How far are you from retirement?

Asset allocation, risk, diversification and rebalancing. Pros/cons of hiring a financial advisor. Seeking advice on your portfolio?

How far are you from retirement?

I am already retired
48
57%
0-5 years
14
17%
6-10 years
12
14%
11-15 years
4
5%
16-20 years
3
4%
21-25 years
2
2%
They are going to have to drag my dead ass out of that cubicle (or equivalent facsimile)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 84

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Descartes
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How far are you from retirement?

Post by Descartes »

Sorry to inflict yet another poll on you so quickly but I think the correlation with http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... 9&t=120515 might be interesting.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Spudd »

None of the above again! I'm retired from my career job but I have a part-time job just for kicks, and no idea if/when I'll retire fully.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by gsp_ »

Shouldn't there be a 26+ option? Assuming retirement at 65, seems weird to assume no one here could be under 40.
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Descartes
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Descartes »

gsp_ wrote: 07 Oct 2017 01:31 Shouldn't there be a 26+ option? Assuming retirement at 65, seems weird to assume no one here could be under 40.
Not weird, just myopic.
Sorry about that - just use the last option if you are under 40.

..that generation is never going to be able to afford to retire anyway. :P
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by gsp_ »

Descartes wrote: 07 Oct 2017 08:03 Not weird, just myopic.
Sorry about that - just use the last option if you are under 40.

..that generation is never going to be able to afford to retire anyway. :P
Some might have retired before getting to 40. :wink:

Unfortunately I wasn't making the u40 comment out of self interest. :cry:

We've had many a poster in the 18-25 range coming here asking for advice. Unlikely many are regular posters, they probably have better things to be doing with their time.
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Koogie
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Koogie »

If nothing else it has basically confirmed the demographics of the group.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by longinvest »

I would like to answer "I don't know", but there's no choice for it. So, I can't participate.
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Spidey
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Spidey »

I'll likely retire in 1-5 years. I spent the first quarter of my career thoroughly enjoying my work, an extremely large portion in the middle where I was investigating every technique possible for early retirement and now during the last 5 years, once again thoroughly enjoying both my work and the social environment of my workplace. I feel extremely fortunate to finish my working life on a high note. Probably the ever worsening commute will be the biggest incentive to retire.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Jo Anne »

I don't know if anyone cares, but I retired when I was 49 (15 years ago).

It was a very frugal retirement plan. Everything has played out exactly the way we expected it to.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by hamor »

I am 49. Right now I am in a really bad place in my career, so if things don't improve much I will try to stop working full time ASAP, may be 5 years. Hopefully, I can find better work place, but I am so tired of the corporate BS, it's killing me. I was considering consulting for the longest time, may be I will give it a try. Commute is a killer for sure, most jobs in my field are in downtown Toronto and it's over an hour for me (door to door) taking the Go train.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by SQRT »

I am 67 been retired for 11 years.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by CROCKD »

Hamor - you have my sympathies. I live in the GTA and when I take the subway occasionally on weekdays I am amazed at how crowded it is at all times of the day. I would guess that commuting is a killer for most people. I was fortunate in that my longest commutes were a suburban bus ride when I worked in downtown Houston for 6 months and driving between 2 areas in a compound on the Libyan coast when I worked overseas.

When I worked in the oil industry I also got tired of the corporate BS. Having been "essocuted" along with 7000 other employees, it was a relief to have a purely business relationship with my new employer in Libya, the National Oil Corporation. (NOC). Having 2 children in Junior High at that time I did not have many choices.

I worked part time as an engineering contractor for about 5 years when I returned to Canada and retired in my early 60s. I have been retired 16 years.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by AltaRed »

Retired at age 57 in the Spring of 2006 from an ex-pat assignment in Houston. My mega-project work was interesting but some nagging health issues and the excessive travel were the straws that broke the camel's back.
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Shakespeare
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Shakespeare »

Retired at 50 from a position that had caused health problems. Now retired for almost 19 years. Portfolio is the same size (not inflation adjusted) as when I retired and I now own a house. Could spend more but find old habits difficult to break.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Zipper »

I turned 74 a couple of days ago and have been retired for 20 years. I hope to be around for at least another 10. :beer:
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by kcowan »

hamor wrote: 07 Oct 2017 20:11I was considering consulting for the longest time, may be I will give it a try. Commute is a killer for sure, most jobs in my field are in downtown Toronto and it's over an hour for me (door to door) taking the Go train.
Funny but I thought taking the GO was far better than being forced to drive!

