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?
I have no idea – for you 🙂
Well, that’s not entirely true. I could do the math for you….
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) or any Old Age Security (OAS) government payments) as long as we have NO DEBT (!) we should be able to semi-retire in our 50s.
Read on to learn more.
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 in various investment accounts (RRSP, TFSA) by age 60.
Do you have enough? For the most part: YES.
Excluding government benefits like CPP and OAS, 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.
Even 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.
What about the 4% rule?
Heard of the 4% rule? I intend to use some form of it for my retirement planning.
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.
What about CPP and OAS?
These are the best options when to take CPP.
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.
Check out these retirement essays – successful investors who have been there, done that!
Spend more or retire earlier in this bulletproof retirement plan
Passive and active investing can exist in retirement harmony
They want to spend $50,000 per year in retirement. Did they save enough?
Save like this, retire like that – My story about early retirement in style
Retired at 32. How he did it and the lessons learned – Part 1 of 2
Early 90s, sold the home, now what? How to invest $600,000 to cover retirement home expenses
Should you own a mortgage in retirement? How you can retire even with debt
How to use real estate, ETFs and dividend stocks to retire in style
Beneficiaries – Don’t Forget the Fine Print!
Beneficiaries for TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and other key accounts
