A retiree revelling within the RV way of life, how retirement age has shifted over the previous 4 many years and solutions in regards to the CPP survivor’s pension

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Mary Anne Robbins, 66, retired in 2018, at age 62, after working for 25 years as a librarian. Her husband, who was in gross sales, retired on the similar time, at age 64. For the previous 12 months and a half they’ve been travelling with their two rescue canines in a 26-foot RV after promoting their residence in South Carolina.

“We determined to attempt the RV way of life for a 12 months, however we’ve loved it a lot that we’ve saved going,” she says within the newest Tales from the Golden Age function.

Ms. Robbins, initially from Brampton, Ont. talks about how “cozy” RV life is and her plans to ultimately transfer to the Maritimes.

Learn the full story here

Say goodbye to early retirement? How the common age of retirement has shifted up to now 45 years

The common retirement age fell steadily from the late Nineteen Seventies to the late Nineteen Nineties, writes Globe contributor Fred Vettese.

That is partly due to high unemployment rates, he says, which made early retirement incentives enticing to each employers and staff.

Since then, the pattern has reversed path, largely owing to longer lifespans and declining actual rates of interest that made retirement more expensive. A declining worker-to-retiree ratio was additionally an element. The self-employed, nevertheless, have at all times retired late.

Learn the article and see the chart here

Speaking about end-of-life preferences and cash: not straightforward, however essential

My spouse and I held a cocktail party not too long ago when the subject of end-of-life preferences got here up – typically a sensitive, generally troublesome, topic, writes Gary Rabbior, president at Canadian Basis for Financial Training in a current Globe article.

“Our dialogue revealed that many on the desk realized they’d no concept what their mother and father’ preferences had been relating to end-of-life needs,” he says. “Most had by no means had such a dialogue with their mother and father – or discussions about nearly another matter associated to issues comparable to switch of household belongings, designation of energy of legal professional, or different cash and monetary affairs. Most stated they’d be in the dark if a mum or dad ought to die all of a sudden with out time to organize.”

Learn his article to seek out out why it’s essential to have these conversations, and how one can do it nicely.

The demise positivity motion is rising. Right here’s how one can become involved

The seeds of the “death positivity” motion began within the early seventies, across the time Elisabeth Kubler-Ross revealed On Demise and Dying: What the Dying Must Train Medical doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Personal Households, and Ernest Becker revealed the Pulitzer Prize-winning e-book The Denial of Demise, which argues human behaviour is motivated by our worry of demise.

In 2011, a Brit named Jon Underwood took the demise dialog to a complete new degree when he performed host to the primary Death Café. His principle that organizing secure locations for individuals to speak about demise would possibly assist them settle for it, plan for it and hopefully dwell the time they’ve left, whether or not it’s a couple of months or a couple of many years, as joyfully as doable.

The mannequin has grown, and, as of at the moment, in response to deathcafe.com, there are 15,000 demise cafés in 82 international locations, writes the Globe’s Gayle MacDonald.

Learn the full article here

Can Luna, 68, retire subsequent 12 months and maintain her residence, with out having to downsize?

Luna will probably be 68 this 12 months and is worrying whether or not she has sufficient cash to retire from her authorities job with out having to promote her residence. She earns about $83,000 a 12 months and will probably be entitled to an outlined profit pension of $31,270 a 12 months, listed to inflation, when she hangs up her hat.

She has a rental suite in her B.C. residence that covers the price of her $240,000 variable-rate mortgage. She additionally has some financial savings, though her portfolio “might be smaller now with the shift in monetary markets,” Luna writes in an e-mail. “With the price of the whole lot going up, I ponder if I ought to wait longer to retire,” she writes. “I don’t need to be scraping pennies.” She has two grownup kids.

Luna hopes to retire in January and keep her way of life. She’ll additionally want a brand new automotive quickly. “Do I must promote the home and repay the mortgage to retire with the same way of life?”

Within the latest Financial Facelift, Andrea Thompson, a licensed monetary planner (CFP) and founding father of Trendy Cents, an advice-only monetary planning agency primarily based in Mississauga, seems at Luna’s state of affairs.

In case you missed it:

Why a retiree feels it’s essential to separate your self from work

Greg Demuynck retired on the finish of final 12 months, at age 64, after working for a similar firm, the Alberta Motor Affiliation, for simply shy of 38 years.

“Folks typically say: ‘How may you’re employed for a similar firm for thus lengthy?’ However I had 14 completely different jobs all through that point, which saved it attention-grabbing,” he says within the Globe’s newest Tales from the Golden Age function.

It was after struggling a coronary heart assault in 2019 that he began excited about retirement. “It wasn’t genetic; it was associated to emphasize and food regimen – issues I may have managed,” he says. The plan was to retire at age 62, however then COVID-19 got here alongside.

“Since I couldn’t journey, go to live shows, films or the gymnasium, I deferred my retirement. I used to be a part of the crew that applied my firm’s COVID plans, which was a brand new and thrilling problem, so I stayed,” he says.

However then, after a few years, he grew weary of the relentless tempo. Learn the full story here together with why Mr. Demuynck believes why it’s wholesome for retirees to separate from work when you retire.

Ask Sixty 5

Query: My 92-year-old mother – a Canadian citizen who has lived in Toronto her complete life – didn’t declare a survivor’s profit primarily based on his Canada Pension Plan (CPP) when my father handed away 24 years in the past on the age of 68. Would she have been entitled to a survivor’s profit? Mother by no means had her personal CPP as she was a homemaker and by no means labored apart from elevating 5 youngsters! I don’t imagine that she knew in regards to the survivor’s profit. Is there any approach I can discover out if she would have been entitled?

We requested Rachel Metzger, a monetary planner at Caring for Purchasers, to reply this one:

Even after 24 years, your mom can apply for CPP survivor’s pension. If the appliance is accepted, she is going to obtain 12 months of retroactive funds and a month-to-month pension for the rest of her life.

The quantity out there to her will depend upon the quantity of your father’s pension on the time of his passing. When your dad elected to start his pension will impression the scale of the survivor’s pension. Beginning in 1987, CPP contributors may elect to take a lowered pension as early as age 60. The utmost profit for every recipient required beginning at age 65. There was no deferral profit past that age.

The present survivor’s pension guidelines differ from these in place 24 years in the past, so don’t depend on the present guidelines when estimating her potential profit.

In 1998, the utmost CPP pension was $744.79 per thirty days, and if the surviving partner was age 65 or older, the survivor’s pension most was $446.87 per thirty days. Your mother was 68 on the time of your dad’s passing, so she was eligible for advantages.

The one-time CPP demise profit was in impact in 1998 and was capped at $2,500 that 12 months. Today Service Canada asks that executors apply for the demise profit inside 60 days of demise. It’s unclear what the rule was in 1998.

Making use of for a survivor’s pension is finished by way of Service Canada with a paper-based type, or with a web based type by way of the My Service Canada Account. In both case, there’s documentation required and authorized true copies might be mailed or dropped off at a Service Canada workplace. For normal purposes, it normally takes six to 12 weeks after they obtain your utility earlier than they concern a choice letter and/or make the primary cost. Yours is an atypical request so an extended wait time is probably going.

In the event you disagree with Service Canada’s determination, you’ll be able to request a assessment inside 90 days of receiving the choice letter. In the event you disagree with the reviewed determination, you’ll be able to contact the social safety tribunal to make an attraction. I hope that helps!

Have a query about cash or way of life matters for seniors? E-mail us at sixtyfive@globeandmail.com and we’ll discover specialists and reply your questions in future newsletters.