Feb. 24: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE
February 24, 2025
Serious illness not factored into many Britons’ retirement plans: study
One of the unfortunate possible side effects of having a longer lifespan could be that you will develop a condition that will require long-term care.
Yet in the U.K., only about one-fifth of retirement savers (19 per cent) are factoring that possibility into their savings plans, reports Zoe Wickens of Employee Benefits.
She writes that research from Barnett Waddingham found that “25 per cent of respondents under the age of 50 have prepared for this possibility, compared to just 16 per cent of those aged over 50. Two-fifths (43 per cent) of this older age group have thought about it but not included it in their retirement planning, and 32 per cent have not considered it at all.”
In fact, she continues, only 17 per cent of respondents to the survey have “considered the possibility of having to go into care.” A surprising 39 per cent of respondents say they thought about it but did not factor it into their plans, and 35 per cent “have not considered it at all.”
Interestingly, while 21 per cent of respondents “have fully planned for their children needing urgent financial support during their retirement,” only 12 per cent are planning to provide financial support to parents during retirement.
Barnett Waddingham’s Mark Futcher states in the article that “poor planning is almost as bad as not saving. The evidence shows we’re at risk of waving goodbye to a lost generation of retirees, cut adrift by insufficient planning, a myopic attitude to the harsh realities of financial shocks, and an unwillingness or inability to ask for help.”
“The industry needs to urgently engage and educate people, especially those in their 50s and above,” he continues. “It’s not just about instilling in them the importance of planning but about making sure they have the necessary tools to do so and a true understanding of the hurdles ahead and their familial financial ecosystem.”
He concludes by recommending people look for professional advice in their retirement planning and saving.
Are you the owner of a business, looking for ways to attract and retain good employees? Having a company pension plan is one of those ways, and the Saskatchewan Pension Plan makes it easy for you, the employer, to offer SPP as your firm’s pension plan. SPP will handle the lion’s share of administration once the plan is set up, including providing your employees with tax slips, annual statements and all benefit-related communication.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 20: Tips on successful aging from the 100-plus club
February 20, 2025
You continually read stories, or watch TV interviews, about people who are 100-plus, sharp as a tack mentally, and still living life to the best.
What are they doing that the rest of us aren’t? Save with SPP decided to take a look-see.
The Mental Floss blog offers up 100 pieces of advice from folks who are 100 years old or more.
“Don’t look at the calendar,” begins one tip. “Just keep celebrating every day.”
“Travel while you’re young and able,” suggests another. “Don’t worry about the money, just make it work. Experience is more valuable than money will ever be.”
A third tip – “most times, things will figure themselves out.” Another tip is simply “forgive.”
And this bit of advice – “have a pet. Life gets lonely sometimes. Pets are a reminder of how we’re all living things.”
The Life Extension blog serves up a few more ideas.
“Eat meals with loved ones,” the blog advises. “The important ingredient here is the people, not the food.”
A second suggestion, also a simple one, is to “laugh… laughter nourishes your soul. It brings levity into your day and helps lower stress levels, crucial to healthy aging.”
Learning new things, the blog continues, will “keep your mind sharp and your soul happy for the long run. When you start a new hobby, master your chess game, learn a new language, or stir up a new recipe, it opens your world to different experiences, increasing your joy, widening your social circle, and improving your quality of life.”
A final thought from this blog is to “live in the moment.”
“Studies suggest that adults who practice mindfulness tend to experience less stress, pessimism, and regret as they age. Practicing present-moment awareness is a wonderful way to stay grounded and focused on the life you’re living now, so you can make the most of every moment—from daily tasks to big events,” the blog adds.
An article from People magazine provides us with some additional insights.
Lucia DeClerck, 105 when interviewed, suggests “prayer, prayer, prayer. One step at a time. No junk food.”
Arlena Labon of Ohio, who was 108 when interviewed, advises us to “love one another” and “treat one another good.”
On the scientific side, People quotes Don Buettner, who has studied the so-called “Blue Zones” where people seem to live the longest, sees activity and diet as important. According to his research, the article says, citizens of Sardinia currently live the longest and “are mostly shepherds – a job that requires a lot of physical activity.” As well, Buettner notes in the article, they tend to “eat a plant-based diet, as eating meat is considered a luxury. Still, most of the people in Sardinia still enjoy a glass or two of red wine with dinner.”
