Ten retirement myths

We are experiencing a silver Tsunami. The leading edge of the Boomers turned 65 four years ago. On average, 1250 Canadians turn age 65 every single day. It’s part of a 20 year trend. But, most of the Boomers weren’t born in 1946-47. Most were born between 1961 -1965. That’s why you feel everyone has been turning 50. And people are living longer, much longer.

With all of this happening, it’s small wonder that the media, politicians and the financial services business are all talking about retirement. That kind of focus may be good, because of what it means for savings habits and pressures on goods and services. The worry is whether Canadians are saving enough.

There are lots of myths we have to watch; lots of myths we need to challenge, if we all want to be successful dealing with adequate retirement income that lasts a lifetime.

We are buried in data, but starving for information that is relevant for us. Retirement planning is relevant…and for everyone, including you.

The definition of retirement is changing and even though it may seem like a long way off, work that to your advantage. Starting a plan and sticking to it are the hard parts, just like diets and exercise. Every little bit helps and makes it easier if you start early enough.

Harness the power of compound interest, where planning and saving a little now on a regular basis can let money work for you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for decades. Your money seems to grow slowly at first, and then starts to balloon as you get older, even if you put in the same amount of money. Every year you delay means you'll need to save more money and perhaps take on more investment risk in order to reach your goals.

Watch out for a series of postings covering more common myths about retirement.

©2020 by Peter Wouters. Republished with permission by Peter Wouters.