How much do you need to be “Set for Life”?
According to various surveys referenced on my site, you probably feel you need a fair bit invested to be “set for life”.
So, I wondered, what is that for you?
How much do you need to be “Set for Life”?
How much is enough?
We’re all told to save, invest and stay invested for the long-term.
Easy to say, hard to do of course but sound advice all the same.
Assuming you devised a retirement income plan and stuck to it, most of us will reach a point whereby we want to spend what we’ve worked so hard for – in retirement during our asset decumulation years.
Many years ago, I wrote about our goal to own a million dollar + investment portfolio not because it’s a nice round investment number (although it is) but because at the time we believed the income derived from this portfolio value (excluding workplace pension values; excluding government benefits paid to us in the form of CPP and OAS) should be enough to cover most expenses with some part-time work.
You can refer to those comments in a post I wrote 7 years ago here.
According to these references on my site, some Canadians believe they will need this much:
Do you need $1 million to retire?
Do you need $1.54 million to retire?
Do you need $1.7 million to retire?
Can you retire with $1 million in your RRSPs? A free case study for anyone close to age 65.
Do you need $1.54 million? That’s the recent BMO study data from early 2025. (Source: G&M)
And also from a few years ago on my site, during the end of the pandemic cycle from 2023, I referenced another BMO study “…found that Canadians believe they will need $1.7 million to retire, up 20 per cent from 2020 ($1.4 million).”
Some of things could be true and none of these things could be true for you and your family…
I continue to believe it all depends on what you intend to spend and when. I’ll link to my free retirement income planning playbook at the end of this post for your free income planning reference.
How much do you need to be “Set for Life”?
Part of the inspiration for this post arrived from Of Dollars and Data:
This subject…
“…started a firestorm on financial Twitter. Some people argued that $2M at 23 was clearly not enough to be “set for life”, while others claimed that it was. So, which is it?
The answer is…it depends. Unfortunately, financial debates like this are incredibly nuanced and are based on what kind of assumptions you make. As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”
I can’t imagine having $2M invested at 23 (I might have had $230 invested at this age!) but I could imagine owning a $2M investment portfolio at 53 would be very, very, very good for most!!
(understatement).
So, for some quick fun, I ran some very simple and rough projections in FIRECalc – how “set for life” you could be with $2M investment portfolio assuming no debt.
This also assumes no government benefits (although some like Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Secuirty (OAS) would apply to most Canadians as they age) and this assumes you wanted to start spending about $75,000 per year from that portfolio and never look back.
How “set for life” would you be?
It varies of course. These are just simulations. But generally speaking, the odds of being “set for life” are in your favour of course.
The younger you are the more chance for epic disaster with a 70-year investing and spending timeline vs. generational wealth, although the latter could absolutely happen! That portfolio could grow into the tens of millions even with a lifetime of spending due to very favourable, compoudning returns.
The older you are, there is a higher possibillity you are indeed “set for life” but your wealth won’t grow as much because time is just not on your side.
Notes:
- Don’t try to follow any individual line in the charts below – that’s not the point. The objective below is presenting the information in a snappy visual so you can see the forest from the individual trees/lines. The “success rate” with $2M invested at any age is very, very good. It’s a LOT of money, people.
- Your spending is adjusted for inflation. Used U.S. CPI inflation for spending default.
- Used same portfolio mix for all age scenarios below: 75% stocks / 25% fixed income.
- Of course life moves in all sorts of spending lines. I’m sure you might spend more or spend a bit less in any given year to make your portfolio last and besides, this monte carlo stuff assumes you just keep spending from your portfolio aligned to inflation. You don’t make any variations which is highly unlikely over 30, 40, let alone 70-years of spending.
- Basically this a test using the “4% rule” since 1871.
Source: FIRECalc on my Helpful Sites page.
Age 23 – with a 70 year timeline:
Age 33 – with a 60 year timeline:
Age 43 – with a 50 year timeline:
Age 53 – with a 40 year timeline:
Age 63, well, no problem….not point in showing; you get the idea, especially if just OAS is factored in on top. You’re fine folks. 🙂
How much you need to retire or spend in your lifetime will vary widely and of course be as individual as you are. There is no set amount and no desired age for that amount. “It depends”.
While I would not rely on any of these guidelines for your detailed long-term planning (I would get a comprehensive financial plan done or some low-cost financial projections done), some rules of retirement income planning thumb are quick jumping off points for you:
- You might be spending 60-70% of your final working salary to start retirement.
- You should have saved up/invested at least x10 times your final annual salary to start retirement with.
