused Space
Leverage Prop Trading Firms for Capital Growth
Maintain Lifestyle despite Income Increases
One unconventional yet effective method I tried to grow wealth and become financially independent is strategically managing lifestyle deflation in alignment with income changes. In simpler words, this means continuing to maintain the same lifestyle and budget even when your income increases, instead of adjusting your expenses alongside it.
I learned to prioritize this in my younger years after seeing people around me struggling to maintain their lifestyles despite rising income. I noticed they were increasing their expenses as their income grew. Most of these expenses were smaller differences that usually go unnoticed but compound to a bigger sum when you see them in total. Examples include subscribing to more services than before, buying more expensive items because they can now afford them, etc. Seeing all this, a thought nagged me often: “What would happen if they saved the raise they got instead of spending it immediately?”
As I learned more about personal finance, budgeting, etc., I started making a conscious effort to maintain the same lifestyle as always even as my salary grew. I funneled the extra sum into various investments instead. Over the years, this habit helped my net worth increase without compromising my quality of life.
Here are some tips I will offer others in this regard:
Automate the transactions into specific accounts: Immediately redirect your extra amount into another savings account for debt repayment and investments. This will help you avoid impulsive spending.
Understand wants vs needs: Take a broader look at your budget, including things you spend on usually. List all the expenses you make and consider which are important and which you can postpone for later since there is no immediate need. Doing this will help you stay focused.
Track net worth monthly: Make sure to track your investments frequently. Seeing your net worth grow will keep you motivated to continue your habit and avoid unnecessary purchases. — Lyle Solomon, Principal Attorney, Oak View Law Group
Access High-value Real Estate through Syndications
One unconventional way I’ve built wealth that surprised me on my journey to Financial Independence is through the strategic use of real estate syndications. While many focus on buying individual properties, I discovered that pooling resources with other investors allowed me to access high-value opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to tackle alone.
This method allows you to invest in larger commercial properties with a group of people, benefiting from economies of scale and shared risks. I first came across this approach through networking with experienced investors and learning about the power of group investment.
My advice to others would be to build a solid understanding of how syndications work and start small with reputable groups. It’s a unique way to scale wealth while minimizing individual risk, and it’s often overlooked compared to traditional property purchases. Collaborating with experienced partners can unlock doors to lucrative projects that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise. — Jonathan Ayala, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson | Founder, Hudson Condos
Build Wealth with Niche Websites
One unconventional way I’ve built wealth that really surprised me was by doubling down on building tiny niche websites. Early in my career, I thought the only path to success was creating huge, authority-style blogs. But after some experimentation, I realized that smaller, hyper-focused sites could generate a steady income without requiring a massive team or overhead.
I stumbled onto this by accident while testing out ideas that didn’t quite fit my main business. A few of these small projects started making a few hundred dollars a month each, and when you scale that up across multiple sites, it becomes something compelling. The magic is in finding a narrow topic where you can be the absolute best resource online, even if it’s something super specific.
For anyone interested, I suggest thinking smaller, not bigger. Find those underserved niches where competition is low, but passion or need is high. Focus on genuinely helpful content, optimize it properly, and be patient. It’s not a get-rich-quick strategy, but it is an incredibly reliable way to build passive income streams.
This approach allowed me to diversify without putting all my eggs in one basket and played a big part in reaching Financial Independence sooner than I expected. — James Parsons, CEO, Content Powered
Invest in Non-Financial Assets for Growth
One unconventional way I built wealth was by keeping a “no-market” year. For twelve months, I chose to remove myself from investing in anything that required speculation, interest, or growth. Instead, I focused on building non-financial assets: time, skill, energy, and relationships. I tracked it like a portfolio: hours of learning, time saved by simplifying routines, days reclaimed from overcommitting, and people I could count on for collaboration. That “quiet compounding” brought in far more than my typical quarterly gains ever did. I walked into the next year with three new paid projects, two solid partners, and almost double the free time.
