For those of us who aren’t yet retired, it’s difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of a retiree and imagine what issues they may be facing.

Save with SPP reached out recently to Bill VanGorder, Chief Policy Officer for C.A.R.P., a group that advocates for older adults, to find out what it’s like once you’re no longer working.

For a start, says VanGorder, all older people aren’t set for life with a good pension from their place of work. In fact, he says, “65 to 70 per cent of those reaching retirement age don’t have a (workplace) pension.”

As a result of that, most people are getting by on income from their own retirement savings, along with government benefits like the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

“Politicians don’t understand what it’s like to live on a fixed income,” VanGorder explains, adding that any unexpected expenses hit those on a fixed income really hard. Right now in Nova Scotia C.A.R.P. is trying to stop plans to end a longstanding cap on property taxes – a move that would hit fixed-income folks the hardest.

In removing the cap, the province has suggested it would “look after” low-income seniors, but VanGorder points out that retirees at all levels of income are on fixed income. “It’s not just low-income earners… everyone would be hit by this,” he says.

It’s an example of how older Canadians seem to be overlooked when the government is writing up new public policies, VanGorder says. When the pandemic struck, all that older Canadians were offered was a one-time $300 payment, plus an extra $200 for the lower income group, he notes. Meanwhile younger Canadians were eligible for Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments of $2,000 per month, there were wage subsidies and rent subsidies for business, and more.

Older Canadians “feel they’ve seen every other part of the country get more economic assistance,” he explains. That’s because there’s a misconception that older Canadians “are already getting stuff… and are being looked after.”

“Their cost of living has gone up exponentially,” VanGorder says, noting that many services for seniors – getting volunteer drivers, or home support visits – have been curtailed for health reasons. These changes lead to increased costs for older Canadians, he explains.

C.A.R.P. is looking for ways to keep more money in the pockets of older people. For example, he notes, C.A.R.P. feels that there should be no minimum withdrawal rule for Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs). “It’s unfair to force people to take their money out once they reach a certain age,” he explains. “A lot of people are retiring later (than age 71).” He notes that since taxes are paid on any amount withdrawn anyway, the government would always get its share eventually if there was no minimum withdrawal rule.

Another argument against the minimum withdrawal rule is the increase in longevity, VanGorder says. Ten per cent of kids born today will live to be over 100, he points out. “We’re adding a year more longevity for every decade,” he says.

C.A.R.P. is also pushing the federal government to move forward with election promises on increasing OAS payments for those over age 75, and to increase survivor benefits. While the feds did improve the CPP, the improvements will not impact today’s retirees; instead they’ll help millennials and younger generations following them.

Another area of concern to C.A.R.P. on the pension front is the rights of plan members when the company offering the pension goes under. “C.A.R.P. would like to see the plan members get super-priority creditor status,” he explains. That way, they’d be first in line to get money moved into their pensions when a Nortel or Sears-type situation occurs.

He notes that Canada is the only country with government-run healthcare that doesn’t also offer government-run pharmacare.

VanGorder agrees that there aren’t enough workplace pensions anymore. “Canada doesn’t mandate employers to offer pensions, making (reliance) on CPP and OAS more critical than it is in other countries,” he explains. The solutions would be forcing companies to offer a pension plan, or greatly increasing the benefits offered by OAS and CPP, he says.

“If we don’t start fixing it now, we are going to end up with a horrible problem when the millennials start to retire,” VanGorder predicts. Now is the time to act on expanding retirement security, he says. “They always say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago,” he says. “But the second-best time is today.”

We thank Bill VanGorder for taking the time to speak to Save with SPP.

Don’t have a pension plan at work? Not sure how to save on your own? The experts at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan can help you get your savings on track. SPP offers a well-run, low-cost defined contribution plan that invests the money you contribute, and provides you with the option of a lifetime pension when work’s in the rear-view mirror. An employer pension plan option is also available. See if they’re right for you!

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A look at the best of the Internet, from an SPP point of view

What if they threw a retirement party, but no one came?

If 70 is the new 60, then it’s possible that the new retirement may be not retiring.

According to Statistics Canada figures quoted in the Globe and Mail, more than half of senior-age men (that’s age 65) were working in 2015, a whopping 53.5 per cent. What’s more, 22.9 per cent of 65-year-old men were working full time.

For women, 38.8 per cent were working after age 65 in 2015, “almost twice the level in 1995,” the Globe reports.

What’s going on?

The story quotes Nora Spinks of the Vanier Institute as saying retirees working into their 70s and 80s “are rewriting what is retirement, and we now refer to it as `career redefinement,’” she explains. She notes that when baby boomers were born, life expectancy was only about age 63. “Fast forward to 2018 and your life expectancy is another 15-20 years,” she says.

Is “career redefinement” simply code for not having enough savings?

Well, maybe. Bill VanGorder, a retired non-profit executive who is back at work after 90 days of retirement, says that his savings, along with those of his wife (neither, the Globe says, had pensions) were negatively affected by the market downturn of 2008. But his new career with a pole-walking venture was made possible, he tells the Globe, due to “the couple’s good health and his desire to build a business based on strong consumer demand for pole walking as a form of low-impact exercise.”

VanGorder calls the retirement at 60-65 idea “an old-fashioned myth,” and asks “why would you want to spend the last quarter of your life doing nothing?”

So it wasn’t about the money. The Globe article, citing data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, notes that “only 37 per cent of women and 41 per cent of men said that financial considerations were a factor in their decision” to keep working after age 65.

Perhaps working after age 65 is more about “a person’s state of health and a desire to feel useful and connected to others,” the article muses.

Maybe in 10 years or so, the Globe will run an article about the trend of people retiring in their 80s. One assumes that even those working late into their lives will eventually stop. Save with SPP’s grandfather worked until 75, as did our father-in-law.

If you are planning to keep working until your 70s or 80s, the SPP can be a great resource. You can delay your SPP pension until December of the year you turn 71, rather than collecting it at an earlier age. And starting your pension later normally means you will receive a larger pension than if you had started it early.

Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. After a 35-year career as a reporter, editor and pension communicator, Martin is enjoying life as a freelance writer. He’s a mediocre golfer and beginner line dancer who enjoys classic rock and sports, especially football. He and his wife Laura live with their Shelties, Duncan, Phoebe and their cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22