- Take your annual retirement expenses and multiply them by 25 / Rule of 25 to see if you have enough.
- Take your annual retirement expenses, multiply them by 1.5 for ample buffer, then multiply that by 20 to arrive at your “enough number”. (e.g., $75,000 per year x 1.5 x 20).
- Take your portfolio value today and use the “4% rule”: assume you withdraw 4% of your portfolio every year, adjusted for higher inflation every year, and that should last 30 years to avoid running out of money based on historical data with a 50/50 stock/bond portfolio.
In Nick’s post:
“Having $2M at 23 seems like the ultimate form of career freedom, but having $2M at 45 doesn’t. But it’s exactly the opposite. The older person has less time to consume their resources, so they should have more career freedom, all else equal. Of course, if that 45 year-old has a family to support and much higher costs, then all else isn’t equal, but you see my point.”
In closing, I personally believe $2M is a bundle of money at any age – my goodness.
That amount of money would likely open up many financial possibilities that most folks would largely dream about.
How much do you need to be “Set for Life”? Need Help?
To help you out:
Here are the steps I took and what you can consider too: My Free Playbook to Retirement Income Planning:
I’ve produced dozens of free retirement income case studies here too:
I run low-cost projections here for all DIY investors at any age.
Happy saving and investing.
Mark
Great post Mark. Is the $75K spending per year an AFTER-TAX amount? Also, would it matter how those $2M of funds were allocated between various accounts (RRSP, TFSA, taxable, etc)? Would that change the outcome/analysis?
Correct. $75k after-tax per year with higher spending every single year aligned to inflation of about 2-3% for life.
Yes, if we really did some good retirement income planning I bet we would find that this $2M could be VERY tax-efficient (use of TFSA, etc.) and when you add on any government benefits like OAS in particular for folks in their 60s eventually, this amount of money is both a. amazing and b. would sustain sooooo many people for life.
In short, yes, I believe such factors would change the analysis.
Hey Mark,
I’m just keeping my head down and continuing to watch my dividend income grow with every dividend reinvestment and also trying to invest some new money when we can. I bought some CNQ on Thursday – I guess I pulled that trigger too soon, but I have a bit of dry powder left.
I’m closely monitoring interest rates while we await our mortgage renewal in June. I got more contract work, but currently on a pause until late May when the next phase kicks in. I anticipate more work later in the year. We’ll keep paying off extra on the mortgage, and investing new money when we can.
By the end of 2025 we should be at 95% of our target dividend income. Dividend reinvestment (and some dividend raises) should get us where we want to be by mid-2026. That might be our answer to the question “how much do you need”. We’ll see. I still like the idea of working a bit longer, but turning the DRIP off to build some cash.
Smart call on CNQ. They should be built to weather these storms. BCE, not so much. I still believe a dividend cut is coming in 2025 for them.
We shall see!?
Yes – you should = smart. re: “I’m closely monitoring interest rates while we await our mortgage renewal in June.”
How many years do you have left?
Becoming debt-free will feel good. I assure you!
I actually don’t have any dividend income target. I just let the stocks do their thing and I’m generally concerned with good, total returns, a blend of income and growth. Certainly not getting any growth these days!
Have you calculated your spending needs? re: to answer your own question “how much do you need”? Knowing what you spend, when you spend it, is HUGE. 🙂
Stay well and continued debt-payment and dividend success!
Mark
For the mortgage, we will be down to five figures by the renewal in June (with some pre-payment). I figure we could pay it off anywhere from 2 – 4 years depending on how much contract work I get. The retirement date is still June 2027, so I plan on keeping the timeline closer to 2 years than 4 years. I would also like to strongly consider retiring a year sooner.
For spending – there’s obviously a difference between needs and wants. My wife’s db pension will cover about 60% of our needs. Our investments will bridge the other 40%, and should fund most of the discretionary spending that we would like to do. We will adjust our discretionary spending as needed.
Big shout out to Bob W for pointing me to his detailed budget post – that really helped me right size our budget. I’m probably still over-estimating a few areas, but I’d rather that than the opposite.
Great stuff. Kill the debt sooner than later. That would be my suggestion since if/when “life happens” it’s one less thing to worry about = paying other people first.
Yes, everyone’s spending is very different and Bob W. seems to have an excellent handle on his cashflow. Very impressed.
Our high-level budget is this:
= $2k per month for property taxes, condo/home fees/updates/maintenance, insurance, home utilities like internet/cell phones/heat/hydro/gas.
= $4k per month for everything else. (Could scale this down to $3k per month if needed.)
