Dealing with Complex Retirement Considerations

As eluded to in our latest Portfolio Update, Boy! is the Canadian retirement system complex. We recently have been doing some research on retirement planning and will now report our findings here. We won’t cover every possibility as we concentrated on our own situation. It should still give you hints on major points to consider. We’ll remain thorough but try not to lose you in all the details. We suggest you pick up all that applies to your retirement situation and refine other pertinent details on your own from there. At least, our exploration should give you a decent head start.

Our main objectives in all those proceedings in to retire comfortably and to try to provide as much money for our kids and grand kids while we’re alive and not only after we die. From the beginning, we thought that minimizing taxes along the way would be one of the best ways to achieve this. As we discovered, it may not be that simple.

Get To Financial Independence Quicker With a Smaller House

Living in a smaller house might be one of your most important decisions on your way to financial independence (FI: I like to define financial independence as being wealthy enough so you can choose to work or not). Rest assured, I’m not talking about those tiny houses that seemed to be popping all over. Rather, I think you should own a regular house, only a tad smaller. As we will see further down, downsizing only 20% could get you a long way towards FI.  

Not only will it reduce your mortgage payments but also many other related expenses. Hence, a more modest home will automatically result in less property taxes, less insurance, less maintenance/repairs and also a much more affordable utility bill... Ultimately, it may also save you a lot of time.

A little more than 15 years ago, our frugal nature enticed us to buy a smaller house and we now realize all the benefits of that decision. One of the most interesting consequences will be that we will get to financial independence much faster.

I decided to do some digging on this subject after I played golf with Alvin, a distant acquaintance. Alvin inherited some money and a fancy house in a rich neighborhood from his uncle 2 years ago.

You Must Have A Will If You Have Kids

To Protect Your Children

If you have children, and even if you are still relatively young and healthy, it’s essential to have a valid and up-to-date will.

While it’s not pleasant to think about that possibility, there are certain arrangements that you should take now to ensure that your family is in good hands if both you and your spouse die.

Tutors and Life Insurance

Thus, in addition to clearly outlining your last wishes in your will, you should also appoint one or more tutors to take care of your loved ones if necessary. Adequate life insurance coverage is also desirable.