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My latest MoneySense Retired Money looks at a new Canadian DIY financial course created by MoneySense Making Sense of the Markets columnist Kyle Prevost [pictured above].
For the full column, click on the highlighted text: How to plan for retirement for Canadians: A review of Four Steps to a Worry-Free Retirement course.
November is of course Financial Literacy Month in Canada. And Kyle Prevost is well qualified to help Canadians boost their financial literacy, especially as it relates to Retirement.
In addition to being a subject matter expert in Canadian personal finance, Prevost is also a life-long teacher, which makes him doubly qualified to create this course, which he describes as a first in Canada.
And the combination shows: it’s a slick multi-media package that features snazzy graphics with voice-overs by Kyle himself, plus more in-depth PDF backgrounders and videos with various experts gathered through one of Prevost’s other projects: the annual Virtual Financial Summit (for which I have often been interviewed.)
Entitled 4 Steps to a Worry-Free Environment in Canada, the multi-media course is targeted to those thinking seriously of retiring from the workforce in the next decade or two, and even semi-retirees or those who have already reached that milestone but who want to finetune their retirement income strategy.
An ongoing theme throughout the course and related materials is “No one will care about your retirement as much as you do.” That’s a variant of the oft-used phrase “No one cares about your money more than you do.”
From CPP/OAS to Working for a Playcheck
You can find the course at this site: https://worryfreeretire.com/. You can get a flavor of what’s included before committing to payment by clicking on the “Tell me more” button. If you’re ready for the full enchilada, click on the “Get Started” button. There are various payment options, including major credit cards.
At C$499, the course does represent a major investment but the outlay could be considered a bargain if it helps some DIY retirees escape the clutches of a conflicted securities salesperson who cares more about their own retirement than that of their clients.
The course is comprised of 16 major units, each starting with a short audio-visual overview, followed by more in-depth backgrounders, videos and links to other content. I’d suggest focusing on a single unit per session, as there’s plenty to digest.
Unit 1 takes you through how much money you’ll probably need to retire in Canada. Subsequent units are devoted to the major government programs of CPP and OAS [Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security], and employer-sponsored pension plans: both Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution. Unit 5 tackles that perennial retirement chestnut, the 4% safe withdrawal rule (to which Prevost isn’t married but sees as a good starting point for guestimating Retirement Income).
I’m particularly partial to unit 6, titled Working for a Playcheck, as that term was coined by Michael Drak and myself in our jointly authored 2014 book, Victory Lap Retirement. Units 7 and 8 go into some depth in investing: what to invest in and how to buy and sell securities.
Units 9 and 10 go into depth on registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and TFSAs, then handles the whole topic of Decumulation and the crucial transition (at the end of the year you turn 71) from RRSPs to RRIFs. No doubt I will personally revisit that module at the end of next year!
Unit 11 examines how you can create your own pension through annuities. Units 12 and 13 look at mortgages: whether one should retire with one (one shouldn’t) and deciding between Downsizing and reverse mortgages or HELOCs.
Units 14 and 15 cover insurance: Long-term Care Insurance (Prevost is mostly against LTCI) and Life Insurance in Retirement (ditto.) And he closes with Unit 16, the upbeat Retire Sooner and With More Sunshine.