We don’t know today if a long, long life is in the cards for us. But more and more of us are living longer lives. That makes another tip worth mentioning – be sure to save for your retirement, as it might last as long, or longer, than the time you spent working.
A great saving partner is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. The plan is open to individuals or groups – SPP can serve as your organization’s pension plan. SPP will carefully invest your retirement savings dollars in a professionally managed, low-cost, pooled fund. At retirement, your options include the security of a lifetime monthly annuity payment, or the more flexible Variable Benefit.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 17: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE
February 17, 2025
Are annuities making a comeback?
More and more defined contribution (DC) pension plans in the U.S. are seeing an old retirement staple – the annuity – as a way to meet “the rising demand for lifetime income products” within those plans.
According to an article by Leo Almazora in Investment News, research from TIAA, who surveyed “insights gleaned from 500 C-suite decision makers” sponsoring DC plans, 76 per cent feel interest in annuities will grow over the next five years.
For background, a DC plan (like the Saskatchewan Pension Plan) is the type of retirement savings program where what goes into the plan, in terms of contributions, is what’s defined.
At retirement, the job is to turn a lump sum of money into an income stream.
An annuity is a way to turn a lump sum into a guaranteed income stream. You can’t run out of retirement savings with an annuity; you’ll get a payment – typically on the first of the month – for each month of your retired life.
Almazora notes that “among sponsors who do not currently offer an annuity, more than 40 per cent say they plan to introduce one within two years.”
There is one problem, however, the article notes – understanding what an annuity is and how it works and then explaining it all to plan members.
“Even though the interest in lifetime income solutions is real, the report points to a lack of `annuity fluency’ as a potential challenge, with only 37 per cent of respondents feeling confident in explaining the value and importance of these products,” the article explains.
Kourtney Gibson of TIAA tells Investment News that DC plans are on the rise in the U.S. due to the decline of traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans. With a DB plan, the amount a member will receive in retirement each month, for life, is what’s defined.
“Now, with growing uncertainty around Social Security and people living longer lives, we need to help people manage their savings to last through retirement,” Gibson states in the article.
A whopping 85 per cent of the DC plan sponsors surveyed felt that “employees require guaranteed income beyond Social Security,” but 43 per cent feel that understanding how an annuity works and explaining it will require help – perhaps via consultants – to boost adoption.
Members of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan already have the option our U.S. DC friends are thinking about. Members can convert some or all their account balance to an annuity when they retire. With an annuity, you will get a lifetime, guaranteed monthly payment for as long as you live. And SPP’s stable of annuity products includes options that can provide benefits for your surviving spouse.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 13: Some things never change, contends Morgan Housel’s Same As Ever
February 13, 2025
“History never repeats itself; man always does.”
This quote from Voltaire kicks off Morgan Housel’s thought-provoking and well-researched look at how our past behaviour and actions, as a society, can help us try and prepare for what’s ahead.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the book tells us, is often asked “what’s going to change in the next 10 years,” but rarely is asked “what’s not going to change in the next 10 years…. And I submit to you, that the second question is actually the more important of the two.”
“Things that never change,” explains Houssel, “are important because you can put so much confidence in knowing how they shape the future… the same philosophy works in almost all areas of life.”
And while we are pretty good at predicting the future, it’s surprises that throw us, he continues.
No one predicted The Great Depression, he explains. Why?
“Either everyone in the past was blinded by delusion,” he posits, meaning they didn’t want to see the crash coming, or “everyone in the present is fooled by hindsight.”
“The biggest news, the biggest risks, the most consequential events are always what you don’t see coming,” he explains.
Another category Housel talks about is overall happiness.
A problem that works against us is the tendency to “compare yourself to your peers,” he writes. We want the same things that the super-rich purport to have, at least according to social media.
“You see the cars the other people drive, the homes they live in, the expensive schools they go to… The ability to say `I want that, why don’t I have that? Why does he get it but I don’t,’ is so much greater than it was just a few generations ago,” he explains.
Indeed, he points out, in the 1950s people earned less, but were okay with living in smaller homes, not having healthcare, wearing hand-me-downs and camping instead of staying in hotels because everyone else was in the same boat, doing the same things.
“Economic growth accrued straight to happiness. People weren’t just better off, they felt better off,” he explains of the 1950s.
In a later chapter, he stresses the importance of “the story,” versus the numbers.
He notes that Jeff Bezos once said “the thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There’s something wrong with the way you are measuring it.”
