When we were younger – even though we worked at a pension plan – we couldn’t quite imagine what it would be like to be retired. With no job to go to, what were we going to do?

We met a couple at the local mall 20 years ago or so who were retired and said that “you’ll never be able to understand how you found the time to work,” which was sort of helpful while at the same time, baffling.

We get it now, of course – but who do others who have slipped the bonds of employment feel about their retired life. Save with SPP did a little digging to find out!

The Travel Awaits blog gives us a few nice views on the subject.

“Retirement is not the end of your former life, but a fresh new beginning,” says Joyce, who left the world of corporate work at 62 and has moved to warmer climes in Panama. She does not miss “the long commutes or rigidity of working,” and urges others to “spend time planning what you want to do” before retiring.

Mark tells Travel Awaits to “retire as soon as possible. Life is short.” After retiring at 58, the former electrical engineer spends his days hiking, reading, and attending air shows. He says he enjoys “being in charge of how he spends his days.”

At the Retirement Online website there’s a list of quotes from happy retirees.

Craig Counters of Bloomington, Minn. says retirement “has been everything that I hoped for,” noting that he is “in no way bored with my retired life. I have plenty to do. Too much in fact.”

Cindy Petzoldt of St. Louis, Mo., was diagnosed with depression just prior to retirement, but is now “so stinkin’ happy” that her medications have been cut in half. She volunteers with a choir that performs for dementia patients, is a Ready Reader to help pre-schoolers learn to read, took classes in meditation, and stays connected with fellow retired coworkers.

“I am WAY BETTER than fine. I am incredibly happy and fulfilled, doing meaningful volunteer activities I enjoy,” she reports.

At the Kiplinger Personal Finance website, retired pilot Gary Dyson now volunteers for the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital and mentors “aspiring eye health professionals” in different countries.

His work helps people improve and even regain their eyesight.

“There is nothing in the world like it – especially knowing that it will drastically change that person’s life, allowing them to read, learn, work or support their family. Having a small part in that is very rewarding to me,” he tells Kiplinger.

Let’s leave the last word to The New York Times.

Kris Kruid, age 65, tells the newspaper “I set the goal of making retirement look good to others and finding ways to make these chapters of my life full of adventure, rewarding interactions and opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.”

“My motto is `Do good, be good, get good.’ I’m 14 years into the best years of my life.”

Are you saving today for the future best years of your life? A trusted savings partner is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, which has been helping Canadians save for more than 35 years. Every dollar you contribute to SPP is professionally invested in a low-cost, pooled fund, and when it’s time to retire, your invested savings can be turned into income via such options as a lifetime monthly annuity or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Looking for the best tips on saving

A couple of years before he passed away, my wife’s Uncle Joe pulled me aside and gently grilled me about money – specifically, the dangers of debt and the wisdom of saving.

“If you bank 10 per cent of what you earn, and live on the rest, you’ll never have any money problems,” he admonished me. We’re continuing to follow that example.

But what other great savings tips are out there on this fine summer morning? Save with SPP decided to take a look around for more.

Set saving goals with a specific deadline: It’s one thing to say you want to save a big amount of money, say $5,000, write the folks at Parade. “But no matter what your goal, make sure you set it and give yourself a deadline of sorts. “A goal of ‘save $5,000’ isn’t going to get accomplished if you give yourself your whole life to accomplish it,” the magazine advises.

Invoke the power of price-matching policies: Remember the store that boasted “the lowest price is the law” in their ads? Take advantage, recommends The New York Times of stores that offer to match the prices of their competitors, even if they are lower. “Price matching can occur online via chat, in-store, and over the phone, depending on the retailer. Be sure to check online policies and exclusions to confirm that it’s possible—if it is, you just got the item of your choice at your preferred price from your preferred store,” the newspaper advises.

No spend challenge: At the Mom Money Map blog, “no spend challenges” are seen as a great way to “optimize your money mindset.” Pick a time period – a day, or even a week, perhaps – where you simply don’t spend any money. “I don’t need to spend money to eat well. Have fun. Get that occasional self-care I crave,” the blogger tells us, adding “I’m more handy than I think. I can fix that leaky bathtub faucet myself. I don’t need to hire a plumber.”

Haggling over the phone: An oldie but goodie is suggested by the Money To the Masses blog – negotiating prices by haggling. “If you’re confident enough to pick up the phone, you can save a lot of money just by asking for it,” the blog explains – such as negotiating new contracts for services like cable or a phone plan. “Often, the best time to haggle is toward the end of a contract. You’re likely already checking around for cheaper prices, which you can use as leverage when you go to your current provider to ask them to match or beat it,” the blog advises.

