When it comes to retirement on your 65th birthday, will you have enough to life off of for the rest of your life?
If you are like most people, the answer is no.
In fact, according to a 2018 study by CIBC, Canadians estimate that they will need an average of $756,000 in retirement savings, but the vast majority (90 per cent) do not have a plan to achieve the lifestyle they want in their golden years. What’s worse, most Canadians (65 per cent) don’t seek expert advice to get retirement ready.
Many people are not aware that a simple online retirement calculator can give them a better picture of how much they will need to save for retirement.
Some people believe that a retirement calculator is only useful for those who want to plan for retirement early, but this is not true. A retirement calculator is useful for everyone, no matter your age.
Online retirement calculator tools have many features and benefits that make them very useful when planning for the future and coming up with an estimate of how much money you will need in order to live comfortably during your retirement years.
They can:
- Help you determine what you will need to save and what you will need to generate each year to reach your goals.
- Help you gauge how much you need to work to reach your goals.
- Help you come up with a realistic picture of what your retirement will cost, and how much you need to earn in order to reach it.
- Give you an idea on how much you need to save and how much money you need to generate to reach your retirement goals.
For example, they allow users to input their current income level and expenses, so they can see how much more money they will need in order to maintain their current standard of living after retiring from work. They also provide estimates on how long it will take people to save up enough money for a comfortable retirement based on their current savings rate; this is especially helpful if people want to retire early or retire later than expected due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g., health problems).
These online calculators often include other useful information such as tax rates and inflation rates; these numbers tell users exactly how much purchasing power their savings will have over time in order to give them an accurate picture of what life might be like during retirement years (and whether or not they should adjust any plans accordingly).
Retirement Calculators Are Not A Replacement For A CFP
It is important to know that online retirement calculator tools are not a replacement for a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). They are, after all, only tools.
There are a lot of variables in retirement planning. Retirement calculators are not going to be able to take into account all of your individual circumstances and give you the best advice for your specific situation.
Retirement calculators don’t know about your unique financial goals, they don’t know how much risk you’re willing to take on, what kind of investment portfolio you already have or if you’re using any tax-advantaged accounts like a TSFA, and they certainly can’t tell if there are other things in life that might be more important than saving money for retirement — like paying off debt or buying a smaller house or cottage for retirement. Because of this, you can’t rely on them to advise you on the complex financial decisions you have to make when it comes to your investments.
So when people use these tools without professional help, they may end up with too little saved for retirement (or worse yet, nothing at all). Or maybe they’ll save too much and end up missing out on opportunities in life because their focus was always on saving money instead of living life. This is why having an experienced Certified Financial Planner who knows how to use these tools will get you the best results possible.
What type of Certified Financial Planner should you be looking for?
You want to have one who will listen to your concerns and help you create a plan that works specifically for you. A CFP is trained in all aspects of personal finance including investments, taxes, insurance and estate planning. A CFP will look at all aspects of your life when creating a plan for you instead of just looking at numbers on paper or computer screen like some online calculator does. What this means is that not only do they know how to make sure that each aspect of their clients’ lives are working together toward reaching their overall goal (retirement), but they also know how to adjust things if something isn’t working out the way it should be (like if you suddenly lose your job unexpectedly or are laid off because of COVID-19).
A certified financial planner has been trained on how to analyze all these factors and come up with a plan that is unique for you. They also have access to tools that can help them see what would happen if they made certain changes or took advantage of opportunities available in the market. This allows them to be able to provide more personalized advice instead of just giving general information like the calculator does.
Pension Solutions Canada Can Help! (At no cost to you)
If you are planning on retiring in the next five years, you should get a plan in place. If you don’t have a plan in place, you may be looking at a disastrous situation once you reach your retirement age, or end up being forced into an early retirement due to job loss or health circumstances.
Don’t leave it up to chance. Contact our team today for a free consultation call. We can assist with helping you plan for retirement, as well as estate planning, address tax minimization, and answer all of your retirement questions. Our services are no cost to you. Call us at 1-888-554-6661 to get started.