It’s not easy to measure things like “feelings, emotions, and fears, all of which regulate what we’re capable of,” he explains.
As an example of data versus “the story,” he quotes investor Jim Grant:
“To suppose that the value of a common stock is determined purely by a corporation’s earnings discounted by the relevant interest rates and adjusted for the marginal tax rate is to forget that people have burned witches, gone to war on a whim, risen to the defence of Joseph Stalin and believed Orson Welles when he told them over the radio that the Martians had landed.”
“Every investment price,” writes Housel, “every market valuation, is just a number from today multiplied by a story about tomorrow.”
Near the end of the book, he makes three interesting points about navigating the future:
- “When good and honest people can be incentivized into crazy behaviour, it’s easy to underestimate the odds of the world going off the rails.”
- “Unsustainable things can last longer than you anticipate.”
- “A good question to ask is `which of my current views would change if my incentives were different.’”
A final bit of advice, in the chapter “Wounds Heal, Scars Last,” is that “people tend to have short memories. Most of the time they can forget about bad experiences and fail to heed lessons previously learned. But hard-core stress leaves a scar.”
This is a book that makes you think. There’s a lot of great ideas and stories in this book that a short review can’t fully explore – it’s definitely worth adding to your home library.
These days, the idea of working at one place for decades seems unlikely, a fate only a few of us get. You’re more likely to work at many different jobs in your career. All those career changes don’t have to impact your retirement saving.
Since the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is open to individuals (as well as organizations), changing jobs won’t affect the progress of your retirement savings with SPP. That’s because we collect pension contributions directly from you, rather than going through your employer. Find out about Canada’s made-in-Saskatchewan retirement savings solution!
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 10: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE
February 10, 2025
In the U.S., retiring women wish they’d saved more
A study south of the border has found that half of retired women are finding life after work more expensive than expected – with 63 per cent of them wishing they had started saving earlier.
The study from Corebridge Financial is covered by writer Trina Paul for Investopedia.
“Half of the women surveyed in a recent study by Corebridge Financial said that retirement was more expensive than they had anticipated, while just under half said that they retired earlier than they expected,” she writes.
An earlier than expected retirement, she notes, can mean “retirees have insufficient savings” and are forced to take government retirement benefits (here in Canada, this would be the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security) earlier than planned, leading to “lower monthly cheques.” And, the article continues, “since women have longer life expectancies than men, they may need more in retirement savings or make their dollars stretch for longer.”
These realities point out the need for a solid retirement savings plan, states Terri Fiedler of Corebridge Financial in the article.
“Women are both starting retirement earlier than expected and managing costs that are higher than anticipated. These dual challenges point to the importance of creating an action plan early in your working years that can help you both build your retirement savings and make them last throughout your retirement,” Fiedler tells Investopedia.
As noted, nearly two-thirds of the retired women surveyed say they now wished they’d started saving for retirement earlier, the article notes. As well, “40 per cent said they didn’t start to prioritize retirement until they were age 41 or older,” the article continues.
The earlier you start saving, the better, notes the article.
“Since investors benefit from the power of compound interest, those who start saving for retirement earlier in life may not need to invest as aggressively as those who start later. In fact, nearly one-third (31 per cent) of retired women surveyed said that, when they were working, they wished they had contributed more from each paycheque into a retirement plan,” the article notes.
The article concludes by pointing out that good workplace pension plans are not easy to find these days.
“While more workers could rely on pensions in the past, the responsibility of saving for retirement has largely fallen on individuals. One-third (33 per cent) of retired women said they had a pension versus nine per cent of non-retired women who said they had one,” the article concludes.
If you are among the fortunate people who have any kind of retirement arrangement through work, be sure to join up as soon as you can and contribute as much as possible.
If you don’t have a plan to join, don’t worry – any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room can join the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You decide what you’d like to contribute, and we’ll do the rest, investing your savings in a low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. At retirement, you’ll have choices on how to turn savings into income, such as SPP’s lifetime monthly annuity payment options or the more flexible Variable Benefit.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 6: Facing a tough economy, are Canadians getting less generous?
February 6, 2025
Let’s face it – it’s not easy to go through the checkout line at the grocery store these days without having a sharp intake of breath when it’s time to pay. There seems to be less and less money left over after the bills are paid.
Is this impacting Canadians’ ability/desire to support charities? Save with SPP decided to do a little digging.