I discovered it accidentally after turning down a contract that would have pulled me out of integrity. I gave myself permission to step back and see what kind of return I could build without putting money anywhere. I suggest trying this as a 90-day experiment. Track the non-financial gains as seriously as you would your net worth. Value created in learning, trust, and creative space often turns into money later. The catch is, you have to believe it is real before anyone else does. Once you see it, it is hard to go back. — Adam Klein, Certified Integral Coach® and Managing Director, New Ventures West
Profit from Surplus Business Equipment Sales
Purchasing and selling surplus business equipment was much more profitable than previously thought. Initially, it was just a game of turning what companies didn’t want into something useful. But as time went by, I learned what had actual value was an awareness of where the demand was: what buyers were searching for but couldn’t be found easily. That gap became an opportunity.
I became interested in it on a whim when assisting someone with liquidating their lab, and saw its inefficiency. So we built a system around it. My advice? Identify supply chain omissions or inefficiencies in industries that people do not pay much attention to. The more untrendy it sounds, the more opportunities you’ll have if you’re willing to master it inside out. — Joe Reale, CEO, Surplus Solutions
Turn Discarded Inventory into Profitable Ventures
I started buying leftover inventory from failed event suppliers. Half the time they were happy just to offload it for $0.10 on the dollar. I mean, we once picked up $35,000 worth of LED wall panels for $2,800, stacked them in our warehouse, and rented them out per gig for $650 a pop. In under four months, they paid for themselves, and we have since generated over $48,000 in revenue from those same panels. Everyone wants to build wealth from stocks or SaaS. I just bought junk others walked past and turned it into profit. Continue Reading…
This article was about retirement satisfaction and asked if having little money, a reasonable amount of money or lots of money made a difference.
I have followed Mark’s writings for years and was surprised that Mark, to make his point, was hawking annuities.
Mark explains that you could put $100,000 into an annuity and receive $501 per month guaranteed for your lifetime. This equates to $6,012 per year or a 6% return.
My perspective and why
Here’s the problem that I have with this.
Inflation. As inflation has heated up after years being quiet, your $501 monthly check is going to buy you less and less over time. The erosion of buying power will not be noticed at first but over the years it certainly will. This is a huge negative for me.
Once you turn your money over to the annuity company, you no longer have control of it and possibly it is no longer part of your estate. This means you cannot leave it to your spouse, a child, grandchild or your favorite cause. And remember, your annuity is only as good as the company that backs it. If they have dereliction in management or other calamities you could be getting back pennies on the dollar. It happens.
In the example with this annuity It will take you about 16.5 years to break even with your investment.
What if you die before that?
My suggestion
There are other options if you have $100K and want a 6% yield for income and still keep control of the asset.
For instance, you could purchase any or all of these high yielding dividend-paying stocks.
AT&T (T) yield 4.04%
Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) yield 9.10%%
Energy Transfer (ET), yield 7.32%
Exxon Mobil (XOM), yield 3.84%
Main Street Capital (MAIN) yield 5.51%
In this example, you could put $20,000 into each of the above for a 5.96% average yield or $5,962 per year income. Also, there is potential for these equities to increase in value as well as raise their dividends. So, in this case, you have the possibility of being able to reinvest any amount over the 6% giving you the opportunity to increase your holdings while still covering the $6,000 annual income.
Other options
However, if you are not comfortable owning three out of the five stocks in the energy field, for more diversification, you could purchase DVY, IShares Select Dividend ETF with a portfolio of 100 different companies and with a 3.72% yield.
The idea here is to receive the 3.72% dividend distributions and sell off $2,280 worth of shares annually to make the 6% yield.
How is that done? You invest 100K into DVY taking the quarterly dividends which amount to a 3.72% yield. After one year-and-a-day (so that you meet the long-term capital gains requirement), you sell off $2,280 worth of shares.
DVY 10 Year Total Return = +9.40%
In this example based on the past 10-year performance of DVY, your principal would have grown to approximately $109,400, year one, which is a 9.4% annual total return. You receive $3720.00 in dividend income and $2280.00 in capital gains = $6000.00, leaving approximately $103,400 invested.
We all know that past performance is no indication of future results, but there are no guarantees in retirement, investments, nor annuities.
Looking to break away from the traditional 9-to-5 path to Financial Independence? In this expert roundup, professionals share the platforms and resources that helped them explore alternative ways to build wealth, from niche investment tools to entrepreneurship communities.
Whether you’re just starting out or refining your strategy, you’ll find practical insights and trusted recommendations to guide your journey.
