When retirement approaches, several wealth planning to-do’s arise. To help make these into a plan, here are the important items in two groups – what you do on your own and what to do with our input.

Your own to-do’s

Managing debt and expenses. You’ll find paying off debt more manageable while you earn income than paying it off in retirement when you’re drawing income. Any home repairs or renovations may also be easier to cover as an income earner rather than a retiree.

Covering health costs. Upon retirement, you may want private health insurance to cover dental treatment, vision care and other health costs. If you track these expenses before retirement, you could get a better idea of whether you want to pay insurance premiums or cover these costs on your own.

Planning together

Setting the date. A lot goes into setting your retirement date, and we’re here to help with the financial side. You can tell us when you’d ideally like to retire, and we’ll run the numbers – letting you know if you can live your desired retirement lifestyle while feeling secure you won’t outlive your mutual fund savings.

Safeguarding your savings. If the market suffers a downturn just before your planned retirement date, you want to be confident you won’t need to postpone your retirement. We develop a plan well in advance that suits you, whether it’s making your mutual fund portfolio more conservative, building a cash reserve or implementing another strategy.

Timing government benefits. You should plan the timing of your government benefits sooner rather than later because you have the option to begin Canada Pension Plan (CPP)/Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) as early as 60 and Old Age Security (OAS) at 65. Our input is valuable because the timing is part of an overall retirement income strategy.

Talk to us when you want to discuss wealth planning and mutual fund investment strategies during the years before retirement.