You’re enjoying your retirement party, your last paycheque is about to be deposited, and soon you’ll be cracking into your retirement savings.

All smooth sailing? Well, it can be if retirees are aware — in advance — of some of the bumps in the road ahead. Save with SPP took a look at the most common risks faced by those of us who are retired.

If your retirement savings are invested and you plan to live off the proceeds, investment risk and inflation should be near the top of your list, reports the Financial Post.

“Turbulent markets, soaring inflation and a higher cost of living are all impacting older workers that are transitioning to full or part-time retirement,” Mercer Canada’s F. Hubert Tremblay tells the Post.

The Kiplinger website adds a few more. Will you outlive your savings, the article asks? That’s known as “portfolio failure risk,” and can happen even if you have a set withdrawal rate, such as taking out no more than four per cent of your savings each year.

“Another withdrawal method is guessing how long you’ll live and dividing your savings by 20 to 30 years—but what happens if you live 31 years,” the article asks.

They also cite “unexpected financial responsibility risk” as being a possible challenge — this would involve having to help out adult children or ageing parents — or both.

The Wealth of Geeks blog offers up a few more risks, including a surprising one — frustration.

“Retirees are frustrated with their retirement,” the article notes. “On average, retirees rate their satisfaction in retirement as 7.0 out of 10 in 2022, compared to 7.4 in 2020. Similarly, retirees ranked their alignment of life in retirement with their prior expectations at an average of 6.4 in 2022, down from 6.8 in 2020,” the article continues.

A lot of the frustration is linked to inflation — the fact that everything costs more than it did even a year ago, the article continues. Having less to spend than expected while on a fixed income becomes a source of frustration, the article explains.

Forbes magazine sees three chief risks for retirees. The first two, inflation and investment risk, we’ve covered — but the third is possibly even more important — longevity risk.

“While there are a lot of benefits to living a long time, longevity increases financial risk. You need to pay the living expenses for all those extra years. Also, your annual expenses might increase, because people generally need more medical and long-term care as they age,” the Forbes article explains.

Save with SPP has been embedded in the camp of retirement for more than eight years now, and we can add another risk to the list — carrying debt into retirement.

According to the Canadian Press, via CP24, Canadians have $1.83 in debt for every dollar they earn.

While that’s bad, having debt when retired (and living on less income) is worse. Trying to reduce debt prior to retirement is, in many people’s opinion, almost as important as retirement savings.

It’s a daunting list of potential pitfalls. The best way to arm yourself against future risks is to have retirement savings and thus, future retirement income.

If you have a pension or retirement system through work, you are ahead of the curve. If you don’t, consider the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP is a pension plan any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room can join. SPP will take your contributions, as well as transfers from other RRSPs, and will grow them efficiently in a pooled fund offering low investment costs. When it’s time to turn savings into retirement income, SPP has several options for you, including lifetime annuities which guarantee you’ll never run out of income. Check out SPP today!

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Boomer retirements are creating a labour shortage across the country

For many, many years predictions of a “grey tsunami” of boomer retirements were linked to expected increases in the costs of healthcare and government retirement benefits.

But those retirements are also causing a labour shortage, the Canadian Press (via Global News) reports, that is now upon us.

The story, written by CP’s Amanda Stephenson, reports that the current wave of boomer retirement parties is making some employers quite nervous.

Dan Gallagher of Fort McMurray, Alta.-based Miskew Group tells CP “I take a walk around our shop, and around our field service workforce, and I can clearly see that demographic. It’s aging.”

Miskew, the article notes, already has been having labour shortage problems and has had to recruit from as far away as Australia.

“The ratio of apprentice to older worker here has been so low for so long that there just isn’t the bench strength to offset the people who are leaving,” Gallagher tells CP.

The article notes that “a looming wave of retirements” by baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, has long been predicted by experts, and is now creating a mass exit from the workforce.

The size of the workforce has been trending downward since 2000, the article reports, but the “grey wave…. is now crashing ashore.”

