Decumulate & Downsize

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.

2021 returns for retirement ETF portfolios

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By Dale Roberts, cutthecrapinvesting

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

It is a common question from readers. How do I create reliable retirement income with ETFs? It is a simple answer if we consider the last 40 years. A simple mix of Canadian, U.S. and International stocks has provided the necessary growth component. Core bond funds have offered the required risk management. Stocks for offense. Bonds for defense. A typical balanced or balanced growth couch potato portfolio did the trick. Today, we’ll look at the 2021 returns for retirement ETF portfolios.

In early 2019 I posted the simple 7-ETF portfolio for retirees. Please have a read of that post for background on the ETFs, risk, and the retirement scenario.

Seek retirement and investment advice

You can self-direct your investments if you have the knowledge and you understand your risk tolerance level. But I’d suggest that you contact an experienced fee-for-service financial planner who has expertise in the retirement arena. With a fee-for-service advisor you will pay as you go. You can pay by the hour, or perhaps pay a flat fee for the evaluation and plan. You might then set off on your own to build the portfolio with all the right pieces in the right place.

I’d also suggest that you read my review of Retirement Income For Life: Spending More Without Saving More. That’s a wonderful staple read for retirees and retirement planners. The author, Frederick Vettese, was the chief actuary at Morneau Shepell.

Your retirement ETF will be one piece of the retirement funding plan. The following represents a model for consideration and evaluation.

The 7-ETF Portfolio for Canadian retirees

You may choose to go more aggressive or more conservative in your approach. And keep in mind the above is not advice, but ideas for consideration. That said, I do see it as a sensible conservative mix. You may decide to add more inflation protection by way of energy stocks or commodities.

And let’s cut to the retirement funding chase. Here’s the returns for the 7-ETF portfolio for retirees for 2021. Charts and tables are courtesy of portfoliovisualizer.com

Yup, that simple mix delivered a return of 13.8% in 2021. That is a very good return for a conservative mix that has a 45% bond allocation.

For risk and return benchmarks have a look at …

The ultimate asset allocation ETFs page.

Here’s the returns of the individual assets for 2021.

With inflation fears dominating the back half of 2021 the inflation-sensitive assets of the Canadian High Dividend VDY and REITs performed very well. Keep in mind that two of the assets are in U.S. Dollars. You can substitute and use Canadian Dollar holdings. See the original 7-ETF post.

At Questrade you will hold dual currency (U.S. and Canadian dollar) accounts. You can buy ETFs for free.

Vanguard VRIF ETF for retirement

Recently I also looked at Vanguard’s VRIF Retirement ETF. That retirement funding ETF delivered a very nice income increase for 2022.

Here’s the VRIF distribution scorecard

Distributions per share.

  • 2020 0.83
  • 2021 0.87 (4.5% increase)
  • 2022 0.94 (7.6% increase)

The portfolio income

Portfolio visualizer offers that the starting yield (2021) in the 7-ETF portfolio would be in the area of 2.8%. You will sell assets to create additional income.

Creating that retirement income

You may choose to ‘fund as you go’. While you will have portfolio income (from bonds and dividends) that is accumulating, you will likely have to sell assets to create the desired portfolio income. The basic idea of asset harvesting would be to keep the portfolio close to the original asset weighting. You do not have to be exact in this regard.

You may choose to sell assets monthly, quarterly, or you may even move the assets to a cash (ETF) at the beginning of the year to ensure that you have your retirement income for the year safely stored in cash. Of course, consider fees and taxes.

Retirement spend rate

Here’s an example of a 4.8% spend rate. That is to say, each year you would spend 4.8% of the initial total portfolio value. Each $100,000 would create $4,800 of income, before taxes, each year. A $1,000,000 portfolio would deliver $48,000 of annual income, before taxes.

The chart runs from January of 2015 to end of 2021. This is for demonstration purposes. I have not adjusted for inflation.

So the good news for this simple mix of ETFs is that you would have enjoyed a decent spend rate and the portfolio value would have increased by 17.4%. Of course it is favorable to have a buffer to weather the storms such as the great financial crisis that began in 2008, or the dot-com crash of the early 2000’s. An increasing portfolio value will offer that much-welcomed cushion.

The bonds and cash help in that regard as well – to protect against severe market corrections.

Sequence of returns risk

We need to manage the sequence of returns risk in retirement.

And keep in mind that we enter the retirement risk zone about 10 years previous to our retirement start date. We need to de-risk and prepare the portfolio well in advance.

And here is an interesting approach. You can remove sequence of returns risk (entirely) by going very conservative as you begin retirement. You would then increase your stock allocation (and growth potential) in retirement. That is called a retirement equity glidepath.

A portfolio spend rate example

Here’s an example with the 4.8% spend rate from the year 2000. That is a very unfortunate start date as 2000 is the first year of the dot-com crash. U.S. markets were down three years in a row. Canadian markets suffered as well.

We see that the Balanced Portfolio is still chugging along in 2021, while the all-equity global portfolio went to zero in 2017. We have to protect against an unfortunate start date.