_____
$72k after tax per year needed/desired.
Min. spend = $60k
Desired spend = $72k.
MAX spend in any given year without breaking the bank = $84k.
That’s a good range for us I think.
Mark
Thank for bringing us back to the topic at hand Mark. Yes, 2 mil. is a lot. Another 5 years like last year and I’ll be there, ha.
Ha. I hear ya.
Based on what I am now…I’ll take a $2M personal/investment portfolio out of the gate for sure. My goodness.
With my small workplace pension, my wife’s pension, then add on CPP + OAS on top, I would be fine with that spending. That would be very nice.
I’ll continue to dream a bit and see where markets go. I do know they will go up and they will go down. Sometimes quite a bit!!
Stay well and same applies to all readers here too.
Mark
I read silently and rarely comment. The markets go up and down! This time is NOT different. In 1 year maybe 4 maybe 10 we will have forgotten about this. Are we not supposed to be prepared for these events? If you are worried maybe you asset allocation is wrong. I’m not to worried about neighbours to the south, we can’t control that. But what worries me is if the people in this country don’t wake up and see Carnry for what he is. A climate zealot that will say anything to get elected. He will be worse for this country than Trudeau was.
Brian, yes, I generally believe so re: The markets go up and down! This time is NOT different.
That said, the reasons why the market is going up and down are in my opinion. The outcome so far, is the same, markets go up and down but the triggers for it are very different and very concerning for me.
That said, I cannot control what I cannot control.
Back to the theme, how much do you need to be set for life?
Gosh, at my age, very early 50s, $2M invested is certainly very good and the data demonstrates that a lifetime ahead of spending $75k + higher with inflation every single year should work out 94% of the time. That’s without any government benefits. I like those odds!!
We’ll see how the election plays out. Going to be very interesting for us what Canada decides.
Mark
Way to go Brain!!! Terrific insight into what a slime ball Carney is. I totally agree on the “worse than Trudeau” comment.
Talk about a walking conflict of interest – leading/managing Brookfield’s renewable/green energy and advising Trudeau at the same time. I’m pretty sure a big chunk of his investments are in green energy and that whole blind trust thing is a croc.
Also, he had a ton to do with Brookfield moving to New York and highly recommended it to shareholders and he flat out lied about it to the press.
Ciao
Dom
Yes, I suspect his did want to move BN to NYC – likely as a hedge for things to come, Trump election win; gain more U.S. investment? Other?
Thoughts?
Mark
I had thought that MOA tried to stay away from political comments but this now seems like a free for all, so I’ll take the bait.
I actually like most of Trump’s ideas and what he is doing. The Democrats made a total mess of things in the States just like the Liberals have done here.
I obviously don’t like tariffs and think they are a terrible idea.. I also strongly believe that Canada would be way less vulnerable to them if the Liberals hadn’t been such idiots and killed Canada’s investment environment.
I also think that Carney is a total slime ball and is totally self-serving. I don’t believe a word he says as how can you say you want to support oil & gas. build more pipelines, etc but then still want to have an emissions cap and an industrial carbon tax.
You want to talk about being dumb? Well here’s a good one for you. From the gov’t of Canada website – Canada’s share of global emissions decreased from 1.76% in 2005 to 1.40% in 2021. A whooping 0.36% decrease for all the hardships they’ve caused and the damage they’ve done to Canadian’s standard of living. Knock, knock – we are not making any difference.
We would actually make a bigger difference to global climate change by ramping up our oil & gas production to help replace more of the world’s coal usage.
Ciao
Don
Have to admit, that totally surprised me.
I welcome all comments, Don. All good.
We can agree to disagree! 🙂
I don’t disagree with you = the Dems have “issues” to fix in the U.S. For me, this is not a party issue really. Sure, I have been clear I do not like what is happenning nor do I support the MAGA agenda whatsoever but this isn’t a Republicans are horrible vs Democrats are saints debate for me. It’s about the policies, attacks, and rhetoric. I would be equally horrified if this happened by another administration.
The election here at home is going to be closer than people think I believe. All will be revealed in a few weeks!
When it comes to investing, Don G., I doubt your portfolio has changed but I figure I would ask. I’ve been impressed by it over the years. You continue to have dividend > that far exceeds expenses just from the conviction in 12 TSX stocks. Amazing.
Have you changed any of your 12 stocks? Added? Trimmed?
I recall you own these 12 in recent years since 2013-2014?: BCE, BMO, BNS, CPX, EMA, ENB, KEY, PPL, RY, T (Telus), TD, TRP.