As of the second quarter of 2022, there were over a million job vacancies in Canada, the article notes. And while the participation rate amongst employed Canadians has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, the stats suggest that the exit of older workers is driving the labour shortage.

Citing recent research from Scotiabank, the article reports that “the decline in overall workforce participation that does exist is entirely due to Canadians aged 60 and above exiting the workforce. That means the real root of the current problem is Canada’s aging population, and it has broad implications for the country’s economy.”

Patrick Gill of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce tells CP that 36 per cent of Canadian businesses are reporting labour shortages, a figure that jumps to 45 per cent in the manufacturing sector and 58 per cent in food and accommodation.

“It translates to everyone working more hours, and that ultimately affects quality of life. It means slower growth, and it’s also a factor in supply chain delays,” Gill states in the article.

The article concludes by saying that a younger workforce is now “a new reality,” and employers are going to have to go that extra mile to attract and retain new talent.

“Labour is going to be very difficult to find and employers are going to have to work hard to attract employees,” the University of Toronto’s Rafael Gomez tells CP.t

This is a very interesting report.

For younger people, this labour shortage represents a time of employment opportunity not seen for many decades, where there are suddenly a lot of good jobs out there to be filled. Let’s hope employers take a page out of the past — we are thinking the post-war boom, but even into the ‘60s and ‘70s — and begin to offer more and better retirement programs to attract new talent.

If you don’t have a workplace retirement savings program and are on your own for retirement savings, take a look at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. It’s open to any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan room. Let SPP do the heavy lifting of retirement investing and asset growth, while you focus on making regular contributions to your future. When you too are ready to depart the workforce, your SPP account will be there for you, ready to be converted into retirement income. Check out SPP today!

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Is inflation causing Canadians to fear they aren’t saving enough for retirement?

Writing for the Canadian Press, via Canoe, Christopher Reynolds notes that inflation is causing the price of almost everything to go up – including retirement.

Citing recent research from the Bank of Montreal, Reynolds notes that “Canadians are losing confidence they’ll have enough cash to retire as planned,” with fewer than half believing they can hit their savings target.

That’s because inflation is boosting the value of that theoretical retirement piggy bank, he writes. “The average sum (Canadians) anticipate needing has increased 12 per cent since 2020 to $1.6 million,” he writes.

Last year, he continues, 54 per cent of those surveyed felt they would reach their savings targets; the most recent research shows that number has dropped to 44 per cent.

“Inflation,” states Robert Armstrong of BMO Global Asset Management in the article, “is starting to impact their views on how much they need to save for retirement.”

The price of housing, the article continues, is “another source of angst,” with the average home price in Canada rising to a record $748,450 in January. That’s a year over year jump of 21 per cent, the article notes.

Those who don’t own their own homes not only face higher rents, but don’t have the “automatic nest egg” associated with being able to sell one’s principal residence without paying capital gains taxes, the article notes.

Another problem retirement savers face is the shortage of good workplace pension plans, Reynolds writes. Only about 25 per cent of Canadians are covered by defined benefit pension plans, which provide a guaranteed monthly lifetime income. Just seven per cent enjoy being members of defined contribution plans (like the Saskatchewan Pension Plan), where future payouts depend on how much is saved and invested.

Those numbers, the article continues, are “still far below those of the ‘70s, ‘80s and early ‘90s when the rates were consistently above 40 per cent.” That information, Reynold adds, comes from Statistics Canada.

Jules Boudreau of Mackenzie Investments tells the Canadian Press that these factors – inflation, high housing prices, and a general decline in workplace pension plan coverage – put a lot of pressure on younger retirement savers.

“The personal retirement portfolio of a young worker is much more critical, because their retirement hinges entirely on it — and that can create more anxiety, more uncertainty,” Boudreau states in the article. As well, the article concludes, many younger people are not focusing on long-term retirement savings, such as registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), but on “short term” things like getting a home, furnishing it, and starting a family.

While the average RRSP balance in Canada as of 2020 was $101,155 – a figure that is growing – the Motley Fool blog says that seemingly high amount will only generate about $3,500 of income per year. And it’s far short of the $1.6 million target mentioned by Reynolds in his article.