Keep in mind that there are many periods when the most optimal option is an all-equity or equity-heavy portfolio that would provide greater retirement income. But with an aggressive portfolio you run the risk of retiring and running head first into a severe market correction. You don’t want to gamble and hope that you get lucky. Most retirement specialists would recommend a Balanced or Balanced Growth model. Continue Reading…

Perfect storm of challenges awaits Canadians this RRSP season, survey finds

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Photo credit Wes Tyrell

A “perfect storm” of challenges faces Canadian investors this RRSP season, according to a a national online study conducted on the Angus Reid Forum Panel for Co-operators, released Tuesday. Jan. 25.

After surveying financial professionals across the banking and wealth management sectors, the panel believes this  “perfect storm” can be attributed to the uncertainty of this past year and to DIY [Do It Yourself] investing strategies.

2022 is poised to be a unique RRSP season because of multiple unique market conditions, the study finds: 58 per cent agree that in the face of rising consumer debt, natural disasters (climate change), Omicron, and looming hikes in interest rates, we are approaching a “perfect storm” of challenges, a figure that jumps to 65 per cent in Quebec.

Key findings

  • 80 per cent percent of respondents say that when people experience financial mishaps or losses, many feel overcome with doubt, which leads to indecision and in-action.
  • 76 per cent hypothesize that for many Canadians living in urban centres, home ownership is increasingly feeling out of reach, and because of this, many are looking for DIY investment strategies.
  • 93 per cent say the majority of Canadians have unleveraged opportunities in that they haven’t maximized their RRSP planning and TFSAs.

“By initiating a much-needed national conversation around financial literacy, the hope is that more Canadians will feel empowered to seek counsel from a financial advisor and develop a strategic financial plan to help achieve their goals,” Co-operators said in a press release.

Conducted in January 2021, “Canadian Attitudes on RRSPs” was designed to examine the state of RRSPs, TFSAs and retirement planning strategies that Canadians are using to secure their financial futures – all from the perspective of industry professionals with their ears to the ground across the country.

Consumer confusion appears to be rampant when it comes to understanding the different roles of RRSPs and TFSAs. 90 per cent of financial professionals believe most Canadians” have a lot of confusion” about those two key retirement savings vehicles.

This is reflected in similar confusion about Saving versus Investing: 70 per cent say they see Canadians declining in their ability to differentiate between saving and investing.

The study also sees what it calls “unleveraged opportunities”: 93 per cent think the majority of Canadians haven’t yet maximized their opportunities with RRSP planning, TFSAs, and other programs.

A majority (85%) of  industry pros attribute the influence of today’s “culture of now” as hindering people from seeing retirement planning as a priority.

The venerable Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) also seems to be suffering from the challenge of an “old school image”: 57 per cent say too many Canadians today see RRSPs as “an investing tool of the past” that is no longer as attractive today.

Adding to the angst is the continuing decline of availability of Defined Pension [DB] plans offered by employers: 85 per cent think defined benefit pension plans are going extinct. They too are viewed as a thing of the past: something Canadians don’t expect to have when they retire.

No surprise then that Early Retirement is largely regarded as a myth:  92 per cent of advisors believe that because most Canadians aren’t saving enough for retirement, concepts like “early retirement” are becoming more elusive.

What’s holding Canadians back

When it comes to identifying the causes for Canadians holding back on retirement saving, the survey found financial losses generally contribute to indecision: 80 per cent of advisors say when Canadians experience financial mishaps or losses, many become overcome with doubt, which then leads to indecision and in-action. In addition, 73 per cent see a stigma of shame among many Canadians around financial mishaps or losses.

Just the fact they feel they are not saving added to their stress: 80 per cent see many Canadians feeling paralyzed from the stress of not having enough savings to meet their long-term needs. And many also feel pressure to be perceived as  “financially in-the-know.” 65 per cent think there is social pressure among Canadians to appear “financially savvy.” Continue Reading…

Can you retire early on a lower income?

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By Mark Seed, My Own Advisor

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

It’s not easy, it will likely take more work, but you can retire early on a lower income.
Following a few early retirement case studies posted and linked to on my site in recent months, I got a few great email replies from readers. I’ve captured a couple of their comments below verbatim:
“Mark, let’s be honest. Not every 30-something has a 6-figure job like your Kingston engineer here.”
“Mark, can you link to that post on your site where the 60-year-old wants to retire on a lower income? That seems far more representative for many Canadians.”
…and you know what, these readers are right.
A lot of people like the idea of early retirement but facing facts, few folks have the means to pull it off.
You can only comparison-shop so much. You might not have the time to take on side-hustles. You tried to save as early as possible, as often as possible, but life got in the way.
I’ve argued people really don’t need any more financial advice. There are 80,000 books saying the same things.
But people do appreciate good coaching when they see it and feel it. People tend to appreciate the lessons learned shared by others – to tailor their own path. They genuinely want to be better over time.
At least my readership feels that way … which is very inspirational …
So, for today’s post, I thought I would act on one reader’s email to me in particular and highlight how she can still retire, maybe not earlier than most, but retire all the same without some of the financial stressors she is feeling today.