Don't count on consulting leading to reduced commutes. I did a lucrative executive assignment that required a commute from 404/Major Mac to 401/Mississauga Rd and there were no public transit options.
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Pickles
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Pickles »

I retired at 58 from an exciting and fulfilling low-paying job with no pension or income beyond dividends. A worsening climate in the office -- precipitated by some unchecked managers -- had slowly changed our workplace from a creative,zany space into a stressful and unhappy prison.

I was aided in my plans to retire by the wisdom and experience of many long-time members of this forum. Target date to resign was spring of 2008 but the economic crisis delayed my departure until 2010. It would have been delayed further, except for one of the founders of this forum, Yielder, who wrote an extraordinary post in 2007 predicting a severe downtown and announced he had sold his whole portfolio of stocks. This really got my attention and, although I kept my shares, I moved all my rrsp funds from mutual funds (growth and balanced) into cash, reasoning that my imminent retirement required me to reduce risk. During the downturn, I invested half of this money in more dividend stocks at bargain prices and, by 2010, had enough income to leave my job.

Now I also have a reduced CPP and OAS which cover most basic expenses. My portfolio growth and dividend growth in the first 5 years of retirement have now enabled me to travel where ever I want and enjoy life free of financial worries. I feel blessed and lucky.

For those of you who are stressed out or dead in the water because of work, I recommend this book: Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. It helped me to a) assess my situation, b) evaluate potential strategies to deal with my workplace discontent, c) visualize what I needed and what I wanted, d) develop a spending and saving plan that made my retirement possible. Really. Read it. It will change your life.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by deaddog »

Pickles wrote: 10 Oct 2017 10:05 It would have been delayed further, except for one of the founders of this forum, Yielder, who wrote an extraordinary post in 2007 predicting a severe downtown and announced he had sold his whole portfolio of stocks. This really got my attention and, although I kept my shares, I moved all my rrsp funds from mutual funds (growth and balanced) into cash, reasoning that my imminent retirement required me to reduce risk. During the downturn, I invested half of this money in more dividend stocks at bargain prices and, by 2010, had enough income to leave my job.
And they say market timing doesn't work. :D :D
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by brucecohen »

I left my full-time job at age 49 and went freelance in order to get control of my time. That didn't work as I ended up with a handful of clients and found myself working more than when I was employed. I could have avoided that if I had first drawn up a business plan. I began gradually shedding clients when I turned 60 and wound up happily fully retired at 66. I have several friends who are in their early 60s and struggling physically or mentally to keep working because they feel they can't afford to stop. I tell them they probably can afford to stop or at least work part-time and offer to run their numbers. Only one person, a supermarket employee, took me up on the offer and he's now in a very happy situation where he works just two or three days a week. The others' untested assumptions and daily struggle frustrate me, but I've finally accepted that it's entirely their choice.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by Jo Anne »

I didn't give any details in my post from October 7, but some explanation may be in order. I've gone over this a few times in this forum, but there are probably interested parties that may have missed it.

About 20 years ago, my husband and I made a 5-year plan that would allow us to retire in 2002 at age 49/50. We had no illusions that we would be "rich" when we retired (we actually had only about $250k at that time), but we were confident that we could do it if we had no debt. The plan was to downsize and see how things went, and if necessary, we would work at various non-stress jobs to make ends meet.

We did sell out our city home in October 2002 and moved to a much less expensive house in the country. From that time until about 5 years ago, one or the other of us worked part-time doing various odds and ends. We spent several seasons picking apples for a friend. I spent about 4 years doing on-line work for the accounting association I belong to. My husband worked for a few years as a delivery driver for the local cheese factory. I put in 5 years as a clerk in the local LCBO.

