If you believe my Alma Mater, the University of Waterloo, the answer is NO (you slacker Baby Boomer). Well, it’s the Canadian Association of Actuaries actually who are making this broad statement, so don’t just blame Waterloo for the bad news. Have I got you nervous? The government has a convenient retirement calculator that you could also try out. The Star has a very useful graphic for figuring out how much you need to retire (unfortunately, it was removed) . Now usually I like to find a link to the actual study and not go on the comments of the printed media, however, I can’t seem to find a direct link to the report, so my apologies on that. If anyone finds it please send it to me, so I can post it for everyone.
What is interesting is that the press implies this is a Baby Boomer issue. However, the report talks about 40-year-olds (like me), and we are the tail of the boom (in fact, we are the lucky ones that will have to support most of the boomers in their retirement).
Take stock of what retirement assets you have in place:
- RRSP or 401k? Putting enough money in that are you?
- Do you have a pension at work? Make sure you know that one.
- Paying off your house? Having to pay a mortgage when you are retired is painful, and a paid-off house also becomes an ASSET.
- Health good? Who cares if you have saved a bushel of cash if you aren’t going to be alive to enjoy it
My guess is retirement funds is going to be like global warming in terms of press coverage as the boomers start to retire EN MASSE in the next few years. Watch for it, it will be a CRISIS soon enough.
Don’t be one of the people with issues, start your retirement plans now!
Interesting post. Thanks for compiling the list of sources.
It’s not the Canadian Association of Actuaries (CAA) but rather the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA). And yes, members really do call it the CIA 🙂