If you are part of the majority of working Canadians who lack a pension or retirement program at work, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan may be just what you’ve been looking for. The SPP is a do-it-yourself, end-to-end defined contribution pension plan. You can contribute up to $7,000 every year, and SPP will invest your contributions in a low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. When it’s time to unshackle yourself from the rat race, SPP has a number of options for turning those savings into income. Make SPP part of your personal retirement program today!

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Retirement saving – starting late is OK, and chipping away at it when you can a must

More and more ink (or more accurately, pixels) is being taken up with worried commentary that Canadians aren’t saving enough for retirement, and that our ship of state is sailing into choppy waters.

But a story by the Canadian Press (CP) that appears on MSN News suggests that there’s no need to panic – but there is a need to plan.

The story quotes Dilys D’Cruz of Meridian Credit Union as saying “if you’re 50 you still have 21 years left to contribute (to an Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)), it is not as dire as you might think.”

D’Cruz tells CP that while people “may be afraid to look at the numbers,” it’s best, as a first step, to get a financial planner and put together a plan.

Take stock of what retirement savings you have, she says in the article. Do you have a workplace plan from current or past employment? Do you have RRSPs?

Next, she tells CP, you need to consider “what you want your retirement to look like” before doing the plumbing work on your plan. “Do you want that big lavish lifestyle of travelling or is it maybe a quieter lifestyle that you want, what does it mean for you,” she says in the article.

The article cites recent research from Scotiabank that found that while 68 per cent of Canadians say they are saving for retirement (62 per cent of those age 18-34 are saving, versus 74 per cent of those aged 35 and 54), only 23 per cent say retirement saving is their top priority.

TD’s Jenny Diplock, also quoted in the article, agrees, saying that while the general rule of thumb for retirement saving is to start as early as you can, “starting at a particular age may not be realistic for some folks.”

She also suggests having a financial plan, but adds that once you commit to saving, the best way to go is to make it automatic. This will “help cement the habit,” the article explains.

As well, when a cost ends – when you stop paying daycare, or a mortgage – that’s a good time to direct more money to retirement savings, the article suggests.

“As your life situation changes and there are changes in your personal circumstances, you may find that you have additional cash flow that can be used to complement your savings plan,” Diplock tells CP.

Summing it all up, it appears the worst thing you can do about retirement savings is to do nothing at all. Save what you can when you can, and ramp up savings as living costs – debt, housing, childcare – fall by the way. As each impediment to saving falls by the way, your freed up cash can be put to use for your retirement plan.

If you’re not someone with a workplace pension plan – or if you are, but want to supplement those savings – an ideal vehicle is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You have flexibility with SPP – if you can only contribute a little bit in a given year, you can contribute more later; contributions are variable up to an annual limit of $6,300. Be sure to visit SPP’s site to learn more!

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, classic rock, and darts. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22

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

RRSP to RRIF conversion “can be traumatic” for some; annuities help

A recent Canadian Press story by Dan Healing notes that for those of us who have carefully saved money in an RRSP for retirement, “converting it to a RRIF (registered retirement income fund) can seem a terrifying milestone.”

“Overnight, your nest egg that has steadily grown for decades becomes a declining asset, with a government-mandated, taxable annual minimum withdrawal to ensure its gradual depletion,” Healing writes.

But the RRIF conversion of an RRSP “is a small portion of the overall planning for retirement,” states David Popowich in the article. Popowich is a Calgary-based financial adviser, the article notes.

The RRIF, the article points out, is really just a different type of RRSP – one that you can’t add money to, and that is used for slowly drawing down your savings as retirement income. You can convert an RRSP to a RRIF at any time, but must convert your RRSP to a RRIF, an annuity, or a lump sum payout by the end of the calendar year in which you turn age 71, the article notes.

A simple way to deal with the issue of the age 71 limit for RRSPs is “to cash some or all of the investments and buy an annuity, usually from an insurance company,” the article suggests. “The annuity is then held inside the RRIF account and pays a guaranteed income for life or another set period of time to the investor, who pays taxes on the amounts received.”

