52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement

Retirement planning isn't something that happens at a specific point in time or at a specific age - we are all affecting our retirement plans every day with every decision we do or don't make. Canadians are living longer, and the average retiree in the future may have as much as 30 years of retirement to plan for, and there are many simple things that will impact our eventual retirement life. 52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement identifies 52 things we do that could wreck our retirement, explains why it puts your retirement at risk, and provides the strategy to correct the mistake, or better still, avoid it entirely. The book is organized under several key areas of the planning process, including: Starting to Plan for Retirement Mistakes around Investing Mistakes around Debt Saving for Retirement Pensions Living in Retirement Spending in Retirement New Realities about Retirement 52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement is not a feel-good book about how wonderful retirement will be or an alarming fear-mongering book about dying broke, nor is it a get-rich-late-retirement solution. Quite simply, it is an easily-accessible and practical guide written for Canadians of all ages that gives you the tools you need to better manage the financial and personal aspects of your retirement.

Retirement planning isn't something that happens at a specificpoint in time or at a specific age - we are all affecting ourretirement plans every day with every decision we do or don't make.Canadians are living longer, and the average retiree in the futuremay have as much as 30 years of retirement to plan for, and thereare many simple things that will impact our eventual retirementlife.52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement identifies 52 things wedo that could wreck our retirement, explains why it puts yourretirement at risk, and provides the strategy to correct themistake, or better still, avoid it entirely. The book is organizedunder several key areas of the planning process, including:* Starting to Plan for Retirement* Mistakes around Investing* Mistakes around Debt* Saving for Retirement* Pensions* Living in Retirement* Spending in Retirement* New Realities about Retirement52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement is not a feel-good bookabout how wonderful retirement will be or an alarmingfear-mongering book about dying broke, nor is it aget-rich-late-retirement solution. Quite simply, it is aneasily-accessible and practical guide written for Canadians of allages that gives you the tools you need to better manage thefinancial and personal aspects of your retirement.

Introduction 1PART 1: STARTING TO PLAN FOR RETIREMENT 51. Thinking You Have a Retirement Plan When You Don't 72. Being Fooled by Feeling and Looking Younger than You Are123. Not Using Your Common Sense 164. Living for Today Rather than Saving for Tomorrow 205. Not Paying Attention to What's in All Your Statements 246. Not Knowing Where You Stand 297. Not Knowing Where Your Money Is Going 33PART 2: MISTAKES AROUND INVESTING 398. Not Knowing How Your Money Is Invested 419. Not Knowing How Much Risk You Can Tolerate 4810. Th inking You'd Rather Be Safe than Sorry 5211. Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket 5712. Th inking That Retiring Means You Stop Investing 6113. Watching Your Investments Too Closely 6414. Looking for Th at Magic Pill to Boost Your Savings 68PART 3: MISTAKES AROUND DEBT 7315. Th inking Th at All Debt Is Created Equal 7516. Taking Too Long to Pay Off Your Mortgage 8217. Misuse of Credit Cards 89PART 4: SAVING FOR RETIREMENT 9518. Leaving Too Much Free Money on the Table 9719. Ignoring the Eff ects of Infl ation 10220. Feeling Th at There' s No Way You Can Ever Save Enough108PART 5: PENSIONS 11321. Overestimating CPP/QPP Pensions 11522. Th inking You're Entitled to the Maximum Old Age Security(OAS) Pension 12223. Relying Too Heavily on Your Company Pension 12624. Making the Wrong Choices with Your Defined Benefi t Pensionon Retirement 13225. Not Considering All the Maturity Options for a RegisteredRetirement Savings Plan 138PART 6: LIVING IN RETIREMENT 14726. Making Too Many Big Changes to Your Life as Soon as YouRetire 14927. Fearing Retirement 15428. Failing to Talk to Your Partner or Others About Retirement15929. Retiring Outside the Country Without First Doing YourHomework 16330. Downsizing the Family Home Too Late 16931. Not Doing Some Research Before Starting a Business inRetirement 174PART 7: SPENDING IN RETIREMENT 17932. Spending Too Much Money Too Early in Retirement 18133. Giving Away Too Much Money During Your Life 18534. Being Afraid to Spend Your Savings 189PART 8: PAYING TOO MUCH TAX 19535. Wanting to Keep the Money All to Yourself 19736. Giving Back Your OAS 20537. Not Taking Advantage of Tax Gift s Such As the Tax FreeSavings Account 21038. Failing to Plan for U.S. Estate Taxes 21539. Paying Too Much Tax on Investments 220PART 9: NEW REALITIES ABOUT RETIREMENT 22540. Not Being Prepared to Be Single in Retirement 22741. Believing in Freedom 55 23242. Believing Th at You Have Only One Retirement Date 23643. Th inking Retirement Is All About You 241PART 10: PROTECTION PLANNING 24744. Not Protecting Your Most Important Asset -- You!24945. Bad Decisions Around Joint Accounts 25446. Th inking Your Family Can Automatically Make Decisions forYou When You Can't 25847. Avoiding Estate Planning 26248. Choosing the Wrong Benefi ciary for Your RRSP, RRIF, or TFSA26749. Sharing Too Much Personal and Financial Information 274PART 11: NOT ASKING FOR HELP 27950. Not Doing the Math: Mortgage Versus RRSP Versus TFSA 28151. Wanting to Do It All Yourself 28552. Substituting a Retirement Calculator for Retirement Advice292Acknowledgements 297About the Author 299Index 301