Yes, I do agree with you Don. The climate change agenda in Canada has been poorly managed. Good amibition, very poor execution.
Mark
Hey Mark
I agree we’ll have to disagree on the politics,
Steady eddy on the 12 stocks you listed, Just constantly added to the existing holdings at the start of each month with the extra accumulated dividend income. Our annual dividend income has already increased by %5.6k YTD so all is very good. Stock prices definitely don;t matter but it is sort of nice to be able to add more shares with the lower prices.
Take care
Don
All good, Don. I think we agree on some politics but not everything on that subject of course – again, all good. I enjoy your comments and friends can have different opinions!! 🙂
Amazing on your 12 TSX stocks. I recall I own all of them except KEY still. I’ve been raising more cash of late = for 2026 RRSP withdrawals. I would like to avoid withdrawing capital since I don’t yet have enough dividends to be > than our expenses. Maybe in a few years, 5-10 years?
Are you keeping a bit more cash during these times or “don’t care” given dividends > expenses?
Yes, I know from you and others as long as dividend income > expeneses and stays ahead of inflation, that’s win-win and most income investors really couldn’t care about stock prices. They could go down 20% and they wouldn’t care.
That said, Don, stock prices might go down 20% this year. Trending that way.
Wild times.
Mark
Hey Mark
Definitely all good on the political discussion. Easterners and westerners rarely agree on that front. 🙂
As to your question: “Are you keeping a bit more cash during these times or “don’t care” given dividends > expenses?” We always keep minimal cash ($10-15k) as the dividends built up so quickly that we can turnoff our monthly buying if we see something significant coming.
The old portfolio is definitely on auto-pilot with very little thinking needed and absolutely no stress.
Take her asy
Don
Now this is getting more interesting. The investing angle that Mark is pushing is more of the same over and over again. How much is enough? How much can you save? Everyone is different and the answer is “it depends”. But to keep a blog going you need to keep writing. So politics is a refreshing change. We could have interesting debates of how it will effect our portfolios and what changes we need to make. Voters in both the US and Canada are very easily influenced by promises and quickly forget the underlying values of the parties. The Liberals and Democrats are all about virtues for everyone that cost a lot of money, but forget the economy that pays for it. The Conservatives are about fiscal responsibility, but tend to forget to help those that really need some help. We need more common sense on both sides. But I agree, we can not afford another Liberal government.
I enjoy running this site. Sure, it’s personal finance focused but that doesn’t mean other subjects can’t come up now and then.
Our election here might be very close – Libs vs. Conservatives.
Interesting times and this vote really, really matters.
Mark
On May 10, 1940, Churchill became Britain’s wartime Prime Minister. While his military experience wasn’t always marked by success, he had a deep understanding of the issues and the ability to steer the country through an incredibly challenging time. Although I don’t particularly like the use of the term “war” when bombs aren’t dropping on our homes, I can accept it in this context. We are now in an economic war with a behemoth of an economy led by a buffoon, and sometimes the right choice is to elect, as much as possible within our electoral system, a leader with proven expertise in economics and a high level of respect on the international stage.
With that in mind, I would vote Conservative if Carney were their leader!
This financial tsunami created by this psycho Trump has sent shockwaves across the world. Now, everyone has to re-think how to plan for their future. Trillions of $$ have already been wiped out since he imposed the tariffs. All portfolio gains evaporated in an instant and the psycho still wants to inflict more damage saying he won’t budge!!! One man’s action has unleashed so much damage worldwide!!
It remains to be seen what further carnage he will inflict to the world. In the meantime, hang tight and hopefully, the stock market can recover in x years?????
Spend carefully and wisely in the meantime. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Good luck to all.
I read over $6-trillon vapourized. Gone. Proof in recent days.
Bonkers.
I have to wonder what is next. We’re less than 3 months in!!
I echo your punchline Ken, feeling the same: “Spend carefully and wisely in the meantime. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Good luck to all.”
Same to you.
Mark
The orange Clown running the circus in Washington is the true definition of a “carnival barker”. A “carnival barker” is a person who uses loud, enthusiastic, and persuasive language to attract customers to a show, circus, or carnival, often emphasizing the attractions and enticing features. He forgets we share ONE Earth whose economies are deeply interconnected. No nation is an island — not even the USA. He forgets it’s about giving AND taking. And yes, I believe his cronies positioned themselves to benefit from this decline. The orange Clown has always said, “he loves bad markets” because that is when he made the most money. It’s all about human greed & screwing other countries. Time will reveal that the Clown and his cronies set this up to their benefit.
