July 26: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

July 26, 2021

Your 20s may be the best time to start saving for retirement

Writing for Yahoo! Finance, Phoebe Dampare Osei points out that your 20s is a good time to start saving for retirement.

“Your 20s is that decade where society says you’re old enough to have some responsibilities, but young enough that you haven’t quite settled down yet,” she writes. She notes that statistics from the U.K., where she is based, show most couples aren’t getting married until their 30s these days, a big change from the 1970s when they married younger.

Similarly, U.K. stats show people aren’t buying their first homes until they are in their 30s or older, she adds.

“But what about life after 60? It may seem odd to be thinking so far ahead, but your future you, will thank your present you, if you take care of yourself now,” writes Dampare Osei. We love that sentiment!

Her suggestions:

• “In your 20s you have fewer responsibilities than someone much older, so it’s easier to save now than a lot more later with more financial pressure.”
• “State pension alone will not cover you — check with your employer to make sure you are eligible and auto-enrolled.” (Auto-enrolment in a workplace pension plan is not a common practice in Canada – so here at home it’s up to you to find out if there’s a retirement plan and how you can qualify to join it.)
• “If you do not have enough money saved for retirement you may have to keep working beyond state pension age. Working into your 70s if you don’t have to and don’t want to doesn’t sound like much fun.”

This last point is very true. Many people without retirement savings simply say to themselves well, I’ll keep working until 70. That sounds great when you are younger and healthier, but will you be healthy enough to keep punching the clock by age 70? Not everyone is.

She raises a good argument about state benefits not being all that great.

To Candianize this a bit, the current maximum benefit from the Canada Pension Plan is $1203.75, but the average amount is $706.57, according to the federal government’s own site.

The maximum Old Age Security payment, again per the government’s web, is $626.49.

In fairness to the government, these benefits were never intended to provide the only income people receive in retirement – when they were launched, most people had workplace pensions, and these programs were designed to supplement that.

So the most anyone could get from both programs is a little over $1,800 a month – and not everyone qualifies for the maximum.

The point Dampare Osei makes is a very good one. When you are young, single, and just starting out in the workforce, you probably don’t have as many expenses as you will when you’re in your 30s, married, raising kids and paying a mortgage. So it’s a good time to start your retirement savings program.

Another great reason to start early is the “magic” of compounding. The longer your money is invested, the more dividends and interest it will accrue.

As an example, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan has averaged an eight per cent rate of return since its inception 35 years ago. And while the past rate of return is of course no guarantee of what SPP will do in the future, the track record is worth noting. If there isn’t a workplace pension plan to sign up for, the SPP may be just the thing for you. And as Dampare Osei correctly notes, your future you will be very pleased if the current, youthful you gets cracking on retirement now rather than later.

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

Canada Pension Plan, CPP, OAS, Old Age Security, Phoebe Dampare Osei, Yahoo! Finance

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