According to The Financial Post, citing research from the Fraser Institute, Canadians are “turning more stingy” when it comes to charity.
“The number of taxpayers who gave to charitable causes dropped to 17.7 per cent in 2021 — a 20-year low, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual report measuring generosity in Canada,” the newspaper reports. “Charitable giving hit a high in 2004, with 25.4 per cent of tax filers making donations, but gifts to charity have dropped each year since. Twenty-three per cent of taxpayers gave to charity in 2011.”
Not only are fewer people making donations, but those who do are giving less, the article adds.
“People are also donating less money, the study said, with the total amount given dropping to 0.55 per cent of income in 2021 from 0.58 per cent in 2001,” the article continues. Jake Fuss of the Fraser Institute, a co-author of the report, tells the newspaper “the data shows Canadians are consistently less charitable every year, which means charities face greater challenges to secure resources to help those in need.”
CanadaHelps, an organization that assists charities in gathering charitable donations, also sees a downward trend in charitable giving.
The organization’s Giving Report provides a couple of reasons why people are donating less these days. First, the group says, Canadians aren’t joining as many groups as they once did and are volunteering less.
“Canadians are increasingly disconnected, and their social networks have shrunk; this correlates with lower rates of giving. From 2013 to 2022, the number of Canadians with six or more close friends has declined by 40 per cent (from 37 per cent to 22 per cent), and those who feel a very strong sense of belonging to their community have dropped by 12 percentage points. More than 80 per cent (84 per cent) of those with many close friends donate, while just over half (53 per cent) of those with very few close friends donate,” an article on the CanadaHelps website explains.
Similarly, CanadaHelps sees a disconnect between causes we all say we value, and the actual cha-ching coming out of our pockets in the form of donations. An example is the environment, the group says.
“Only 1.5 per cent of donations made through CanadaHelps are directed to environmental charities, despite 32 per cent of Canadians saying climate change or protecting the environment is a top cause for them, and almost half (48 per cent) of Canadians expressing anxiety about climate change on at least somewhat of a regular basis,” the group charges.
So, at a time when “more than half of charities are unable to meet current levels of demand,” fewer of us are donating. The CanadaHelps article concludes by noting that “one in five Canadians was using charitable services to meet essential needs in 2023.”
As an example, reports the CBC, Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank saw about 55,000 client visits each month before the pandemic. Since then, the monthly client visits have nearly tripled to 130,000 visits per month. Donations, on the other hand, have not tripled, the article says.
If there’s a takeaway here, it is that times are tough for everyone but are even worse for those of us just scraping by. Consider making more charitable donations – bump up any you might be making, or start doing some, perhaps via automatic withdrawals from your bank account. Alternatively, volunteer some of your time. Every dollar and hour of donated time will help.
Have you got a retirement savings plan in place? If not, take a look at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, a voluntary defined contribution pension plan open to any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan room. With SPP, you decide how much money to contribute, and we do the rest. Your precious retirement savings dollars are investing in a professionally managed, pooled, low-cost fund. They’ll grow while you work, and when work is done, your retirement income options include getting lifetime monthly annuity payments, or the flexibility of our Variable Benefit option.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Feb. 3: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE
February 3, 2025
Is America “doing retirement all wrong?”
Writing for Business Insider, Hannah Seo suggests two problems – not saving enough, and not making use of all the time – mean Americans are doing retirement “all wrong.”
Many of us think that retirement means a time “of endless leisure and zero responsibility,” reading, golfing, and binge-watching TV, but there are other factors at play, she writes. Americans aged 65 to 74 spend an impressive average of seven hours a day on leisure (including four hours of TV watching), which is getting close to twice as much time as adults aged 25 to 54.
However, this sedentary lifestyle “is associated with earlier death,” she continues. People are also living “15 years longer than they did 100 years ago,” meaning retirement is growing into a much longer segment of one’s overall life – decades.
“While there’s much handwringing over how to save up enough money to enjoy those work-free years, much less discussed is how we should spend those years. More and more research is finding that both physical and social activity are crucial for well-being in old age — they keep people happier and living longer,” Seo explains.
“But that’s not what most people are doing. Americans are doing retirement all wrong,” she contends.
The fact that we are all working longer and living longer creates a couple of problems – “how to pay for a longer retirement, and how to spend their time.”