I have the very same senitments – Sal D. We live in unfortunate times and I suspect things are just rolling downhill.
I hope to be corrected when I look back at these comments in 5-10 years from now. I’m not very hopeful.
Take good care and thanks for your comment.
Mark
Nicely put, Sal. I’m fortunate to have the choice of living in two G7 countries, (not the US). Despite some claims that Canada has been “destroyed”, it’s the country I choose to call home. I very much doubt I would say the same if I were living in the US.
I echo that. Cheers.
I think many people underestimate how much CPP and OAS contribute to their retirement income. We are in a lucky position where we have to plan for this increase in income when we claim it since we are likely to put ourselves in a higher tax bracket. Drawing down your other savings in the interim is understood by financial planners, but people often don’t plan that way.
As you pointed out, the simple approach is calculating their income requirements as 70% of their current expenses multiplied by 25 and end up with something like $1.75M. Effectively assuming they get nothing from CPP and OAS and their spending never changes.
I know you’re well aware of all that but I just want to point out that CPP and OAS can easily be $40k a year for a couple at 65. This is based on our numbers of approximately $1000/month CPP and $700/month OAS each. If we wait until 70 for CPP, this grows to $48K. That’s a decent chunk of indexed income!
After a few decades of working, contributing, CPP can absolutely contribute quite a bit to your retirement income.
Average CPP these days is about $800 per month. Average OAS is just over $600 per month.
That’s a nice inflation-protected start for many in retirement.
There are some very simple, rough rules of retirement income planning thumb I don’t mind at all.
So, to your point, when CPP and OAS are factored in, a couple might be earning $3k + per month in their 60s just from government benefits.
It is my hope most folks take both CPP and OAS into account for retirement income spending, even if they consider CPP and/or OAS income as some gravy on top.
Have a great comment and enjoy your weekend!
Mark
“It is my hope most folks take both CPP and OAS into account for retirement income spending”
With the caveat that they also understand the survivor benefits (or lack of).
Echo that!
Meant to ask you, did you buy more of your XDIV or XEI of late? Prices tanking? I recall that’s your equities vs. 40% GICs and money market funds…?
Last equities I bought was in January with the TFSA funds (XEI wife and XDIV me).
We got our large tax refund a week or two ago and decided there was no compelling reason to invest it so I went with a split of TDB8150 and the Hubert quarterly 1 year term GIC just for someplace to park it. I *could* pull that out now and invest but we just don’t need the growth. I always try to keep Mr Buffet’s line about it being insane to risk something one has for something one doesn’t need. I might reconsider the risk/reward issues if the political situation changes.
The largest hit has actually been the BAM in the non-reg account. Those are earmarked for charitable donations with the next batch scheduled to take place in November. We’ll see how things play out and may defer that plan.
Great stuff.
Big fan of TDB8150 – I assume that’s basically a savings account/ISA for your near-term cash?
If you don’t really need the growth, seems smart to keep some money aside to be honest.
Good on you for the BAM and chartiable giving. BAM is a good home in the non-reg. account but you already know that. I have BN there.
Mark
Yup, TDB8150 is pretty well just for short term parking in all the accounts at TDDI.
I will likely be using BN for the next investment for non-reg charitable donations. We do not necessarily want income as we are brushing up to the OAS clawback and I will be beginning OAS this year. We have enough BAM left for about 3-5 years of donations so we could pick up BN and let it grow without accruing too much in dividends. Anyways, looks good on paper, we will see how it shakes out. 🙂
Mark,
I wonder if the average $800/month for CPP is based on what people are currently getting? I say that because 80%+ of people take CPP by 60 (IIRC the stat) This is less than what they qualify for at 65 or 70.
Fair point and I was thinking about average CPP income for new beneficiaries at age 65 vs. average overall.
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/cpp-benefit/amount.html
To your point, if you retire young, no way you’re going to get MAX CPP.
I’ve estimated my CPP and it should be around 50% MAX CPP at age 65.
Mark
Mark,
PWL Capital put together a pretty good CPP estimator. You can plug in your actual contribution numbers and see a better estimate.
https://research-tools.pwlcapital.com/research/cpp
The estimates you get from the canada.ca website assume you keep working until 65 so early retirees will have more “below max” years than others. Having said that, my estimates from this calculator are pretty close to the canada.ca estimate. I think your 50% max number might be low. Of course, being under is better than over for planning.
Thanks for that my friend.
Aware of that one and this one too.
https://www.taxtips.ca/calculators/cpp/cpp-retirement-pension-calculator.htm
I pretty much know my CPP income at age 65; a bit conservative (yes) at 50% MAX CPP given my max years of contribution for 23 years.
