Tag Archives: seniors

How TFSAs can aid your Victory Lap

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depositphotos_43073977_xs-300x295My latest MoneySense Retired Money column on TFSAs is now online. You can read the whole thing by clicking on this highlighted link: How retirees can use TFSAs to save on tax.

I’m a huge fan of The Tax-free Savings Account or TFSA both for young people and for seniors, and everyone between.

It’s the single most powerful investment tax shelter available to Canadian investors. (For any American readers, the TFSA is roughly the equivalent of Roth IRAs).

So if you’re a member of the much-touted “Millennial” generation, you should move heaven or earth to maximize the annual $5,500 contribution as soon as you turn 18 – even if you have to solicit a “matching” contribution from your parents.

If you’ve not yet opened up a TFSA,  as of 2017 the cumulative TFSA room built up since the plan’s debut in 2009 will be $52,000. As I say in the column, for millennials the combination of the newly expanded Canada Pension Plan and a TFSA maximized from age 18 on means that by the time they are old enough to read the Retired Money column, they will be well positioned for retirement.

While late for Boomers, TFSAs can still be a boon in retirement

But as this particular MoneySense column has been dubbed “Retired Money,” the focus is on what the TFSA can do for near-retirees and seniors already retired. When it first came out in 2009, we aging baby boomers lamented the fact the TFSA hadn’t been available when we we were just starting out.

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5 ways Seniors can avoid Financial Scams

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laptop-1571702_640By Barney Whistance

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The older we get the more important it becomes to look after not only our own financial situation but that of our parents as well. No matter what they’ve saved and tucked away for retirement, those funds may be at risk due to cognitive declines as they age.

The Huffington Post reports that over $36 billion is scammed in senior fraud and financial abuse every year. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these types of elderly scams: law enforcement officials estimate that only about eight per cent of crimes are reported ever year.

CNBC reports that women are also twice as likely as men to become a victim of fraud. They are considered easier targets, especially if they are in their 80s and living alone.

While knowledge goes a long way towards combatting these scams, obviously it’s not going far enough. Here are five ways to help protect your loved ones from scams, frauds, and financial ruin in their naive older years:

1.) Know the scams

The first line of defense is to know more about the common scams. This will help you anticipate and expect certain fraudulent activity, give you an edge heading them off from the first contact.

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Why retire if you still have mortgage or other debt?

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An image representing crushing mortgage debt.

My latest Financial Post article is available in the Wednesday paper and online under the headline Retiring with a mortgage? Why you might want to think twice about that.

As I confess at the outset, my bias is to what I often state in my book, Findependence Day: the foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home. Since Findependence is also a prerequisite to Retirement, to me it follows that seniors still weighed down by credit-card debt or even mortgage debt would be better off working at least part-time and use the proceeds to take down their debt to zero. After that, they can live rent-free and the pressure will be off to make the monthly nut (although of course property taxes and condo maintenance fees may remain for some.)

Payday loans an ominous sign for seniors

Check the reader comments at the end of the FP piece and it appears at least some seniors agree with me. Continue Reading…

An Aging Workforce is a Competitive Advantage

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Lisa Taylor

By Lisa Taylor, Challenge Factory

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The dramatic impact of longevity on organizations was predicted decades ago. Indeed, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy put a formal structure in place to ensure that Congress would be attentive to the opportunities and challenges increased life expectancy presented to existing programs and policies. Since science had added years to our lives, Kennedy’s vision was to ensure added life to our years.

Longer life expectancy implies longer workspan

One corollary: increased life expectancy means longer work-life too. Continue Reading…

Aging, longevity & the Urban Agenda

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markvenning
Mark Venning, ChangeRangers.com

By Mark Venning, ChangeRangers.com

Special to the Financial Independence Hub 

Unless extreme wild-card world events occur that might change the urban agenda, over the next fifteen years the global population will be at the highest level of its migration to cities. It is no longer a question of looking for clues in the shifting elements of demography. The lab results are in and the evidence is firmly in front of us.

I will submit here, that if there is one place where the longevity revolution is to play out most prominently, it is in the urban space. The evolution of cities will be every generation’s project – function, form, flow and the fabric of human interaction. Over the same next fifteen years, the percentage of persons older than 65 will be significantly higher and thus the need to adapt the urban agenda to a workable inter-generational model for an aging population is a key opportunity.

Need for more age-inclusive cities

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