We actually enjoyed these jobs. Much more than the relatively high-pressure jobs we did in the Toronto area, plus the stress of commuting was gone.

Anyway, here we are 15 years later, and our investment portfolio is higher by approximately the amount that I inherited from my parents, our cheap little house in the country has been muchly improved and is very comfortable, and we manage to be able to travel a couple of times a year.

If you add up our CPP, OAS, and dividends on all of our various registered and non-registered accounts, it comes up to almost $50K per year. That's enough for us.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by optionable68 »

My target date is in the calendar but there is no option for 5.5 years
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by hamor »

CROCKD wrote: 08 Oct 2017 13:35 Hamor - you have my sympathies.
Thanks :)
kcowan wrote: 10 Oct 2017 00:43 Funny but I thought taking the GO was far better than being forced to drive!
Go is not bad, still it's getting very crowded and there's no parking - that's what I hear, haven't taken it in 6 years. If I had to drive for 1 hour one way in GTA, I'd kill someone, perhaps myself ;)

pickles, I remember yielder well, but don't recall the post you mention, I must have missed it.
Market timing definitely works, at least sometimes LOL
I got pension CV (I think it was Sep 2008) I put it all in stock ETF - best investment I ever made, too bad it's relatively small :(
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by westcoastfella »

I'm one of the (relatively) few that is planning to retire in 0-5 years. For me, its both an exciting and unnerving time. The thought of being completely free from my corporate life is wonderful, and we're in a financial situation that should allow us to maintain our current spend from dividends/interest alone. But I also worry - that I won't be able to fill my days, or will have trouble "switching off", or that I'll have trouble (mentally, emotionally) going from accumulation mode to de-cumulation mode with hard earned assets. Or worse, that I'll forget to plan for something, only to realize I forgot when its too late.

I'm curious to hear from others in that group:

1. what changes, if any, are you making now to prepare for retirement (financial, lifestyle, housing, other)?
2. do you plan to fully retire, or work part time and ease into it?
3. do you have a good idea of how you will spend your time in retirement? If not, does it worry you?
4. what scares you the most about full retirement?
5. do you worry if your money will last, or if your retirement plan is solid?

I'm also interested to hear from others that are newly retired - looking back, what would you have done differently (if anything) before retiring to make your transition easier?
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by kcowan »

hamor wrote: 10 Oct 2017 22:59
kcowan wrote: 10 Oct 2017 00:43Funny but I thought taking the GO was far better than being forced to drive!
Go is not bad, still it's getting very crowded and there's no parking - that's what I hear, haven't taken it in 6 years. If I had to drive for 1 hour one way in GTA, I'd kill someone, perhaps myself ;)
The contract I had was COO/CEO and extended over 46 months in three separate engagements. The driving commute ranged from 45 minutes to 90 minutes each way. After three years, it got better as I left my wife and the commute reduced to 20 minutes. I went through all the audio learning in the car, sometimes several times. Tony Robbins was particularly entertaining. Brian Tracy not so much but good content.

After 1995, I was commuting the other way. One week in Burnaby of local travel, 3 days in Regina in a second week and 2 weeks in Mississauga where the middle weekend was spent with friends and family there. I had never envisaged such a lifestyle, but we tend to adapt to cope.

Finally I got recruited by E&Y for a CEO position in Richmond. That was a 5 year contract and a 45 minute commute after which I retired.

What would I have done differently? I think the key element is that everything ends up on the table as a decision. We have no need to live anywhere because of the flexibility that comes from retirement. I am typing this from Nice, a half block from the Promenade des Anglais, as the sun rises over the mountains to the east. DW thinks we should spend 2 weeks to a month here. It is warm enough that people are sunbathing and swimming. Heading to Monte Carlo today and then into the mountain north of St Paul de Vence for a lunch at the villa of friends in the next couple of days.
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Our condo tucked behind the Palais de la Mediteranee off Promenade.
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Re: How far are you from retirement?

Post by hamor »

Now you're just showing off, Keith :)

westcost, if you haven't - read the thread 'retirement is it overrated'
"Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessfully, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money from becoming a little." Fred Schwed " Where are the Customers’ Yachts?"
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