I know I won’t be working until age 65. I might not even be working part-time after age 53. 🙂
“No, change in investment plans.” Smart.
That’s very good….in that if I understand correctly, you have sufficient income from your portfolio to meet your needs.
You can certainly drive yourself bonkers by playing the woulda, coulda, shoulda game with investing.
I couldn’t help myself this past week and got 100 more units of XAW.
I hope to buy some more BN stock if the price remains low.
Mark
Hi Mark – you wrote: “I couldn’t help myself this past week and got 100 more units of XAW.”
As you know, I also hold XAW but recently wanted to globally diversify even more by investing outside of Canada AND the USA (XAW still has lots of US exposure – about 65% according to their listed holdings). Have you considered any “non-North America” ETFs – eg. I recently picked up some ZEA. Feedback appreciated!
Yes, been a big fan of XAW since 2016 and owned it since then.
I have considered ZEA and such but when I look at the “all-in-one” ETFs like ZEQT, VEQT, XEQT, etc. they own < 20% developed and <10% emerging. So, with XAW, I actually get more developed and more emerging which is the point of diversification. Thoughts back?! Cheers, Mark
I guess I was just looking for an alternative to USA (at least while the clown in in power) and Canada…so that’s why I considered a global ETF “ex-North America”. Time will tell I guess.
Ah, gotcha. Yes, clown in town, you get the circus!!
Have you looked at VIU?
https://www.vanguard.ca/en/product/etf/equity/9569/vanguard-ftse-developed-all-cap-ex-north-america-index-etf
Cheers.
Yes, I’ve considered VIU … but Vanguard is a US company (recall my clown comment 😉 – so just looking at other alternatives. Not abandoning US completely – just hesitant adding to that position right now as you don’t know what disaster’s going to come out of that guy.
LOL. Yes, I can see not wanting to support the U.S. and their financial institutions.
More wild days ahead me thinks!
How are the income streams in retirement/all stable so far? Enjoying things?
Mark
More wild days indeed – IMHO at least 4 more years with that bozo! Retirement income streams are just fine. I’ve positioned myself with a stable income stream for at least two years – and even beyond. Fortunately, that will allow me to ride out this craziness and not have to sell during a down market. End of April will be exactly a year since I pulled the trigger – and I don’t regret it one bit!
Totally wild days…
Impressive! re: “…stable income stream for at least two years – and even beyond.”
Well done. I hope to be in a similar position in a few months = cash/cash equivalents set aside for all of 2026 spending and all of 2027 spending as well. That means 2028 might be the first year we sell stocks or ETFs to help fund retirement income but we shall see?!
I have no doubt you have no regrets. 🙂 Kudos.
Mark
Mark,
Rather harsh to slag all Americans don’t you think ??
By the way what percentage of Canadians complete high school ??
It turns out the graduation rates in Canada vs the US are roughly the same with the US slightly ahead. Both countries are above the OECD average of 80%.
Very fair, Bill. Just annoyed with the MAGA crowd and what they represent.
According to Stats Can, we are not doing so great in Canada based on 2019 data I found, although above OECD average.
Hardly doing great here at home.
Some interesting information, just one source of many:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/nx-s1-5155899/why-education-is-becoming-a-bigger-divide-in-politics
My comment was more directed to those who passionately support you-know-who in the U.S. – they identify and align their values around sentiments like minorities should work their way up per se, and ideologies like immigration is changing U.S. culture for the dramatically worse. It is very unfortunate.
Mark
Mark,
Totally agree with your sentiment. As a personal anecdote, my brother falls into this crowd including supporting Trump from Canada, and he has a degree in engineering. It’s not a ways about level of education, unfortunately.
I too was surprised by the stats on graduation and looked them up for my comment above, hoping for better news!
I hear ya, re: better news!
Yes, education doesn’t always equate to rational decision-making.
Are you changing the way you are investing these days?
Cheers,
Mark
No, change in investment plans. I decided to ride out the current mess because that’s the prevailing wisdom. Although we are decently diversified so the impact on us is less than half of what’s happening to US stocks alone. Luckily, our income depends on distributions which are at least 60% dividends. I don’t see our investments reducing these distributions despite the turmoil. I’ve since removed the ticker widget from my phone and ipad :). No sense in looking at the disaster every minute 🙂
Really, the only time I need to make as decision is when I do my annual RRSP withdrawal. This is literally the only time we sell something for income. I keep this amount somewhat flexible so if the market is still down in 2026, I will adjust accordingly.