It’s a big decision, and it depends on how your personal comfort level. Are you comfortable continuing to invest your money, getting (potentially) a variable level of retirement income based on market ups and downs, and hoping there’s some at the end for your heirs – and that you don’t run out of money while alive?

Or does the idea of a steady, lifetime income appeal to you more? You’ll get the exact same amount each month for the rest of your life, which makes it easier to plan, and you won’t have to spend your mornings worriedly watching the markets. Annuities come in many varieties and some include lifetime pensions for your surviving spouse.

Members of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan are lucky in that they have a variety of annuity options to choose from when they convert their savings into retirement income through the plan. Check the retirement guide for full details.

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

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

No generation is winning at retirement savings: research
You might think that one segment of society – the young, perhaps, or the middle aged, or even the old – would be on top of things with retirement saving.

But research suggests that ALL generations are having a tough time with it. According to recent research from Franklin Templeton Investments Canada – reported by the Canadian Press — all generations “appear to be facing challenges saving for and financing their retirement.”

What are the challenges? The article says longevity – the fact that everyone is living longer – is a big one. Parents of Gen Xers, the article notes, are “living longer and spending more of their money on things like health and travel.” That means there will be less to leave to their kids, the article reports.

Interest rates are the second problem. “Canadians have increasingly large levels of debt which become harder to carry as interest rates rise,” the article quotes Franklin Templeton Canada’s Matthew Williams as saying. More expensive debt repayment means less money for saving, the article suggests.

Finally, many of us just aren’t saving. “A quarter of Canadian Gen Xers haven’t saved anything for retirement,” the article notes. Barriers to saving for them include low income, high living costs, student loans and mortgages, the article reports. But it’s not just Gen Xers who are having problems. A surprising 23 per cent of pre-retiree boomers have saved nothing for retirement, the article states, with that figure rising to 50 per cent among younger millennials.

It’s never too late to start saving for retirement, and no amount is too little. A great way to help fund your retirement is to sign up for the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. If you’re already a member, bump up your contributions a little bit each year. You’ll be happy you did when life after work arrives.

What’s best about being retired?
For most of us, it is almost impossible to visualize what life will be like once we have punched the timeclock for the very last time.

A great blog post by Dave Bernard for US News and World Report breaks it down, listing three chief changes retirees will notice.

First, the post notes, you will finally have time to exercise. Bernard writes that now he can control “when and how” he exercises, rather than having to sneak off to do it at lunch. A second point is the sudden unimportance of weekends – they are just another day when you aren’t working. And finally, he says his creative energy has never been higher. It’s not so bad living on the other side of the fence!

 

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, hopeful darts player and beginner line dancer who enjoys classic rock and sports, especially football. He and his wife Laura live with their Sheltie, Duncan, and their cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22

By Sheryl Smolkin

It’s almost two weeks since the 2017 federal budget was tabled, so there is lots of “second day” commentary in the mainstream media to draw on for this issue. Saskatchewan also tabled a budget including some provisions that will impact your bottom line.

In the lead up to the federal budget trial balloons were floated regarding making employer-paid premiums for health insurance taxable benefits and changing the taxable rates for capital gains, but none of these dire predictions came to pass.

In the Ottawa Citizen, Kate McInturff, a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives wrote that the budget is a first step to better the lives of women in Canada. She reports that the government will spend $100.9 million over five years to establish a National Strategy to Address Gender-Based Violence — a problem that has directly affected more than one million women in the past five years.

Erin Anderssen at the Globe and Mail offers seven things to know about Canada’s new parental benefits. Once the provinces pass job protection legislation, parents will be able to stretch their leave out for 18 months, but this will mean stretching benefits at a lower rate. The government is expected to move quickly, but the changes may not happen until next year.

Contrary to pre-budget expectations, Lee Berthiaume notes in a Canadian Press article that life-long pensions for veterans were not included in the Liberal government’s second budget. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s new fiscal plan did contain new spending for veterans and their families, specifically $725 million in promised additional benefits over five years. Still, as welcome as the new money will be, the big question for many veterans is how the government plans to bring back life-long pensions as an option for those injured in uniform.

