Longevity & Aging

No doubt about it: at some point we’re neither semi-retired, findependent or fully retired. We’re out there in a retirement community or retirement home, and maybe for a few years near the end of this incarnation, some time to reflect on it all in a nursing home. Our Longevity & Aging category features our own unique blog posts, as well as blog feeds from Mark Venning’s ChangeRangers.com and other experts.

What every woman needs to know about Retirement

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Akaisha Kaderli

By Akaisha Kaderli

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The other day I read an article about women and retirement. In this piece, the number one premise for motivation was that we should be afraid. Very afraid. It said that for the most part, men did the planning for retirement and that we as women rely on them blindly.

I dislike reading articles such as this, first, because it is fear-based but second, it doesn’t take into consideration the talents women contribute to the mix of partnership and planning. While it might be true that men are “wired to provide for the household,” women have moved into professions which pay grandly. Many marriages today are a different blend of partnership than what our own parents or grandparents enjoyed. Along with their jobs, many women still run the household, so why not get involved in retirement planning in a proactive manner?

Retirement is a boring word

The word “retirement” conjures up images of old people on pensions or perhaps pictures of those who no longer contribute powerfully to society with their expertise and knowledge. I prefer the description “financially independent” for the freedom, influence and self-reliance it implies.

One can choose financial independence at any stage of life and it’s an exciting and worthy goal. The younger a person begins on this path, the more you have in your favor.

Women, listen up

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SPIVA Scorecard: Canada comeback?

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Graham Bodel

By Graham Bodel, Chalten Advisors

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“Not to fear, we have found a manager based in our very own Canada that is able to consistently beat the pack.”

Standard & Poor’s has done a brilliant job over the last few years of shining the light on the fund management industry by publishing its SPIVA (S&P Indices Versus Active Funds) Scorecards,  which report on the performance of actively managed mutual funds relative to their benchmark indices.

We’re not spoiling anything by telling you the results don’t usually come out favourably for active managers:  the performance data has been fairly consistent and compelling for years.

The latest SPIVA Canada Scorecard for the year ended December 31, 2015 came out on Monday and at first glance there may be reason to cheer, especially for those fund managers focused on domestic stocks.

SPIVA Canada Scorecard 2

While 57% might not seem very convincing, it’s certainly a better result than US domestic equity managers, only 25% of whom managed to beat the benchmark last year (Source: SPIVA US Scorecard).

Of course, 2015 was a year where the Canadian stock market performed worse than any other developed market globally in USD terms and was only able to squeak past Russia and Brazil.   If you’d been one of the few lucky Canadians to properly diversify outside of Canada last year, you would have been disappointed with active fund management as only 21% of Canadian funds managing International Equities (outside North America) were able to outperform their benchmark.

The longer the time period, the worse the results

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Book Review: Ian Brown’s Sixty

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Sixty+Ian+BrownPerhaps it’s because we are contemporaries who went to the same college and are slightly acquainted, but my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ian Brown’s recently published memoir/diary: Sixty (Random House Canada, 2015).

While attempting to read some other book, I was constantly interrupted by the laughter Brown induced in my wife. I was soon hooked, in part because some of the names Brown drops were familiar to us.

Sixty started as a Facebook post and a declaration that Brown — a feature writer for the Globe & Mail — would be conducting a diary of his 61st year. It reads more like a personal memoir than a mere day-by-day chronicle of events, although Brown deftly does both.

Not surprising, since Brown is a skilled proponent of what is variously known as creative non-fiction or literary journalism. He has over the years been a literary journalism instructor at the Banff Centre, where we once enjoyed a pleasant dinner with him.

The angst of Boomer envy

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Retire Retirement?

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41a03oj1QIL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_The notion of “retiring retirement” or at least the term Retirement is coming more into vogue these days as more baby boomers reach the traditional ages of the old-fashioned “full-stop” retirement.

The current edition of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine has a piece titled “Watch out, Boomers, Here Comes 70,” noting that millions of baby boomers around the world are turning 70 this year.

In the U.S. that means they will come up against the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules on IRAs and 401(k)s, with many forced to pay taxes on those forced withdrawals. Canadian retirees with Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) are in a similar boat by the end of the year they turn 71. (By the way, I’m preparing a Special Report on RRIFs later this month, and welcome input from professionals with expertise here.)

Of course, the Boomers don’t appear set to leave the workforce quietly. In researching my portion of my own upcoming book (Victory Lap Retirement), I came across a 2008 book by Tamara Erickson titled Retire Retirement, subtitled Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation.

Demography favors Boomers’ third phase of work life

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How to eat Healthily without Breaking the Bank

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By Sandy Cardy

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The price of groceries is on the rise again. However, there are ways you can limit the amount of money you spend when it comes time to grocery shop.

During the holiday season, I wrote an article about over-consumption – the gist being that the over-consumption of credit can leave us with debt troubles and how over-consumption of the wrong foods can leave us with harmful health debt.

There’s a general consensus that it costs too much money to eat healthily all the time. While it’s true that natural food products can be quite expensive, especially if you eat gluten-free or vegan packaged foods, there are ways to stretch your dollar at the grocery store.

The rising cost of groceries has made headlines again; in 2015 the average Canadian household spent about $325 more on food and is expected to spend an extra $345 in 2016, according to the University of Guelph’s Food Institute.

Meat and produce are expected to see the biggest price jump, with meat seeing a 4.5 per cent increase and fruits and vegetables rising between 4 and 4.5 per cent this year.

There’s good news though! Eating healthy doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. By stocking up your pantry on a variety of everyday superfoods and pairing them with fresh ingredients, dinners to feed the family can cost you less.

Stock Your Pantry Continue Reading…