Given the current global malaise, it behooves everyone not to even believe in a “set for life” condition. i.e. there will always be something that could lob a grenade into what might be a realistic plan. Having said that, in this modern era, no one could have imagined that a delusional person could be elected to the highest office of the most powerful country and do what has been done. It boggles the mind but I guess we have to play the cards we are dealt and get on with the game.
I agree. Keep your life variable. Have a realistic plan, that suits you, and go from there.
It’s tough to imagine a more idiotic person running that country but it’s also representative of the population. 10% of Americans never complete high school. That country is doomed.
Hang in!
Mark
With money invested in US ETFs it will be “interesting ” to see when the market bounces back. As an early retiree, not yet collecting CPP/OAS, it certainly doesn’t feel good. I knew this poop storm was coming so it isn’t phasing me. Depending on travel spending, we have 3-5 years to wait it out along with a paid off house which takes the pressure off.
My sense is the Orange Turd is doing this to rake in millions with his billionaire buddies. At some point they will change their policies to get the market to bounce back. Or perhaps Americans will finally wake up and fight back. I am not counting on that though.
It isn’t easy living through history.
Tough days for sure, Sandra.
My sad feeling is, there is large population of Americans that love what the Orange Man represents. It’s very, very unfortunate.
I will be an early retiree at some point myself, too young to collect CPP or OAS or my small workplace pension.
It will be interesting to see how I navigate things!
I wouldn’t count on Americans to fight back. I would hope that happens but the reality is his second term was enough evidence for me that many Americans don’t know any better.
Stay well please.
Mark
We are certainly aligned. Hopefully, Carney comes out on top to navigate us through this global shift. I think he has more experience than PP and won’t sell us out.
Right or wrong, my excess cash is going into Canadian blue chip dividend payers to support our economy.
I happened to have our last brief travel to the US, and Americans are either completely uninformed and oblivious, apologetic for what’s going on, or pro Trump because they think he is mostly talk and won’t follow through long term. They just live their lives like nothing is happening. So yes, there won’t be any serious push back.
Nope. No pushback until more damage is done. I suspect most don’t understand “how this could happen” to them. Sigh.
Totally: my excess cash is going into Canadian blue chip dividend payers to support our economy. I have BN on my radar for taxable. I will continue to buy some XAW for global growth beyond that. This week was a buying opportunity for the latter for me.
If CNQ, TOU and BN remain low, likely to add if I can find the money but with part-time work it will be a challenge!
All good. Feeling very fortunate overall.
Mark
Mark, my view is that, as wild as Trump’s moves are, the most astounding aspect of this all is that the people of the United States voted him in free elections as president after he single-handedly almost brought down their democratic system, when he refused to accept his loss to Biden in the previous election. What was the electorate there thinking, exactly? It was a true indicator of american society i suggest. Never been a fan of that society and thank the heavens for arriving in Canada from Europe many years ago, rather than the US. Much saner society here, it did not take long for me to realize. Had i had the misfortune of emigrating to the US, i guarantee i would have been back to my native Italy by now.
No idea what the U.S. voters were thinking. In the first wave, they disliked the idea that a woman could be President so much they voted in a sexual predator. Go figure.
How are things? How is the market treating you in 2025? Wild year.
Mark
Wild year indeed. I am an old enough investor to have experienced a number wild market rides and do not believe in the ‘this time is different’ story (though you never know), so i am not making any moves in my portfolio. Coincidentally (no, i will not say tragically), i set up a RRIF in January and started drawing from it, just as Trump launched into his aggressive and destabilizing ways. Fortunately i have a 5 year gic ladder within the RRIF which, together with the divvies it spins off, generates all the income i am taking out yearly. Should a market downdraft be present in 5 years time (again, you never know…could be Trump-induced or not) when the gics are exhausted, i would then decrease the amount coming out of the RRIF and replace it with rent income out of my small business. So, things are fine enough, also aided by my daily meditation&mindfulness practice and a three month vacation later in the year 🙂
Smart to have the GIC, that should be some good buffer.
I hope to have 2026 spending and 2027 spending in cash/cash equivalents (ready to roll) in the coming months.
Should the market remain down/terrible in 2+ years, well, I could scale back spending as needed and just live off dividends and distributions for the most part – without selling and stocks or ETFs. We shall see.
