Retirement - My Own Advisor

Welcome to my retirement page. On this page you’ll find information, stories and essays from others who achieved financial independence and retirement income security. Read on and learn from them – how you can tailor your own retirement success story from their lessons learned.

How much do you need to retire?

Read on…

I do know with a great deal of confidence with a $1 M personal portfolio (beyond our workplace pensions, beyond any Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits, beyond any Old Age Security (OAS) government payments) but assuming we have NO DEBT (!) we should be able to semi-retire in our 50s.

Quick Case Study #1 = $1 million saved

Let’s assume you have a paid off home and no debt when you retire. You are age 60. Let’s also assume you have $1 million saved and invested (i.e., RRSP, TFSA) by age 60.

Do you have enough? For the most part: YES.

Should your spending needs be moderate – I know almost for a fact you could spend $40,000-$50,000 per year (pre-tax) or up to $4,000 per month for life from your personal portfolio without outliving your money (age 100) assuming at least a 5% rate of return.

Here’s how to build a million dollar portfolio – or something very close to it!

Quick Case Study #2 = $750,000 saved

Don’t have $1 million saved up? No problem, most people won’t.

With $750,000 invested, by age 60, assuming no debt, you should be able to spend $35,000-$40,000 per year (pre-tax) or up to $3,200 per month for life from your personal portfolio.

You can play with this calculator here.

My other favourite calculator is here – Variable Percentage Withdrawal (VPW).

I have more tools to run some math on my Helpful Sites page – all FREE.

Better still – hire me!

I also run a great new site called Cashflows & Portfolios, a site dedicated to helping you manage your cashflow and portfolio wisely including any retirement drawdown plans.

After visiting the site, hit me up on our Contact page to find out more about our services. Because I’m not in the business of providing any direct financial advice, the cost of these services is well below what any financial advisor would charge! I/we do provide very detailed reports based on your facts, your data, that you can tailor for your own plan.

You say you do your own math – what about the 4% rule?

Heard of the 4% rule?

I intend to use some form of it for my retirement planning but I don’t take it as gospel. You shouldn’t either.

Here is the actual article from 1994!

Overall, I think the 4% rule is a decent retirement withdrawal rule of thumb to start with. Read on for more articles on this rule:

The 4% rule remains a decent rule of thumb.

Here is a proven path to retirement ignoring the 4% rule.

One might argue does the 4% rule still make any sense???

Retirement planning is just one part of a Financial Plan

What is a financial plan and what should that cover? Read on in this comprehensive post about the elements of a financial plan.

You can find my own personal financial independence plan here!

I don’t really believe in FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), especially the “RE” part. I do believe in Financial Independence, Work On Own Terms (FIWOOT)!

When to take CPP or OAS?

These are the best options when to take Canada Pension Plan.

Should you defer CPP to age 65 or even age 70? Here’s when to consider that.

Don’t forget about CPP and OAS survivorship benefits – learn all about them here.

How can you generate retirement income? Check out this essential article:

How to generate retirement income

Curious about FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)?

Can you retire early on a lower income? It’s far from easy, but it can be done. Read on in this case study about what this reader can do.

This newcomer to Canada wants to achieve financial independence with his family by age 50. Is he on track? What will it take based on his desired spending?

These millennials want to FIRE at age 50. Can they do it? What will it take?

Do they have enough for FIRE at age 52? With $800k invested and a workplace pension? Find out.