Planning for Your Retirement
For many Canadians, the most important part of their financial planning is retirement. When it comes to retirement, we have observed two important things: Many people today are retiring younger than the traditional 65. Second, we are living longer. Retiring earlier and living longer have two implications: First, you'll have less time in which to build your retirement nest egg. Second, when you do retire, that nest egg will have to provide you with an income for many years.
Determining how much you must save to retire, then, is a critical step towards a worry-free retirement. Generally speaking, you'll need a retirement income of somewhere between 70 to 100% of what you were earning prior to retirement. Things like your mortgage should be paid, and if you have children, (hopefully) they won't be dependent on you any more. But, retirement is a lifestyle. And the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed is directly related to what you earned before you retired.
Here are a few things to consider...