Research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has found that one solution to both problems is simply to work longer, the article continues. In the U.S., the piece continues, more folks are working later into their lives and claiming their government retirement benefits (here in Canada, this would be things like the Canada Pension Plan and/or Old Age Security) while still working.
“Of Americans 65 and older, nearly 11 million, or about 19 per cent, are employed, and that number is projected to rise to nearly 15 million by 2032. Twenty years ago, just under five million Americans over 65 were employed,” she writes.
Why keep working? Work, the article explains, “fulfills a lot of needs that people don’t know how to get elsewhere, including relationships, learning, identity, direction, stability, and a sense of order.” The article goes on to note that research by Mass Mutual found that one-third of new retirees reported becoming “unhappier” in retirement than at work, and a study by the University of Michigan links “some of the negative effects people can experience in retirement” to “lifestyle changes, such as being less active and social in the absence of work.”
If not work, what else do we need to address post-retirement blues?
A sense of purpose, the article suggests, is key.
Virginia-based retirement coach Dee Cascio tells Business Insider that the transition from work to retirement is not “a piece of cake” and can be “like jumping off a cliff.”
“Cascio has found that when helping clients bring purpose back into their lives in retirement, it can help to think about the `six arenas of life’: work, relationships, leisure, personal growth, finances, and health. A lot of people have drawn their sense of purpose or identity from work, and they might want to continue doing so through jobs or volunteering in retirement, she says. But any of these arenas can be a source of purpose,” the article notes.
In fact, Cascio tells Business Insider, if you haven’t been taking care of your health, doing so in retirement can provide you with that sense of purpose.
Do you have a bunch of small, registered retirement savings plans here, there and everywhere? With the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, you can unite those plans into one place – the professionally managed, low-cost pooled fund run by SPP. SPP allows you to transfer any amount into your account from another non-locked in RRSP. That way you’ll have one big piggy bank working for your future instead of a host of small ones.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Jan 31: Easy ways to start having a personal budget
January 31, 2025
We’ve read a ton of books on retirement/saving for retirement/living in retirement, and there’s one common thread that runs through all of them – the need to have a budget (and to stick to it).
Save with SPP decided to search for easy ways to get a budget in place, for those of us who either don’t currently budget or have given up due to fears it will be too complex and difficult.
At the Money Canada blog, writer Sandy Vong advises that if “you consistently look at your bank balance and wonder where the money goes then it’s time to take charge of your funds – and that starts with making a budget.”
“The good news is that it doesn’t have to be scary or time-consuming. But having a budget is critical. A budget gives you a big picture of your spending and saving habits and it’s a great way to take charge of your finances,” writes Vong.
Vong’s budget plan involves five steps – understanding and rating your values, setting your financial goals, tracking income and expenses, creating a budget and then regularly reviewing it.
The “value” idea is a bit unique.
“Values are those intangible measures of a good life. For instance, good health may be a value, as it a fulfilling career, or a place to call home. By starting with your values, you’re able to understand what value you are helping to support when you spend or save your money,” Vong explains.
The budgeting part itself, Vong notes, is fairly simple – track every expense and all of your income.
“Tracking your income and expenses is a simple exercise that takes a few minutes every day, but will quickly show you what your lifestyle is like and what areas you are spending the most on,” Vong notes.
“You can keep track of your income and expenses by using a note-taking app like Evernote.
However, there are more sophisticated budgeting apps such as YNAB (You Need A Budget). Whenever you go to purchase an item, whether online or in-store, record the date, the name of the store and the amount you spent. This way, you will have a full summary of where your money comes in and where it goes out at the end of the month,” Vong concludes.
There are other budgeting strategies.
Writing for GoBankingRates, Caitlin Moorhead explains the 75/15/10 budgeting approach.
“The 75/15/10 rule is a simple way to budget and allocate your paycheck. This is when you divert 75 per cent of your income to needs such as everyday expenses, 15 per cent to long-term investing and 10 per cent for short-term savings. It’s all about creating a balanced and practical plan for your money,” she writes.
She sees the 15 per cent as going for your future. “By putting 15 per cent of your income into investments like stocks or real estate, you’re not just saving — you’re growing your wealth,” she explains. The 10 per cent should be used to build up an emergency fund that can cover up to six months of expenses, she concludes.
Another, somewhat similar approach is the “50/30/20 method,” reports Linda Howard of The Daily Record.