How to retire on a lower income – case study

Read on for information below from a reader I’ll call “Kat” for privacy reasons, and where I’ve changed some of the information to be tailored for our case study:

Hi Mark,

First off, love, love, love your blog and look forward to reading your weekend roundups every Saturday. 
You mentioned that you will be featuring a case study of a millennial couple soon and wondered if you are in the need of any more case studies?
I feel my situation is dire and I would love to hear your feedback (I know you can’t give direct advice) on what I could do better for me…
Quick background – I’m 43, separated, 2 kids (one is 19 and in university now, the other is 14). I work full-time making less than $45,000 per year. I’ve had financial issues in the past. I have around $30,000 invested, in mostly my RRSP. I am way behind at my age (for retirement planning). I don’t have a lot of disposable income, so I’m trying to put aside $300/month now.

11 practical ways Retirees can learn more about Personal Finance

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What is one way a soon-to-be retiree can learn more about personal finance?

To help retirees further their education on personal finance, we asked financial experts and business leaders this question for their best insights. From finding targeted podcasts to taking a class, there are several practical ways for a retiree to learn more about personal finance.

Here are eleven ways retirees can learn more about personal finance:

  • Find Podcasts targeted at soon-to-be Retirees
  • Use Online Resources
  • Look to a Financial Planner for Guidance
  • Lookout for Blogs
  • Join a Group
  • Assemble a Support Team
  • Speak to the Professionals
  • Non-profit Organizations
  • IRS Elderly Benefits
  • Read, Read, Read
  • Take a Class

Find Podcasts targeted at soon-to-be Retirees

There are plenty of great podcasts out there sharing incredibly useful information on retirement, although many these days are on retiring early, which may or may not be you depending on where in your financial journey you are (not to mention your age range!)

This is why it can really help for soon-to-be retirees to find podcasts targeted at their specific circumstances. One good example is Finishing Well with Hans Scheil, which covers all sorts of topics on retirement planning. You may also want to consider the podcast Retirement Answer Man hosted by Roger Whitney. A Certified Financial Planner, Whitney covers both the money-related aspects of retirement as well as some other questions on this stage of your life that you may have. –– Anna Barker, LogicalDollar

Use Online Resources

There are a number of online resources a soon-to-be retiree can make use of in preparation for this next big step in their life. It’s never too late to learn or improve your personal finance skills. I would urge retirees to get on YouTube and search for personal finance videos aimed at retirees. There is, no pun intended, a wealth of information in these videos about what steps to take and which actions to avoid to keep your head above water as you enter retirement. — Carey Wilbur, Charter Capital

Look to a Financial Planner for Guidance

The best thing you could do for yourself in preparation for retirement is going to a financial planner who can help you organize and explain your financial situation. Hopefully, you’ve been preparing for retirement in the form of something like a 401k, but if you haven’t, a financial planner can help to explain your options: which is what you need plenty of. The financial planner will likely emphasize the realm of tax efficiency, which is typically what matters most to people who are retired. If you want to do some independent research, I would look into literature discussing tax-loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolios, and back-door Roths (while they last). — Tom Mumford, Undergrads

Continue Reading…

Is it ever too early to start thinking about Retirement Income Planning?

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By Ian Moyer,

Co-founder & President of Cascades

(Sponsor Content)

We normally think about it in the few years leading up to the “Retirement Date,” but should we be crunching the numbers at other times?

The short answer is yes and here is when: preceding a change in career or a shift to part time, following a large increase or decrease in annual income. You may also wish to take the measure of a move from salary to self-employment, or upon the death of a spouse or following a divorce.

It is important to keep in mind the difference between Retirement Planning — the amount of money you will have accumulated by a specific retirement date — and Retirement Income Planning, which is the income that you will derive from that accumulated cash. Those are the numbers that really matter and represent the income you will want to live on (and sustainably so) for the rest of your life.

The following commentary is from a user of Cascades software and highlights her specific number-crunching situation:

I am currently in my early fifties, but I had already been worrying for several years about how much I needed for my retirement and how best to plan for it. As academics, we often assume our pension is sufficient: if we are even tenured, as many of us are not; if we have been working at a decent salary for many years, as many of us have not; and if we have been taught to think about or plan for retirement, as most of us have not.

As I spoke to my colleagues, I began to realize that the problem of not planning was widespread. One colleague (and friend) told me she did not even know what an RRSP was. Another colleague and friend revealed she never considered saving money in a TFSA. Still another had no idea what her pension was because she had worked at four different Universities, and so her pensionable earnings were scattered across these institutions.

Going to the bank to gain some insight and assistance was not much better. The bank, one of the largest in Canada and the one with which I have dealt since I was eighteen years of age, could not have been more disappointing. Most institutions are comfortable taking your money to invest it, but they are considerably less interested in helping you plan what to do with it. It’s not just an egregious oversight, it’s bad customer service. So, the bank with which I work did some preliminary planning, but it was largely unsatisfactory. How would I know how much I would have upon retirement? What were the sources of income I could rely on? How long would the money I saved support me? I still had no idea. Continue Reading…