Any particular meditation & mindfulness exercises you work on? 🙂
Mark
Good on you to have the flexibility of mind to adjust as needed. That is a critical ability in my view….accepting life as is, particularly finding ways to be ok with what we can not control. This speaks to one of the goals of mindfulness….perfect transition to your question 😊. Been practicing for 18 years now, doing different types of meditation (mindfulness based and others). That’s a huge topic we can chat about in a separate thread if you are interested. Here is will just say that one of the goals of my current meditations (and pertinent to the topic of this thread) is, in addition to strengthening the ability to calm and focus the mind (basic practice), to retain a degree of equanimity on the face of otherwise potentially unsettling world events.
Thanks!
Yes, we will adjust as needed for sure…our retirement income plan has quite a few levers we can pull.
I would be happy to learn a bit more to be honest. I could get better at more equanimity to your point, less anxiety, when faced with external stressors. I welcome an email or so about some good techniques anytime and could consider a post about it here since no point in having any personal finance success without some mental and physical wellness to enjoy it.
Mark
I think that whatever I say in a post here will be very limiting of the teachings and will not do justice to them.
In any event, yes if the pursuit of financial comfort is not placed within a wider, wise context, reaching that comfort is a hollow, pyrrhic victory. I subscribe to a worldview that holds as true the belief that individuals can chart a path for themselves to increased equanimity, peace of mind, happiness while navigating the challenges of the world. Meditation to calm and focus the wandering mind is the essential first step.
There are many techniques one can readily find on the internet, the most common being the single-point type focusing on the breath. As part of it one reads about posture, bringing back the wandering mind (it is ok that the mind goes its own ways during a session…that’s what the mind does. Just need to patiently and kindly bring it back to the breath over and over. That too is a valuable part of meditation), etc.
What I would rather want to emphasize here is the fact that the techniques are not difficult to grasp intellectually but the real valuable work is that of making a patient, methodical effort. That is necessary to transform an intellectual understanding into something that can start, slowly, haltingly at times, to actually change our lives for the better. We can observe that experientially (no dogmas or blind faith here) for ourselves.
What I do suggest, if you are interested to give it a fair, committed try is to start very small. I started 18 years ago with 10 mins sitting meditation in the first year, increasing by 10 mins every year until, after 6 years, I reached my current 1 hour per day (2 half hours, one in the morning one in the late afternoon consisting of 20 mins sitting and 10 mins walking meditations per half hour).
As mentioned, meditation to calm and focus the scattered mind is only the first and essential step on a path that aims (and for countless succeeds in various measures) to release the hold that the three root poisons of human existence (the suggestion is that all of human suffering can be traced back to them) can have over us: greed (also read excessive wanting, desire), its opposite, aversion (read fear, anger, hatred, intense dislike) and delusion (lack of wisdom). It does so by developing antidotes (yes, I am talking about the concept of neuroplasticity now abundantly proven by neuroscience, that these techniques facilitate) to greed (generosity), aversion (compassion, love), and delusion (wisdom).
So much more to say beyond just meditation but I will stop here. Hope this is of some help Mark. You strike me as an open minded, fair, not egotistical and kind person, so you are already ahead of the game if you start the practice.
Good luck.
Thanks very much.
Definitely focusing on/more focus on breath…but I need to do it more often in a calm, quiet setting.
1 hour per day is very impressive!
Some very interesting insights and I appreciate you sharing your practice.
Mark
We are always living through history. Yesterday and everything before that is history. And today we are all making more history, good or bad.
Yes, fair! Wild times.
I think we should be careful and blame lack of education for the election of Trump. The elite educated people in both the US and Canada have done this. They have gone so far with DEI, gender identity, immigration without rules, and endless spending. People had no choice, voting for someone like Harris would have just made things worse. She had no plan, just like Trudeau, Sunny Ways. People did not realize how bad Trump would be, but their message was clear. “We are fed up with these leftist ideas and want change.”
You are correct, of course. Some educated folks did vote for Trump. I wonder why though – given his background and such? Very interesting.
I’m not sure people did not realize how bad Trump would be. I think anyone thinking he wasn’t capable of any form of abuse is not very bright – can’t read the room per se.
I dunno. Wild times. Could be an epic day today.
Stay well Div!!
Mark
“I wonder why though – given his background and such? Very interesting.” You wonder? There was nothing good to vote for, you must see that people are so fed up with the left that they will endure almost anything to get change.
Kamala is educated, but there is nothing she has to offer. People need leaders with a vision. Trump sold them a vision, although a very bad one. But the Left needs to wake up and present some common sense.
Totally: “…But the Left needs to wake up and present some common sense.”
How long is this going to take though? Incredibly painful days now. Might get worse before it gets better.
Buying anything today? 🙂
Mark
We have to play the game but it’s get tough as they change the rules as often as they seem to be