Prioritize Autonomy Over Liquidity
The Motley Fool: Comprehensive Financial Education
Tim Ferriss Show: Disciplined Wealth-Building Systems
Side Hustle School: Practical Income Ideas
Mad Fientist: Balanced Approach to Saving
NAPFA: Personalized Financial Guidance
Morningstar: Diverse Investment Strategies
Prioritize Autonomy over Liquidity
Frameworks that map autonomy before liquidity targets have reshaped how to allocate personal capital. For example, layering $25,000 into private credit offerings that yield predictable monthly payments has more impact on Financial Independence than a $300,000 retirement account you cannot touch for 20 years. This logic came from dissecting how quiet operators generate cash flow without public scale or visibility. Their systems work because they are boring, consistent, and mechanical. That mindset shift pulled me away from chasing numbers and toward protecting hours.
Skip platforms that market freedom as a finish line and look for models that treat Financial Independence as a structural asset class. Follow people who explain how they built repeatable systems with clean numbers: no fluff, no pitch. If someone makes $900 monthly from a vending machine route and spends 4 hours managing it, study that. It might be low-scale, but the math still applies. What I am getting at is this: financial freedom shows up in how your time behaves, not how your balance sheet looks. — Eric Croak, CFP, President, Croak Capital
The Motley Fool: Comprehensive Financial Education
One resource that has been crucial for my understanding of alternative financial paths is The Motley Fool. This site provides wide-ranging content around personal finance, investing, and wealth-building processes, encouraging me to be a more critical thinker regarding the diversification of my financial portfolio. While my experience has centered so far around the precious metals exchange, The Motley Fool‘s observations about stock, bond, and market trends have made my thinking about various ways of wealth-building more comprehensive.
What makes The Motley Fool stand out is that it offers a synthesis of research, educational articles, and investment analysis that contains actionable tips to realize Financial Independence. The ongoing posts about current market conditions and performances of individual stocks have proven particularly useful in judging risk and uncovering emerging opportunities. It has assisted me in streamlining my investment plan and made me comfortable venturing outside my original area of interest in order not to be heavily reliant on a given asset class.
For anyone interested in designing financial liberty, I recommend researching The Motley Fool’s publications. They foster a balanced attitude toward building wealth through a combination of long-term investing and general financial advice. Whether you are a new investor or a professional investor, the site provides simple techniques and information that are easily understandable and implementable into any financial process. The most important thing to take away is to stay educated, diversified, and calculated in your choices. — Brandon Thor, CEO, Thor Metals Group
Investopedia: Up-to-Date Financial Knowledge
One of the most useful resources I have used is the Investopedia website. I recommend that others explore this resource and the various articles it offers, specifically in the personal finance category. This is a website that is constantly updated with new information that is relevant and comprehensive. When learning about alternative paths to financial independence, it’s important to have a source that contains a network of resources covering all financial levels. For some people, this is a site to learn about the basics of finance, while for others like me, it allows us to constantly get updates within the field we work in. — Peter Reagan, Financial Market Strategist, Birch Gold Group
Indie Hackers changed my approach to business and entrepreneurship. The content on Indie Hackers provides examples of how independent creators and small business owners develop digital products, content brands, or niche services that support their independence.
As someone running a blog rooted in curation and personal shopping, it’s given me real-world examples of monetization through affiliate content, digital products, and community building. If you’re even a little curious about earning independently through content or software, I’d say spend a weekend exploring Indie Hackers. — Danilo Miranda, Managing Director, Presenteverso
Reddit: Diverse Financial Wisdom
One of the key resources that has been instrumental in informing my road to financial freedom is the collaborative platform, “Personal Finance Subreddits.” These forums are filled with experiences from individuals at various points in their financial journeys, sharing straightforward advice on topics such as the best investing tips and how to shed costly habits. The diversity of experience gained has served me well in challenging conventional financial wisdom and in innovating more freely toward building wealth.
What is interesting about these subreddits is their emphasis on real-world strategies individuals implement to accumulate wealth. Whether learning to take advantage of tax benefits, following stock market trends, or investing in alternative assets such as precious metals and cryptocurrencies, these communities offer actionable information. I discovered that engaging in dialogue around alternative investments, especially in sectors such as precious metals, has been instrumental in informing Alloy’s financial product approach.
