52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement... and How to Rescue It

Tina Di Vito, ca, cfp, tep is the Head of the BMO Retirement Institute, and has more than 20 years of experience helping Canadians plan for and live in retirement. She has been on Canada AM, Global Television, BNN, CNBC and is frequently quoted by the Globe and Mail, the Financial Post, the Toronto Star, the Wall Street Journal and Investment Executive.

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.

Introduction 1
 
PART 1: STARTING TO PLAN FOR RETIREMENT 5
 
1. Thinking You Have a Retirement Plan When You Don't 7
 
2. Being Fooled by Feeling and Looking Younger than You Are 12
 
3. Not Using Your Common Sense 16
 
4. Living for Today Rather than Saving for Tomorrow 20
 
5. Not Paying Attention to What's in All Your Statements 24
 
6. Not Knowing Where You Stand 29
 
7. Not Knowing Where Your Money Is Going 33
 
PART 2: MISTAKES AROUND INVESTING 39
 
8. Not Knowing How Your Money Is Invested 41
 
9. Not Knowing How Much Risk You Can Tolerate 48
 
10. Th inking You'd Rather Be Safe than Sorry 52
 
11. Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket 57
 
12. Th inking That Retiring Means You Stop Investing 61
 
13. Watching Your Investments Too Closely 64
 
14. Looking for Th at Magic Pill to Boost Your Savings 68
 
PART 3: MISTAKES AROUND DEBT 73
 
15. Th inking Th at All Debt Is Created Equal 75
 
16. Taking Too Long to Pay Off Your Mortgage 82
 
17. Misuse of Credit Cards 89
 
PART 4: SAVING FOR RETIREMENT 95
 
18. Leaving Too Much Free Money on the Table 97
 
19. Ignoring the Eff ects of Infl ation 102
 
20. Feeling Th at There' s No Way You Can Ever Save Enough 108
 
PART 5: PENSIONS 113
 
21. Overestimating CPP/QPP Pensions 115
 
22. Th inking You're Entitled to the Maximum Old Age Security (OAS) Pension 122
 
23. Relying Too Heavily on Your Company Pension 126
 
24. Making the Wrong Choices with Your Defined Benefi t Pension on Retirement 132
 
25. Not Considering All the Maturity Options for a Registered Retirement Savings Plan 138
 
PART 6: LIVING IN RETIREMENT 147
 
26. Making Too Many Big Changes to Your Life as Soon as You Retire 149
 
27. Fearing Retirement 154
 
28. Failing to Talk to Your Partner or Others About Retirement 159
 
29. Retiring Outside the Country Without First Doing Your Homework 163
 
30. Downsizing the Family Home Too Late 169
 
31. Not Doing Some Research Before Starting a Business in Retirement 174
 
PART 7: SPENDING IN RETIREMENT 179
 
32. Spending Too Much Money Too Early in Retirement 181
 
33. Giving Away Too Much Money During Your Life 185
 
34. Being Afraid to Spend Your Savings 189
 
PART 8: PAYING TOO MUCH TAX 195
 
35. Wanting to Keep the Money All to Yourself 197
 
36. Giving Back Your OAS 205
 
37. Not Taking Advantage of Tax Gift s Such As the Tax Free Savings Account 210
 
38. Failing to Plan for U.S. Estate Taxes 215
 
39. Paying Too Much Tax on Investments 220
 
PART 9: NEW REALITIES ABOUT RETIREMENT 225
 
40. Not Being Prepared to Be Single in Retirement 227
 
41. Believing in Freedom 55 232
 
42. Believing Th at You Have Only One Retirement Date 236
 
43. Th inking Retirement Is All About You 241
 
PART 10: PROTECTION PLANNING 247
 
44. Not Protecting Your Most Important Asset -- You! 249
 
45. Bad Decisions Around Joint Accounts 254
 
46. Th inking Your Family Can Automatically Make Decisions for You When You Can't 258
 
47. Avoiding Estate Planning 262
 
48. Choosing the Wrong Benefi ciary for Your RRSP, RRIF, or TFSA 267
 
49. Sharing Too Much Personal and Financial Information 274
 
PART 11: NOT ASKING FOR HELP 279
 
50. Not Doing the Math: Mortgage Versus RRSP Versus TFSA 281
 
51. Wanting to Do It All Yourself 285
 
52. Substituting a Retirement Calculator for Retirement Advice 292
 
Ackno