Hello Uber tax, goodbye transit credit says CBC News. The proposed levy on Uber and other ride-hailing services will for the first time impose GST/HST on fares, in the same way they are charged on traditional taxi services. The non-refundable public transit tax credit — a so-called boutique tax credit introduced by the previous Conservative government — will be phased out on July 1. The credit enabled public transit users to apply 15% of their eligible expenses on monthly passes and other fares toward reducing the amount of tax they owe.

And closer to home, the Saskatchewan budget hikes provincial sales tax to 6% and for the first time, the tax will apply to children’s clothes. CBC presents an analysis of how the PST hike will hit you in the pocketbook.

The government will also wind down the government-owned Saskatchewan Transportation Company, which it says would have required require an anticipated subsidy of $85 million over the next five years.

There were 574 layoff notices attached to this budget, including cleaners in government buildings and workers at the Saskatchewan Transportation Company.

Other notable provincial budget measures include:

• The exemption for the bulk purchase of gasoline is being scrapped and a tax exemption for diesel fuel is being reduced to 80% of the amount purchased.
• So-called sin taxes on booze and cigarettes are going up.
• Various tax credits — including for education and tuition expenses — are being eliminated.
• Effective July 1/17saskatchewan will apply provincial sales tax to life, accident and health insurance premiums.
• The Saskatchewan government says it will offset some of the tax increases by reducing income taxes by a half-point on July 1, 2017 and by the same amount on July 1, 2019.

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By Sheryl Smolkin

Even on a vacation cruise in South America for the last several weeks it was difficult to avoid media reports about the plunging stock markets in both the U.S. and Canada and the drop in value of the Canadian dollar.

On the Financial Independence Hub, Ermos Erotocritou, a Regional Director with investors Group Financial Services Inc. reminds readers that it’s reasonable to monitor day-to-day events, but it’s imperative to keep in mind that daily, weekly, monthly, even quarterly market movements are often little more than noise for an investment portfolio that likely has a time horizon of many years. That’s why it’s so important to practice patience and discipline by remaining in the market, as opposed to abandoning it or believing that is the best way to preserve wealth.

Dan from Our Big Fat Wallet shares Lessons from a Financial Downturn from the perspective of an Alberta resident. First of all, he says “cash is king” because the more cash you have, the more flexibility it gives you. He also notes that with stock prices and housing prices falling in some areas, the emergency fund has suddenly taken on more importance. And finally, he acknowledges that investing is emotional but suggests that investors who are able to separate their emotions from investing have the potential to make impressive returns in a downturn.

In the Toronto Star, Gordon Pape also agrees that “cash is king” in times like these. He says it’s fine to be all-in when markets are positive, even if the growth isn’t robust. But in times of great uncertainty and high volatility such as we are currently experiencing, he likes to have some cash in reserve to cushion any stock losses and to deploy as buying opportunities appear.

It’s an economic downturn — not the Apocalypse, Alan Freeman reminds readers of iPolitics. He says, “This isn’t 2008, when we were facing the very real threat of the global financial system collapsing entirely. This is just an old-fashioned economic downturn — even if it will be quite painful for some in the short term.” Freeman comments that because Canadians depend on resources for a big chunk of our economic activity, we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re at the mercy of commodity prices. “Oil and metal prices that soar to unsustainable levels inevitably crash; they’ll recover this time around, as they have in the past, though perhaps not for a few years,” he concludes.

And finally, many people who do not have investments may be less worried about the stock market slide than the plummeting value of the Canadian dollar. In a Canadian Press article published in the National Post, Aleksandra Sagan reports that for every U.S. cent the dollar drops, food like fruits and vegetables that are imported will likely increase one percent or more in cost. While the increased costs have dealt a blow to everyone’s wallet, they have had a more pronounced effect on Canadians living on a tight budget or in remote regions, where fresh fruit and vegetables are more expensive than in more urban areas.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.