In this approach, she explains, 50 per cent of your money is earmarked for “essential spending such as bills and food shopping,” with 30 per cent going to fun “non-essentials, such as eating out and style and beauty,” and the last 20 per cent going into savings.
The great Gail Vaz-Oxlade has long proposed a “cash jar/envelope” budgeting system, covered via the Smart Canucks blog.
According to the blog, Vaz-Oxlade’s approach “recommends that of your total income, 35 per cent goes to housing, 15 per cent to transportation, 25 per cent on `life’ (everything from groceries, pets, kids etc.), 15 per cent to debt and 10 per cent to savings.”
As we all remember from her many TV shows, she encouraged people to actually set aside cash for each category in jars or envelopes. If there’s no money left in the jar, you need to wait until the next month.
You can figure out your own budget approach, but the chief idea is to spend less than what you earn. To do that you need to see what you are making and know what your bills add up to.
If you are developing a budget, be sure to put some money away for long-term savings, such as retirement. If you don’t have a retirement program at your workplace, consider the Saskatchewan Pension Plan as your savings partner. Open to any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan room SPP is like an RRSP that has, when you retire, built in options to turn savings into income. You can, for example, convert your account balance into a monthly lifetime annuity payment. Or you can select the more flexible Variable Benefit.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Jan. 27: BEST OF THE BLOGOSPHERE
January 27, 2025
Avoid these retirement savings mistakes
A long time ago – when we were old enough to know better – this writer decided it would be a good idea to dip into our registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) to snag a little cash to buy a brand-new desktop PC.
There was a withholding tax added on to the withdrawal, which was bad, and then the amount withdrawn added to our taxable income, which was like a double hit. Ouch. Lesson learned.
A recent article from Business Insider rhymes off a number of other regrets that a group of Americans aged 48 to 90 have about their retirement savings plans.
“Some wish they’d hired a financial advisor, while others regretted expensive purchases. Others said they took Social Security too early or retired without a long-term financial plan,” the article notes.
Gary Hayes of California tells Business Insider that one of his main regrets is “not saving at least 10 per cent of his income each month.” He admitted to being “too liberal” with spending throughout his life and having invested in short-term ideas rather than longer-term investments.
“You can’t expect that you’re all of a sudden going to win the lottery,” Hayes, who receives $1,846 a month in Social Security and lives in government-subsidized housing, tells Business Insider. “You can’t expect that someone’s going to pass and leave you an inheritance that will make your life more comfortable.”
Cleveland’s Nancy Seeger tells Business Insider “she wished she could have saved more when her children were young,” since she didn’t really start saving for retirement until her 50s.
PJ White, 69, regrets not putting money into a registered retirement savings vehicle. Looking back, the homeless senior realizes she spent too much “on leisure and clothes – play money — and did not set aside time to learn about investing.”
She and her partner lost their home due to tax arrears; they live in a tent and are fighting to get their house back.
“The money would come in and out it would go,” White said, adding she rarely put money into her 401(k), which is similar to an RRSP. “I didn’t think about the retirement aspect because it was so far down the road, but here I am now wishing that I had.”
The article concludes by saying that any retirement savings will help you later in life.
“Bank of America’s Financial Wellness Tracker suggests that Americans ages 61 to 64 should have about 8.5 times their current salary in savings. Someone with $1 million in savings at 65 can safely withdraw $40,000 in their first year of retirement,” the article states.
“For some, saving just one per cent more could have significant financial rewards down the line. If someone making $50,000 annually contributes five per cent of their salary to retirement, they would save nearly $60,000 less after 30 years than if they’d contributed six per cent,” the article concludes.
If you haven’t had time to get going on your retirement savings, and/or don’t know much about investing, a solution is at hand. The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is an open, voluntary defined contribution pension plan that any Canadian with RRSP room can join.
You decide how much to contribute – you can make contributions automatic by signing up for pre-authorized withdrawals from your bank account – and SPP does all the rest, investing your savings in a professionally managed, low-cost pooled fund with an enviable track record. When it’s time to retire, you can choose from options like a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.
Get SPP working for you!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.
Jan 23: Book helps you teach kids – at any age – about money: The Wisest Investment
January 23, 2025
Our folks might have been more successful about teaching us kids about money had they had a copy of The Wisest Investment by Robin Taub.
She begins by noting that “to have money you have to earn it. Then… there are just four things to do with it – save, spend, share, invest.”