We can advise that when you are haggling for a service in person, offering to pay cash can be a great way to negotiate a lower price.

Visit consignment and thrift shops: The gang at Lending Tree say that “instead of buying new, look for hidden treasures at a secondhand clothing store in town or online.” You may be able to turn your own unwanted clothes or other possessions into fast cash, too, the blog notes.

There are limitless other suggestions, like developing, and sticking to, a budget, to avoid grocery shopping without a list, to not use `retail therapy’ to cheer yourself up, and more. Conscious spending comes through in a lot of the articles – some say use cash rather than debit or credit cards because you’ll see the cash wad thin out as you start to burn through it, which doesn’t really happen with cards.

Any sort of Uncle Joe “pay yourself first” strategy should factor in saving for retirement, too. Pay your future self first! Consider setting up some sort of automated savings plan for your retirement savings so that the money goes into your savings pot before you have a chance to spend it.

This is a nice feature available through the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You can set up pre-authorized contributions from your bank account, perhaps once or twice a month, or coinciding with your payday. The money you direct to SPP is then invested at a low fee in a professionally run pooled fund, at when it’s time to leave the bonds of work behind, SPP offers you the possibility of a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the flexible Variable Benefit option.

Check out SPP today!

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Could our own preconceptions be holding us back on money sensibility?

Writing for The New York Times, Kristin Wong reports that our own brain — and specifically, our thoughts — may be holding us back from being successful with money.

Her column reveals five ways where how we think tends to impact (negatively) our finances.

The first, she writes, is the “present bias.”

“This bias describes our tendency to overvalue the present, often at the expense of the future,” she explains. In plainer terms, this is YOLO (you only live once) thinking, Wong clarifies — that we don’t want to miss out on today’s fun, even if it is costly.

Wong cites a study by the University of Rhode Island that found that this “live for today” thinking “poses significant challenges to saving money,” and “often leads to overspending.”

Next, she writes, is “status quo” thinking, or “reluctance to change.”

“We prefer our current state of existence, so doing anything that might disrupt it — from paying off debt to rebalancing an investment portfolio — feels daunting and uncomfortable,” she writes. This change resistance, she continues, can “make it hard to build good financial habits because we assume we’ll have to make significant changes in order to do so.”

Many people, the article notes, imagine they will have to “cancel all your subscriptions,” or resort to eating only ramen noodles, and not taking vacations, “ever,” as a consequence of saving money. Instead, the article advises, “start small,” and automate savings “as much as possible.”

The third bias is “the optimism bias,” in which “when we think about the future, we tend to assume it will be better than the present,” Wong writes. A study from 2014 found that this bias can lead to people saving “less money when they assume the future will be optimistic.” For saving, this bias translates into people, “even those approaching retirement, neglect(ing) saving because they assume they’ll be in a better position to do so later.”

Instead, the article suggests, it’s better to assume the future will be more like the present — this attitude seems to encourage people to save more.

The fourth bias is “the bandwagon effect,” or “keeping up with the Joneses,” the article explains. This is “our tendency to make decisions based on what we see others doing.” The article cites the example of a woman whose credit cards were getting higher and higher balances. But, she tells the Times, “everybody we knew had credit cards and nobody was worried about paying them off. I saw my friends buying everything they wanted, and I wanted to fit in and do the same.”

To counter this bias, you need your own financial plan that is based on what you and your family want, rather than the fancy neighbours, the article explains. “When you have something meaningful to work toward, it’s easier to counteract this bias,” the article explains.

Finally, the “anchoring effect” is a bias that tends to make us “latch on to the most recent information presented to us.” In other terms, the first idea thrown out to you when thinking about financial products may be the one that sticks in your mind, even when other ideas are better. A 2022 study, the Times reports, found that those with low levels of financial literacy “are more prone to the anchoring bias.”

This is a great and very insightful article.

It’s easy, and frankly, more fun to have bad spending habits. Party like there’s no tomorrow, sure, but then you shouldn’t be surprised when you can’t afford to pay your bills. And you may feel stuck in that “paycheque to paycheque” rut, and think change is not possible. But, as the article says, you can start this long journey of change by taking small steps — being conscious of what you are spending money on, planning and budgeting, and tip-toeing into long term savings by starting small.

With the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, there are no “mandatory” contribution levels. You can contribute any amount you want to your pension plan each year, up to a maximum of $7,200. If you want to automate those contributions, you can set up pre-authorized withdrawals from your bank account that directly add to your SPP retirement savings nest egg. Check out SPP today.

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