If you are considering venturing into alternative routes to fiscal freedom, I highly recommend exploring these kinds of forums. They have a treasure trove of information at your fingertips, which tends to be backed up by real-world case studies and anecdotes. You’ll find techniques that defy mainstream wisdom and encourage you to think differently about how to build your wealth. The icing on the cake is that all these communities evolve continuously, which means you stay informed about current trends and thinking as they emerge. — Brandon Aversano, CEO, The Alloy Market
X: Direct Access to Wealth-Building Minds
I’ve explored countless resources for alternative wealth-building paths. The platform that has been absolutely game-changing for me is Twitter (now X).
Most people use Twitter incorrectly: they scroll mindlessly or argue about politics. However, when you curate your feed with the right financial minds, it becomes an incredible learning tool that costs nothing but attention.
What makes Twitter invaluable is the real-time access to people who have actually built wealth through unconventional means, not just theory. You get daily insights from entrepreneurs, investors, and creators who are doing the work right now.
For example, I learned about affiliate marketing strategies that helped me scale by following people who were transparent about their successes and failures. No nonsense, just practical advice you can implement immediately.
The beauty of Twitter is that it’s not just consumption: you can directly engage with these people. Ask questions, share your progress, build relationships. That kind of access used to require expensive masterminds or conferences.
If you’re serious about Financial Independence, start by following 20-30 people who have built what you want to build. Don’t just follow the big names: find the practitioners who are openly sharing their journeys. Then actually implement what resonates, don’t just collect information.
Remember though: no platform will make you wealthy if you’re just consuming content. The magic happens when you take what you learn and actually execute on it consistently. — John Talasi, Entrepreneur, JohnTalasi.com
One resource that has really stood out to me is ChooseFI, both the podcast and the broader community around it. It’s not flashy, but it’s full of practical, real-world conversations that challenge traditional ideas of work and retirement. As someone who works in the construction value stream, I appreciate systems thinking, and ChooseFI breaks down Financial Independence like a process: identifying waste, streamlining inputs, and looking for long-term sustainability.
It helped me rethink how I approach personal finance, not just for myself but in advising others on business efficiency and risk. What really makes it valuable is the variety of stories — teachers, tradespeople, small business owners — people who found unique paths to build security and freedom, often without earning six figures.
I’d recommend diving into the early episodes where they lay out the core principles. Even if you’re not aiming for full early retirement, the mindset shift around intentional spending, value-based living, and building flexibility into your life is incredibly useful. It’s not just about money: it’s about designing a life that actually works for you. — Andrew Moore, Director, Rubicon Wigzell Limited
Reframe Expenses in Hours Worked
Reddit’s r/financialindependence has reshaped how I think about money, especially after reading a post where someone broke down the true cost of their car in hours worked, not just in dollars. They added up the loan payment, insurance, and maintenance, then compared it against their take-home pay. It came out to roughly 21 hours a month just to keep the car. That hit me harder than any financial advice I had read before, because it shifted the decision from, “Can I afford this?” to, “Is this worth that much of my life?”
I took that same method and applied it to a few things in my own budget. I started with recurring costs like software subscriptions and monthly meals out. Some of them made sense. Others felt absurd once I saw the time attached to them. That one shift made it easier to simplify without turning everything into a sacrifice. Framing expenses through time instead of just money gave me a cleaner way to decide what stayed. The posts in that subreddit don’t offer perfect answers, but they push you to ask sharper questions. That’s what I keep returning for. — Robbin Schuchmann, Co-founder / SEO Specialist, EOR Overview
Podcasts: Accessible Financial Insights
I’m always on the lookout for tools and resources that offer fresh perspectives, both for my clients and myself. One that has consistently stood out over the years is podcasts. They’re accessible, insightful, and often make complex financial ideas feel surprisingly relatable. Two podcasts I frequently recommend are The Ramsey Show and Odd Lots from Bloomberg.
The Ramsey Show is a great example of how powerful simple financial habits can be. It focuses on helping people get out of debt, live within their means, and build a strong foundation for long-term Financial Independence. It’s full of real-life stories that remind you you’re not alone in trying to figure it all out. Financial freedom doesn’t always require complex strategies; it often starts with small, consistent steps.
Odd Lots, on the other hand, offers a deeper dive into the financial world. It’s ideal for anyone curious about how investing, markets, and the wider economy work. It’s helped me, and many on our team, stay informed and engaged with the broader forces that shape our clients’ financial plans. Continue Reading…
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