The book has chapters (along with worksheets and handy charts) aimed at kids aged five to eight, nine to 12, 13 to 17 and young adults aged 18 to 21.
Early on, Taub talks about “the 11 healthy habits of financial management.”
The include the idea that you need to “know where you stand financially,” or figuring out one’s net worth; that you need to “live within your means” and “save, or pay yourself first;” that you need to understand “the difference between good debt and bad debt,” to “set up a financial safety net,” and “know the difference between needs and wants.”
As well, the list of 11 includes the need to “teach delayed gratification and set financial goals,” to “track your spending,” to “save now for your children’s education” and for parents to “present a united money front” to the kids. Lastly, be sure to “prepare a will and powers of attorney” to, in effect, set a good course to be followed for after you are gone.
She advises that when talking to very young kids about money, start with cash.
“If you’re comfortable letting your kids handle money (after sanitizing, perhaps) they can start to develop an understanding of Canadian currency…. You can show them the different coins and bills and talk to them about what they’re worth. You can point out the different images on the `heads’ and `tails’ sides of the coins and discuss how each of them is a very special and important image of Canada: the beaver, the moose, the loon and the polar bear, to name a few,” she writes.
She discusses the sometimes-controversial topic of giving kids an allowance.
“Some parents firmly believe that their kids need to `earn’ their allowance, perhaps by doing household chores or by getting good grades,” she writes. “Others believe just as strongly that their kids should help out around the house without getting paid because it’s their responsibility as a member of the family to contribute.” For this group, she continues, paying the kid “sends the wrong message, i.e., that they should expect compensation for everything they do.” Two schools of thought, she concludes, but “there is no right or wrong answer. As always, you have to do what works for your child and your family.”
And, she adds later, “once your child receives his allowance, try to resist the urge to get overly involved in what he does with it. Explain that he should allocate his allowance to the different categories of save, spend, share and invest…. Allow him to make his own spending choices and to live with the consequences of his own decisions,” she notes. You can go over his budget and see if he is staying within it, however, Taub writes.
Later on, when your child is a teenager, you will have reached “a crucial time for your teen to develop sound money management skills” and you, as the parents, “must lead by example” as “financial role models.”
“It can be difficult to communicate with your teenager about anything at this age, but when it comes to money, try not to make it a taboo subject in your home,” she writes.
When your teen finally gets a “real” job, you need to make sure they understand “gross and net pay… explain that employers are required by law to make certain deductions or `withholdings’ from gross pay… and send these amounts straight to the government.”
Income tax, employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan-related deductions/contributions can make the kid’s “take-home pay…. quite a bit lower than they were expecting.”
Budgeting is important once the child has moved from allowance to earned income. Taub recommends develop a budget that takes into account fixed expenses (cell phone, transportation and clothing) that are “needs versus wants,” but to leave room in the budget for entertainment. “Have your kid save receipts so they can keep track of what they spend and you can review the details,” Taub advises.
It’s not too early when they are in their late teens or early 20s to get your kids going on retirement savings, Taub notes.
“If your kid’s income doesn’t all have to go toward college or university expenses, starting a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) can be a good idea,” she says. Explain to the kid how RRSPs work – “the funds inside an RRSP are invested, and the investment income earned inside an RRSP isn’t subject to tax. This means the investments can grow more quickly to help (the kid) reach (their) long-term goals.”
On credit cards, “the best way to teach your kids to use credit cards responsibly is to model this behaviour yourself. Let them know that you pay off your credit card balance each month. Explain to them that the credit card is used for convenience, but that it’s a very expensive way to buy things you can’t afford.”
This great book is loaded with worksheets, charts, and illustrative anecdotes to make teaching your kids an enjoyable experience! It’s highly recommended.
Somewhere in our basement is an old pay slip from our days selling curtain rods at an Ottawa hardware store in the mid-1970s. The CPP contribution shown on the slip – we made a robust $3.20 per hour then – was a single dollar. We told our teenaged granddaughter that even tiny amounts contributed in the past have added up to a more consequential CPP payment that we get each month today!
Anyone with available RRSP room can be a member of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. Find out how SPP has been helping Canadians save for retirement for over 35 years. SPP does all the hard work for you – investing your retirement savings in a professionally managed, low-cost pooled fund. When you retire, your options for turning savings into income include having a monthly lifetime annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit option.
Check out SPP today!
Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!
Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.